Academic literature on the topic 'Accountability: Business ethics'

<p>The aim of this research to know the perception of students about ethics values in professional code of ethic and business ethics. The analysis is based on the answer from responden where its data are gathered from accounting students and business students of economic faculty Trisakti University. The questioners about ethical concept is took from code of ethic management accountant or internal accountant that is Competence, Confidentiality, Honesty, Objectivity, Accountability and Responsibility. Result showed that, first there are not significantly perception different between accounting students and bussines student about ethical concept of competence, objectivity, and accountability ,but there are significantly perception different between accounting students and bussines students about ethical concept confidentiallity and honesty. Secondly there are not significantly perception different between students after took subject code of ethic and students before took subject code of ethic. Thirdly, there are not significantly perception different between gender of students about code of ethic and bussines ethics.<br />Keywords: Perception, Ethical Values, Code of Ethic, Preparation and Presentation of Financial Statement.</p>

<span>The aim of this research to know the perception of students about ethics values in <span>professional code of ethic and business ethics. The analysis is based on the answer from responden where its data are gathered from accounting students and business students of economic faculty Trisakti University. The questioners about ethical concept is took from code of ethic management accountant or internal accountant that is Competence, Confidentiality, Honesty, Objectivity, Accountability and Responsibility. Result showed that, first there are not significantly perception different between accounting students and bussines student about ethical concept of competence, objectivity, and accountability ,but there are significantly perception different between accounting students and bussines students about ethical concept confidentiallity and honesty. Secondly there are not significantly perception different between students after took subject code of ethic and students before took subject code of ethic. Thirdly, there are not significantly perception different between gender of students about code of ethic and bussines ethics.<br />Keywords: Perception, Ethical Values, Code of Ethic, Preparation and<br />Presentation of Financial Statement.<br /></span></span>

Most academics recognize that universities, as institutions, have an obligation to account rigorously for financial expenditures. There is less agreement about teaching and research wherein issues of autonomy and academic freedom enter the debate. Yet here too, demands for accountability are being pressed on the academy. In recent years, the demand for accountability also has been directed with considerable force to the private sector with what appear, in a number of cases, to be dramatic effects. Equally dramatic has been the extent to which the public debate and the response of the private sector to public criticism have linked issues of accountability to ethics. Of particular interest is the idea that accountability is not just a managerial, organizational or political concept. It is also a moral concept, a concept, furthermore, that is central to understanding the status and legitimacy of the modern corporation. My purpose in this paper is to explore this insight and to develop its relevance for understanding and responding to the crisis which contemporary university systems are currently experiencing. I do so not with the idea of persuading the reader that universities should be understood to be, or managed as though they were, private sector corporations. To the contrary, close study of the sort I propose should help to identify important similarities, but also key differences. Both are central to understand- ing what accountability requires for the contemporary university.

Much has been written about stakeholder analysis as a process by which to introduce ethical values into management decision-making. This paper takes a critical look at the assumptions behind this idea, in an effort to understand better the meaning of ethical management decisions.A distinction is made between stakeholder analysis and stakeholder synthesis. The two most natural kinds of stakeholder synthesis are then defined and discussed: strategic and multi-fiduciary. Paradoxically, the former appears to yield business without ethics and the latter appears to yield ethics without business. The paper concludes by suggesting that a third approach to stakeholder thinking needs to be developed, one that avoids the paradox just mentioned and that clarifies for managers (and directors) the legitimate role of ethical considerations in decision-making.So we must think through what management should be accountable for; and how and through whom its accountability can be discharged. The stockholders’ interest, both short- and long-term, is one of the areas. But it is only one.Peter Drucker, 1988Harvard Business Review

Much has been written about stakeholder analysis as a process by which to introduce ethical values into management decision-making. This paper takes a critical look at the assumptions behind this idea, in an effort to understand better the meaning of ethical management decisions.A distinction is made between stakeholder analysis and stakeholder synthesis. The two most natural kinds of stakeholder synthesis are then defined and discussed: strategic and multi-fiduciary. Paradoxically, the former appears to yield business without ethics and the latter appears to yield ethics without business. The paper concludes by suggesting that a third approach to stakeholder thinking needs to be developed, one that avoids the paradox just mentioned and that clarifies for managers (and directors) the legitimate role of ethical considerations in decision-making.So we must think through what management should be accountable for; and how and through whom its accountability can be discharged. The stockholders’ interest, both short- and long-term, is one of the areas. But it is only one.Peter Drucker, 1988Harvard Business Review

Organizational ethics is an emerging field concerned with the study and practice of the ethical behaviour of organizations. For effective application to healthcare settings, we argue that organizational ethics requires attention to organizations' special characteristics combined with tools borrowed from the fields of business ethics and bioethics. We identify and discuss several implications of this burgeoning field to healthcare organizations, showing how organizational ethics can facilitate policy making, accountability, self-evaluation, and patient and business perspectives. In our conclusion, we suggest an action plan for healthcare organizations to help them respond appropriately to their ethical responsibilities.

