Reconstructing ethical conduct within financial firms

This chapter explores whether ethical cultures can be created within a financial market context. Ongoing regulatory and legal actions, and press coverage of these, suggest that a definition of ethical problems in terms of ‘rogue traders’ and ‘bad apples’ would be inadequate, since entire business areas have been resorting to collusive illegal behaviour. The concept of ‘bad barrels’ seems to capture the situation rather better: the culture of firms fails to discourage transgression and indeed supports it. Unpacking the links between regulatory objectives and the cultural settings of firms and their employees, this chapter questions the chances of success of measures such as enhanced controls on individuals and restructured reward mechanisms. Financial firms typically have very flat, nodal structures, within which traders conceptualise themselves as an elite, in contrast to back office staff and also in contrast to managers. Traders’ functions and their occupational mobility mean that their linkages and attachments may be much stronger with others outside ‘their’ firm than their firm and those within it. Performance, camaraderie and their linkages are important in all work situations, yet all the more so for traders in financial markets. Thus, whether regulators and senior management combine to send a clear and consistent message to traders – or whether the logic of the financial marketplace leads some firms to continue send conflicting or ambivalent messages to them – misconduct is likely to continue to be a tough nut to crack.

Indicative markers of leadership provided by ICT professional bodies in the promotion and support of ethical conduct

Most countries with a mature Information and Communications Technology (ICT industry have at least one professional body (PB) that claims to represent its members working with such technology. Other ICT PBs operate in the international arena. These PBs may differ in membership criteria, jurisdiction and even objectives but all profess to promote high ethical and professional standards. This study seeks to determine the common indicative markers that demonstrate that an ICT PB is offering leadership in identifying, promoting and supporting ethical conduct amongst a variety of constituencies including its own members and beyond. An extensive literature review identified over 200 prospective markers covering a broad range of potential activities of an ICT PB. These were grouped into nine major areas: ethical professional practice; continuous professional development; research and publication; education of future professionals; members’ career development; social obligations; professional engagement; preserving professional dignity/ reputation and regulation of the profession. These markers were arranged hierarchically in a word processing document referred to as a “marker template”. An analysis of selected ICT PBs websites was undertaken to confirm and refine the template. It will be used in the future for a comparative study of how professional bodies offer leadership to their various constituencies in the area of ethical conduct.

Standards of ethical conduct for employees of the executive branch : final regulation issued by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, codified in 5 C.F.R. part 2635 (1/1/02 edition), as amended at 67 FR 61761-61762 (Oct. 2, 2002).

Shipping list no.: 2003-0103-P

Ethical conduct in the Government; message .

Caption title.

Office of Government Ethics (OGE) standards of ethical conduct : self-study guide : ethics.

Shipping list no.: 93-214-P.

Office of Government Ethics : standards of ethical conduct for employees of the executive branch.

Mode of access: Internet.

Establishing community advisory boards for clinical trial research in Malawi: engendering ethical conduct in research

In this article I deal with extending the ethical principles of research to include communities through the establishment of Community Advisory Boards (CABs). The aim of the project on which this article is based demonstrates the need for protecting communities that participate in research in order to stimulate ethical conduct in research in Malawi. In the article, I provide an overview on the role and functions of CABs. I discuss the establishment of CABs in Malawi and present descriptions of the processes and challenges involved. I conclude by sharing experiences of some of the key lessons learnt from the establishment of CABs.

Ethical and professional conduct of medical students: review of current assessment measures and controversies

As medical education increasingly acknowledges the importance of the ethical and professional conduct of practitioners, and moves towards more formal assessment of these issues, it is important to consider the evidence base which exists in this area. This article discusses literature about the health needs and problems experienced by medical practitioners as a background to a review of the current efforts in medical education to promote ethical conduct and develop mechanisms for the detection and remediation of problems.

The ethical predisposition of university students in Western Australia : 1997 vs 2007

A sample of 285 Western Australian university students was used to assess the prevailing attitudes regarding potential breaches of ethical conduct on the part of business practitioners and organisations. The authors developed an ethical profile for the 2007 sample based on 14 scenarios used in the questionnaire. This profile was then compared to the results from data collected in 1997 using similar sampling and the same survey instrument. The prevailing predisposition is best viewed as centrist in nature, with a move to a more ethical stance in the last 10 years.

Ethical review in creative industries and other practice-based research

The processes used in Australian universities for reviewing the ethics of research projects are based on the traditions of research and practice from the medical and health sciences. The national guidelines for ethical conduct in research are heavily based on presumptions that the researcher–participant relationship is similar to a doctor–patient relationship. The National Health and Medical Research Council, Australian Research Council and Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee have made a laudable effort to fix this problem by releasing the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research in 2007, to replace the 1999 National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Research Involving Humans. The new statement better encompasses the needs of the humanities, social sciences and creative industries. However, this paper argues that the revised National Statement and ethical review processes within universities still do not fully encompass the definitions of ‘research’ and the requirements, traditions, codes of practice and standards of the humanities, social sciences and creative industries. The paper argues that scholars within these disciplines often lack the language to articulate their modes of practice and risk management strategies to university-level ethics committees. As a consequence, scholars from these disciplines may find their research is delayed or stymied. The paper focuses on creative industries researchers, and explores the issues that they face in managing the ethical review process, particularly when engaging in practice-based research. Although the focus is on the creative industries, the issues are relevant to most fields in the humanities and social sciences.

Ethical issues in research on adolescent depression and suicidal behaviour

Argues that the codes of ethical conduct of the Australian Psychological Society and the American Psychological Association imply that researchers of adolescent depression and suicidal behavior must plan to intervene to assess risk where a participant in a study indicates an intention to commit suicide. Participants in research of this kind need to be advised of this possibility in advance. The obligation to intervene, and to advise of the possibility of intervention, poses practical and methodological problems for research in this area but does not, it is argued, absolve the researcher of the primary responsibility to contribute to the welfare of the research participant. This obligation exists only when there is indication of harm but not, for instance, in the case of depression without suicidal intent.

A new national women's health policy : legal, ethical and policy initiatives to support women's health

In 1989 the first National Women's Health Policy was launched in Australia. Now, 20 years later, the Federal Government has announced plans for the development of a new National Women's Health Policy to address the health needs of Australian women. The Policy will be based on five principles: gender equity; health equity between women; a focus on prevention; an evidence base for interventions; and a life course approach. This editorial examines the role for law in the development of a new National Women's Health Policy. It considers the relevance of regulatory frameworks for health research in supporting an evidence base for health interventions and analyses the requirement in the National Health and Medical Research Council's National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research for "fair inclusion" of research participants. The editorial argues for a holistic approach to women's health that includes regulatory frameworks for research, identification of funding priorities for research, and the need for a dedicated government department or agency to promote women's health.