Ethics and Society for Human Resource Management

From: RDShatt@aol.com
To: susan.reyes@shrm.org
Sent: 10/3/2012 2:47:17 P.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: Is Corporate Ethics Becoming a Hot-Button Issue?
Dear Ms. Reyes,
I found your email address on the SHRM Foundation page as the contact for questions. I am not a member of SHRM and could not find an appropriate email contact for SHRM itself. Thus I am starting my inquiry by emailing you.
On the SHRM website, under "HR Disciplines-Ethics and Sustainability-General Ethics," there is the above captioned article "Is Corporate Ethics Becoming a Hot-Button Issue?" Because I am not a SHRM member I cannot access the article. Trying to investigate elsewhere on the website, such as SHRM publications and conferences, I am unable to determine how deep into corporate ethics SHRM has proceeded.
Corporate ethics and compliance officers have their Ethics & Compliance Officer Association, and the ECOA is narrowly focused on ethics and compliance, compared to the broader scope of HR functions and concerns that occupy SHRM.
I am not an academic. I have been pursuing an interest in the subject of entity level liability versus officer and employee individual liability as a means to deter corporate wrongdoing. I have made extensive exploration of this subject as indicated, for example, by this project I initiated in June of 2011.
For reasons indicated in my Interim project report, I have doubts about the capacity of the ECOA and other interested parties to address adequately, and fairly take positions on, the corporate ethics questions that are involved.
Given the foregoing, I wish to recruit additional parties who may contribute to analyzing the issues and possibly being able to express views fairly. With the seeming expansion of SHRM in the corporate ethics field, I would like to identify persons in SHRM executive leadership who are taking a leading role in developing the ethics component of the HR "Ethics and Sustainability" discipline that SHRM lists on its website.
Can you identify for me any such leaders or other appropriate SHRM personnel, with their email addresses, for purposes of my contacting them about this matter?
Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Rob Shattuck

From: Susan.Reyes@shrm.org
To: RDShatt@aol.com
Sent: 10/3/2012 2:51:07 P.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: RE: Is Corporate Ethics Becoming a Hot-Button Issue?

Good afternoon. I have referred you to a good friend in our Knowledge Center here at SHRM. I am hopeful he will be able to assist you with some insight. Any materials at www.shrmfoundation.org do not require a member id to access.

Kind Regards,

Susan

From: RDShatt@aol.com
To: Deb.Cohen@shrm.org
CC: susan.reyes@shrm.org
Sent: 2/20/2013 5:47:36 P.M. Central Standard Time
Subj: Fwd: Is Corporate Ethics Becoming a Hot-Button Issue?
Dear Dr. Cohen,
Susan Reyes at the Foundation tried to help me out regarding the below, but it seems to have gotten lost in the cracks.
You, as being responsible for the Knowledge Development Center, seem the person at SHRM for me to make direct inquiry to.
I am not a member of SHRM, and I would like, as an outsider, to engage with someone at SHRM on the subject matter of the below emails.
I would like to ask you, if you could, to read the below emails, and, after you have read them, make a decision either that this is something that I might engage with someone at SHRM about, or that it is something about which SHRM should not be occupied engaging with an outsider about.
I want to engage with SHRM on the matter, but I can understand if engaging with an outsider on the subject is not something that SHRM should decide to do.
I am only seeking an indication one way or the other.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Rob Shattuck
Birmingham, AL

From: RDShatt@aol.com
To: deb.cohen@shrm.org
Sent: 3/8/2013 10:30:18 A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: Bank of America Global Human Resources Executive
Dear Dr. Cohen:
I don't know if you have had any reaction to my February 20th email to you, regarding SHRM's activity on the business ethics front, but I wish to pass on to you that, in contacting Bank of America by telephone to request the name and address of the Chief Ethics Officer for sending a letter to, I could only be given the name of Ms. Andrea Smith, Global Human Resources Executive, at Bank of America. Accordingly, I sent my below letter on the business ethics matter in question to Ms. Smith.
Again, I am interested in finding out whether SHRM has any interested in engaging with me on the business ethics front.
Thanks.
Rob Shattuck

SHRM regional teams and state councils

[form of email to SHRM Regional Teams]

