managment and ethics

Do the right thing Anonymous . Winnipeg Free Press ; Winnipeg, Man. [Winnipeg, Man]31 Jan 2015: B.14.

ProQuest document link ABSTRACT   Why should you be concerned? You need to be concerned because your reputation is at stake. If you are an unethical employee, you may not be able to hold a job and/or secure one in the first place. If you are a business and don't have a good reputation, you won't be able to attract customers. You won't be able to attract or retain workers and you won't be able to attract investors. And if you are involved in politics, you won't be able to gather votes. Yet, have you ever asked yourself why people engage in unethical behaviour? Some suggest it is all related to money. Others suggest unethical behaviour results from an employee's emphasis on self-gain, especially when they know they will not be punished or condemned for their actions. From an organizational perspective, you might find one "bad apple," an individual who engages in unethical behaviour, but you might also find an entire organizational culture that condones aggressive, individualistic, and hyper-competitive behaviour that often leads to unethical, self-centred decisions. No matter what, individuals who engage in unethical behaviour rationalize their behaviour until they believe it is all OK. For instance, you might hear them say, "It's OK because I really don't gain personally"; "They owe me so I have it coming"; "They have more money than I have" and/or "Everyone is doing it!" FULL TEXT   Building a culture of ethical behaviour starts at the top Citizens and stakeholders in the community as well as the corporate world are saying loud and clear, "We won't stand for it anymore! No, no, no!" That's the powerful message you heard last week as some of the details of unethical behaviour by a former college president surfaced in the news. No, no, no, said CBC brass as they made the decision to suspend popular radio host Jian Ghomeshi for alleged inappropriate sexual behaviour. And again, CBC brass said no as they suspended the practice of allowing on-air personalities to reap the benefits of high-paid speaking gigs outside of their regular work. And, no, no, no says Winnipeg's mayor, council, police chief and Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Derek Nepinak as they vowed to overcome Maclean's magazine's new label for Winnipeg as the "most racist" city in Canada. However, if we stand back and look at all of these recent incidents, what they all boil down to is the issue of ethical behaviour. What's right, and what's wrong. Today, more and more people are standing up against unethical behaviour both in society and in organizations. Citizens, employees and employers alike have had enough. They want disclosure and rigorous standards to be put in place such that trust in our systems, our institutions and our people can be rebuilt. They want transparency. They want moral leadership. And in my view, when we talk about "moral and ethical leadership" it doesn't simply refer to senior leaders. It means every one of us; every individual on this planet, every individual in the workplace, every individual in any of our social institutions. All of us! But why should you be concerned? You need to be concerned because your reputation is at stake. If you are an unethical employee, you may not be able to hold a job and/or secure one in the first place. If you are a business PDF GENERATED BY SEARCH.PROQUEST.COM Page 1 of 4 and don't have a good reputation, you won't be able to attract customers. You won't be able to attract or retain workers and you won't be able to attract investors. And if you are involved in politics, you won't be able to gather votes. So, just what is unethical behaviour? Unethical behaviour can be as simple as deliberately taking a colleague's coffee cup in the morning. It can be a deliberate attempt to slander someone, to gossip, give a false impression or outright lie about academic credentials and/or experience. It's about deliberately using language to mistreat someone, to belittle them and make them feel inferior. It's about stealing supplies from the office or falsifying expense reports or using undue influence to benefit yourself. Yet, have you ever asked yourself why people engage in unethical behaviour? Some suggest it is all related to money. Others suggest unethical behaviour results from an employee's emphasis on self-gain, especially when they know they will not be punished or condemned for their actions. From an organizational perspective, you might find one "bad apple," an individual who engages in unethical behaviour, but you might also find an entire organizational culture that condones aggressive, individualistic, and hyper-competitive behaviour that often leads to unethical, self-centred decisions. No matter what, individuals who engage in unethical behaviour rationalize their behaviour until they believe it is all OK. For instance, you might hear them say, "It's OK because I really don't gain personally"; "They owe me so I have it coming"; "They have more money than I have" and/or "Everyone is doing it!" Thankfully, organizations are starting to do a better job of holding workers accountable and creating an environment or organizational culture where ethical behaviour is demanded. They are institutionalizing ethics policies, imposing discipline for misconduct, and they are letting employees know bad behaviour will be punished.

