Corruption Costs.
In recent times, corruption scandals have brought down governments, destroyed corporations, derailed the careers of executives and public leaders, and eroded public trust. Corruption is a hidden risk that can threaten the reputation — and the very existence — of any organization.
- Do you know if corrupt practices exist in your organization?
- How do others view your organization’s integrity?
- Is corruption limiting your agency’s effectiveness?
- How do you know the tell-tale signs of corruption’s presence?
- Do you have in place procedures and systems to prevent, deter, and detect incidences of venality?
Corrupt practices and abuses of authority destroy the nexus between productive work and reward in any organization. Even when undetected, the mere perception of impropriety and abuse undermines morale and productivity. When corruption cases break into scandals, organizations risk major damage in reputation and loss of goodwill among stakeholders. Increasingly, public agencies, corporations, and civil society organizations recognize that integrity is essential to every enterprise’s long-run success.
But the work of strengthening integrity and controlling corruption in organizations is not an easy task. It is fraught with landmines and blind alleys. Many activists and advocates of integrity programs often face high obstacles and persistent opposition to initiating and sustaining their work. The corrupt may have powerful constituencies and entrenched allies.
While there is stronger international public opinion against corruption and governance failure in countries and corporations, the knowledge and strategies on managing anti-corruption work are not as developed. Public managers and organizational leaders face an uncertain and uphill battle for integrity and accountability. Advocates of integrity around the world struggle to institutionalize best practices and a lasting commitment to change.
Strengthening your organization’s integrity includes several tasks:
- Diagnosing corruption risks and integrity gaps in an organization or in a specific project;
- Detecting and responding to behaviors that undermine organizational integrity; keeping in mind that the way organizations respond to corruption scandals and allegations often matters as much as whether they have occurred;
- Developing robust systems to prevent corruption by developing an ethics regime and aligning organizational incentives with principles of integrity specific to any given enterprise;
- Learning from corruption vulnerabilities and incidents, and sharing them across sub-units of an organization what works over time; and
- Convincingly demonstrating to key stakeholders of the organization how best practices in integrity are being upheld even in challenging governance environments where the practice of integrity is not rewarded and corrupt practices are assumed to be inevitable.
Our Qualifications:
Sea-Change Partners have extensive experience advising and managing in international organizations at senior levels on issues of organizational integrity and in developing complete anti-corruption strategies. Our professionals have also taught and produced cutting-edge research in the field of anti-corruption, integrity, and governance in several international organizations – including the United Nations and the World Bank — and university settings – including design and delivery of the Anti-Corruption Executive Program at Harvard University.
How We Can Help You:
Sea-Change provides three types of services that address the complex needs of organizations in a range of settings.