AbstractIn the last several decades a diverse movement has emerged that seeks to extend the accountability for human rights beyond governments and states, to businesses. Though the view that business has human rights responsibilities has attracted a great deal of positive attention, this view continues to face many reservations and unresolved questions.Business ethicists have responded in a twofold manner. First, they have tried to formulate the general terms or frameworks within which the discussion might best proceed. Second, they have sought to answer several questions that these different frameworks pose: A. What are human rights and how justify one’s defence of them?; B. Who is responsible for human rights? What justifies their extension to business?; and C. What are the general features of business’s human rights responsibilities? Are they mandatory or voluntary? How are the specific human rights responsibilities of business to be determined?Within the limited space of this article, this article seeks to critically examine where the discussion of these issues presently stands and what has been the contribution of business ethicists.

<p>The information technology has reduced the cost of business transactions large managerial corporations are giving way to small family business firms. It is good change because family businesses could not only aim to sustain the family economically but also could aim nurturing children. The role of ethics in family business is has not been studied systematically. This paper has argued that family firms are more socially responsible that non-family firms because family firms are breeding ground for core family values. This paper also argues that business literature should lay emphasis on virtues and character based business in place of value and culture based business. To manage for organizational virtue and character is to treat ethics as an end in itself. To manage by values and characters is to treat ethics as means for some ulterior motive. If employees are told that they should be honest because it pays then profit may trump in case of a conflict. The combination of family virtues and business can make the family busines as moral model or moral leadership for all types of business in this era of high demands for accountability.</p>

<p>The information technology has reduced the cost of business transactions large managerial corporations are giving way to small family business firms. It is good change because family businesses could not only aim to sustain the family economically but also could aim nurturing children. The role of ethics in family business is has not been studied systematically. This paper has argued that family firms are more socially responsible that non-family firms because family firms are breeding ground for core family values. This paper also argues that business literature should lay emphasis on virtues and character based business in place of value and culture based business. To manage for organizational virtue and character is to treat ethics as an end in itself. To manage by values and characters is to treat ethics as means for some ulterior motive. If employees are told that they should be honest because it pays then profit may trump in case of a conflict. The combination of family virtues and business can make the family busines as moral model or moral leadership for all types of business in this era of high demands for accountability.</p>

Being ethical and sustainable is a fate in doing business, since unsustainable business practicedamages the environment, and causes lack of resources currently and in the future whichdiscontinue economic development. The purpose of this study is to understand and analyzethe influence of stakeholder dialogue in the new governance integrated in CG & CSR forunsustainable business such as oil and gas industry particularly in BP Company, as well ashow and why the notion “new governance” including self and meta-regulation affects on BPCompany to perform ethical business. This study based on the case study methodologywhereby the theoretical framework of secondary data of CG, CSR and the new governancefound in journal articles, relevant textbooks, NGO reports and the information found on BP’swebsite were employed. Furthermore, the main findings of this study is that there is asignificant variation in BP’s CSR adoption regarding the TBL of CSR in which socialresponsibility performance found the worst performance among the TPL of CSR since thecompany selects where to demonstrate great interest on social responsibility and where toignore. Consequently, BP’s self-regulation is ineffective which signifies lack of transparencyand accountability. More importantly, meta-regulation is very effective in keeping BP ontrack in the face of wrong doing. The study conclude that BP’s non-financial reporting needto move beyond the traditional reporting on company’s policies, philanthropic actions, andCSR successes and give priority to risks and incidents considering the seriousness andimpacts. More importantly, BP needs new standards of transparency and effectivemanagement system to ensure good CSR performance. The study assures that for as long asBP’s operations touch the daily life of people and other organisms in our planet it mustprioritize the interest of its stakeholders via continual dialogue since it is one of thefundamental principles of corporate citizenship.

