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United Parcel Service Translates and Delivers an Ethics Code Overseas (Ethikos) United Parcel Service Translates and Delivers an Ethics Code Overseas (Ethikos) May/June 2000 - By Andrew W. Singer. United Parcel Service Translates and Transports an Ethics Code Overseas If a company thinks that delivering an ethics code to its overseas business units is a simple affair, it might think twice. United Parcel Service (UPS) knows better.The giant Atlanta-based delivery firm has had a code of business conduct for its domestic employees since 1996. Because UPS operates in most countries of the world, though, it realized it needed an international version. In 1998, it began working on one, conducting research and benchmarking with other companies.From the start, the company displayed unusual cultural sensitivity, hoping to avoid imposition of an "American-centric" code on its overseas’ businesses. Ethics Officer Association (EOA) conference presentations provided some guidance in this regard, recalls Linda DiSantis, Corporate Compliance Manager. UPS developed advisory committees in different regions, including Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Committee members represented not only different countries, but also different job functions. Not all were human resources professionals.Wanted: translations into local languageThe U.S. code of conduct became the centerpiece of employee focus group sessions that were conducted around the world—16 in Europe, ten in Asia, four in Canada, and five in the Americas—in the third and fourth quarters of 1998.What did employees like about the code? What did they not like? In the course of these sessions, training gaps were revealed. An Irish employee, for example, asked, "What is the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act?" (Even though it is a U.S. statute, the FCPA applies to UPS’s foreign employees.) Above all they found that "employees wanted the code translated into their own language," recalls Anna Svärd Thompson, Corporate Compliance Coordinator.No particular areas of the domestic code were problematic, recalls Thompson, but the company was urged to attach sections in some cases. Full Article: http://www.singerpubs.com/ethikos/html/ups.html |
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2006 Ethics-Governance.com |
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