New Award Program to Highlight Ethical Business Practices
Center Valley, PA - May 24, 2011 - The first annual Societas Award for Responsible Corporate Conduct has been created by a regional group of business leaders to emphasize the importance of ethics in today's corporate world.
Applications for the award are now being accepted by the Forum for Ethics in the Workplace. Managing Director, Fr. Thomas Dailey, explained that the award resulted from collaborative research performed by members of the Forum's board of directors over the past 12 months.
"As we approached our organization's tenth anniversary, we wanted to create a useful tool for educating and training people on the real-world application of ethics in a business environment. There is plenty of information out there today about bad actors in the business world. We feel that there is room for tangible examples of how companies do the 'right things' in their day-to-day operations."
The Societas Award shows how real companies incorporate ethical standards and best practices throughout their business model.
To be eligible for the award, companies must submit a detailed application package that addresses recognized elements of ethical business practices such as sound financial practices, compliance with both the letter and spirit of the law, accountability at all levels of the organization, and good corporate citizenship. The application was designed to collect information that should be readily available at companies with standard quality and compliance programs in place.
"This is a competitive program," said Kevin Flemming, President of Integrity Personnel, Inc. and chair of the Societas Award committee. "This is not the type of award that businesses can receive by buying an advertisement or sponsorship. In fact, there are no entry or application fees." Flemming said the Forum's board wanted to make sure the award criteria remain stringent, while ensuring the submission process is manageable for businesses that wish to measure their practices against ethical standards.
As such, the award is being offered in two categories: one for small companies with less than 500 employees, and one for large companies. Although the submission requirements are the same, the small business category enables companies that may not have completely documented processes to compete with one another (versus competing with larger, publicly traded companies that have more formalized systems in place).
The Societas Award is open to all for-profit companies headquartered in Eastern Pennsylvania. Applications will be reviewed by a panel of independent judges made up of business and academic professionals. The two awards will be presented to the winning companies at a breakfast program sponsored by the Forum on September 8, 2011.
All applications must be completed by July 15, 2011 in order to be considered for this year's award. Information about the award, as well as forms and instructions, can be found on the Forum's web site at www.desales.edu/salesian (then scroll to the Forum icon).
About Forum for Ethics in the Workplace
The Forum for Ethics in the Workplace is a not-for-profit, wholly-owned subsidiary of DeSales University in Center Valley, PA. The Forum seeks to provide opportunities for people to come together for study, reflection, conversation, and action on ethical issues in the workplace.
The Forum hosts a quarterly breakfast series at DeSales that features guest lecturers on topics of controversy or current interests that have real-world ethical implications.
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