The title of the research is Sustainability Performance Evaluation Management Systems Model for Individual Organizations and Supply Chains. This research has achieved its aim to develop and demonstrate the practical implementation of a simple and objective sustainability performance evaluation management system model for individual organizations and supply chains. It has resulted in the recognition that a new concept – Network of Interested Partners – underpins the achievement of sustainability. The term acknowledges the interdependence and reflects the essential cooperation that must be achieved between business organisations, their commercially related entities and the local community if progress towards sustainability is to be achieved. It therefore encompasses and extends the concept of a supply chain as currently used. Sustainable Development is defined by the World Commission on Environment and Development as development, which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future societies to meet their own needs. Organizations, as part of human activities, also have to be sustainable. The sustainability of organizations is directly linked to the continual improvement of business performance. Many organizations have found a way to improve performance through the establishment of management systems. International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards are recognized worldwide as reliable and efficient tools for the implementation of management systems. However, they do not always result in the desired improvement in outcomes. Therefore, if the required improvement of business performance is to be achieved, improved methodologies for development and implementation of performance evaluation (PE) processes are necessary. These methodologies must take into consideration sustainability principles. They also have to be applicable to individual entities and supply chains, with or without management systems in place. Supply chains are important because it is being increasingly recognized that overall supply chain performance is a means of adding value and competitive advantage to all businesses. In the first part of the research a performance evaluation model or PE (version 1 model) was developed. This was used as criteria to compare and evaluate existing performance evaluation processes and outcomes of individual organisations and their respective supply chain within the Gladstone region, Australia. Questionnaires have also been used to identify and evaluate the needs of the interested parties in relation to the organizations’ and supply chains’ business performance and processes of performance evaluation. All the information provided in the first part of the research was used by the researcher to develop the Sustainability Performance Evaluation Management Systems model or SPEMS (version 2 model). This incorporates the concepts of Network of Interested Parties/Partners. In particular, one of the outcomes is recognition that organizations need to establish partnerships if effective supply chain performance improvement is to be achieved. Therefore the establishment of partnerships has become a key requirement for the implementation of SPEMS. The establishment of partnership among participants of a supply chain of Gladstone and implementation of the eight first steps of the SPEMS (version 2 model) in this supply chain was commenced successfully through workshops. The supply chain was formed by commercial organizations, government entities and interested parties from the community. SPEMS requires that partners all have the same level of ownership and authority in the decisions of the supply chain. Some new terms and their definitions have been created within the research to support the new SPEMS model. They include: Network of Interested Partners, sustainability for organizations, sustainability KPI and sustainability friendly organizations. All of the above are encompassed within the final SPEMS (version 3 model).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2005.
Advisor: Dr. Gerald R. Ferris, Florida State University, College of Business, Dept. of Finance. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed June 10, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains x,119 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2008. Graduate Programme in Administration.
Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 155-170). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR51725

The thesis proposes and defends a maxim which can serve as a foundation and guideline for professional ethics in nursing, the maxim that nurses should act so far as possible to promote patient's self-determination. The thesis is informed by philosophical ethics and by knowledge of professional nursing practice.

The purpose of this dissertation is to determine what constitutes the abuse of power by leaders in Christian organisations and how it can be addressed, especially in a multicultural context. The theoretical and empirical research defines the abuse of power, especially in Christian organisations, and outlines the results. It determines the role that culture plays in the abuse of power and presents strategies that can be used effectively to prevent or deal with the abuse of power in different cultural contexts in Christian organisations. The cultures considered in the empirical research are English-speaking Canadians, Germans (from what was formerly West Germany), and white South Africans. In this research, the abuse of power, the aspects that define abusive leaders and the victims, and the effects of the abuse of power on the leaders, victims and the organisations are discussed. The literature and the responses from the research participants clearly confirm the existence of abusive leadership in Christian organisations. The characteristics that constitute an ethical Christian leader are defined and underlined by the responses from the respondents in this research: spiritual transformation, love, servant leadership, accountability, trust and forgiveness. Addressing the abuse of power in Christian organisations, specifically in a multicultural context is challenging. Leaders must be prepared to learn about and understand the cultures represented in the team. They also have a responsibility to challenge their team members to reflect on their cultural characteristics, to have healthy discussions and to form an organisational third culture that profits from the potential that each team member can contribute.
Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology
M. Th. (Christian leadership)

This essay focuses on the normative teachings of Islam. Justice, honesty, and public welfare are the pillars of Islamic business ethics. These values have two major roots: (1) belief in and devotion to Allah (God), and (2) the earthly trusteeship that grounds moral accountability. The business values of productivity, hard work, and excellence are encouraged. However, at the heart of various injunctions relating to business transactions are the imperatives of lawfulness, honesty, and fair play. Products or services must be lawful, and produced in lawful ways causing no undue harm to others or to the environment. Competition, distribution, and consumption must be lawful as well. Lawful behavior is enforced by consciousness of Allah, supportive social norms, and government control. Islamic norms may not be uniformly or strictly followed, yet they provide a helpful background to practitioners andresearchers.

