Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Defense Industry Initiative: Ethics, self-regulation, and accountability

  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In 1986, President Reagan created the Packard Commission, a blue-ribbon commission to investigate defense contracting procurement fraud. The Packard Commission's major recommendation was for defense contractors to adopt ethics programs. Out of this recommendation emerged the Defense Industry Initiative (DII). This paper examines this Initiative and focuses on the DII's six principles. In particular, this paper explores the implications the DII has had with respect to (1) pursuing intra-industry cooperation and setting industry-wide standards; (2) monitoring compliance; (3) the paradox inherent to the DII as a facilitator for industry self-regulation; and, (4) why companies have enthusiastically adopted the directive. This paper concludes that the DII falls short of being an effective method of self-regulation because: (1) it does not achieve complete industry-wide cooperation; (2) it does not establish uniform standards of ethical conduct within the industry; (3) it does not hold the signatory companies accountable for creating a strong system of ethical conduct; and, (4) it does not relieve the organizational and market pressures to be unethical.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 Annual Report(s) to the Public and the Defense Industry Defense Industry Initiative on Business Ethics and Conduct. Available on request from Alan Yuspeh, DII Coordinator, c/o Miller & Chevalier, 655 Fifteenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., 20005.

  • 1986 (Jun):A Quest for Excellence, Final Report to the President by the President's Blue Ribbon Commission on Defense Management.

  • Committee on Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate: 1990 (Mar 6), ‘Serious Problems Continue in Department of Defense Supply System’, U.S. Documents (Washington, D.C.).

  • Cressey, D. R. and C. A. Moore: 1983, ‘Managerial Values and Corporate Codes of Ethics’,California Management Review 25(4), pp. 53–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Drucker, B., Director of Policy, Department of Defense Inspector General: 1992 (Personal communication).

  • Easterbrook, G.: 1987 (Jan), ‘Sack Weinberger, Bankrupt General Dynamics, and Other Procurement Reforms’,The Washington Monthly, pp. 33–46.

  • Frankel, M. S.: 1989, ‘Professional Codes: Why, How, and With What Impact?’,Journal of Business Ethics 8(2, 3), pp. 109–115.

    Google Scholar 

  • French, P.: 1979, ‘The Corporation as a Moral Person’,American Philosophical Quarterly 16(3), pp. 297–317.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garvin, D. A.: 1983 (Summer), ‘Can Industry Self-Regulation Work?’,California Management Review 25, pp. 37–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gellerman, S. W.: 1989 (Winter), ‘Managing Ethics From the Top Down’,Sloan Management Review, pp. 73–79.

  • Gupta, A. K. and L. J. Lad: 1983, ‘Industry Self-Regulation: An Economic, Organizational, and Political Analysis’,Academy of Management Review 8(3), pp. 416–425.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs, J. A.: 1982 (Nov 16), ‘Vehicles for Self-Regulation: Codes of Ethics, Credentialing and Standards’,Self-regulation Conference Proceedings (Ethics Resource Center), The Mayflower Hotel, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kurland, N. B.: 1991, ‘The Ethical Implications of the Straight-Commission Compensation System: An Agency Perspective’,Journal of Business Ethics 10, pp. 757–766.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lansing, P. and K. Burkard: 1991, ‘Ethics and the Defense Procurement System’,Journal of Business Ethics 10, pp. 357–364.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mathews, M. C.: 1988,Strategic Intervention in Organizations: Resolving Ethical Dilemmas (Sage Publications, Beverly Hills).

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyerson, D. and M. Scully: 1990, ‘Handling the Heat: Negotiating the Meaning of Ethics During the Implementation of Corporate Ethics Programs’, University of Michigan, Working Paper #634.

  • Miles, R. H.: 1987,Managing the Corporate Social Environment: A Grounded Theory (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ).

    Google Scholar 

  • Miles, R. H. and A. Bhambri: 1983,The Regulatory Executives (Sage Publications, Beverly Hills).

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitnick, B. M.: 1981 (Mar–Apr), ‘The Strategic Uses of Regulation and Deregulation’,Business Horizons 24(4), pp. 71–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitnick, B. M. and R. W. Backoff: 1984, ‘The Incentive Relation in Implementation’, in G. C. Edwards, III (ed.),Public Policy Implementation 3 of S. Nagel (ed.),Public Policy Studies: A Multi-Volume Treatise (JAI Press, Greenwich, CT), pp. 59–122.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitnick, B. M.: 1982, ‘The Two-Part Problem of Regulatory Compliance: Compliance Reform and Strip Mining’, in L. E. Preston (ed.),Research in Corporate Social Performance and Policy vol. 4, (JAI Press, Greenwich, CT), pp. 215–242.

    Google Scholar 

  • Owen, B. M. and R. Braeutigam: 1978,The Regulation Game: Strategic Use of the Administrative Process (Ballinger, Cambridge, MA).

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholz, J. T.: 1984 (Oct), ‘Voluntary Compliance and Regulatory Enforcement’,Law and Policy, pp. 385–404.

  • Scully, M. and D. Meyerson: 1990, ‘The Separation of Law and Justice: Managing Impressions of Corporate Ethics Programs’, Unpublished paper.

  • Simon, R. L.: 1984, ‘Troubled Waters: Global Justice and Ocean Resources’, in T. Regan (ed.),Earthbound: New Introductory Essays in Environmental Ethics (Temple University Press, Philadelphia), pp. 179–213.

    Google Scholar 

  • Velasquez, M. G.: 1983 (Spring), ‘Why Corporations are Not Morally Responsible for Anything They Do’,Business and Professional Ethics, pp. 1–18.

  • Victor, K.: 1988 (May 21), ‘Shooting Back’,National Journal, pp. 1345–1349.

  • Weller, S.: 1988, ‘The Effectiveness of Corporate Codes of Ethics’,Journal of Business Ethics 7, pp. 389–395.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, E.: 1986 (May 6), ‘Pentagon Dodge: Suspended Contractors Often Continue to Get More Defense Business’,The Wall Street Journal, p. 1.

  • Wood, D. J.: 1986,Strategic Uses of Public Policy: Business and Government in the Progressive Era (Ballinger Books, Boston).

    Google Scholar 

  • Wrubel, R.: 1989 (Jun 22), ‘Addicted to Fraud?: Why the Defense Industry Just Can't Seem to Clean Up Its Act. Even When It Tries’,Financial World, pp. 58–61.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh, 15206, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Nancy B. Kurland

Authors
  1. Nancy B. Kurland
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Nancy Kurland is a doctoral student. Her research interests include ethics, values, and moral reasoning in business. She has published in theJournal of Business Ethics.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kurland, N.B. The Defense Industry Initiative: Ethics, self-regulation, and accountability. J Bus Ethics 12, 137–145 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00871933

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00871933

Keywords

Search

Navigation