“… having a specialised committee ensures that important conduct, reputation and ethics issues are looked at systematically, as required by King IV in South Africa.” (Ethics and Compliance Handbook, Page 39)

“… ethics and compliance programmes must be balanced and defined. Compliance can easily erode ethics if rules and processes are too unwieldy, too bureaucratic or overbearing. In such cases employees stop following the rules and start rationalising which rules to follow. Organisations therefore need to have a risk-based compliance programme that considers the effects on ethical behaviour…” (Ethics and Compliance Handbook, Page 43)

My understanding of the above, and what all of the course reading material point to, is that both governance and operational levels within an organisation are required to participate constantly and actively in implementing and maintaining in its ethical framework and environment. It (ethics) is not a monthly or annual email or event instead it is on-going engagement, and is interwoven with the organisation’s value system and framework. This, in conjunction with the organisation’s compliance framework, directly contributes towards the organisation achieving it’s strategic goals and thus realising it’s mission and vision.