Corruption in an organization may be hard to spot. It could be small-time ad hoc bribery or systemic influencing operations to accomplish a corporation’s goals.
Said Gary Wollenhaupt from Procurious – The world’s largest procurement networking and supply chain community. Corruption exists almost everywhere in our lives and comes in different ways and monetary values. But speaking of businesses, its forms include briberies, financial privileges, fraud or misappropriation. and here is why the “Transparency International Association” founded in Berlin, Germany in 1993, to avoid, combat and take anti-corruption measures and actions to prevent such frauds and bad business conducts.
In the procurement and purchasing world, procurement is a very rich environment for corruption as procurement is about supplying and purchasing processes with monetary values. As a result, It can take many forms and ways from a small gift to big briberies to get unfair rights, win a supplying contract or undeserved advantage such as nepotism. The question is “how should I avoid it now in my procurement department?”
- Revisit your procurement department contract policies and procedures, reinforcing stricter audits, procedures and inter-company documents circulation.
- People always like to give gifts for good cause and intention, so gifting can not be 100% eliminated from purchasing department. Set an framework and boundaries to embrace legal gifting and hospitality between the supplier and the purchasing personnel in your department.
- Construct and apply a manual for wage or disciplinary penalties against bribed employees and reward your whistleblowers as well.
- pinpoint eliminate any possible conflicts of interests.
- Train against corruption act and maintain a healthy business conduct culture in company-wide.
In conclusion, corruption will not die in matter of days or months in given organizations. It takes different approaches, solutions and ideas to reduce it significantly. What are your ideas and thoughts to reduce such bad conducts around you in your organizations.? Leave us a comment below that you would like to share on our LinkedIn Page on Social Procurement LinkedIn Page or have a one-to-one chat with our ambassadors Mario Bruggmann or Kathrin Kubisch and the rest of the team.