Does integrity drive performance? Apparently it does.
Novartis, a leading healthcare company, has adopted a philosophy that places integrity at the center of their strategy for success.
“Leading Companies, see integrity not as obstacle to competitiveness but as a driver of differentiation.”
Dan Ostergaard, Head of Corporate integrity, Novartis
Novartis, a leading healthcare company, has adopted a philosophy that places integrity at the center of their strategy for success.
“Leading Companies, see integrity not as obstacle to competitiveness but as a driver of differentiation.”
Dan Ostergaard, Head of Corporate integrity, Novartis
PricewaterhouseCoopers developed an integrity driven performance model that centers on governance, transparency and accountability reform.
“This strategy suggests that business integrity, ethics and values do not detract from performance but, in fact, add to business performance when appropriately integrated throughout an organization.” PricewaterhouseCoopers.Both approaches demonstrate practical ways to realize results through integrity.
Translating strategy into practice requires standards of performance for establishing, promoting and enforcing business integrity.
The establishment of business integrity begins by translating mission and values into operational systems such as codes of conduct, policies, and management processes.
Business integrity is promoted by reflecting ethical considerations in objectives/ incentives, in leadership and in training. This includes a performance assessment matrix of objectives and behaviors.
Enforcement of business integrity is ensured through an integrated approach to decision making, continuous monitoring, reporting procedures, complaints handling as well as audits.
PricewaterhouseCoopers introduced an integrity –driven performance strategy that reflected their research into the best-practices approach to Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC).This strategy adopts three core principles of GRC integration, co-ordination, and compliance
The first principle requires that organizations integrate their approach to GRC in order to foster a culture of business integrity and accountability.
The second principle requires the effective coordination of people, process and technology capabilities so that an integrity-driven GRC performance strategy is embedded in the fabric of the organization.
The third principle requires a vision of business conduct and compliance that supports compliance with both the letter and spirit of the law. Compliance in this instance is both internal and external.
PricewaterhouseCoopers outlines four fundamental enablers of integrity driven performance:
• The change to a culture of business integrity and ethical values.
• An integrated GRC approach embedded into core business processes.
• A deployed performance measurement system.
• Leveraged technology.
Neither Novartis nor PricewaterhouseCoopers offer formal definitions of integrity.
Integrity can be defined as wholeness, becoming and objectivity. In simple terms it is doing the right thing, doing the next right thing and doing things the right way.
Both Novartis and PricewaterhouseCoopers address the changing reality of their environment.
Both argue for an approach that recognizes that ends and the means are equally important in success.
Both recognize the need to transform the culture.
PricewaterhouseCoopers has designed a model to integrate governance, risk and compliance that will successfully address the issues and concerns of recent organizational failures.
Novartis has created a system for integrity based decision making as well as a performance matrix based on performance and behavior.
Both organizations assume people engagement and self-actualization will emerge as a result of their integrity driven performance. I would suggest this is a large assumption.
Want to learn more? Contact me at 706-267-0609. I want to speak to you about integrity and how it can help you and all of us.
Douglas Ross is an advocate for the promotion of integrity as a strategy for performance.
© 2010 All Rights Reserved, Douglas Ross, Principle Dynamics Consulting Inc.
Very nice article. Integrity-driven performance has always been at the core of long-term success. We began wrting about, coined the phrase, and trademarked the term "Integrity-Driven" back in 1992. Since then, we have seen the length of time between major scandals diminish from about every 12-15 years to almost daily. I'm not sure that self-actualization emerges from integrity-driven performance. I suspect that integrity-driven performance emerges from self-actualized individuals and organizations.
Randy Pennington
Author, On My Honor, I Will: The Journey to Integrity-Driven Leadership
http://www.onmyhonorbook.net
Posted by: RandyPennington | September 22, 2010 at 05:11 PM