Implementeringsprocessen av etiska riktlinjer : En kvalitativ studie av den svenska försäkringsbranschen

Sammanfattning: Level: This is a final thesis for a bachelor degree in Business Administration. The thesis is oriented in the field of marketing and written at the University of Gavle. Authors: Caroline Gustafsson & Caroline Tell Ljungberg Date: May 2014 Tutors: Lars-Johan Åge, Jonas Molin & Jens Eklinder-Frick Title: The implementation process of ethical guidelines – A qualitative study of the Swedish insurance industry Purpose: The aim of this study is to create an understanding of different approaches to design and implement organizational guidelines / codes to help the employees to behave ethically and deal with ethical dilemmas. Method: By starting from the study's aim, it was appropriate to use a qualitative approach to conducting the survey. The study's empirical study consisted of semi-structured interviews. We interviewed ten companies in the Swedish insurance industry. By observing the outcome of the interviews keywords were obtained. These keywords were then analyzed to find patterns in the responses. Contribution: We have in this study concluded that it is the management's job that allows for the codes to permeate the entire organization and that all employees act in accordance with them. Most companies use some form of ethics training for employees to teach them how to deal with ethical dilemmas. Our study has confirmed much of the existing research in this area but it has also contributed to that we can now conclude that the role of the management is crucial for the implementation process for the ethical guidelines efficiency in the insurance industry. Furthermore, our study shows that the key to effective ethical codes is that the management together with the employees creates discussions and dialogues on ethical issues and also helps the employees to practice on handling ethical dilemmas. Keywords: ethics, ethical guidelines, implementation, insurance