100th Annual Report 2006-2007 - Tata Steel

Management of Ethics
The Tata Code of Conduct and corporate values have been
deployed in the company through Management of Business
Ethics (MBE). The focus, this year, was on re-enforcement
of Code of Conduct among all the stakeholders by the process
In order to involve the community for the success of MBE, a
workshop was organised with eminent representatives of the
various fields of the society to formulate a presentation module
for MBE to take it to various levels of community.
of stakeholder involvement.
In order to uniformly deploy various policies like Whistle Blower
In order to enhance employees’ involvement in the process,
many activities including, ethics quiz contest were organised
during the Ethics Month – July 06. The understanding on Code
of Conduct was re-enforced through a story based e-Learning
module which was prepared in Hindi as well as English and
was put on our Company’s Intranet and is being used by all
employees. The interaction with the shop-floor employees
with the Ethics Group was enhanced through Business Ethics
Policy and Gift Policy in their companies necessary support
was extended to the Associate companies of Tata Steel. Eastern
Region Ethics Conference was organised with CEOs and Ethics
Counsellors of the Tata Companies of Eastern Region in order to
share and learn various aspects of MBE. Eminent speakers in this
field were invited to share their knowledge. MBE process was
initiated in the new companies like Tata BlueScope and Tata
Steel (Thailand) Public Company Limited.
Manthan programme organised through Knowledge Group.
In order to generate confidence in the system, the importance
of whistle blowing was emphasised and employees were
encouraged to report any misconduct they observe, without
any fear of retribution. A major step in employees’ involvement
was taken by involving the office-bearers of Tata Workers’ Union
in the MBE process.
The senior leadership team reinforces the ethical behaviour
through various fora like the General Dialogue, Senior
Dialogue, MD On-line etc. and encourages employees
to bring to their notice instances of unethical behaviour.
Punitive actions were taken against employees for unethical
conduct, where necessary. The effectiveness of the process
is periodically evaluated by the number of concerns received
The other stakeholders like vendors, dealers and distributors
were also included in MBE process by involving them in various
dialogues and workshops. A uniform policy for penalty to
vendors was prepared for dealing with vendors’ misconducts.
during that period and various assurance surveys conducted
by internal and external agencies. These results are analysed
and the necessary steps are taken to improve the system and
processes.
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