The Harvard Business Review (December 2005) has a useful article (Professors L. Paine,
R. Deshpandé, J. D. Margolis, and K. Bettcher) which helps to provide a useful overview of what should be considered in a Corporate Code of Conduct.

The authors identify 8 governing ethical principles: The Global Business Standards Codex (GBS Codex). These 8 principles to create or evaluate a Code of Conduct. Their most important aspects are:

1. The Fiduciary Principle (Diligence, Loyalty).
2. The Property Principle (Protection, Theft).
3. The Reliability Principle (Contracts Premises, Commitments).
4. The Transparency Principle (Thruthfulness, Deception, Disclosure, Candor, Objectivity).
5. The Dignity Principle (Respect for the Individual, Health and Safety, Privacy and Confidentiality, Use of Force, Associatiation & Expression, Learning & Development, Employment Security).
6. The Fairness Principle (Fair Dealing, Fair Treatment, Fair Competition, Fair Process).
7. The Citizenship Principle (Law & Regulation, Public Goods, Cooperation with Authorities, Political Noninvolvement, Civic Contribution, .
8. The Responsiveness Principle (Addressing Concerns, Public Involvement).

To download the article from the HBR website, visit http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=R0512H or visit your university library.

Information about this HBR article was sourced from http://www.managementlogs.com/business_ethics.html