Thesis (MA (Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Sexual relationships in the psychotherapeutic setting have always been regarded as unethical and sexual attraction between therapist and client has generally proved to be awkward and anxiety provoking for those involved. Although research indicates that these relationships do occur, and that sexual feelings between therapists and clients are not infrequent, there is little conceptual clarity on the dynamics thereof. Consequently, the available guidelines and ethical rules regulating such sexual contact generally take the form of “thou shalt not…” and provide limited assistance to therapists in managing such situations in a manner that protects the integrity of the therapeutic relationship. This review assumes the presence of the psychodynamic phenomenon of transference in all psychotherapeutic relationships, and constructs sexual attraction and contact as the product of the sub-concept of erotic transference. Against this background, the review presents the dynamics of erotic transference in terms of its nature, impact and management. On this basis, current ethical codes and training issues are reviewed, guidelines for proper prevention and management are suggested and important directions for future research are identified.

我國加入WTO後，保險市場加速開放，保險行銷亦走向多元化，而保險經紀人屬於保險行銷之一環，因此如何健全保險經紀市場以維護保險業之正常運作，並兼顧消費者權益，實係監理機關之一大課題。 2004年10月14日，美國紐約州檢察官史匹哲（Eliot Spitzer）正式起訴國際保險經紀人，此起訴案為保險經紀業界投入震撼彈，引發保險經紀人之利益衝突等問題。而我國亦隨之檢討保險經紀人於保險交易中，雙重代理及保單條件與再保條件不一致之問題。因此如何避免保險經紀人之利益衝突，並尋求解決之道，無疑係現階段各國監理機關之重要課題。 而本文以「論保險經紀人之自律規範與法令遵循」為題，嘗試先就保險經紀人之利益衝突之態樣、國內外案例及解決方法做一探討；其次再就美國、歐洲、巴塞爾銀行監理委員會及國際保險監理官協會等之法令遵循計畫做介紹，嘗試為我國保險經紀人之法令遵循制度勾勒完整之藍圖；再其次針對英國金融服務管理局、保險監理官協會、紐約州之保險經紀人自律規範為介紹，引導出我國保險經紀人自律規範之立法走向；最後做一評析與建議。 / Since the entrance into WTO, the market of insurance is opened speedily and the marketing of insurance also trends to diversify in Taiwan. To be a part of insurance marketing, it is essential for the regulatory to enhance the operation of market of insurance brokers regularly and protect the rights of consumers. In 14 Oct,2004, the New York Attorney General Spitzer filed a civil suit in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, bringing charges of fraud and antitrust violations against leading insurance broker Marsh & McLennan Cos. (MMC). This case shocked the industry of insurance brokers and emerged the scandals of conflict of interest. Therefore the fierce debate on dual brokerage and difference in condition during the process of insurance mediation was going on in Taiwan. So undoubtedly the most important task of the regulatory all over the world right now is to avoid the conflict of interest of insurance brokers and solve it . The main theme of this paper focuses on the issue of Code Of Conduct And Legal Compliance Of Insurance Brokers. In the first place, the forms of conflict of interest of insurance brokers in Taiwan and overseas are addressed and the solutions are suggested. Second, some models of the legal compliance are examined, including U.S., Europe, Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and International Association of Insurance Supervisors. And the structure of legal compliance of insurance brokers in Taiwan is established. Third, the codes of conduct of insurance brokers abroad, ex: the Financial Services Authority of UK, National Association of Insurance and the Insurance Department of New York State are introduced. Then the guidance of code of conduct of insurance brokers in Taiwan is proposed. As possible contribution to the reform of insurance brokers in Taiwan, some conclusive remarks and suggestions are submitted in the final place.

