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THIS WEEK
3 Simple Questions to Solve Ethical Dilemmas
ALSO IN THIS EDITION
3 Simple Questions to Solve Ethical Dilemmas
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A few years back, I was responsible for building an ethical business culture for a large company I worked with. Ethics is something I remain interested in to this day.
Why? My two passions are marketing and leadership. Both rely on a strong ethical basis to work. If your business ethics are dodgy, then no amount of great marketing will save you. And if you practice shady ethical dealings, your leadership will be less than effective.
Putting it in the positive – demonstrated great ethics are a unique selling proposition in a world where there is much suspicion about the ethics of many businesses. In a nutshell – strong business ethics make good business sense.
One of the things I noticed is that when things are going well, most people to behave ethically (I am not including people with sociopathic traits in this generalisation – ethical behaviour is not a strong point for this group).
But, when times are tight, and people are under stress, less than useful decisions can be made. If you are keen to keep a strong ethical base for your business, during tight times it pays to revisit ethics within a workplace, and to remind yourself and your team what you stand for.
Research has shown the simple act of reminding people of ethics, actually increases the level of ethical behaviour in a workplace.
One of my favourite books on the subject is by Kenneth Blanchard and Norman Vincent Peale - The Power of Ethical Management .
3 Question Ethics Check
They have a very simple 3 question "Ethics Check" to help guide you and your team on the right decisions.
1. Is it legal?
Will I be violating civil or criminal law or company policy? Is it, (or will it give the appearance of being), improper, illegal, or immoral, or could it in any way harm or embarrass our company or our customers?
This includes failing to comply with business laws, stealing material protected by copyright, not honouring legitimate refund requests and failing to pay debts owed. If you answer no to that question, you don’t even have to consider the other two questions.
2. Is it balanced?
Is it fair to all concerned in the short-term as well as the long term? Does it promote win-win relationships? Is the decision going to be fair or will it heavily favour one party over another in the short or the long-term? Lopsided, win-lose decisions invariably end up as lose-lose situations. If the arrangement is not balanced, then your ethics are out of whack.
3. How will it make me feel about myself?
Will it make me proud? Would I feel good if my decision was published in the newspaper or debated in the social media? How would I feel if my family knew about it?
To be blunt, I have sat through weeks of lectures on ethical decision-making processes, but if you honestly answer these three very simple questions, you will be on the right track to working out if your behaviour is ethical.
What next?
And if you find a gap or slip-up, remember everyone makes mistakes at times – the challenge for you and your business is how you correct the mistake and move forward.
Ignoring the mistake is not a useful option. When you avoid tackling an ethical issue, you are essentially saying that it’s OK. You need to take a stand and not ignore it.
The most positive way forward is to confront the issue, apologise if needed, deal with the consequences, put in firm boundaries, establish checks and balances to ensure it won't happen again, communicate what you have done with anyone negatively affected by the decision, and then move on.
Being ethical in business is not about being perfect – it is about striving to be honest and fair to all concerned in all your dealings.
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 Some of the keys in ensuring ethical behaviour in the workplace are clear Codes of Conduct and ongoing discussions on performance.
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This week I look at the new business of data mining - and how this is also leading to some interesting ethical dilemmas in terms of decisions being made on the basis of the data.
exuberantly yours
Ingrid
Heart Harmony
Legal stuff: This newsletter is intended as only a general guideline for Australian businesses. You should seek specific advice for your situation rather than relying only on this newsletter
Earnings disclaimer. Some of the content may include advertorial information, which means I may receive financial compensation for the products I recommend. But - unless I know and trust the product, I will not recommend it.
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