Rotary awards for ethics

The Rotary Club of Wellington’s inaugural business ethics award was recently presented to Opus International Consultants in recognition of their involvement with eight schools in Porirua East since May 1999.
Opus gives profes-sional advice to schools in areas such as property management, mainten-ance planning, tendering and procurement advice.
Opus was formerly the design arm of the Ministry of Works and Development, which was corporatised in 1989 and purchased in 1996 by Kinta Kellas, part of the Renong Group from Malaysia. The company remains focused on the New Zealand market and has staff of more than 1200 operating from 33 offices around the country. Permanent international offices are located in Western Australia, Malaysia and England.
Other finalists were knowledge management company SYSDOC, and people management consultants Tall Poppies. SYSDOC practises range of things such as sabbaticals for consultants, flexible work practices, and round-the-world air tickets for permanent staff who complete two years with the firm. They also support student exchanges and scholarships, and give financial and consulting support to environmental programmes. Tall Poppies is small business with big heart. Its ethical behaviour goes across its dealings with all stakeholders.
The inaugural award was Rotary Club of Wellington initiative, in collaboration with New Zealand Businesses for Social Responsibility and the New Zealand Centre for Business Ethics. Tony Hassad, the chair of the club’s Vocational Service Committee, says the award was introduced to encourage and foster high ethical standards in business and professions.