Illustrate Business Ethics, Social Issues, and Responsibility

258Governance Directions June 2018

Trends & special topics Trends & special topics

Ethics: Why it starts at the top in business

by DR MARK HARVEY Corporate Management Consultant, Vaxa Group

There has been a lot of talk about ethics around Australia recently. In this article the author

looks at what ethics are and why establishing your firm’s ethical base starts at the top.

Ethics is a word which has received a lot of attention in Australia in the past couple of months as media

coverage of our sporting stars and financial institutions equally have many asking: where have ethics

gone?

A clue may be that as a society, we seem to accept the need for people to be trained in some things and

not others. In the corporate world and the Public Sector, we send people to training so they can

understand their leadership style or even their own personality.

As a society, we also seem to recognise the need for people in specific roles to be trained in specific

skills.

And yet despite this, we continue to view workplace training to combat misconduct and encourage

Research shows that misconduct within the workplace can be avoided when staff are taught and

practise how to respond to pressure to behave unethically.

Leaders can adopt strategies to address misconduct, encourage professionalism and avoid the brand

damage that comes from poor corporate and employee behaviour.

This article provides five steps companies can undertake to instil misconduct resistance among staff.

professionalism, as something which is not considered worthy of hands-on, tailored training.

Is it that we have become so accustomed to cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all, ineffective ethics training

sessions that we think this is the only way to do it? And is the perception in business that ethics training is

sadly a waste of time?

Ethics: What it means

According to Australian non-profit The Ethics Centre, ethics are ‘at the core of everyday life’: ‘Ethical

beliefs shape the way we live — what we do, what we make and the world we create through our

choices’.

‘We ask ethical questions whenever we think about how we should act. Being ethical is a part of what

defines us as human beings. We are rational, thinking, choosing creatures. We all have the capacity

to make conscious choices — although we often act out of habit or in line with the views of the crowd.

We could all make conscious and conscientious ethical choices if we wanted to.’

Embracing practical, scenario-based, interactive training which is relevant to the workplace has been

proven to provide employees with the necessary skills to address misconduct and encourage

professional workplace conduct.

Workplace research has shown time and again that misconduct within the workplace can be avoided

when staff are taught and practise how to respond to pressure to behave unethically. This training and

practice, to be effective, must include guidance in understanding the reasons and rationalisations

colleagues and superiors may have to justify their own poor behaviour or inappropriate behaviour they

expect of employees.

Commensurately, if we train our leaders to understand and value the competitive advantage which results

from skilling and encouraging leaders and employees to embrace good governance, they will also

understand the brand damage which can result from misconduct.

Advertisement

The business case for ethics: If you need one

Unethical conduct is a critical risk to any business because it damages the trust of clients and partners

while also reducing efficiency and productivity.

It can also lead to reduced profits and a reduction in employee and customer engagement, including the

crucial ability to recruit the best candidate and so position an organisation for the future to reflect the

diversity of the customer base.

There are several strategies leaders can use to address misconduct, encourage professionalism and

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Trends & special topics professionalism, as something which is not considered worthy of hands-on, tailored training.

Is it that we have become so accustomed to cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all, ineffective ethics training

sessions that we think this is the only way to do it? And is the perception in business that ethics training is

sadly a waste of time?

Ethics: What it means

According to Australian non-profit The Ethics Centre, ethics are ‘at the core of everyday life’: ‘Ethical

beliefs shape the way we live — what we do, what we make and the world we create through our

choices’.

‘We ask ethical questions whenever we think about how we should act. Being ethical is a part of what

defines us as human beings. We are rational, thinking, choosing creatures. We all have the capacity

to make conscious choices — although we often act out of habit or in line with the views of the crowd.

We could all make conscious and conscientious ethical choices if we wanted to.’

Embracing practical, scenario-based, interactive training which is relevant to the workplace has been

proven to provide employees with the necessary skills to address misconduct and encourage

professional workplace conduct.

Workplace research has shown time and again that misconduct within the workplace can be avoided

when staff are taught and practise how to respond to pressure to behave unethically. This training and

practice, to be effective, must include guidance in understanding the reasons and rationalisations

colleagues and superiors may have to justify their own poor behaviour or inappropriate behaviour they

expect of employees.

Commensurately, if we train our leaders to understand and value the competitive advantage which results

from skilling and encouraging leaders and employees to embrace good governance, they will also

understand the brand damage which can result from misconduct.

Advertisement

The business case for ethics: If you need one

Unethical conduct is a critical risk to any business because it damages the trust of clients and partners

while also reducing efficiency and productivity.

