Business Ethics

I have set myself the challenge of writing a novel in 2011 and have enlisted the support and ideas of my blog followers. Already a number of related ideas have emerged from the creative riches of this group. Without giving the game away, possible common themes involve, in one way or another, the matter of Ethics, or at least Principles. This caused me to reflect on some of the experiences of my own business career. Ethics has always been a topic in business, and frequently talked about, even if not acted on consistently. Into this fray, stepped the Business Schools.

I think that it was the Economist magazine which questioned why Ethics should be a subject at Business Schools. If it was not, then I render my apologies to them. But someone out there asked the question as to whether there was really any point. The line of argument was broadly that Ethics represented what we were, and that if it needed to be taught, then heaven help us.

I do not intend to discuss the ethical behaviour of at a Company level, but to reflect on some events in my own career, that came to mind.

The first involved a very pleasant person, who went on a crusade against me, over the miscalculation of some fees. The first mistake was mine, but the personal war that took place over email and in meetings and that carried on for the following four weeks was well…..wait for the Novel. Some years later, when we worked together on a project, he apologised and said “But, of course, it was the Company that made me do this”.

In the second, I was asked (and gave) my opinion on what factors would be taken into account when deciding on the Vendor for a particular business process, and what answers would be taken as a positive solution. Being youthful and naïve, I was surprised to see these points, almost as I had dictated them, repeated in a very senior presentation to justify a particular product. The person doing the presentation had the choice of inserting these ideas as facts or looking for another job.

A further instance involved a manager being asked to answer an email, which had been addressed to a senior member of the business. The email requested the putting right of a small injustice. The manager was given instructions to write an answer denying the claim, even though he felt that moral right was on the side of the claimant. He wrote the response that he was instructed to give.

These dilemmas are daily. There are countless other examples. They go to the heart of many of the day to day conflicts that employees and customers feel towards Companies. Employees are required to carry out actions which may go against their own innermost ethical compasses. When people have years of service with a company, mortgages to pay, and children to bring up, these matters are not so easy to resolve or to censure.

I do not propose an answer. However, I think that the Economist was correct. This cannot be taught. The person in the first case still knew that it was wrong and perhaps this is a step in the right direction. When people have no feeling at all about their own actions in the workplace, then this is time to become worried. But the question still remains for each person, whether a line exists and where that line might be.