Inside Jobs

On the heels of my last post on CI teachable moments come developments from another case frought with lessons. The alleged theft of Goldman Sachs proprietary trading code by their former programmer shines the spotlight once again on organizations' internal intelligence defense. (See an article at: http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20090810/FREE/908109981.) Cases like this and, famously, that of theft of a Coca-Cola's formula in 2006 (http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2007-05-23-coke-sentencing_N.htm), highlight the need for awareness of internal intelligence risks as well as for clear and consistent training on employee do's and don'ts. While we don't have complete details regarding the Goldman case, my experience working with various firms has taught me that, more often than not, employees are under-educated about ethical and lawful conduct. While awareness and training will not inform and deter everyone, these measures can help prevent misconduct and breaches of non-disclosure or non-compete agreements by those who are ignorant or claim ignorance of policies, ethical behavior, or the law.

What do you think? Are awareness and training worthwhile? If so, how and for whom?

Have you encountered situations that involve internal breaches? What were the outcomes and did the organization apply any new measures?

Cheers,
Cynthia Cheng Correia

Comments

[Scott Brown]

When I worked at Sun Microsystems, all employees were regularly required to complete online training on appropriate business conduct and ethics. Did employees absorb all the information presented? Probably not. But for me, the fact that Sun required this of all employees showed me that the company was serious about it. As an employee, I appreciated that. And I know it stuck with me, and occasionally made me think twice before posting something publicly (via blog, Twitter or otherwise).

So, is training worthwhile? Absolutely. Even if the message is not fully absorbed, there is still value in making sure all employees are aware of these issues. Even coming from a negative perspective, by requiring this training, Sun provided protection for itself in the event of unethical employee conduct.