In the famous HBR article, The Folly of Rewarding A While Hoping for B, the ethical implications for rewards is clearly given. In Broward County, Florida, three court-appointed experts get paid to complete a competency hearing for an elderly or disabled person. If the person is ruled incompetent/incapacitated, they get paid $325 If judged competent,…
Most companies have codes of conduct, written policies, and seemingly tight controls. This focus on compliance includes: mandatory compliance training; rules and regulations for customer-facing employees; pre-approval process for discounts, gifts, travel, entertainment expenditures, and charitable contributions; and code of conduct communicated to customers. Yet, companies have still grappled with corruption dilemmas for years. This…
Human behavior is complex, as are the situations in which people find themselves. Rarely is there a playbook for leaders for these situations, and often the decisions are not black and white. That being said, employees are more satisfied with leaders who demonstrate high character (Brown, Trevino, & Harrison, 2005). They want leaders who “do…
A VP Sales told me about his organization reading, “The Leak Is In Your End of the Boat” by Jay Galbraith. His take-away: Organizations with silos tend to create excuses, as they do not deal with company issues. Instead, they place blame towards another business unit, creating mistrust across the organization. To counter this, take…
Given the opportunity to secretly lie in order to win a beautifully wrapped chocolate truffle, only 14% of participants did so. This was consistent across 16 countries ranging from Austria to India to Indonesia to Turkey to the U.S. Although these countries’ civic institutions vary widely in corruption levels, their citizens are basically alike in…
Many ethics courses focus on compliance and legal issues rather than character and moral issues. Higher-powered executives are less likely to consider how their decisions affect people. Basically, once a leader receives power, this diminishes their ability to see from another person’s perspective. In addition, they have a tendency to exploit others. They have entitled…
The top 3 reasons organizations address sustainability: Alignment – with business goals, mission or values Reputation – build, maintain, or improve corporate reputation Cost Cutting – improve operational efficiency and lower costs The most common actions include: reduce energy use in operations, reduce waste, and manage corporate reputations for sustainability (Source: McKinsey). Campbell’s Soup has…
When considering institution and individual, is there a difference in the ethics? When you look at corporations, there needs to be an established culture of mutually accepted, shared values. It is commonly understood that the real test of personal and corporate values is stress. Just ask a company’s leaders who have to make a decision…
Should those in positions of leadership be held to a higher standard of moral and ethical conduct than ordinary citizens? Those who are entrusted with leadership bear a special responsibility to uphold the highest standards of moral and ethical conduct, both publicly and privately. It is reported that after a CEO mishap (i.e., affair, arrest,…
