Resources for the Office

Whether you are from an office of one or a team of 20, there are opportunities for you to promote integrity in your office.
  • Lead by example to ensure that the people you work with would identify you as an ethical leader.
  • Sign the Honor Code and volunteer to staff the college’s biannual Honor Code signing.
  • Display the Penn State Values and the Smeal Honor Code at your workspace.
  • If you coordinate and/or facilitate office or committee meetings, add the Penn State Values and the Smeal Honor Code to the header or footer of your meeting agendas.
  • If you assist with, serve on, or lead a search committee, add the Penn State Values and the Smeal Honor Code to the header or footer of the candidate’s interview itinerary. Consider asking questions related to integrity during the interview process. For example:
  1. Drawing on your individual values, which ones do you believe also align with the Penn State Values?
  2. What does it mean to have an “ethical culture”? If you can, provide an example of an ethical (or unethical) culture that you have experienced.
  3. Tell me about a time when you faced an ethical dilemma. What did you do and how did you decide what to do in that situation?
  • From time to time, ask your supervisor if your group could take time to discuss the ethical standards of Penn State and the Smeal College of Business, as well as his or her expectations for ethical behavior in the office. Doing so, provides all employees with the opportunity to ask questions for clarification.
  • If you interact with work-study students and/or student volunteers on a daily basis, take a few minutes (early on in the semester) to reiterate your department’s expectations for ethical behavior in the workplace and how these expectations apply to their responsibilities. The students may find it particularly helpful if you share examples of ethical dilemmas previous work-study students and/or student volunteers have encountered and explain how these situations should be handled.
  • Be familiar with what to do and where to go to report questionable—unsafe, unethical, or illegal—activity in the workplace. This list of people and places may vary by department, unit, and team, but all Penn State faculty and staff are able to raise questions or voice concerns by contacting the Penn State hotline (1-800-560-1637, www.hotline.psu.edu) anonymously and without fear of retaliation.
  • Questions and/or ideas about integrity at Smeal? Contact Honor and Integrity Director Jennifer Eury at (814) 867-5106 or via e-mail at jld345@psu.edu.
  • Share your ethical concerns with your coworkers in a constructive manner. Take time to discuss common ethical problems that can arise in your work.
  • Hold your colleagues accountable when they behave in ways that are inconsistent with the Penn State Values. If you have questions and/or concerns about how to address the matter, contact your supervisor and/or Human Resources for guidance. If the situation involves your supervisor, contact Human Resources or the Honor and Integrity Director for guidance.
  • Participate in college events such as Coffee & Conversations (Nov. 5 and Apr. 18) and Corporate Compliance and Ethics Week (Nov. 2-6), as well as attend focus groups and complete the college’s biennial ethics survey.
  • Nominate a colleague who goes above and beyond for doing the right thing by nominating him/her for the RISE Above Staff Award or RISE Above Faculty Award.
  • Invite the Honor and Integrity Director to a staff meeting for programs focused on your group.