The report points out the countless number of organizations in the past year that have been upended by sexual harassment scandals. “Many of these organizations have invested in ethics and compliance programs … but such measures didn't prevent the unethical behavior itself,” the report said.

The report continued, “These scandals graphically illustrate the gap between talking the talk and walking the walk when it comes to maintaining an ethical workplace.”

Last February, the Fraud Section of the U.S. Department of Justice released a memorandum on how corporate compliance programs should be evaluated. And per the criteria, LRN asked respondents if their organizations perform a root-cause analysis when misconduct arises to determine the underlying causes.

According to the report, the vast majority of companies do. Eighty-nine percent of high-performing companies said they do such an analysis, and only 11 percent do not. 

Most organizations reported that the human resources function is tasked with conducting the root-cause analysis.

Additionally, 77 percent of respondents with high-performing E&C programs on the PEI scale said their organizations' consideration of ethics and compliance risks or factors led to the substantial modification or to the abandonment of a business initiative. From that group, about 23 percent said this occurs “sometimes,” and 54 percent said it happens “regularly.”