Au Québec, la Loi sur les services de santé et les services sociaux, Chapitre S-4.2, à son article 233, demande à ce que chacun des établissements de santé, dispose d’un code d’éthique qui essentiellement demande de préciser les droits des usagers et de fixer les conduites attendues du personnel. Le législateur souhaitait améliorer les conduites du personnel dès le début des années 1990 et envisageait désigner un organisme de surveillance pour s’en assurer. Cette contrainte ne fut pas retenue et 20 ans plus tard, la volonté d’assurer des conduites attendues n’est toujours pas assujettie de contraintes ou de contrôles même si elle est toujours souhaitée. En 2003 toutefois, le Ministre a mis en place un processus de visites ministérielles dans les milieux d’hébergement et à ce jour quelques 150 établissements ont été visités. Ces équipes se sont préoccupées entre autre de la fonction du code d’éthique pour soutenir les directions de ces établissements. Elles ne réussissent pas à pouvoir s’appuyer sur le code d’éthique pour qu’il soit l’assise pour baser les décisions cliniques, organisationnelles et de gestion de chacune des organisations du réseau de la santé et des services sociaux du Québec. Il faut à ce moment-ci faire le constat que le code d’éthique, obligatoire, figure au nombre des nombreuses contraintes rencontrées par les organisations. Les établissements doivent passer un processus d’agrément aux trois ans et le code d’éthique n’est pas davantage un élément dynamique retenu à ce processus de validation de normes de qualité. De plus, une revue québécoise spécialisée en gestion de la santé a consacré un numéro complet de 15 articles sur « éthique et comportements » et le code d’éthique y est absent sauf pour deux articles qui s’y attardent spécifiquement. Est-ce une question d’éthique dont il est question par ce code, ou si ce n’est pas davantage de la déontologie, d’autant que le législateur veut avant tout s’assurer de comportements adéquats de la part des employés et des autres personnes qui exercent leur profession. Est-ce qu’un code de conduite ne serait pas plus approprié pour atteindre les fins visées? Cette question est répondue dans ce mémoire qui regarde les concepts d’éthique, de déontologie, de codes, de régulation des comportements. De plus, des analyses détaillées de 35 codes d’éthique actuels de divers établissements et de diverses régions du Québec iv sont présentées. La littérature nous donne les conditions de réussite pour un code et outre l’importance à accorder aux valeurs énoncées dans l’organisation, il est également question des sanctions à prévoir au non-respect de ces valeurs. Elles se doivent d’être claires et appliquées. Enfin, beaucoup d’organisations parlent maintenant de code de conduite et ce terme serait tout à fait approprié pour rejoindre le souhait du législateur qui veut assurer des conduites irréprochables des employés et autres personnes qui y travaillent. C’est la conclusion de ce travail, énoncée sous forme de recommandation. / Quebec’s Health and Social Services Law, ch. S-4.2, art. 233, requires that every health institution have a code of ethics that, in essence, sets out the rights of patients and the manner in which staff are expected to conduct themselves. The legislator had hoped that improvements in the conduct of personnel would begin to be seen at the start of the 1990s, and wanted to set up a watchdog body to ensure that progress was made. In the end, no such body was created, and 20 years later, even though they are still very much wished for, constraints and controls over staff conduct remain sorely lacking. In 2003 the Minister of Health and Social Services began a series of official visits to hospitals which to date have covered 150 institutions, and in each of these visits the minister’s teams have, with the backing of the hospitals’ administrators, made a point of looking at how each institution’s code of ethics is working. The general consensus of administrators, however, is that no health institution in Quebec has been able to use the ethics code as a basis for making clinical, organizational or managerial decisions. On the contrary, having a mandatory ethics code is seen by many as a hindrance, one among many that the institutions have to deal with. Every three years each institution goes through a process of re-accreditation to ensure it complies with government standards of quality, but its ethics code is not considered an important and dynamic element in this re-evaluation. One example of this blind spot: When a Quebec periodical specializing in health-care management published a special issue on “ethics and behaviour,” only two of its 15 articles specifically mentioned the notion of a code of ethics. This raises the question: Is “ethics” too general a term? Given that the legislator’s goal is to ensure proper behaviour on the part of staff and others who exercise their profession in the institutions – in other words, a preoccupation with professional ethics – would it not be more appropriate to instead refer to a “code of conduct”? This question is addressed in this thesis, through an examination of the concepts of ethics, professional ethics, codes and regulation of behaviour. As well, a detailed analyses of 35 ethics codes in diverse institutions throughout Quebec is presented. The vi academic literature provides ways of measuring the success of a code of ethics, and besides the importance given to institutional values, there is also the question of sanctions to impose when those values are not respected. Values must be clear to be properly applied. Finally, many organizations now refer to “codes of conduct” – a highly appropriate term, given that the legislator’s goal is to ensure that the conduct of employees and other personnel in health establishments is beyond reproach. This, in fact, is my conclusion, spelled out in the form of a recommendation.

