TAKING THE PULSE - ETHICS AND THE BRITISH COOPERATIVE-BANK

Policy statements on ethical issues abound. If all organisations which produce mission statements, codes of practice or ethical codes were, therefore, ethical in conduct and performance, business ethics would b e non-problematic. However, the effectiveness of corporate codes of et hics is dependent, inter alia, on the day-to-day behaviour of managers . Interest in the impact of ethical codes and mission statements on ma nagerial behaviour has grown in recent years. The assumption underlyin g this paper is that one way of enriching our understanding of the eth ical behaviour of managers is to focus on actual behaviour in real org anisations. This paper reports the findings of a research project aime d at discovering the extent to which the British Cooperative Bank's Et hical Policy influences the behaviour of those managers at the Bank wh o are responsible for achieving the Bank's objectives in acquiring new business in the corporate market. It seeks to explore the impact of t he Bank's Ethical Policy on the day-to-day behaviour of a significant group of the Bank's managers.