SITUATION/PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:
Procter&Gamble (P&G) wants to maintain high standards of ethics and business conduct in all its branches all over the world. This is why it created The Procter&Gamble Guide to Business Ethics as the guideline to all employees on all levels of the organisation.

PROJECT/SOLUTION DESCRIPTION:
The main objective of launching the Guide was to present employees the most up-dated guidelines and regulations as well as set the ethic standards conform to the company values. The Guide to Business Ethics is the basis of assessment of actions taken by the company's employees and those taken towards stakeholders and clients. The set of standards of business conduct is uniform for all the P&G employees in every branch of the organisation.

P&G Guide to Business Ethics is focuses around five basic issues:

• Conflict of interest;
• Behaviours at the workplace;
• Information about the Company and Consumers;
• Reliability of the Company's Financial Documentation;
• Honest rules of operation and competition.

The Guide contains the patterns of business behaviours with detailed descriptions to avoid possible doubts. The content and interpretation of the Guide is surveyed by the P&G Ethics Commission. The HR cooperated with the managers of each department and made sure that: each employee received a copy of the new code, participated in the training in the form of a presentation, completed the electronic course confirmed by the certificate, signed the statement which confirmed an employee knows the content of the Guide and has committed to follow the principle it contained. At the same, the company reinforced the message on the mechanism to follow the Guide and reporting possible case of non-conform behaviour.

BENEFITS:

• Unifying standards of behaviour in the company;
• Reinforcing organisation culture;
• The Guide contains numerous references to daily work and discussions with clients;

CHALLENGES:

• Language change (the guide was written in English and required detailed translation);
• No Internet access for factory workers (it was temporarily provided);

WORTH REMEMBERING:

• Efficient introduction of ethical norm depends on well-organised internal communication;
• It is much easier to introduce such solutions if the company has a strong culture based on values and human capital.