Efter flertalet skandaler och kriser samt en ökad kunskap om hur jorden påverkas av individers agerande behöver också företag börja ta sitt ansvar. Det utvidgade ansvaret kallas CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) eller ansvarsfullt företagande och det arbetet kräver självregleringar exempelvis med hjälp av uppförandekoder. Livsmedelsföretag är en bransch där allt fler företag satsar på ansvarsfullt företagande och använder uppförandekoder. Kodernas innehåll och effekt utgör två inriktningar inom forskningen som har studerats tidigare med ett blandat och motsägande resultat angående dess effekt på det etiska beteendet. Dock återfinns relativt få studier om den tredje inriktningen som berör hur koderna transformeras i organisationer och hur kontextuella faktorer kan inverka i processen. Syftet med studien är således att få en ökad förståelse för vad som kan påverka uppförandekodernas effekt på beteende genom att studera en intern transformativ process, det vill säga hur en kod implementeras, används och kommuniceras. Vidare syftar studien också till att skapa förståelse för varför koden fungerar som uppvisat och belysa dess roll i att skapa en etisk företagskultur. Studien har genomförts med en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi för att på djupet skapa förståelse för fenomenet uppförandekoder. En fallstudiedesign utgjordes av en livsmedelskoncern med fokus på två olika butikskedjor, bolag A och B. Huvudsakligen har intervjuer genomförts och kompletterats med information från årsredovisningen, hållbarhetsredovisningen och hemsidan. Resultatet av studien visar att arbetet med uppförandekoden som riktar sig till leverantörerna, påverkas av interna och externa kontextuella faktorer. Främst används koden av personer i inköpsprocessen. På butiksnivå är det dock ingen som känner till uppförandekoden men det framkommer ett eventuellt behov av att även de får mer kunskap om hur arbetet med leverantörerna sker. Dels för att möta kundernas frågor i butik men också för att känna stolthet och trygghet vilket kan stärka deras identitet. Därmed är uppförandekodens roll i att skapa en etisk företagskultur större på central nivå jämfört med butiksnivå, men för att skapa ett genuint engagemang anses ledarna vara viktigast. På butiksnivå innehar det andra dokumentet etiska riktlinjer, med krav inåt i organisationen, en möjlig indirekt påverkan via ledarna eftersom ca 1000 tjänstemän årligen signerar det. Det innebär dock att långt ifrån samtliga medarbetare kommer i direkt kontakt med någon form av uppförandekod. Studien visar därmed att etiska kärnvärden och etiskt ledarskap i kombination utgör ett värderingsstyrt ledarskap som innehar en större roll i att skapa en etisk företagskultur på butiksnivå. / After multiple scandals, crises as well as increased knowledge in how the earth is affected by actions of individuals, there is a need for companies to start owning their responsibility. The extended responsibility named CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) or responsible business, demands work in form of self-regulations with help from codes of conduct. Grocery retailers are in an industry where more companies aim to be responsible businesses and uses codes of conduct. Regarding the research field of codes, the contents of the codes and their effects make two directions that have been researched earlier with various and inconsistent results regarding the codes’ effect on behaviour. However, little research has been found regarding the third direction, which involves research in how the codes transform in organizations and contextual factors can affect this process. The aim with the study is therefore to receive a greater understanding of what might affect codes’ effect on behaviour, by studying an internal transformation process, that is, how a code gets implemented, used and communicated in the organization. Furthermore, the study aims to explain why the codes work as shown and tries to enlighten its role in creating an ethical corporate culture. The study has been conducted by a qualitative research strategy in order to create a greater understanding for the phenomena that is codes of conduct. A case study design was made with focus on a food group and two of its store chains called firm A and B. Primarily interviews have been completed and complemented by information from the annual report, sustainability report and the website. Results of the study show that the work with the code of conduct directed towards suppliers are being affected by internal and external contextual factors. People involved in the purchase process mainly use the code. At store level however, no one is greatly aware of the code of conduct. Nevertheless, it is apparent that there is a need for more knowledge regarding how the work with suppliers takes place. Partly because there is need to be able to answer customer’s questions, but also because the