Naslov
The challenges of self - regulation of ethical issues in the Croatian non-profit sector

Autori
Ćulum, Bojana ; Škrabalo, Marina

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, stručni

Skup
ISTR Eighth International Conference "The Third Sector and Sustainable Social Change: New Frontiers for Research”

Mjesto i datum
Barcelona, Španjolska, 09.07.2008. - 12.07.2008

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
governance structures; self-regulation of ethical issues; codes of ethics; accountability

Sažetak
The Croatian civil society is a dynamic space that has gone through intense period of growth, diversification over the past seventeen years of transition to democracy, market economy and political stability. In that context, the establishment of governance structures, including those that would regulate ethical issues has represented a particular challenge, due to very liberal Law on Association which doesn’ t require any forms of governing structure beside the annual assembly, a lack of functioning models from the past, as well as models from other sectors (Dvornik, 2006). Considering the fact that it is the civil society that is supposed to act as a watchdog, innovator, provider of expertise and leadership resource to the entire society, its own governance practices and high ethical standards are of key importance for ensuring CSOs reputation, credibility and mobilization potential, especially in situations where CSOs raise the issue of good governance in the public domain. It is interesting to explore the governance practices of the political parties which serve the important function of enculturation and recruitment of the political elite and leadership. Therefore, the key question this research has focused on is whether the Croatian civil society - including non-governmental organizations, trade-unions, professional associations, universities as well as political parties - is actually “ walking the talk” regarding self-regulation of ethical issues and whether the introduction and application of codes of ethics has been of significance. International research on codes of ethics indicates the vital importance of organizational ownership i.e. integration into the organizational culture. One is achieved by means of broad participation in the codes’ formulation and elaborated deployment, via education and ongoing internal communication as well as establishment of transparent and efficient disciplinary and advisory procedures, which can ensure the actual compliance with the code in everyday life of the organization. Effective internalization is most likely to occur when members clarify and construct their integrated values systems and when the code is formulated and adopted through democratic participation. (Rivka Grundstein-Amado, 2001) This research builds upon the survey and content analysis of codes of ethics (conducted in 2006), adopted by 41 different CSOs: 17 professional associations, 10 public institutions, 10 citizens’ associations, 2 NGO networks, 1 political party and 1 trade-union. The content analysis set up and explored the following domains: (1) fundamental values and principles ; (2) approach to beneficiaries ; (3) minimum standards of professional conduct ; (4) self-imposed limitations to scope of activity ; (5) inter-organizational relations and responsibilities ; (5) anti-corruption measures and (6) control mechanisms for the code implementation. The preliminary findings indicated a positive trend in the establishment of codes of ethics, especially among professional associations and NGOs relying upon volunteer recruitment. On the other hand, political parties and trade-unions seriously lag behind as ethical codes are rare exceptions with very weak control mechanisms among the parliamentary parties and trade-unions engaged in the national-level social dialogue, indicating a missed opportunity to build trust of the constituencies and argumentation basis in political and social debates. Results also indicate that the codes of ethics are at the nascent stage of development, as indicated by insufficient elaboration of anti-corruption measures and disciplinary procedures and little evidence of internal adoption procedures and the deployment of the codes within organizations. The equivalent survey and content analysis will be conducted in 2008, to enable comparison and insight into the trend of potential proliferation and elaboration of the codes of ethics. In addition, identified weaknesses regarding the internalization of the codes of ethics and compliance mechanisms will be explored and more detailed inquiry will be made into the push and pull factors regarding the evidently missing self-regulation of ethical issues, corruption in particular, in trade-unions and political parties. The final analysis will focus on drivers, obstacles and benefits of self-regulation of ethical issues in the Croatian non-profit sector, with recommendations for ensuring greater effectiveness of the codes of ethics on democratic self-governance of these organizations, as well as their potential to act as promoters of good governance standards. The conclusions and issues raised by this research will hopefully be relevant to the debates on the consolidation of good governance and the potential contributions of the non-profit sector in other transitional contexts.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Pedagogija

POVEZANOST RADA