12 March 2009, LONDON

A new report Best Practices for Designing Effective Ethics Programmes published by Ethical Corporation Institute (ECI) finds that training at Novartis has become more interactive and exciting.

Employees at Novartis don’t just sit in training workshops. They ‘play’ their way to learning about the company’s code of ethics in "Novartis Land", an online training program offering the opportunity to interactively explore the policies and answer questions in an online dialogue-role-play setting.

Employees interact online with 3D characters and have dialogues based on scenarios found within the company’s corporate policies. They navigate through the dialogue, making decisions they may have to make in real life and answer a quiz style game show on company ethics. Once all available dialogues and game shows are successfully completed, a company certificate is issued.

Other companies like Dell are also at the forefront of innovative training. Internal newsletters and similar publications are the most frequently used communications for many companies. More innovative ideas, aimed at being fun and engaging for employees include a dedicated ‘Ethics Day’ or ‘Ethics Month’. In 2007, Dell carried out 40 events in more than 20 countries as part of its month-long ‘Ethics and Value 2.0’ outreach initiative.

The report Best Practices for Designing Effective Ethics Programmes also looks at how Dell puts the emphasis firmly on leading by example. Dell’s central ethics office creates company-wide messages that it presents to its top managers. These messages are then ‘‘cascaded down to a sales group or finance group or a particular location”, explains Paul Liebman, Dell’s Chief Ethics Counsel.

Best Practices for Designing Effective Ethics Programmes uncovers innovative online and remote forms of training but concludes that companies still find face-to-face training most effective. It is imperative to address specific ethical issues face-to-face. These are often targeted to senior leadership, managers and employees in ‘at-risk’ functions.

The new research report Best Practices for Designing Effective Ethics Programmes is now on general sale. Click here now to purchase the report or find out more.


About the Ethical Corporation Institute:

Ethical Corporation Institute is the research arm of Ethical Corporation. ECI produces in-depth commercial research on sale in report format, and hosts training workshops on ethical business.

For more information contact:

Pamela Muckosy
Ethical Corporation Institute
Email: pam.muckosy@ethicalcorp.com
Telephone: +44 (0) 207 375 7554

www.ethicalcorpinstitute.com