In response to fraud and corruption scandals, organisations have strengthened their compliance systems. Codes of conduct, procedures, controls and sanctions form an architecture designed to reduce risks and demonstrate zero tolerance.
But there is a downside to this approach. Behind the apparent solidity of the system lies a more fragile reality: discomfort at work, loss of meaning, and a climate of mistrust. Compliance reduces ethics to obedience, rather than stimulating moral judgement. It creates a culture of control, rather than a culture of integrity.
The adverse effects of control
Un dispositif centré sur la conformité peut générer des tensions importantes. Employees experience the rule as a distant constraint disconnected from their daily dilemmas.
Pressure to obey often leads to anxiety, fear of making mistakes, or discouragement. In some cases, the system ends up undermining motivation rather than reinforcing it. It also ignores invisible but decisive factors: implicit biases, social norms, gender discrimination, and power dynamics. All of these factors shape ethical behaviour in organisations.
Beyond rules: a values-based approach
To overcome these limitations, more and more stakeholders are calling for a framework that combines compliance and values. Ethics cannot be reduced to rules. It also requires an individual and collective capacity for discernment, dialogue and care.
Value-based approaches are based on trust and ownership. They encourage employees to act not only because they are obliged to, but because they identify with the principles and goals of their organisation.
The ethics of care: a new way of thinking about integrity
for a framework that combines compliance and values.
L’éthique du care, développée par Carol Gilligan et Joan Tronto, offre un cadre puissant pour repenser l’intégrité. It emphasises caring for people, recognising their vulnerabilities and working together to develop ethical solutions.
Rather than imposing a vertical system of governance, care values dialogue and shared responsibility. It offers a virtuous cycle: identifying needs, feeling concerned, taking appropriate action and reporting back. This process fosters a climate of solidarity and trust, which is essential for team motivation and commitment.
When the organisation supports its employees
Some institutions are beginning to experiment with this approach. For example, at the French Development Agency, an ethics department offers a confidential listening service to help employees facing dilemmas in their work. This department does not report to senior management; it is independent of the hierarchy, but advises it on integrity issues. (Nicaise, 2022)
Another example is the Swiss Cooperation, which has set up participatory workshops on integrity culture, encouraging dialogue and recognition of failures as a source of learning. (ibid)
These experiences show that it is possible to build organisational integrity that is based not only on control, but also on trust and mutual recognition.
The positive effects of care-inspired management
An ethical framework based on care and values involves recognising individuals’ vulnerabilities, promoting listening and cooperation, and integrating collective responsibility into decision-making. In concrete terms, it offers employees not only rules, but also spaces for dialogue and autonomy to judge and act ethically, which strengthens their commitment and the culture of trust within the organisation.
An ethical framework based on care and values has several positive effects:
- it boosts employee morale and motivation;
it encourages ownership of the rules, rather than simply tolerance of them;- it develops organisational resilience in the face of integrity crises;
- it reduces long-term risks by consolidating a culture of collective responsibility.
Rather than stifling initiative, it opens up spaces where everyone can exercise their moral judgement.
The Ethicor approach
At Ethicor, we support organisations in this transformation. We help move beyond a limited view of compliance to build a true culture of integrity.
Our approach is based on listening, paying attention to people, and understanding the contexts in which dilemmas arise. It aims to recognise organisational vulnerabilities, prevent trauma related to integrity crises, and rebuild trust.
By integrating the principles of care ethics, Ethicor promotes autonomy, accountability and meaning at work. We help organisations create environments where trust and shared responsibility become resources, not slogans.
From rules to trust
Compliance is necessary, but it is not enough. To prevent malpractice and foster an ethical and prosperous working environment, we must go further: invest in embodied ethics that are people-centred and community-based.
