Among honorees from 21 countries, 5 continents, and 45 industries, several Baldrige Award-winning organizations (as well as other organizations on Baldrige journeys) made the Ethisphere Institute’s 2016 “The World’s Most Ethical Companies” list of just over 100 organizations.

Ethisphere Institute is identified as “a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, recognizing companies that go beyond making statements about doing business ‘ethically’ and translate words into actions by promoting ethical business standards internally and exceeding legal compliance minimums through best practices.”

Among the honorees are:

• 2007 Baldrige Award recipient Sharp Healthcare (San Diego, CA)
• 2006 Baldrige Award recipient Premier (Charlotte, NC)
• 2000 Baldrige Award recipient CH2M (formerly Operations Management International, Inc.) (Greenwood Village, CO)
• 1993 Baldrige Award recipient Eastman Chemical Company (Kingsport, TN)
• 1992 Baldrige Award recipient Texas Instruments (Dallas, TX)
• 1989 Baldrige Award recipient Milliken & Company (Spartanburg, SC)
• 1989 Baldrige Award recipient Xerox Corporation (Stamford, CT)

Others on the list with a connection to a Baldrige Award recipient include 3M Company (3M Dental Products Division was a Baldrige Award recipient in 1997) and Hospital Corporation of America (2014 Baldrige Award recipient St. David’s HealthCare (SDH)—one of the largest hospital systems in Texas—is a unique partnership between St. David’s Foundation, Hospital Corporation of America, and Georgetown Health Foundation).

According to its website, Ethisphere uses a proprietary rating system called the corporate Ethics Quotient, which is comprised of multiple-choice questions that represent a company’s ethical performance. Organizations are invited to apply, with the majority being corporate and large in size.

Within the Baldrige Excellence Framework (versions of which all of the organizations noted above had fully implemented at the time of their Baldrige Award wins), ethics is part of a Core Value and Concept present in all high-performing organizations. In addition, within Category 1 Leadership, considerations are given for how an organization fulfills its ethical responsibilities and promotes ethical behavior, and in Category 5 Workforce, considerations are offered for how workforce and leader development supports ethics and ethical business practices. Further, in item 7.4 Leadership and Governance Results, results for ethical behavior, including stakeholder trust in senior leaders and governance, and breaches of ethical behavior, are considered.

How would your organization rate among the world’s most ethical?