From: RDShatt
To:
Sent: 10/26/2009 ______ A.M. Central Daylight Time

Subj: To SHRM Regional Teams- Re: Ethics and SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel

Dear ______,

Ethics is only one of numerous HR disciplines, and that there are other organizations, such as the Ethics & Compliance Officer Association, for which ethics is a more central and primary concern. Nonetheless, for reasons explicated below, I have taken the liberty of contacting the SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel and the SHRM Board relative to the ethics concerns and considerations that are discussed in the below emails. I wish to pass this information to state and local SHRM chapters with a view to their members considering the same and perhaps further passing the information to their companys' ethics officers. Please let me know whether your Regional Team is in a position to convey this email to state councils in your region, or whether I should contact them directly.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck

From: RDShatt
To: board@shrm.org
CC: ceo@shrm.org, cgorman@shrm.org, wmaroni@shrm.org, hhart@shrm.org, grubin@shrm.org
Sent: 10/19/2009 8:26:25 A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel and ECOA ...

Dear SHRM Board,

For your information, below is a form of email I sent yesterday to members of the SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel.

I appreciate that ethics is only one of numerous HR disciplines that SHRM is occupied with, and that there are other organizations, such as the Ethics & Compliance Officer Association, for which ethics is a more central and primary concern. The ECOA, however, has been nonresponsive to me. I am sure there are reasons for this, but I am also sure that the issues I have presented are substantively significant and are meritorious of consideration by ethicists. I am open to argumentation to the contrary, but thus far the ECOA and other ethics organizations and professionals I have contacted have not undertaken any effort to make such contrary argumentation.

As a result of the foregoing, I have taken the liberty of contacting SHRM about the matter. I hope you can accept this explanation of why I am doing this.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck

From: RDShatt
To: __________________
Sent: 10/18/2009 ____A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel and ECOA

Dear ________,

I am contacting you in your capacity as a member of the SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel.

The Ethics & Compliance Officer Association ("ECOA") recently had its 17th Annual Business Ethics and Compliance Conference in Chicago.

Prior to the conference, and based on the program brochure, I sent emails to a number of the ECOA speakers about their presentations. These emails had a commonality of being derived from my contentions that the United States civil law liability system (i) undermines business ethics, (ii) results in a waste of limited corporate resources that could be better deployed in other ways to promote ethical corporate behavior, and (iii) improperly distorts risk assessment and results in the adoption of costly and uneconomic "defensive" corporate practices (like the practice of "defensive" medicine which is currently in the national spotlight as a driver of escalating health care costs). I have a blog and you may read my emails here in the blog.

The issues I presented to the ECOA speakers (and conference attendees) relate to employee psychology, motivation, decisions and actions that affect whether corporate conduct is ethical or not. I believe this comes very much within the purview of the SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel.

I hope you as a member of the SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel will take the time to review the issues I presented to the ECOA conference. Further, I hope that you call the matter to the attention of corporate ethics and compliance officers whom you know, particularly at your own company.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck


[form of email to SHRM State Councils]

From: RDShatt
To:
Sent: 11/1/2009 12:20:05 P.M. Central Standard Time

Subj: To SHRM State Councils- Re: Ethics and SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel

Dear ______,

Ethics is only one of numerous HR disciplines, and that there are other organizations, such as the Ethics & Compliance Officer Association, for which ethics is a more central and primary concern. Nonetheless, for reasons explicated below, I have taken the liberty of contacting the SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel and the SHRM Board relative to the ethics concerns and considerations that are discussed in the below emails. I wish to pass this information to state and local SHRM chapters with a view to their members considering the same and perhaps further passing the information to their companys' ethics officers. Please let me know whether your State Council is in a position to convey this email to local chapters, or whether I should contact them directly.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck

From: RDShatt
To: board@shrm.org
CC: ceo@shrm.org, cgorman@shrm.org, wmaroni@shrm.org, hhart@shrm.org, grubin@shrm.org
Sent: 10/19/2009 8:26:25 A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel and ECOA ...

Dear SHRM Board,

For your information, below is a form of email I sent yesterday to members of the SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel.

