- Cover of John F. Kennedy
While it may be naive to believe that it is enough to merely exhort people to be ethical, it is cynical to conclude that inspiration to higher modes of thinking is useless or irrelevant. In fact, thousands of citizens were personally influenced in 1960 by President John Kennedy who told the country that the torch had been passed to a new generation, that one should “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
Even less eloquent attempts to inspire commitment to ethical principles can make the difference if they are thoughtful, sincere, realistic and believable. For example, senior executives can accomplish a great deal by explicitly informing persons who work with and for them that they attach great importance to specific ethical principles (it always helps to be specific), e.g., honesty, integrity, promise keeping, loyalty, fairness, caring, and respect for others, law abidingness, the pursuit of excellence and accountability.
This affects behavior on two levels: first, it reinforces the personal ethics of the listeners and gives them permission to be ethical; second, it makes it clear that being ethical is part of their job, that it is expected and desired.
Leadership by Example. It has been said that a person preaches a better sermon with his life than his lips because the most potent inspirational technique is to lead by example. The Golden Rule is not only an invaluable guide to ethics, it is a most effective method of leadership. One who wants colleagues or subordinates to be honest and candid must be honest and candid with them; one who wants others to keep the letter and spirit of their commitments must keep commitments, etc.
On the other hand, hypocrisy and inconsistency, even in small matters, can be totally destructive of trust and the ability to exercise moral leadership. It helps to remember the story about the father who, upon finding that his son had taken a set of colored marking pens from school, rebuked him, told him he had to return the pens and apologize to the teacher, and concluded, “If you needed pens, why didn’t you tell me, I would have taken some from the office.”
Values Orientation. An important step in establishing an ethical culture is to assure that all individuals, especially newcomers, know about and understand the laws, rules, and values which should guide their behavior. A well-planned orientation program is very important. The goal is to create a public service pride, an esprit de corps, that strengthens moral resolve and the commitment to high ethical standards.
Organizational value inculcation can be done effectively only if there is a sincere, meaningful and personal connection made between someone in the organization and the newcomer. Manuals, ethics codes and welcoming video tapes with a message from the “top” can be extremely helpful, but only if they are given and taken seriously and used in conjunction with personal reinforcement.
Dealing With Laws and Public Expectations. Law abidingness is a moral imperative for executives in the public eye. There is no surer way to a front page scandal than violations of law, even technical ones. Thus, all top executives and staff must be educated about relevant laws and policies. Simply providing booklets or manuals is not enough, few read them and fewer can understand them without assistance and clarification.
While reviewing these rules it is important to stress the role and limitations of external regulations including the fact that ethics laws do not cover many areas of potential problems and that technical compliance with laws is necessary but not always enough. A person can be dishonest, break commitments, be unfair and unaccountable without breaking the law.
It should be continuously emphasized that laws cannot replace the need for a sensitive conscience of the moral obligation to adhere to traditional ethical principles. In order to encourage good faith acceptance of the moral obligation to abide by both the letter and the spirit of the law, every opportunity should be used to clarify the reasons for the rules and the importance of the appearance of impropriety test.
An orientation program could also benefit from a 5-10 minute presentation (live or video) from the CEO and a more comprehensive address from the immediate supervisor of the group addressed. The message might include the statements that a person does not have to be sick to get better, that one’s job is most rewarding when it is performed with total integrity, that it is important that each person do his or her share to improve and maintain the image and reality of an ethical company, and that good ethics is expected and appreciated by supervisors.
{ 1 trackback }