Programs

For information about New Mexico Ethics Alliance ethics standards, resources and the educational offerings currently available, click the Program Links listed in the Navigation box above.

Why Organizational Ethics?

Today’s headlines are filled with notorious examples of ethical misconduct.  It seems no industry – government, business, not even non-profit - is exempt.   Just one incident can wreck havoc on an organization’s reputation and put its future viability at risk.

But ethical conduct within organizations cannot be assured by hiring only those perceived to have strong individual character, nor can it be fully addressed by the passage of ethics laws or by enforcing legal compliance requirements.  Ethics is not a matter of an individual being inherently good or bad or merely following the law. 

All organizations must recognize that individual conduct is strongly influenced by the group environment in which one works.  Furthermore, the question is not whether an organization will experience ethical misconduct, but rather when misconduct happens, will the organization be prepared and how will it respond?

While the need for improved ethical behavior is evident and the benefits of an ethical organizational culture are many, little exists in the state to help organizations prevent or recover from ethical disasters.  That is, until now.

The services offered by the New Mexico Ethics Alliance and the strength that comes from the state’s diverse industries coming together to focus on this topic will support New Mexico organizations in building ethical cultures.  

Ethics and Compliance Training and the Law

Organizations, like individuals, can be found guilty of criminal conduct, and the measure of their punishment for felonies and Class A misdemeanors is governed by Chapter Eight of the United States Sentencing Guidelines. While organizations cannot be imprisoned, they can be fined, sentenced to probation, ordered to make restitution and issue public notices of conviction to their victim and exposed to applicable forfeiture statutes.   The damage to an organizations reputation can be disasterous.

The Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations (which apply to corporations, partnerships, labor unions, pension funds, trusts, non-profit entities, and governmental units) became effective November 1, 1991, and were amended in 2004. These guidelines are designed to further two key purposes of sentencing: “just punishment” and “deterrence.” “Punishment” corresponds to the degree of blameworthiness of the offender, while “deterrence” offers incentives for organizations to detect and prevent crime.

Training is listed as one of the seven required elements of an "effective compliance and ethics program."  According to the Guidelines, the organization shall take reasonable steps to communicate periodically and in a practical manner its standards and procedures, and other aspects of the compliance and ethics program, to [all personnel] by conducting effective training programs and otherwise disseminating information appropriate to such individuals' respective roles and responsibilities.

If the plain language of the statute is not enough, the Commentary to the Amendments make clear that compliance and ethics training is required. Specifically, the Commentary states: Section 8B2.1(b)(4) makes compliance and ethics training a requirement, and specifically extends the training requirement to the upper levels of an organization, including the governing authority and high-level personnel, in addition to all the organization's employees...

In addition to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, various other laws, cases, and regulations require or encourage training on ethics and compliance topics. United States Sentencing Commission website http://www.ussc.gov/orgguide.htm.