The research currently presented is related to non-financial reporting and the prevailing reporting practices employed by enterprises posing risks to the environment. The worldwide economy is in a continuous change and the companies must face all the new challenges to assure a good development of their business. One of the most pressing challenge is related to the reporting of information in an integrate form. It is considered that the traditional model of financial reporting does not represent a comprehensive image to assess the previous and future performance of a company. According to the Directive 2014/95/EU regulations, reporting of non-financial information encompasses three major areas: environmental, social, and labour. Each is equally important, though environmental issues seem of particular significance in enterprises posing risks to the environment. The natural environment and its protection are important from the viewpoint of future generations. The transition from voluntary disclosure of non-financial information to mandatory regulation in the EU has taken place due to continuous increasing needs to have more transparency and rigor of information disclosed by companies. Indeed, voluntary reporting of CSR has many aspects of weakness, it is difficult to compare the information of different companies; it is a tool to avoid regulation; lack of execution and accountability; and leads to rhetoric, as corporations continue to create many problems for society.

Attention to safety and health are of ever-increasing priority to industrial organizations. Good Safety is demanded by stockholders, employees, and the community while increasing injury costs provide additional motivation for safety and health excellence. Safety has always been a strong corporate value of DuPont and a vital part of its culture. As a result, DuPont has become a benchmark in safety and health performance. Since 1990, DuPont has re-engineered itself to meet global competition and address future vision. In the new re-engineered organizational structures, DuPont has also had to re-engineer its safety management systems. A special Discovery Team was chartered by DuPont senior management to determine the “best practices’ for safety and health being used in DuPont best-performing sites. A summary of the findings is presented, and five of the practices are discussed. Excellence in safety and health management is more important today than ever. Public awareness, federal and state regulations, and enlightened management have resulted in a widespread conviction that all employees have the right to work in an environment that will not adversely affect their safety and health. In DuPont, we believe that excellence in safety and health is necessary to achieve global competitiveness, maintain employee loyalty, and be an accepted member of the communities in which we make, handle, use, and transport products. Safety can also be the “catalyst” to achieving excellence in other important business parameters. The organizational and communication skills developed by management, individuals, and teams in safety can be directly applied to other company initiatives. As we look into the 21st Century, we must also recognize that new organizational structures (flatter with empowered teams) will require new safety management techniques and systems in order to maintain continuous improvement in safety performance. Injury costs, which have risen dramatically in the past twenty years, provide another incentive for safety and health excellence. Shown in the Figure 1, injury costs have increased even after correcting for inflation. Many companies have found these costs to be an “invisible drain” on earnings and profitability. In some organizations, significant initiatives have been launched to better manage the workers’ compensation systems. We have found that the ultimate solution is to prevent injuries and incidents before they occur. A globally-respected company, DuPont is regarded as a well-managed, extremely ethical firm that is the benchmark in industrial safety performance. Like many other companies, DuPont has re-engineered itself and downsized its operations since 1985. Through these changes, we have maintained dedication to our principles and developed new techniques to manage in these organizational environments. As a diversified company, our operations involve chemical process facilities, production line operations, field activities, and sales and distribution of materials. Our customer base is almost entirely industrial and yet we still maintain a high level of consumer awareness and positive perception. The DuPont concern for safety dates back to the early 1800s and the first days of the company. In 1802 E.I. DuPont, a Frenchman, began manufacturing quality grade explosives to fill America’s growing need to build roads, clear fields, increase mining output, and protect its recently won independence. Because explosives production is such a hazardous industry, DuPont recognized and accepted the need for an effective safety effort. The building walls of the first powder mill near Wilmington, Delaware, were built three stones thick on three sides. The back remained open to the Brandywine River to direct any explosive forces away from other buildings and employees. To set the safety example, DuPont also built his home and the homes of his managers next to the powder yard. An effective safety program was a necessity. It represented the first defense against instant corporate liquidation. Safety needs more than a well-designed plant, however. In 1811, work rules were posted in the mill to guide employee work habits. Though not nearly as sophisticated as the safety standards of today, they did introduce an important basic concept — that safety must be a line management responsibility. Later, DuPont introduced an employee health program and hired a company doctor. An early step taken in 