Enforcement and carrying through with punishment is seen as the key to influencing ethical behaviour. So, where do you start? Some of the following steps will enable you to ensure you have a reputation as an ethical organization. Start at the top -- Building a culture of ethical behaviour starts at the top. Senior executives need to be role models who make it easy for their employees to do the right thing, while making it difficult to do the wrong things. These leaders give priority to fairness and equity, honesty and loyalty and demonstrate a tolerance for diversity and differences. Make standards known -- Instil formal written standards of what you expect for ethical workplace conduct. Train all employees, new or otherwise, on your standards and ensure employees know where to go for advice and how to report violations. Whereas having a code of ethics isn't enough by itself, the strength lies in ensuring your code is enforced when an incident arises. Instil values throughout -- A code of ethics that is written but has not been integrated into the hearts, minds and actions of your employees is simply a waste of time and only invites violations. You need to teach employees doing the right thing not only matters, but it is expected. Integrate these values in everything you do and in all training coursework. Integrate the hiring process -- Be upfront with potential candidates by explaining your culture, your values and your standards of behaviour. Assess the candidates for a good fit. Ask behavioural-oriented questions that will allow you to get a good idea of a candidate's true experience when confronted with an ethical issue. Adopt a decision-making model -- It isn't enough to train people on what ethical behaviour is, you need to adopt a model that will be used throughout your organization and by all your employees. Best-practice models include clearly defining the problem and its nature and dimensions, exploring different options for action and their consequences from an ethical perspective and then selecting the most appropriate for the situation. Be decisive -- In many cases, you will be confronted with tough decisions, but you must show courage in addressing the issues raised. Employees, customers and stakeholders alike will be continually watching for how situations are handled. Inaction, indecision, favouritism and/or weak sanctions will dilute the value of your code of ethics, and soon people will start ignoring it. Performance evaluation -- Make ethical behaviour an important part of your appraisal process. Including ethics as PDF GENERATED BY SEARCH.PROQUEST.COM Page 2 of 4 a key competency reinforces its importance and allows ethics to be measured on an annual basis, both individually and organizationally. This will enable you to assess your organizational culture, make adaptations to training and/or the standards should this be necessary. Reward behaviour -- You don't need to wait until performance-appraisal time to recognize and reward behaviour.

Use "spot rewards," which simply means when you see ethical behaviour, comment and compliment your employee. Go further and develop an employee-reward system that includes peer nominations and recognition.

Communicate the reward program and create some excitement around it. Source: Why do employees act unethically: Is it the person the issue or the organization? Research Insights, Network for Business Sustainability Barbara J. Bowes, CHRP, CMC, CCP, M.Ed is president of Legacy Bowes Group and president of Career Partners International, Manitoba. She is also an author, radio host and professional speaker. She can be reached at [email protected]. DETAILS Publication title: Winnipeg Free Press; Winnipeg, Man. First page: B.14 Publication year: 2015 Publication date: Jan 31, 2015 Section: Business Publisher: F.P. Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership Place of publication: Winnipeg, Man. Country of publication: Canada Publication subject: General Interest Periodicals--Canada ISSN: 08281785 Source type: Newspapers Language of publication: English Document type: News ProQuest document ID: 1649352730 Document URL: https://search.proquest.com/docview/1649352730?accountid=8289 Copyright: Copyright F.P. Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership Jan 31, 2015 Last updated: 2015-01-31 PDF GENERATED BY SEARCH.PROQUEST.COM Page 3 of 4 LINKS Check for full text in other resources Copyright Ó 2017 ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved.

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