It can also lead to reduced profits and a reduction in employee and customer engagement, including the

crucial ability to recruit the best candidate and so position an organisation for the future to reflect the

diversity of the customer base.

There are several strategies leaders can use to address misconduct, encourage professionalism and

260Governance Directions June 2018

avoid the brand damage that comes from poor corporate and employee behaviour.

This begins with understanding those you lead in an organisation, training and skilling company leaders

to embrace positive conduct and avoid misconduct, and importantly driving proactive and reactive

measures to assure good governance and a misconduct-resistant organisation.

Understanding your workforce means identifying what motivates your staff and what opportunities those

motivators represent.

This calls for a mind shift; we tend to think only in terms of financial reward whereas research consistently

shows there is a lot more to employee motivation including the desire to help the community and be

proud of the products and services a company offers.

It also means being keenly aware at all times of the behaviours being modelled for staff by senior

leaders.

While whole sectors can be tarred with the same brush once leaders in any particular profession have

been shown to have behaved unethically, it is important to separate the behaviour of individuals.

Ethics is a deeply personal concept which is developed and informed by our own experiences and the

behaviour of those around us, which again reinforces the need for the leaders of any company to lead by

example.

Acting ethically sends a clear message to staff about what your values are and what behaviour will be

accepted by the organisation you work for. For managers who behave in unethical ways, it can hardly be

surprising that this suggests to staff they have leeway to behave in similar ways and, in fact, normalises

unethical behaviour to a point where it can be deemed acceptable to a team or organisation.

There are five steps companies can invest in to ensure misconduct resistance among staff:

1. Delivering ethics training for all staff which is aimed at equipping them with skills and is not an

exercise in ticking boxes

2. Delivering ethics training which is tailored to their specific workforce and the roles their staff

undertake and which is in line with Adult Learning Principles

3. Clearly state the boundaries in which success can be attained demonstrating it is not at all costs

4. Hire a qualified ethics professional who reports directly to the Board or senior management

5. Have your qualified ethics professional drive the following:

a. the education of your staff including what is expected, what is not tolerated and how employees

can voice their values

b. develop a process to support those who report misconduct in your organisation including the

facilitation of confidential reporting

c. reward professional behaviour by your staff

d. create a valid and robust process of internal investigation

e. reduce opportunities for misconduct through an organisational roving commission to improve

governance.

Unethical conduct is a critical risk to any business because it damages the trust

of clients and partners while also reducing efficiency and productivity.

professionalism, as something which is not considered worthy of hands-on, tailored training.

Is it that we have become so accustomed to cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all, ineffective ethics training

sessions that we think this is the only way to do it? And is the perception in business that ethics training is

sadly a waste of time?

Ethics: What it means

According to Australian non-profit The Ethics Centre, ethics are ‘at the core of everyday life’: ‘Ethical

beliefs shape the way we live — what we do, what we make and the world we create through our

choices’.

‘We ask ethical questions whenever we think about how we should act. Being ethical is a part of what

defines us as human beings. We are rational, thinking, choosing creatures. We all have the capacity

to make conscious choices — although we often act out of habit or in line with the views of the crowd.

We could all make conscious and conscientious ethical choices if we wanted to.’

Embracing practical, scenario-based, interactive training which is relevant to the workplace has been

proven to provide employees with the necessary skills to address misconduct and encourage

professional workplace conduct.

Workplace research has shown time and again that misconduct within the workplace can be avoided

when staff are taught and practise how to respond to pressure to behave unethically. This training and

practice, to be effective, must include guidance in understanding the reasons and rationalisations

colleagues and superiors may have to justify their own poor behaviour or inappropriate behaviour they

expect of employees.

Commensurately, if we train our leaders to understand and value the competitive advantage which results

from skilling and encouraging leaders and employees to embrace good governance, they will also

understand the brand damage which can result from misconduct.

Advertisement

The business case for ethics: If you need one

Unethical conduct is a critical risk to any business because it damages the trust of clients and partners

while also reducing efficiency and productivity.

It can also lead to reduced profits and a reduction in employee and customer engagement, including the

crucial ability to recruit the best candidate and so position an organisation for the future to reflect the

diversity of the customer base.

There are several strategies leaders can use to address misconduct, encourage professionalism and

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Trends & special topics

The implementation of these five steps is predicated on the assumption that leaders within your

organisation are already keenly aware of your ethical expectations and understand their role is to help

build a culture where profits and wins ‘at all costs’ is an unacceptable mantra.

And above all else, it is critical to remember that ethics are not your fair-weathered friends; you need

them as much when things are not going well as you do when it’s smooth sailing.

Dr Mark Harvey can be contacted on (07) 3102 4145 or by email at [email protected].

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