1912 was the keeping of safety statistics, approximately 60 years before the federal requirement to do so. We had a visible measure of our safety performance and were determined that we were going to improve it. When the nation entered World War I, the DuPont Company supplied 40 percent of the explosives used by the Allied Forces, more than 1.5 billion pounds. To accomplish this task, over 30,000 new employees were hired and trained to build and operate many plants. Among these facilities was the largest smokeless powder plant the world had ever seen. The new plant was producing granulated powder in a record 116 days after ground breaking. The trends on the safety performance chart reflect the problems that a large new work force can pose until the employees fully accept the company’s safety philosophy. The first arrow reflects the World War I scale-up, and the second arrow represents rapid diversification into new businesses during the 1920s. These instances of significant deterioration in safety performance reinforced DuPont’s commitment to reduce the unsafe acts that were causing 96 percent of our injuries. Only 4 percent of injuries result from unsafe conditions or equipment — the remainder result from the unsafe acts of people. This is an important concept if we are to focus our attention on reducing injuries and incidents within the work environment. World War II brought on a similar set of demands. The story was similar to World War I but the numbers were even more astonishing: one billion dollars in capital expenditures, 54 new plants, 75,000 additional employees, and 4.5 billion pounds of explosives produced — 20 percent of the volume used by the Allied Forces. Yet, the performance during the war years showed no significant deviation from the pre-war years. In 1941, the DuPont Company was 10 times safer than all industry and 9 times safer than the Chemical Industry. Management and the line organization were finally working as they should to control the real causes of injuries. Today, DuPont is about 50 times safer than US industrial safety performance averages. Comparing performance to other industries, it is interesting to note that seemingly “hazard-free” industries seem to have extraordinarily high injury rates. This is because, as DuPont has found out, performance is a function of injury prevention and safety management systems, not hazard exposure. Our success in safety results from a sound safety management philosophy. Each of the 125 DuPont facilities is responsible for its own safety program, progress, and performance. However, management at each of these facilities approaches safety from the same fundamental and sound philosophy. This philosophy can be expressed in eleven straightforward principles. The first principle is that all injuries can be prevented. That statement may seem a bit optimistic. In fact, we believe that this is a realistic goal and not just a theoretical objective. Our safety performance proves that the objective is achievable. We have plants with over 2,000 employees that have operated for over 10 years without a lost time injury. As injuries and incidents are investigated, we can always identify actions that could have prevented that incident. If we manage safety in a proactive — rather than reactive — manner, we will eliminate injuries by reducing the acts and conditions that cause them. The second principle is that management, which includes all levels through first-line supervisors, is responsible and accountable for preventing injuries. Only when senior management exerts sustained and consistent leadership in establishing safety goals, demanding accountability for safety performance and providing the necessary resources, can a safety program be effective in an industrial environment. The third principle states that, while recognizing management responsibility, it takes the combined energy of the entire organization to reach sustained, continuous improvement in safety and health performance. Creating an environment in which employees feel ownership for the safety effort and make significant contributions is an essential task for management, and one that needs deliberate and ongoing attention. The fourth principle is a corollary to the first principle that all injuries are preventable. It holds that all operating exposures that may result in injuries or illnesses can be controlled. No matter what the exposure, an effective safeguard can be provided. It is preferable, of course, to eliminate sources of danger, but when this is not reasonable or practical, supervision must specify measures such as special training, safety devices, and protective clothing. Our fifth safety principle states that safety is a condition of employment. Conscientious assumption of safety responsibility is required from all employees from their first day on the job. Each employee must be convinced that he or she has a responsibility for working safely. The sixth safety principle: Employees must be trained to work safely. We have found that an awareness for safety does not come naturally and that people have to be trained to work safely. With effective training programs to teach, motivate, and sustain safety knowledge, all injuries and illnesses can be eliminated. Our seventh principle holds that management must audit performance on the workplace to assess safety program success. Comprehensive inspections of both facilities and programs not only confirm their effectiveness in achieving the desired performance, but also detect specific problems and help to identify weaknesses in the safety effort. The Company’s eighth principle states that all deficiencies must be corrected promptly. Without prompt action, risk of injuries will increase and, even more important, the credibility of management’s safety efforts will suffer. Our ninth principle is a statement that off-the-job safety is an important part of the overall safety effort. We