I thought that the gigantic
spotlight that was directed on Corporate America following the Enron debacle
and the Martha Stewart imprisonment would result in a sea change in the way
U.S. businesses across the country approached their mission and objectives.
I was wrong. In follow-up research to my 2002 book, HRM Ethics: Perspectives
for a New Millennium, I interviewed many of the same HR professionals I
originally talked with about how life has changed in their world in the past
four years. The short answer is: the change has been negligible.
The biggest issue I was able to surface is that there is still disagreement
inside companies about what “ethics” and “values” really are and how they
should be employed in an ethical decision making framework. The CFO’s
perspective, for instance, may be vastly different from the Marketing
Manager’s perspective on ethical ways to approach building a brand. As is
often the case in industry, Human Resource professionals are caught in the
middle of ethical debates because the result of these debates affects
employees and the way they go about doing their jobs.
In my interviews with 150 HR executives around the country this past year, I
heard the following definitions of ethics:
- The truth.
- Integrity.
- Clarity and constancy
of purpose.
- Standards, rules, and
policies.
- Values.
- It depends on the
situation.
- Balancing the impact
on the individual and the organization.
I’ve thought long and
hard about these suggestions for a definition of ethics. At first, “the
truth” seems like a sound choice. However, I’m not certain that my truth is
the same as others’ truth. As a Human Resources professional, I believe it’s
necessary to advise potential applicants of both positive and negative
aspects of working for an organization so that they can decide for
themselves whether the opening is one in which they can make a solid
contribution. I’ve faced strong opposition on this stance from hiring
managers over the years who believe that only positive, uplifting aspects of
the organization should be discussed with potential employees, in order to
protect the company’s image. Is my “truth” better than their “truth”?
Standards, rules, and policies can be clear. They can result in efficiency.
They can result in a company staying in compliance of labor employment and
safety laws. That doesn’t mean, however, that the policies are always
ethical. A company’s policy may be to dump toxic waste into nearby streams
and rivers, or find a way to fire executives over 50 because the company
doesn’t wish to pay high salaries.
Situational ethics is a slippery slope, although I certainly understand that
this concept is a driving factor in today’s global economy. What if your
organization does business in a country that expects bribes in order to
bring you on as a supplier? In that culture, bride solicitation is not seen
as unethical. However, if the company Core Values clearly state that no
business is to be solicited in this manner, this presents a dilemma to sales
reps who are trying to meet strict sales quotas. How can you provide fair
commissions and incentives to sales reps operating in this type of
environment?
This brings me to integrity, along with clarity and constancy of purpose.
This conceptual framework is one that I believe I can work with as a Human
Resources professional. In HR, we are often expected to enforce company
policies and standards. Employees will have a difficult time following these
standards if they see HR staff acting in a way that is counter to written
expectations. Regardless of what’s going on around us, then, I believe that
an important aspect of our job is to serve as a role model for consistency,
in good times and bad.
Another key role for HR is to act as a catalyst for change. I started work
at an organization several years ago that had an “honors system” for paying
for coffee and breakfast goodies. Different employees would be responsible
for purchasing the breakfast fare each week. Often, the “bank” would be
short because some employees would take coffee or rolls without paying. They
even commented openly about this, saying that “everyone does it”. I decided
that I would always, always pay for coffee or rolls that I took . . . or go
without. Small gestures like this, I believe, encourage others to make
changes in the way they go about making decisions.
HR professionals must sometimes be the voice of dissent when others are
following a path that is counter to the company’s Core Values. If we witness
line managers or executives that are electing to pursue an unethical course,
our choice is to “look the other way” or speak to them about our concerns.
When I was an HR practitioner, one of the executives that I was coaching
through a multirater feedback process wanted to massage the responses he
received from survey participants. His words to me were, “I can’t show the
CEO these responses as you’ve summarized them…I could be fired.” My response
was, “Let’s work together on an action plan to address these negative
responses so you can take solutions to the CEO.”
Our role in HR is to articulate the company’s ethical standards. We must
take advantage of every opportunity to communicate the company’s Core Values
– during the interview process, during onboarding of new employees, through
the written policies and procedures, and in the performance management
process. Other organizational leaders have to work with us to implement the
standards, of course, and hold staff accountable. The difficult aspect of
developing policies is often committing concepts to writing so that others
can respond and react. This policy development role is value-added to any
organization.
Lastly, I believe HR can create opportunities to openly discuss ethical
issues and ensure transparency in decision-making. The ideal is that
employees will bring up potential ethical dilemmas and ask their managers,
“what if”? We can encourage discussion of ethical questions during training,
in focus groups, and in IntraNet articles or book discussion groups. The
possibilities are many; we just have to leverage them to our full advantage.
I’d be very interested to hear about your view of HR’s role in establishing
and implementing Core Values and ethical decision-making frameworks. Please
send your comments to me at
Linda@gravett.com. Or, if you have
questions about how to handle an ethical dilemma, feel free to contact me
and I’ll serve as a liaison to obtain the opinions of other HR professionals
on how to address your concern.
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