“Attention to detail and everyone looking over your shoulder”…at least that’s how one of my friends put it to me in a conversation we had the other day about how business ethics has changed and how everyone seems to know everything.
Roger shared, “Out at a business conference I noticed that a co-worker and good friend decided to take a few of his subordinates out for an evening of entertainment – entertainment that is not sanctioned by the company. The next day, as he was preparing to submit his receipts for his expense report, I noticed that he’s actively submitting the receipts for his prior nights activities. What’s more important I notice that the description on the receipt is inaccurate. He lied!”
The question Roger raised is what is the ethical thing to do? On one hand he could ignore what he saw and just let it pass…rationalizing that it was not his business. He could confront his friend and “encourage” him to reconsider his choice suggesting that following the ethical policy of his company would create better consequences. Or, lastly he could comply with the company’s guidelines and report the ethical lapse. What would you do?
But stop…while the ethical question above is important, a deeper and more profound question is what basis or foundation do we use as individuals to make business ethics decisions or ethical decisions in general?
Creating a culture of ethics in business requires an understanding of what motivates ethical behavior in employees or associates. There are several categories of ethical principles that define and influence ethical decision making in each person’s life. Understanding those ethical influences helps us as individuals understand what motivates our own ethical choices and better manage the ethical culture of our business operation.
Over the course of the next several blogs we will look at the motivations of ethical behavior. When we understand what makes us tick ethically…we better understand how to answer the questions posed above. So…let’s dig in and explore the many ways we make our ethical choices.
One dominant ethical influencer is our ego. Called egocentric behavior, the choice of how an ethical decision is made is influenced by what is best for them. For example in the questions listed above…if a person feels that they would look better to the HR department if they elected to “whistle blow” on their friend they would be operating using “egocentric behavior.”
The questions that typically are asked: “How is this best for me?’ “What is in this for me?” “What do I get out of it?” This behavior is not so much influenced by society, family or their spirituality. Rather egocentric behavior seems to exist apart from those institutions. For example, an individual who is ethically influenced by what serves him can easily be leader in a company. While the illusion of serving the needs of the shareholders may exist, an egocentric person will make ethical choices that, in the end, are designed to first serve him or herself. People respect them and the ego-centric behavior can fall below the radar. Rarely do people know or admit that this is their philosophy. As a result, management of an egocentric ethical leader is a challenge and requires an astute individual to assess and/or recognize that ethical behavior choice.
NOTE: To build a strong culture of ethics in your business, it is critical to understand the types of ethical behaviors that humans select. Just like in maintaining health…if you know what you are dealing with it is far easier to make the appropriate choices to live healthfully…and that includes the health of our business. To learn more about Chuck’s Ethical Behavior training contact Chuck at chuck @ gallagher.pcgdev.com
Back to the egocentric ethical behavior style…on the upside, egocentric behavior can certainly be a positive for creating and building businesses. It is a great influencer for many successful entrepreneurs; likewise it may be their greatest downfall. These people probably are best at creating and building the business and then stepping out of the way and allowing others to run the business. They can be great contributors to society and to the economy, yet if they are dominated by egocentric ethical behavioral tendencies, they can often tear apart organizations because of their myopic view of how choices should be made.
On the downside, people who are egocentric never consider how their behavior impacts those around them whether it is business, family or society at large. They may maintain the illusion that they are in fact giving and charitable members of society by being on Elder boards at the church, serving on boards in the community or participating in charitable events. The only purpose this serves is to serve the egocentric individual. This person could care less about the needs of others and maintaining this illusion has challenges. Eventually, the truth reveals itself to others and the threat of being discovered, the egoistic individual will blame and create diversions that moves the attention away from them.
So what’s the answer to the questions above? Let’s answer a question with a question…what would you do? Be honest (and by the way you don’t need to answer here)? If you would choose a course of action that would benefit you the greatest or that would be your first natural thought…then you might have as a natural pattern – egocentric ethical behavior. To be clear…as we look further and explore other patterns you will notice that there is no one patter that is “right” or “wrong” – there are just patterns and we all will have a bit of each pattern as the foundations of our ethical choices.
Stay tuned – we will discuss in further articles, other ethical influences. For a more detailed explanation and an opportunity to measure your employee’s ethical predisposition, please contact Chuck Gallagher at ch***@ga*******.com or visit his website www.chuckgallgher.com.