do not expect nor want employees to “turn safety on” as they come to work and “turn it off” when they go home. The company safety culture truly becomes of the individual employee’s way of thinking. The tenth principle recognizes that it’s good business to prevent injuries. Injuries cost money. However, hidden or indirect costs usually exceed the direct cost. Our last principle is the most important. Safety must be integrated as core business and personal value. There are two reasons for this. First, we’ve learned from almost 200 years of experience that 96 percent of safety incidents are directly caused by the action of people, not by faulty equipment or inadequate safety standards. But conversely, it is our people who provide the solutions to our safety problems. They are the one essential ingredient in the recipe for a safe workplace. Intelligent, trained, and motivated employees are any company’s greatest resource. Our success in safety depends upon the men and women in our plants following procedures, participating actively in training, and identifying and alerting each other and management to potential hazards. By demonstrating a real concern for each employee, management helps establish a mutual respect, and the foundation is laid for a solid safety program. This, of course, is also the foundation for good employee relations. An important lesson learned in DuPont is that the majority of injuries are caused by unsafe acts and at-risk behaviors rather than unsafe equipment or conditions. In fact, in several DuPont studies it was estimated that 96 percent of injuries are caused by unsafe acts. This was particularly revealing when considering safety audits — if audits were only focused on conditions, at best we could only prevent four percent of our injuries. By establishing management systems for safety auditing that focus on people, including audit training, techniques, and plans, all incidents are preventable. Of course, employee contribution and involvement in auditing leads to sustainability through stakeholdership in the system. Management safety audits help to make manage the “behavioral balance.” Every job and task performed at a site can do be done at-risk or safely. The essence of a good safety system ensures that safe behavior is the accepted norm amongst employees, and that it is the expected and respected way of doing things. Shifting employees norms contributes mightily to changing culture. The management safety audit provides a way to quantify these norms. DuPont safety performance has continued to improve since we began keeping records in 1911 until about 1990. In the 1990–1994 time frame, performance deteriorated as shown in the chart that follows: This increase in injuries caused great concern to senior DuPont management as well as employees. It occurred while the corporation was undergoing changes in organization. In order to sustain our technological, competitive, and business leadership positions, DuPont began re-engineering itself beginning in about 1990. New streamlined organizational structures and collaborative work processes eliminated many positions and levels of management and supervision. The total employment of the company was reduced about 25 percent during these four years. In our traditional hierarchical organization structures, every level of supervision and management knew exactly what they were expected to do with safety, and all had important roles. As many of these levels were eliminated, new systems needed to be identified for these new organizations. In early 1995, Edgar S. Woolard, DuPont Chairman, chartered a Corporate Discovery Team to look for processes that will put DuPont on a consistent path toward a goal of zero injuries and occupational illnesses. The cross-functional team used a mode of “discovery through learning” from as many DuPont employees and sites around the world. The Discovery Team fostered the rapid sharing and leveraging of “best practices” and innovative approaches being pursued at DuPont’s plants, field sites, laboratories, and office locations. In short, the team examined the company’s current state, described the future state, identified barriers between the two, and recommended key ways to overcome these barriers. After reporting back to executive management in April, 1995, the Discovery Team was realigned to help organizations implement their recommendations. The Discovery Team reconfirmed key values in DuPont — in short, that all injuries, incidents, and occupational illnesses are preventable and that safety is a source of competitive advantage. As such, the steps taken to improve safety performance also improve overall competitiveness. Senior management made this belief clear: “We will strengthen our business by making safety excellence an integral part of all business activities.” One of the key findings of the Discovery Team was the identification of the best practices used within the company, which are listed below: ▪ Felt Leadership – Management Commitment ▪ Business Integration ▪ Responsibility and Accountability ▪ Individual/Team Involvement and Influence ▪ Contractor Safety ▪ Metrics and Measurements ▪ Communications ▪ Rewards and Recognition ▪ Caring Interdependent Culture; Team-Based Work Process and Systems ▪ Performance Standards and Operating Discipline ▪ Training/Capability ▪ Technology ▪ Safety and Health Resources ▪ Management and Team Audits ▪ Deviation Investigation ▪ Risk Management and Emergency Response ▪ Process Safety ▪ Off-the-Job Safety and Health Education Attention to each of these best practices is essential to achieve sustained improvements in safety and health. The Discovery Implementation in conjunction with DuPont Safety and Environmental Management Services has developed a Safety Self-Assessment around these systems. In this presentation, we will discuss a few of these practices and learn what they mean. Paper published with permission.