I appreciate that ethics is only one of numerous HR disciplines that SHRM is occupied with, and that there are other organizations, such as the Ethics & Compliance Officer Association, for which ethics is a more central and primary concern. The ECOA, however, has been nonresponsive to me. I am sure there are reasons for this, but I am also sure that the issues I have presented are substantively significant and are meritorious of consideration by ethicists. I am open to argumentation to the contrary, but thus far the ECOA and other ethics organizations and professionals I have contacted have not undertaken any effort to make such contrary argumentation.

As a result of the foregoing, I have taken the liberty of contacting SHRM about the matter. I hope you can accept this explanation of why I am doing this.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck

From: RDShatt
To: __________________
Sent: 10/18/2009 ____A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel and ECOA

Dear ________,

I am contacting you in your capacity as a member of the SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel.

The Ethics & Compliance Officer Association ("ECOA") recently had its 17th Annual Business Ethics and Compliance Conference in Chicago.

Prior to the conference, and based on the program brochure, I sent emails to a number of the ECOA speakers about their presentations. These emails had a commonality of being derived from my contentions that the United States civil law liability system (i) undermines business ethics, (ii) results in a waste of limited corporate resources that could be better deployed in other ways to promote ethical corporate behavior, and (iii) improperly distorts risk assessment and results in the adoption of costly and uneconomic "defensive" corporate practices (like the practice of "defensive" medicine which is currently in the national spotlight as a driver of escalating health care costs). I have a blog and you may read my emails here in the blog.

The issues I presented to the ECOA speakers (and conference attendees) relate to employee psychology, motivation, decisions and actions that affect whether corporate conduct is ethical or not. I believe this comes very much within the purview of the SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel.

I hope you as a member of the SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel will take the time to review the issues I presented to the ECOA conference. Further, I hope that you call the matter to the attention of corporate ethics and compliance officers whom you know, particularly at your own company.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck

SHRM Board

From: RDShatt
To: board@shrm.org
CC: ceo@shrm.org, cgorman@shrm.org, wmaroni@shrm.org, hhart@shrm.org, grubin@shrm.org
Sent: 10/19/2009 8:26:25 A.M. Central Daylight Time

Subj: SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel and ECOA ...

Dear SHRM Board,

For your information, below is a form of email I sent yesterday to members of the SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel.

I appreciate that ethics is only one of numerous HR disciplines that SHRM is occupied with, and that there are other organizations, such as the Ethics & Compliance Officer Association, for which ethics is a more central and primary concern. The ECOA, however, has been nonresponsive to me. I am sure there are reasons for this, but I am also sure that the issues I have presented are substantively significant and are meritorious of consideration by ethicists. I am open to argumentation to the contrary, but thus far the ECOA and other ethics organizations and professionals I have contacted have not undertaken any effort to make such contrary argumentation.

As a result of the foregoing, I have taken the liberty of contacting SHRM about the matter. I hope you can accept this explanation of why I am doing this.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck

From: RDShatt
To: __________________
Sent: 10/18/2009 ____A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel and ECOA

Dear ________,

I am contacting you in your capacity as a member of the SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel.

The Ethics & Compliance Officer Association ("ECOA") recently had its 17th Annual Business Ethics and Compliance Conference in Chicago.

Prior to the conference, and based on the program brochure, I sent emails to a number of the ECOA speakers about their presentations. These emails had a commonality of being derived from my contentions that the United States civil law liability system (i) undermines business ethics, (ii) results in a waste of limited corporate resources that could be better deployed in other ways to promote ethical corporate behavior, and (iii) improperly distorts risk assessment and results in the adoption of costly and uneconomic "defensive" corporate practices (like the practice of "defensive" medicine which is currently in the national spotlight as a driver of escalating health care costs). I have a blog and you may read my emails here in the blog.

The issues I presented to the ECOA speakers (and conference attendees) relate to employee psychology, motivation, decisions and actions that affect whether corporate conduct is ethical or not. I believe this comes very much within the purview of the SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel.

I hope you as a member of the SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel will take the time to review the issues I presented to the ECOA conference. Further, I hope that you call the matter to the attention of corporate ethics and compliance officers whom you know, particularly at your own company.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck

SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel

From: RDShatt
To: __________________
Sent: 10/18/2009 ____A.M. Central Daylight Time

Subj: SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel and ECOA

Dear ________,

I am contacting you in your capacity as a member of the SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel.

