Steps in Writing a Business Code of Conduct
Identifying the People Involved in Developing the Code of Conduct: The first step in writing a business code of conduct is to inquire to identify how many people are going to write the code of conduct. The development of the code can involve top-level management staff, heads of departments, and managers.
Identifying the Past Ethical Issues: The next important step after identifying the persons to be involved is to identify the past ethical issues or problems that caused conflicts, misunderstandings, or issues in the working culture. Such issues could have stemmed from not complying with the code of conduct.
Writing a Draft: The next step after identifying the past ethical issues is to develop a draft that includes all the codes of conduct, which would be discussed first and then finalized. The outline can include the firm’s culture, employees’ behavior, the dress code to be followed, regulations regarding the use of the company's property and use of technology in the company, privacy-related policies, etc.
Draft Discussion: After developing the draft, it is submitted to the top-level management or the stakeholders for further discussion.
Final Draft: When the written draft is observed and checked by the top management, it becomes a final draft that becomes ready to be published for the employees.