CORE PRINCIPLES OF

FAIRNESS,
ACCOUNTABILITY, AND
TRANSPARENCY
 Notions of Accountability, Fairness, and
Transparency
■ Business leadership affects the moral capability
and performance of organizations. Business
leaders influence the scope and character of
formal ethics programs and the integration of
ethics into everyday organizational life. However,
most practicing business leaders in most
countries most of the time are not held
accountable for dysfunctional moral, social, and
environmental performance.
The Four Key Dimensions of Integrity
Capacity
■ Process
These should present challenges
■ Judgment for business leaders so that they
become more aware of moral
■ Development concerns and thus respond
■ System more effectively to the problems
that arise.
 ACCOUNTABILITY
■ Accountability structure are the most important aspect of prevention
and detection of corruption. A civil society organization without proper
accountability systems is fragile and open to rumors about
mismanagement and abuse of power.

Accountability----- what it is:

 To be accountable is to be liable or justify one’s action and decision.

 Accountability is the process of explanation and justification.
 Holding to account is the process of requiring explanation and justification, but it is
also about testing, forming a judgment and if necessary, taking action.
 Accountability implies responsibility: it is reasonable only to hold people to account
for those things for which they are responsible.
 Accountability---- what is not:
 It is not synonymous with responsibility.
 It does not imply a management relationship.
 It is not a “one off” annual event.
 It is not the same as appraisal.
 It is not about confrontation, “putting someone in his place” or “giving him
a hard time”

Accountability Structures
• Accountability is the ability to account for your actions and
performance to your stakeholders. Accountability includes the
fact that persons (your stakeholders) are willing and able to hold
you accountable.
 Fairness
■ Fairness---in the context of a business organization---involves
balancing the interests involved in all decision-making
including and decisions related to hiring, firing, and the
compensation and reward system.
■ Overall, fairness has to do with justice, which is to give to
another that which is due him or her. More concretely,
justice: (1) looks at the balance of benefits and burdens
distributed among members of a group; and/or (2) can
result from the application of rules, policies, or laws that
apply to a society or a group. In general, the results of
actions override utilitarian results.
 Transparency
■ Transparency is the extent to which investors
have ready access to required financial
information about a company, such as price
levels, market depth and audited financial
reports. Transparency helps reduce price
volatility, because all the market participants
can base decisions of value on the same data.
 Notions of Competence, Professionalism,
and Responsibility
■ Studies show that moral character and technical competence are
viewed as being equally important for worker excellence. The greater
the need to engage with co-workers who have different values, interest
and needs, the more important it becomes for employees to be able to
connect with colleagues, to understand different perspectives, to
balance sometimes conflicting claims and to act competently both
interpersonally and ethically. In order to do that, a responsible worker
needs a minimum set of skills, as well as more and relational qualities.
The following are the minimum competencies expected of professional:

Technical Skills Human Skills Conceptual Skills