| Course | DBA-8070 Seminar in Law, Ethics, and Global Society |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 4 |
| Paper type | Module 4 written assignment: compliance, diversity and ethics |
| Length | About 547 words, 4 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Thomas Edison State University |
| Program | Doctor of Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for DBA 8070 Module 4
Rules People Use: Designing a Compliance, Ethics and Diversity Program for a Family Millwork Company
Student Name
Doctor of Business Administration, Thomas Edison State University
DBA-8070: Seminar in Law, Ethics, and Global Society
Mentor Name
Month Day, Year
Rules People Use: Designing a Compliance, Ethics and Diversity Program for a Family Millwork Company
Introduction
Our company has a handbook, a safety program and a policy against harassment, but no compliance and ethics program. Recent events suggest we need one: a foreman accepted gifts from a lumber supplier, a sales manager shared a competitor's bid that a customer had forwarded and two Spanish-speaking finishers said they never received the harassment policy in a language they read. This paper designs a program suited to our size.
The Standard
The federal sentencing guidelines list seven marks of a working program: written rules meant to prevent and catch misconduct; leaders who oversee it and one person who runs it; care in handing out authority; training that reaches everyone; checks, audits and a reporting line people can use without fear; rewards and discipline applied evenly; and a response that fixes what went wrong, in the terms of section 8B2.1 (United States Sentencing Commission, 2024). The guidelines allow smaller organizations to meet these elements less formally, which suits a company of our size.
What Works
Research shows that the form of a program matters less than how employees experience it. Treviño et al. (1999) surveyed employees at six large companies and found that a values orientation, leaders who pay attention to ethics, fair treatment of employees and follow-through on reported problems were associated with better outcomes than a program seen as protecting top management. Kaptein (2015) studied ethics programs and found that the scope and combination of components matter: programs with more components, and with codes supported by other elements such as reporting lines and investigations, were associated with less unethical behavior.
The Program
The gift and bid incidents become training cases, and the code sets a $50 gift limit and requires that any competitor information received be returned unread.
| Guideline element | Our design |
|---|---|
| Standards | A twelve-page code in English and Spanish covering gifts, competitor information, safety, harassment and fair dealing |
| Oversight | The chief operating officer as compliance officer, reporting twice a year to the owners |
| Delegation | Purchasing and sales authority limited by dollar thresholds |
| Training | Ninety minutes a year in both languages, built on our own cases |
| Reporting | A third-party helpline in both languages, with a no-retaliation policy |
| Incentives and discipline | Ethics part of supervisors' reviews; the same discipline for every level |
| Response | Each report investigated, closed and the lesson shared without names |
Diversity
Our workforce is diverse in the shop and much less so in supervision. Kalev et al. (2006) followed hundreds of private employers for about thirty years and found that management became more diverse after firms gave someone the job of diversity, a committee or a manager, while training sessions and diversity ratings did little. Mentoring showed modest benefits. We will therefore skip a mandatory diversity course and instead make the plant manager responsible for supervisory promotions, open each supervisor vacancy to all qualified employees with a posted description, create a mentoring pair for each lead hand and report promotion results to the owners each year.
Conclusion
A small company can meet the guideline elements in proportion to its size. The research suggests the program will succeed if employees see leaders treat ethics as real, can report in their own language and watch reports lead to action.
References
Kalev, A., Dobbin, F., & Kelly, E. (2006). Best practices or best guesses? Assessing the efficacy of corporate affirmative action and diversity policies. American Sociological Review, 71(4), 589-617. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240607100404
Kaptein, M. (2015). The effectiveness of ethics programs: The role of scope, composition, and sequence. Journal of Business Ethics, 132(2), 415-431. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2296-3
Treviño, L. K., Weaver, G. R., Gibson, D. G., & Toffler, B. L. (1999). Managing ethics and legal compliance: What works and what hurts. California Management Review, 41(2), 131-151. https://doi.org/10.2307/41165990
United States Sentencing Commission. (2024). Guidelines manual. https://www.ussc.gov/guidelines
Reading the DBA 8070 Module 4 assignment instructions
DBA-8070's four written assignments count for 20 percent together and range across the modules; this page pairs one with Module 4, Compliance, Diversity, and Ethics, because the public syllabus does not place them. TESU's course description asks students to judge which compliance and ethics practices work best. Expect to identify an organization's real compliance risks, design or evaluate a program against an accepted standard such as the federal sentencing guidelines and use research to judge which practices work. Diversity can be addressed through the same lens: which practices change outcomes, not which are popular. Tie every recommendation to a risk or a finding.
How this DBA 8070 Module 4 example is built
The paper starts with three real incidents, a gift, a forwarded bid and a policy employees could not read, so the need for a program is concrete. It sets out the seven guideline elements and notes the allowance for small firms. Two studies rank what matters: Treviño and colleagues on values and follow-through, Kaptein on how components combine. A seven-row table maps each element to a design scaled to 140 people, and the incidents become training cases with specific rules. The diversity section uses Kalev, Dobbin and Kelly to choose accountability and mentoring over mandatory training. The conclusion names the conditions that will decide success. Each element of the guidelines appears once in the table, so the mentor can check coverage quickly.
Reading the DBA 8070 Module 4 grading rubric
The grade turns on a correct reading of the compliance standard, research weighed rather than quoted, a program sized to the firm, real attention to ethics and diversity, and APA style. A program mapped to each guideline element shows command of the standard. Using research to decide priorities, rather than adopting every possible element, shows evaluation of best practices, which the course description asks for. Scaling the design to the organization's size shows realism. Choosing diversity practices on evidence, and saying what will be measured, shows the empirical approach the seminar takes. Putting a person and a reporting date against every element proves the program can run.
Common DBA 8070 Module 4 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Students lose points by copying a large company's program into a small one, by listing the seven elements without designing anything or by recommending diversity training because it is common. Others write an ethics code and stop. Start with the organization's actual risks and incidents. Map each guideline element to a specific practice and decide which matter most using research. Address language, reporting and follow-through, which employees notice. Choose diversity practices that evidence supports and give them an owner and a measure. Describe your company's size and its riskiest spots, and a free first compliance program draft for DBA-8070 can follow. Show how the program would handle one of your organization's own incidents from report to resolution. Keep the gift limit and similar rules specific enough that a foreman can apply them without asking.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Thomas Edison State University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
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DBA 8070 Module 4 questions, answered
Where can I find a free DBA 8070 Module 4 sample paper?
The paper above designs a compliance, ethics and diversity program for a 140-person millwork company against the sentencing guidelines.
What are the seven elements of an effective compliance program?
Written rules, a leader in charge, care about who gets authority, training, checks plus a safe way to report, even-handed rewards and discipline, and fixing what goes wrong.
Does diversity training work?
Kalev, Dobbin and Kelly found training had weak or no effects on management diversity, while assigning responsibility for diversity had stronger effects.
What makes an ethics program effective?
Research points to a values orientation, leaders' attention to ethics, fair treatment and follow-through on reports, more than the program's formal parts.
How many written assignments does DBA-8070 have?
Four, and between them they make up a fifth of the grade.