employees should feel pride and security, which can strengthen their identity. Consequently, the role of the code of conduct in creating an ethical corporate culture is larger on a central level rather than on store level, but in order to create genuine engagement leaders are the most important. On store level, another document called ethical guidelines; aimed inwards the organization, has a possible indirect effect through store managers since 1000 officials annually sign it. This implies that far from all employees come in direct contact with any kind of code of conduct. The study rather shows that the combination of ethical core values and ethical leadership creates a values-based leadership that holds a greater role in creating an ethical corporate culture, on store level.

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2016-08-24T16:53:21Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Paulo Roberto Reichelt Ayres_.pdf: 1074626 bytes, checksum: abde0e1ff20c630c8e8452c12a5ac431 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-24T16:53:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Paulo Roberto Reichelt Ayres_.pdf: 1074626 bytes, checksum: abde0e1ff20c630c8e8452c12a5ac431 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-04-29 / Nenhuma / De tempos em tempos, assuntos relacionados à governança corporativa ganham maior destaque no ambiente de negócios. Normalmente, fruto de escândalos financeiros ou atos de corrupção envolvendo grandes organizações, os debates sobre boas práticas de governança, tais como: comitês de auditoria e gestão de risco, criação de áreas de controle interno e implantação de códigos de conduta, ressurgem no cenário econômico. O código de conduta é parte integrante de um sistema de controle de gestão, perfazendo o elo com o processo de governança corporativa, auxiliando na elevação dos parâmetros éticos da organização e melhorando assim a confiança dos investidores. Diante disso, este trabalho propôs-se a estudar se existe relação entre códigos de conduta e risco corporativo. Para tanto, efetuou-se a escolha de um índice acionário da BM&F BOVESPA e procedeu-se a leitura de todos os códigos de conduta das empresas que compõe esse índice. Adicionalmente, foi utilizada a base de dados da Economática para obter volatilidade das ações desse índice (considerada como proxy de risco) e também as variáveis de controle que foram utilizadas no modelo econométrico. Adotou-se o método de análise de conteúdo para converter texto em variáveis numéricas, visando posterior avaliação quantitativa de dados. Com base nos resultados apurados pela equação de regressão linear múltipla, não há uma relação estatística significativa entre códigos de conduta e o risco. O p-value calculado foi muito acima dos 5% e a utilização dos códigos de conduta não permite explicar o nível de risco apresentado pelas organizações. Este resultado pode ter sido influenciado pela escolha da volatilidade das ações como proxy de risco. Além disso, é possível que apenas o código de conduta, reconhecido como instrumento de um sistema de controle de gestão, não seja suficiente para explicar o nível de risco das empresas analisadas. / From time to time, issues related to corporate governance gained greater prominence in the business environment. Usually, the result of financial scandals and acts of corruption involving large organizations, the discussions on good governance practices, such as audit committees and risk management, creating areas of internal control and implementation of codes of conduct, re-emerging in the economic scenario . The Code of Conduct is an integral part of a management control system, making the link with the corporate governance process, assisting in raising the ethical standards of the organization and thus improving investor confidence. So, this study aimed to study whether there is a relationship between codes of conduct and corporate risk. Therefore, we performed the choice of a stock index of BM & F BOVESPA and proceeded to read all the codes of conduct of the companies that make up this index. Additionally, Economática database was used for stock volatility of this index (considered a risk proxy) and also the control variables used in the econometric model. Adopted the content analysis method to convert text to numeric variables, aimed at further quantitative evaluation data. Based on the results reported by multiple linear regression equation, there is no statistically significant relationship between codes of conduct and risk. The p-value calculated was much above 5% and the use of codes of conduct can not explain the level of risk posed by the organizations. This result may have been influenced by the choice of stock volatility as a risk proxy. Moreover, it is possible that only the code of conduct, recognized as an instrument of a management control system, is not sufficient to explain the level of risk of the companies analyzed.

