Mental hygiene - Editor's Note - Editorial

Internal Auditor, Feb, 2003

ETHICS AND ALL THAT SURROUNDS IT has become one of the first long-term media issues of the 21st Century. It's difficult to pick up a business magazine, newspaper, or journal without finding stories of those short shrifting ethical conduct. Defining morality has peaked the media's topic list since the beginning of the Enron debacle.

Having recently finished editing Sen. Charles Schumer's written comments for Governance Perspectives, a compilation of highlights from The IIA's 2002 Corporate Governance Summit, I can't help but remember his words about what should come next:

"Although we must punish the wrongdoers, it is also important to recognize and reward the efforts of the vast majority of corporate executives, board members, and auditors who are honest, decent, conscientious, and hard-working. There are upstanding, ethical individuals at all levels in the corporate ranks. If we are going to debunk the myth that 'everyone does it,' then we must take as much time to pay tribute to those who do good as we do to rebuke those who do harm."

You'll find such a tribute in this month's cover story, "A Matter of Ethics." Freelance writer Dennis Blank interviewed numerous company executives who work hard at getting it right. They talk extensively about the need for ethics to consist of more than a signature that every employee applies to a piece of paper. Ethics must permeate the company. It has to be a priority with the top executive as well as his or her direct reports.

Shouldn't this be easy? Isn't morality taught at home? I know it used to be a core value in the classroom. When my parents were in school, it was part of the curriculum. It was the class students took to learn about making the right choices. Occasionally called "mental hygiene," ethics class was where students were graded on what they knew. But, although there was a designated ethics teacher, students learned morality from every teacher in the building. To some degree, it was each instructor's duty to help educate the "whole" child, not just the part learning science or English or psychology. The educational climate helped kids learn to become good people. Perhaps it's time to return to those days when ethics was a part of every aspect of life -- home, school, politics, business -- not just relegated to the corporate boardroom.

Joanne Hodges