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Values Determine Credibility and Ethics
by Bette
Price
Simplistically put, ethics is learning the difference between right
and wrong, and then doing the right thing. But, is it that simple? Often,
doing the right thing is not simple and straightforward. Right and wrong
defined by different people may manifest diverse thinking, motivated
by each individual's personal values. Within a work environment, the
cultural values that drive business decisions are critical to the organization's
credibility with its employees, customers, and shareholders. Given recent
examples of breaches of business ethics, organizations of all kinds
are being challenged to take a hard look at their own mode of operating
to determine just how credible their organization appears to their employees
and their publics. Remember, perception is reality.
According to research by the Ethics Resource Center, many organizations
may not be meeting the ethical expectations of their employees. One
in three employees participating in the Center's research said that
they have observed misconduct within the last three years. Here are
just a few of the observed areas:
- 26% observed lying to employees or customers
- 25% observed needed information being withheld
- 24% observed abusive behavior toward employees
- 21% observed workers misreporting actual hours worked
Philosophers have been discussing ethics since the time of Socrates
and Plato-at least 2500 years. Today, in business, ethics is about prioritizing
individual and operational values for the workplace and establishing
codes of ethics and codes of conduct that ensures that employee behaviors
and the internal systems are aligned with those values. These values
always emanate from the top. Key leadership establishes the moral compass
that guides the organization through the complexities of what is right
and wrong and how management and staff are therefore expected to behave.
Critical then, becomes the ability to manage for ethical outcomes-this
is values-based management.
When there is a high level of attention given to ethics in the workplace,
it helps to ensure that when leaders and managers are met with times
of crises and confusion, they are able to adhere to a strong moral compass
when determining acceptable and unacceptable decisions and actions.
Ethical programs, therefore, cultivate and encourage strong teamwork
and productivity, support employee growth, and help support programs
such as Total Quality Management and Diversity. Inevitably, promoting
ethical credibility internally enhances the organization's pubic image
of ethical credibility.
In reality, all organizations have ethics programs, even if not by formal
design. The top-down values, either formally or informally, produce
deliverables in the form of codes, policies and procedures, systems,
and, standard management practices. A leaders decision to design and
implement a formal ethics program, however, articulates a serious commitment
to ethical behavior and provides clear standards for the behaviors that
are preferred by the organization. It sensitizes employees to expected
behaviors and minimizes the chances of unethical behavior to occur in
the first place. These ethical standards are a direct reflection of
top leadership's values. Following are ways in which some of America's
top leaders demonstrate their core values:
Establish boundaries. David Walker, Comptroller General of the
United States, established very strong value-based parameters shortly
after taking on his position as head of the General Accounting Office
(GAO) in November 1998. "I'm a principled person," Walker
said. "I'm a great believer in core values. There are beliefs that
drive what you do, and there are also boundaries that set up the limits
of what you are willing to do. At the GAO, I embarked upon a process
in which we could gain a consensus. What were the core values that drove
this organization that could bind us together and that would end up
being a foundation for everything we do internally and everything we
do externally? We came up with three:
1. Accountability. Describes what we do.
2. Integrity. Describes how we do it.
3. Reliability. Describes how we want it to be received.
These core values, plus the professional standards, govern the work
the GAO does today. Walker, who reports directly to Congress, says these
core values enable him to maintain control in an ethical, fair, nonpartisan
manner.
Establish a presence of fairness. When Len Roberts took over
the Chairman and CEO position at Radio Shack, he said some of the people
were worried about possible changes he would make. Roberts' value for
treating people fairly was reflected in his introductory speech to managers.
"I'm not interested in who got the results. I want to know who
got results and developed their people at the same time," Roberts
told concerned managers. "I think we're all members of a team,"
he continued. "I've always preached this. I'll give anyone the
benefit of the doubt, but if they're hurting people or they're destructive,
or they are trying to destroy the team spirit, I'm like a laser. If
ever I draw the conclusion that somebody's out there trying to destroy
the team, I remove them surgically-quickly and fast."
Establish trust. James Copeland, Chairman and CEO of Deloitte
& Touch, reflected his value of fairness when he talked about downsizing.
Copeland believes that while layoffs and firings are realities of business
cycles, you can go through these exercises without violating the trust
of the organization. Faced with a overstaffed situation during a low
economic time, here's what Copeland did. "We sent a message that
said, 'This is where we are, this is what we're going to do. We don't
want to do it, but we are caught in circumstances where we have no real
choice. At the same time we want to do this in a way that doesn't violate
our relationships and our culture. So we're going to hold ourselves
accountable to you until we have every one of these people placed in
a job, and we will report back to you.' We were religious about doing
that. So you can do hard things in difficult circumstances, but you
have to do them in a way that doesn't violate the trust."
Establish honesty. As the managing director of Prudential Asset
Resources, Ann Hambly's strong values are reflected in her quest to
tell the truth, even when the message is not a fun message. "The
worst thing you can do to people in the interest of trying to keep them
happy," she says, "Is to not tell them the truth." Take
promotions, for example. Hambly believes that what organizations typically
do is look at all the workers and decide that one of them does excellent
work. That's the person they pick to be the next leader. "They
take that person who is really good and put them up there as a manager
of people. A lot of people don't stop to see if that person has the
inherent, core, basic traits of what it takes to be a manager, let along
a leader." Instead of wrong-fit promotions, Hambly has learned
that being honest about the individual's abilities and skills is often
a relief to the individual. "A lot of times if you ask a person,
they don't really want to be a manager-they just want to do their job.
They're wonderful-they are the organization."
Establish the expectation of commitments. Finally, commitment
depicts another piece of ethics driven by values. Dan Woodward, Chairman
and CEO of Enherent, says that commitment is the centerpiece of the
company's value system. "Whether it's a customer or a colleague,
helping people to understand what a commitment is and what is it not,
is important," he says. "'Maybe I'll try' is not a commitment.
You can, however, commit to commit, like-'I'll let you know by Friday
if I can do that by the following Friday.' But a commitment doesn't
exist unless there's a date and time specified that something is to
happen. I think that is what sets the stage and creates opportunities
for trust and for relationships to be established."
What's your commitment to demonstrating your core ethics? Ask yourself
these rhetorical questions to explore your own thinking:
How committed are you to always telling the truth?
When is the last time you told the truth about a difficult decision?
Have you ever promoted someone into management who lacked the appropriate
people skills?
What do you do to build trust with others?
How dependable are you about living up to your commitments?
What could you do personally to help enhance trust in your organization?
Use with permission from Copyright holder, Bette Price, by including
the following:
Bette Price, CMC (Certified Management Consultant), is president of
The Price Group and coauthor of True Leaders: How Exceptional CEOs and
Presidents Make A Difference by Building People and Profits (Dearborn
Trade Press). She consults, writes, and speaks about leadership and
business development issues. Bette maybe contacted at 972? 404-0787
or at www.PriceGroupLeadership.com.
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