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Business ethics start at the top
By Lauren | July 1, 2008
Now and then, I’ll hear a company executive complain about the ethics of his or her employees. The complaints usually have to do with things like pilfering office supplies (a chronic problem just before school starts each September), wasting work time with Internet shopping or personal e-mails, or evasive encounters with customers or vendors. Larger ethical lapses like embezzlement of company funds get referred to the authorities, but all too often bosses just sigh and shake their heads over their employees’ minor ethical shortcomings.
Maybe they should look in the mirror instead.
The tone an executive sets will almost always impact the level of attention that executive’s employees pay to ethical issues. If the boss routinely comes in late, leaves early and takes two-hour lunches, employees will quickly figure out that it’s okay to squander company time on personal business. If the boss plays fast and loose with expense reports and petty cash, employees soon decide that company assets are theirs for the taking. And if the boss routinely avoids difficult phone calls, pretends to be “out of the office” when an unhappy customer comes in unexpectedly, or puts too positive a spin on information presented to the Board, employees can be expected to take a similarly cavalier attitude toward the truth.
It can be easy for executives to tell themselves that lower-level employees don’t understand the crunch of business pressures or appreciate the subtleties of company politics. But if an executive’s employees demonstrate a chronic disregard for business ethics, that’s a sure sign that the executive needs to pay more attention to them. If your employees are less than ethical, odds are good that you might be, too.
Topics: Business Ethics, corporate responsibility, customer relations, ethics |
July 1st, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Well said, Lauren,
This reminds me of a case in my home country (Australia) in the 1990s. A new Chief Executive of the largest retailer in the country promised to come down very hard on any acts of shrinkage by store employees. A few years later, it was revealed that he himself had diverted a few million dollars of company money toward renovation of his family home. (Apparently, his wife was very fussy when the new pool was installed)
It is true that even in cases where executives set a positive example, there will always be the occasional ‘bad apple’ amongst lower level employees. However, the majority of the time the behavior of lower level employees emulates that of the examples from above.
Cheers
Andrew