Everyone agrees that acting ethically is imperative. Society functions to everyone’s benefit when people work together toward common good, rather than stepping on others to get what they want.
Ethics classes are required in business schools, and every large company has a Code of Conduct that must be signed by every employee, along with supplemental ethics training. The question is, if people are regularly trained in ethics, then why do we see so many failures to act ethically?
To keep everyone on the same page, there are laws in place and punishments for those that step over the line into unethical territory. Organizations like the EEOC, Department of Labor, OSHA, etc. have rules and regulations that cover every industry and carry heavy fines for offenders. With so many examples of ethics violations readily available, people often say that ethics can be legislated. These rules and penalties may be in place, but they won’t necessarily stop offenders.
What can we do to make ethical behavior the bottom line?
Many companies focus on hiring the right people. That’s a good place to start, but when studies show that only about 15% of the population is always honest, it’s clear that there aren’t enough of those people to go around. So what about the rest?
About 5% of the population is made up of people that will be dishonest whenever they have the chance. Hopefully your interviewing process is able to identify them so you can avoid letting them into your organization to begin with.
That leaves the 80% that are not always honest, but they’re not always dishonest either. This majority sees ethics on a case-by-case basis, and if the situation is right, they may be willing to sidestep the rules and risk the punishments if the reward is great enough.
Hiring those in the middle ground is inevitable, considering it’s the majority of the population. So what is the best way to ensure they aren’t tempted to step over the ethics line?
Most companies put all their eggs into the ethics training basket, hoping that it’s enough to keep violations at bay. There is some surprising data on the effectiveness of ethics training, and it shows where the true driver of ethical behavior lies.
Culture can either encourage or kill dishonesty. And culture is driven by supervisors.
Our Ethics for Managers 7-part video course discusses how you should set up and encourage an ethical workplace and how to follow up with any ethics concerns you see, or hear about from your team. This ability to infuse ethics into culture will protect your organization from potential violations and build the kind of trust that creates solid companies.
Watch a one-minute preview from our Ethics for Managers series, “What Doesn’t Work with Ethics” here:
