Ethical Issues in Human Resources

1
Ethical Issues in Human Resources

• Presented by
• Keith Greene, SPHR
• Vice President, Member Relations
• Society for Human Resource Management

2
What Are the Top Five Reasons to Run a Business
in an Ethical Manner?

• Protection of your brand and your reputation
• Because its the right thing to do
• To build customer trust and loyalty
• To build investor confidence
• To gain/retain public acceptance and recognition
• Source American Management Association (2006)

3
What Are the Top Five Processes/Factors for
Ensuring an Ethical Business Culture?

• Leaders model ethical behavior
• Leaders communicate consistently
• Ethics is integrated into the fabric of the
  organization
• Ethics is a component of the performance
  management system
• Ethics is a consideration in recruiting and
  selection
• Source American Management Association (2006)

4
What Are the Five Most Important Leadership
Behaviors?

• Keep promises
• Encourage open communication/ensure no
  retaliation
• Keep employees informed
• Support ethical behavior/discipline transgressors
• Both internal and external discussion of the
  importance of business ethics
• Source American Management Association (2006)

5
What Are the Top Five Internal Practices for
Ensuring an Ethical Corporate Culture?

• Code of conduct
• Ethics training
• Corporate social responsibility programs
• Ombudsman available
• Ethics helpline
• Source American Management Association (2006)

6
What Are the Top Five Drivers of Unethical
Behavior?

• Pressure to meet unrealistic business objectives
• Desire to further ones career
• Desire to protect ones livelihood
• Working within a cynical, demoralized environment
• Ignorance that the act was unethical
• Source American Management Association (2006)

7
Do You Tell Lies in the Office at Least Once Per
Week?

• 19 of employees admit they tell lies at the
  office at least once per week.
• CareerBuilder.com survey of 2050 respondents
  (including 1000 hiring managers)
• Survey conducted 11/1/05 12/6/05

8
Top Reasons for Lying

• Appeasing a customer (26)
• To cover up a failed project, a mistake or missed
  deadline (13)
• To explain an unexcused absence or tardiness (8)
• To protect another employee (8)
• To avoid a vendor (6)
• To get out of work (5)
• To get a co-worker in trouble or to look better
  in front of the supervisor (5)

9
Have You Been Caught in a Lie at Work?

• 15 of employees admit theyve been caught in a
  lie at work.
• CareerBuilder.com survey of 2050 respondents
  (including 1000 hiring managers)
• Survey conducted 11/1/05 12/6/05

10
Common Lies at Work

• I dont know what happened.
• I have to take another call.
• Ill call you right back.
• You look great.
• I love your outfit.
• Ive been out of town (or sick)
• I didnt get your e-mail (or voice mail or fax)
• The computer system is down
• The check is in the mail.

11
The Seven Questions

• 1. Why do good people do bad things?
• 2. What are your organizations values?
• 3. Have you adequately articulated your values
  internally and externally?

12
The Seven Questions

• 4. Does your organization have written ethics
  policies, procedures, or structures?
• 5. To whom is your organization accountable?
• What is success?
• Is ethics a leadership issue in your
  organization?
• Source Ethics Resource Center

13
Reasons Employees Do Report Observations of
Ethical Misconduct

• Its the right thing to do
• So that corrective action can be taken
• Because management would support me
• Because my co-workers would support me
• Because I could report it anonymously
• Because I knew that no one else would

14
Reasons Employees Do Not Report Observations of
Ethical Misconduct

• Dont believe action would be taken
• Feared retaliation from supervisor/
  management/co-workers
• Didnt trust confidentiality/feared there was no
  anonymity
• Thought that someone else would report
• Did not know who to contact

15
Reasons Employees Were Dissatisfied with the
Response to their Report of Misconduct

• The action taken wasnt severe enough
• Received no response to my report
• There was a cover-up
• Didnt believe what management told me

16
How Often do you Feel Pressure to Compromise the
Ethical Standards of your Organization?

• Rarely 20
• Periodically 37
• Fairly Often 24
• All the Time 20

17
Where Does the Pressure Come From?

• Top Management 36
• Middle Management 39
• Co-Workers 15
• Sources Outside My Organization 4

18
Six Elements of a Formal Ethics Program

• Written standards of conduct
• Training on ethics
• Mechanisms to seek ethics advice or information
• Means to report misconduct anonymously
• Discipline of employees who violate ethical
  standards
• Evaluation of employees performance based on
  ethical conduct  

19
Six TERRIFIC Pillars of Character by Michael
Josephson

• TRUSTWORTHINESS (honesty, integrity, reliability
  loyalty)
• RESPECT (civility, courtesy, tolerance,
  dignity acceptance)
• RESPONSIBILITY (exercise of self-restraint,
  pursuit of excellence, accountability)

• FAIRNESS (play by the rules, share,
  be open-minded)
• CARING (kindness, compassion,
  forgiveness, the heart of ethics)
• CITIZENSHIP (civic-minded and law abiding)

20
What Are 24,000 High School Students Saying
Nowadays?

• Lets Ask the
• Josephson Institute of Ethics
• in Los Angeles, CA!

21
Have You Cheated on an Exam at Least Once in the
Past Year?
22
Have You Lied to Your Parents within the Past
Twelve Months?
23
Have You Lied to Your Teachers within the Past
Twelve Months?
24
Would You Be Willing to Lie to Get a Good Job?
25
In the Real World, Successful People Do What They
Have to Do to Win, Even if Others Consider It
Cheating.
26
Framework for Ethical Decision-Making

• P - Policies and Professional Standards
• L - Laws and/or Regulations
• U - Universal/Organizational Values
• S - Self/Personal Values or Standards

27
Does It CLICK?

• What are the CONSEQUENCES if I do this? Who will
  benefit? Who will suffer?
• Is it LEGAL?
• Would I like to see this as my IMAGE on the front
  page of the newspaper? Would I like to tell this
  to my kids?
• Does this decision support or damage our
  corporate CULTURE and values?
• Does it cause a KNOT in my stomach?

28
Decision-Making Model

• Define the Issue
• Identify your Options/Alternatives
• Evaluate your Options/Alternatives
• Select the Best Alternative
• Implement your Best Alternative
• Evaluate the Outcome

29
Ethical Decisions Require Three Qualities

• COMPETENCE to recognize ethical issues and to
  think through the consequences of alternative
  resolutions.

30
Ethical Decisions Require Three Qualities

• SELF-CONFIDENCE to seek out different points of
  view and then decide whats right at a given time
  and place, in a particular relationship and
  circumstance.

31
Ethical Decisions Require Three Qualities

• COURAGE - a willingness to make decisions when
  all that needs to be known cant be known and
  when the questions that press for answers have no
  established and incontrovertible solutions.

32
The Operational Challenge

• Finding practical ways
• to do the right things, NOT discerning what is
  right!

33
The Words of Glen Salow, Executive VP and CIO,
American Express

• If you cant explain it to your mother or your
  grandmother,
• dont do it!

34
The Words of Coretta Scott King

• It doesnt matter how strong your opinions are.
  If you dont use your power for positive change,
  you are, indeed, part of the problem

35
The Words of John A. Shedd

• A ship in a harbor is safe but that is NOT
  what ships are for.

36
Some Closing Advice.

• ALWAYS
• Tell the truth
• Stand up and be counted
• Dont be afraid to appeal
• Dont give up!