Problems exist with ethical decision-making in U.S. construction engineering projects. The purpose of this study was to explore factors that affect ethical decision-making in engineering construction in the United States. The general concepts of marketing ethics, Kohlberg's discussion of ethical and moral reasoning development, and Gillian's discussion of ethical care served as the basis of the conceptual framework. Factors that inhibit ethical decision making were addressed in the research questions. The resulting narrative framework included implementable initiatives based on these factors that could improve the quality of ethical decision-making and the impact of these initiatives on the cost and quality of construction engineering projects. The use of qualitative grounded theory design led to findings from the research questions and enabled the development of a theory to explain the phenomenon. The research was based on data collected from interviews with a purposive sample of 12 civil engineers with 15 to 45 years of forensic and managerial experience with construction engineering projects. The constant comparative method was used to analyze the data. The principal finding from the research was that unethical decision-making in the legal and political systems undermines the image and authority of construction engineers in the United States. The findings of the study may cause social change by indicating how to enhance the ethical behavior of individuals involved in decision-making within the U.S. construction engineering industry, leading to improvements in the cost and quality of construction projects that benefit individual stakeholders as well as society.

<p>Integration av hållbar utveckling i företags strategier har lett till att bolagens styrning idag ställs inför nya typer av problem och möjligheter. Den ökade miljömedvetenheten bland kund och konsument skapar nya möjligheter för företag att omprofilera sig eller att förstärka ett redan existerande hållbara arbetssätt. Viktiga begrepp inom ett företags hållbara utveckling är Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), uppförandekoder och grön marknadsföring.</p><p>Studien behandlar hur ett marknadsledande företag, inom sitt segment, agerar i den hållbara utvecklingen mot sina huvudintressenter. I kartläggningen av hur ett marknadsledande företag miljöprofilerar sig har en analysmodell tagits fram med hjälp av befintlig accepterad teori. Modellens syfte är att skapa konsekvens och struktur då ett det marknadsledande företaget huvudsakliga miljöprojekt undersöks.</p><p>För att lösa det givna problemet har en kvalitativ forskningsmetod används. Tre stycken respondenter, anställda på SCA med anknytning till miljöarbete, har intervjuats i frågor berörande deras hållbara arbete.</p><p>Vad som tydligt framgår av studien är att det är viktigt att inte bara ha en nischad produkt, utan en nischad proaktiv miljöstrategi. Det viktiga är inte att ha ett grönt varumärke utan att varumärket laddas med en legitimitet i den direkta kommunikation som existerar mellan leverantör, kund och slutkonsument, som i denna studie är huvudintressenter för marknadsledaren. Kommunikationer mellan intressenterna sker med grön marknadsföring och en över tiden miljöanpassad uppförandekod.</p> / <p>The integration of sustainable development in corporate strategy has led to a radical change within the corporate governance system of today. Companies are facing a wide spectrum of new problems, but also opportunities.</p><p>Increasing environmental consciousness amongst customers and consumers has created possibilities for companies to reposition or reinforce an already sustainable way of work. Essential concepts for a thriving sustainable development are Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), codes of conduct and Green Marketing.</p><p>This study brings forth the actions and reactions of a leading enterprise towards developing a sustainable future, for its primary stakeholders.</p><p>During the course of mapping how a market leader develops an environmental profile, an analytical model has been created with the help of already existing and accepted theoretical frameworks. The purpose of this model is to create structure and consistency throughout the mapping of the market leading company’s primary environmental endeavours.