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Compliance or Comfort Zone? : The Work of Embedded Ethics in Performing Regulation

Author

Listed:
  • Mar Perezts

    (EM - EMLyon Business School)

  • Sébastien Picard

Abstract

The effective implementation of regulation in organizations is an ongoing concern for both research and practice, in order to avoid deviant behavior and its consequences. However, the way compliance with regulations is actually enacted or "performed" within organizations instead of merely executed, remains largely under-characterized. Evidence from an ethnographic study in the compliance unit of a French investment bank allows us to develop a detailed practice approach to how regulation is actually implemented in firms. We characterize the work accomplished by compliance analysts who are in fact, "curving" the script of regulation within what we conceptualize as a "comfort zone". Beyond agency, ethics appears as a key element in linking the "letter of the law", which serves as a referential anchor to guide action, with the complex nature of specific situations. We analyze the way individuals and compliance teams cope with, interpret, struggle and in fine, perform regulation within this comfort zone. A particular interest is thus given to the work of embedded ethics in this process, as an enabler to partly recouple compliance with the regulated activity. We find that blind execution is not only impossible, but also devoid of meaning both from regulatory, risk management, and business perspectives in organizations. We highlight and characterize a hermeneutic dimension to this work, essential to effectively perform regulation in complex environments, and we suggest some directions for further research.

Suggested Citation

  • Mar Perezts & Sébastien Picard, 2015. "Compliance or Comfort Zone? : The Work of Embedded Ethics in Performing Regulation," Post-Print hal-02313176, HAL.
  • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02313176
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    Cited by:

    1. Engin Ari & Osman M. Karatepe & Hamed Rezapouraghdam & Turgay Avci, 2020. "A Conceptual Model for Green Human Resource Management: Indicators, Differential Pathways, and Multiple Pro-Environmental Outcomes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-18, August.
    2. Wendy Mason Burdon & Mohamed Karim Sorour, 2020. "Institutional Theory and Evolution of ‘A Legitimate’ Compliance Culture: The Case of the UK Financial Service Sector," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(1), pages 47-80, February.
    3. Emilia A. Isolauri & Peter Zettinig & Niina Nummela, 2022. "Emerging international compliance: Policy implications of a money laundering case," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(3), pages 384-405, September.
    4. Gokce Basbug & Ayn Cavicchi & Susan S. Silbey, 2023. "Rank Has Its Privileges: Explaining Why Laboratory Safety Is a Persistent Challenge," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 184(3), pages 571-587, May.
    5. Mouna Hazgui & Marion Brivot, 2022. "Debating Ethics or Risks? An Exploratory Study of Audit Partners’ Peer Consultations About Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 175(4), pages 741-758, February.
    6. Maria Aluchna & Tomasz Kuszewski, 2020. "Does Corporate Governance Compliance Increase Company Value? Evidence from the Best Practice of the Board," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-21, October.
    7. Petya Koleva & Maureen Meadows, 2021. "Inherited Scepticism and Neo-communist CSR-washing: Evidence from a Post-communist Society," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(4), pages 783-804, December.
    8. Dima Younes & David Courpasson & Marie-Rachel Jacob, 2020. "Ethics from Below: Secrecy and the Maintenance of Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 163(3), pages 451-466, May.

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