I hope that you have enjoyed the article “‘Outbuying’ Your Internal Customers, Part I.”

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In the article, I mentioned that getting compliance with procurement directives is difficult because many internal customers “feel they do a better job of buying than the procurement department.”  Another reason is that internal customers sometimes want to buy from friends or relatives and have no clue that being responsible for a decision that can financially benefit a friend or relative is a slippery ethical slope.

How do you combat this particular reason for non-compliance?

Here are a few key ingredients of ensuring that procurement ethics are not unwittingly breached, leading to less than optimal compliance:

• Get senior management to understand the negative financial impact of unethical procurement practices
• Get senior management to sponsor a company policy (not a procurement policy, a company policy) that dictates what ethical buying is and what procurement practices are prohibited
• Provide procurement ethics training for everyone who interacts with suppliers, not just procurement staff

If you haven’t done all three of these things, achieving 100% procurement compliance is a mere fantasy for you.