The Ethics Resource Center announced that ethical standards have nose-dived back to where they were in 2000.According to the 2007 National Business Ethics Survey (may require free registration)

Over the past year, more than half (56 percent) of employees surveyed had personally observed violations of company ethics standards, policy, or the law. Many saw multiple violations. More than two of five employees (42 percent) who witnessed misconduct did not report it through any company channels…

Dr. Patricia Harned, President of ERC says,

“Employees at all levels have not increased their ‘ethical courage’ in recent years. The rate of observed misconduct has crept back above where it was in 2000. And employees’ willingness to report misconduct has not improved, either.”

Although ethics are situational and people’s perception of their own adhesion to them often inaccurate you still know exactly what constitutes lie/cheat/steal within your own world.

Dr Harned goes on to say,

“The good news is that the rate of misconduct is cut by three-fourths at companies with strong ethical cultures, and reporting is doubled at companies with comprehensive ethics programs.”

I believe that there are three critical pieces needed to build a strong ethical culture besides comprehensive ethics programs.

• An ethical MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy)™ and the willingness to pass on all candidates whose history or commitment to the company standards seem at all iffy no matter how dire the situation.
• An enforced guarantee that the messenger is never killed no matter how unwanted or unpleasant the message is.
• A pledge to walk your talk and acceptance/change rather than rationalization of criticism when your actions are called into question.

What do you think is needed?

This entry was posted on Monday, December 10th, 2007 at 3:19 pm and is filed under Business info, Culture, Hiring. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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