The Ethics & Compliance Officer Association ("ECOA") recently had its 17th Annual Business Ethics and Compliance Conference in Chicago.

Prior to the conference, and based on the program brochure, I sent emails to a number of the ECOA speakers about their presentations. These emails had a commonality of being derived from my contentions that the United States civil law liability system (i) undermines business ethics, (ii) results in a waste of limited corporate resources that could be better deployed in other ways to promote ethical corporate behavior, and (iii) improperly distorts risk assessment and results in the adoption of costly and uneconomic "defensive" corporate practices (like the practice of "defensive" medicine which is currently in the national spotlight as a driver of escalating health care costs). I have a blog and you may read my emails here in the blog.

The issues I presented to the ECOA speakers (and conference attendees) relate to employee psychology, motivation, decisions and actions that affect whether corporate conduct is ethical or not. I believe this comes very much within the purview of the SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel.

I hope you as a member of the SHRM Ethics Special Expertise Panel will take the time to review the issues I presented to the ECOA conference. Further, I hope that you call the matter to the attention of corporate ethics and compliance officers whom you know, particularly at your own company.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck

Back to HR

From: RDShatt
To: __________________________
Sent: 10/12/2009 _______A.M. Central Daylight Time

Subj: Ethics, ECOA and HR


Dear HR professional,

Ethics is an HR discipline (see SHRM webpage), so this email is in range to you, and more.

The Ethics & Compliance Officer Association recently had its 17th Annual Business Ethics and Compliance Conference. I tried to inject myself into the proceedings, which you can read about here.

The issues I tried to raise with the ECOA involve ethics and employee psychology, motivation, decisions and actions, which HR professionals should be very attuned to.

I hope you have an interest in these issues that I presented to the ECOA. Further, I hope that you call them to the attention of your company's ethics and compliance officers, in case they have not previously thought about the matter.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck

Another form of email to HR persons

Subj: HR concerns and plaintiffs' lawyers

Dear ______________,

I am trying to combat plaintiffs' lawyers and seek allies.

HR has concerns that are affected by plaintiffs' lawyers.

One of these relates to business ethics. HR’s interest in its company’s employees should extend as a matter of course to the company’s policies and procedures for propagating ethical business conduct. If something is an impediment to that, HR should want to be aware of it. I contend that the country’s civil liability system as exploited by plaintiffs' lawyers impairs business ethics. I hope you, as an active SHRM member, will take an interest in this topic and read my article at this link: Question for HR- Does the Law Undermine Business Ethics?

A second HR concern is the destruction of value that has taken place in pension plan and 401(k) assets as a result of the worldwide plunge in the financial markets. Millions of employees are worried about their financial security. HR undoubtedly shares those worries, both for the employees presonally and also for company compensation, morale and motivation objectives. As the country tries to stimulate its economy and rebuild financial security, it would behoove all concerned to note the parasitical activities of plaintiffs' lawyers that sap economic and financial resources and that should no longer be tolerated.

Much has been written about how corporate compensation structures led corporate officers and others to abusive disregard for the property of other parties, such as shareholders, bond investors and home buyers, and resulted in great harm. Before the recent collapse in bank shareholder value, you might consider how the plaintiffs' lawyers, fueled by their compensation structure, inflicted their own billions of dollars of damage on innocent bank shareholders, such as in connection with Enron as discussed in this article: Enron's smartest guys, crooks, victims and other saps. Also read about these cases of cookie cutter litigation that plaintiffs' lawyers employ to rob from your company's employees' pension and retirement assets. Tyco: On Snookering Clients Out Of $460 Million ; Objection in Xerox securities law class action; Why aren’t retirement plan trustees screaming bloody murder?

Thank you.

Robert Shattuck
3812 Spring Valley Circle
Birmingham, AL 35223
(205) 967-5586

Corporate HR departments

While corporate ethics officers should be the most directly concerned about the civil liability system undermining business ethics, HR departments generally should also have an interest. Accordingly I modified my article for circulation to HR personnel and organizations. The revised article can be found here: Question for HR: Does the Law Undermine Business Ethics?