Enron had a code of ethics. CEO Kenneth Lay stated, "We want to be proud of Enron and to know that it enjoys a reputation for fairness and honesty, that it respected".During the 1990s Enron's success was phenomenal. On 2nd December 2001 it filed for bankruptcy after a series of scandals, including insider dealing. Having a code of conduct was clearly not enough.
Richard Lambert's proposed "Banking Standards Review Council"is designed to help "rebuild confidence and trust in banks."It will monitor banking culture and this will include HOW well employees understand their organisation's codes of conduct. It will therefore no longer be sufficient for Boards to just approve updates to the respective codes on an annual basis. They will need to ensure and test that all employees fully understand what the codes mean in practice and have such things as ongoing refresher training to keep the messages and understanding fresh.
Hopefully these moves will ensure that organisations no longer play lip service to their stated codes of conduct but really start to bring them alive and make them meaningful to everyone in the organisation.
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