</p><p>To solve the problem at hand, a qualitative method of research has been applied. Three respondents active in various fields, all with environmental connections, at Svenska Cellulosa AB (SCA) have been interviewed in questions concerning their work towards sustainability within the company.</p><p>What stands out in the conclusions is the importance of creating a certain niche in which to launch a proactive environmental strategy. A truly green brand is not what matters the most. What does matter is the fact that it is loaded with certain legitimacy in the direct communication arising between supplier, client and customer, these three being the main stakeholders within the study of this market leader.</p><p>Communication towards stakeholders goes through a filter of green marketing but also an, over time, environmentally adapted code of conduct.</p>

Integration av hållbar utveckling i företags strategier har lett till att bolagens styrning idag ställs inför nya typer av problem och möjligheter. Den ökade miljömedvetenheten bland kund och konsument skapar nya möjligheter för företag att omprofilera sig eller att förstärka ett redan existerande hållbara arbetssätt. Viktiga begrepp inom ett företags hållbara utveckling är Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), uppförandekoder och grön marknadsföring. Studien behandlar hur ett marknadsledande företag, inom sitt segment, agerar i den hållbara utvecklingen mot sina huvudintressenter. I kartläggningen av hur ett marknadsledande företag miljöprofilerar sig har en analysmodell tagits fram med hjälp av befintlig accepterad teori. Modellens syfte är att skapa konsekvens och struktur då ett det marknadsledande företaget huvudsakliga miljöprojekt undersöks. För att lösa det givna problemet har en kvalitativ forskningsmetod används. Tre stycken respondenter, anställda på SCA med anknytning till miljöarbete, har intervjuats i frågor berörande deras hållbara arbete. Vad som tydligt framgår av studien är att det är viktigt att inte bara ha en nischad produkt, utan en nischad proaktiv miljöstrategi. Det viktiga är inte att ha ett grönt varumärke utan att varumärket laddas med en legitimitet i den direkta kommunikation som existerar mellan leverantör, kund och slutkonsument, som i denna studie är huvudintressenter för marknadsledaren. Kommunikationer mellan intressenterna sker med grön marknadsföring och en över tiden miljöanpassad uppförandekod. / The integration of sustainable development in corporate strategy has led to a radical change within the corporate governance system of today. Companies are facing a wide spectrum of new problems, but also opportunities. Increasing environmental consciousness amongst customers and consumers has created possibilities for companies to reposition or reinforce an already sustainable way of work. Essential concepts for a thriving sustainable development are Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), codes of conduct and Green Marketing. This study brings forth the actions and reactions of a leading enterprise towards developing a sustainable future, for its primary stakeholders. During the course of mapping how a market leader develops an environmental profile, an analytical model has been created with the help of already existing and accepted theoretical frameworks. The purpose of this model is to create structure and consistency throughout the mapping of the market leading company’s primary environmental endeavours. To solve the problem at hand, a qualitative method of research has been applied. Three respondents active in various fields, all with environmental connections, at Svenska Cellulosa AB (SCA) have been interviewed in questions concerning their work towards sustainability within the company. What stands out in the conclusions is the importance of creating a certain niche in which to launch a proactive environmental strategy. A truly green brand is not what matters the most. What does matter is the fact that it is loaded with certain legitimacy in the direct communication arising between supplier, client and customer, these three being the main stakeholders within the study of this market leader. Communication towards stakeholders goes through a filter of green marketing but also an, over time, environmentally adapted code of conduct.

