<p>A rich stream of research has documented the relative effectiveness of ethical tools in changing decision-making and behaviour. However, only a few studies have examined the type of effectiveness produced in practice resulting from processes of ethical tool design and implementation within organizations. Our research addresses this gap through a qualitative study of five French multinational corporations from 2012 to 2016. We conducted interviews with ethics officers in charge of designing and implementing ethical tools within broader ethics programmes. The interviews were complemented by observations of on-site meetings, training sessions, and discussions, as well as an analysis of the ethical tools emerging from these processes. Our results show high homogeneity in the design of ethical tools across organizations and a myopic focus on legality during the implementation process. These findings suggest a reduction in the effectiveness of ethical tools to legal compliance, voiding any meaningful responsibility for ethics officers in practice. Our research discusses the ramifications of such outcomes for organizational ethics practice and research, and it questions current understandings of the success of individual ethical tools and broader ethics programmes.</p>