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9 - Compliance as Management

from Part I - Compliance Concepts and Approaches

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2021

Benjamin van Rooij
Affiliation:
School of Law, University of Amsterdam
D. Daniel Sokol
Affiliation:
University of Florida
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Summary

Abstract: Compliance – from the root “to comply” – is “the set of rules, principles, controls, authorities, offices, and practices designed to ensure that the organization conforms to external and internal norms.” But toward what ends does management use an organization’s compliance system? Compliance ideally has aspirational goals to at least discourage outright violations of the law, if not to encourage ethical behavior more generally. The methods through which management enforces compliance, however, can increase unethical behavior within the corporation and, in some cases, have incubated and helped perpetuate illegal behavior. As with all other tools, the tools of compliance can be abused. This chapter explores management abuse of corporate compliance systems, and it provides a caution about the dark side of compliance.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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