Business ethics is a fragmented and well covered scientific field. This Master thesis study concerns two type of organizations, namely family businesses (FB’s) and venture capital firms (VCF’s), in relation to the ethical decision-making process, which is a relatively undiscovered field. The study is conducted in the way it sheds a light on the influences on a manager when taking decisions concerning ethical considerations. Important scholars such as Colby and Kohlberg (1987) and Rest et al. (1999) framed the field of moral development of individuals, and what makes managers unaware of their unethical decisions (Bazerman, 2008). However, a manager’s possibility to take decisions is also influenced by organizational factors and actors. The type of management and ownership structure, and the expectations these actors have with regard to profits, as well as situational factors such as business strategy, maturity of the company, human and financial resources and market position are shaping the environment and possibility for managers to pursue ethical behavior because they affect the decision-making process.The purpose of this study is to understand how managers in FB’s and VCF’s manage ethical considerations. The creating of the conceptual framework was used as a foundation to visualize how ethical behavior is constructed, while the focus laid on the influences and possibility to take decisions including ethical considerations and content. While performing this research, we have conducted eight semi-structured interviews with managers in three VCF’s and two FB’s in Sweden. The respondent companies and interviewees remain anonymous. We did that to increase the chance of honest and unbiased answers since we saw a risk to receive adjusted and image improving responses.The empirical findings show that the VCF’s do not pay attention to ethical considerations in the same extent as FB’s do. Discovered reasons were lack of time and know-how, financial and human resources, business maturity and the fact that they were to generate a high ROI to the venture capitalist. Such a relationship makes the managers focus on profit maximization and short term objectives rather than ethical considerations. The two FB’s did have an ethical code of conduct with the employees and was constructed in order to fulfill acceptance, integration and efficiency with this management tool. The ethical codes of conduct were created with the goal to steer behavior and ensure ethical commitment in certain areas of interest. The major finding is that situational factors either suffocate or give room for ethical considerations in companies when taking decisions.In particular, this research contributes to the field of business ethics and VCF’s in general, but also with regard to FB’s. The results of this thesis are constructed in the decision-making model which is different than the ethical decision-making model we constructed based on the theoretical research. However, reality did not allow us to recognize the fragmented patterns we interpreted from the theory. We therefore created a new top-down model which takes the need for a decision in companies into account, the actors and factors in the organization, the situational factors that influence the happenings in the organization and the outcome of the decision, which possibly contains ethical considerations and content. With the improved model we visualize the decision-making process while taking influences towards ethical decision-making into consideration and visualize organizational reality as we discovered it.Key words: business ethics, ethical considerations, ethical code of conduct, moral awareness, ethical decision-making, ethical behavior, family business, venture capital firm, profit maximization, shareholder preferences.

This study begins with the question: "Is there a place for a Christian ethical code of conduct in the diverse and complex business world of today?" In chapter 2 I explain the context wherein one should understand this question. If you look at the history of South Africa you will see that there was discrimination that took place over a long period of time on the basis of race, religion and gender and that makes this issue a very sensitive one. The reason why it is so sensitive is if there were to be a Christian ethical code of conduct in the workplace could it lead to discrimination again? That is not allowed to happen under the current Constitution of South Africa. But the other side is also true, if you don?t have a Christian ethical code won?t you loose the beautiful things Scripture gives us on how to treat all people equally and fairly within the workplace? This study will show that according to the Constitution of South Africa it is possible to have a Christian ethical code of conduct as long it does not exclude any employee. In chapter 3 we have a look at Scripture that gives us guidelines on how to treat all people and also people in the workplace. Here are some examples: * the way employees should be handled; * the number of working hours the employees should be working; * the remuneration of the employees – is it fair; * how the Shareholders? / Stakeholders? interests are looked after; * the manner in which the business is being managed; * the Constitutional business environment; * the international law that transcends borders where macrobusinesses do business. In chapter 4 we look at the Christian ethical perspective in the business. We look at the role of the economy and the core values to manage a business. In chapter 5 we end with an example of a workable Christian ethical code of conduct and we compare two large business codes of conduct. / Thesis (Th.M. (Ethics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.