“You speak on ‘business ethics’ – wow – you must be really busy!” Great comment and I wish it were true. But there looms a significant question – Is business ethics irrelevant for corporate managers?
I hear those words often and more and more I see the proliferation of business ethics courses offered on campuses across the 
country. It’s said that 90%+ of business schools have some sort of ethics program or training. Likewise, there are multiple business ethics endowed chairs and research centers focusing attention on ethics in business. There is academic proliferation, but what practical difference does it make to those managers on the front line?
Not long ago I had the opportunity to speak to a national clothing retailer. They have a culture of doing the right thing – a strong business ethics culture – and make sure that annually they train their management team. I applaud their efforts, but it was clear that the managers were bewildered by the challenges they faced and the number of areas where ethical actions were challenged. Frankly academic business ethics theories were useless to the managers. They need to have more education and direction related to (1) how to deal with difficult situations and (2) learn to deal with real-world temptations that offer a vast array of opportunities to act unethically.
What can we do to help?
Let’s look at the landscape of current training and let’s ask ourselves if we are moving the needle at all toward a more ethical business environment? Many would say we’re not.
In the program I mentioned above I asked the following set of questions:
- What are you doing today to influence your rank and file employees to perform their task in an ethical manner?
- Who is teaching them what you’re learning today?
- How often are you reinforcing the culture of positive ethical choice?
The answers that followed were poor at best. While senior management felt that it was moving the needle by training annually their management team, the work load and performance expectation for that middle management team left little time, if any, for a commitment to ethics training. Evidence showed that despite the training efforts ethical actions were deteriorating.
Far too many business ethicists are removed from the real concerns and real-world problems of the vast majority of managers. And even when business ethicists try to be practical what is recommend is typically of little practical use to middle managers. It’s as if business ethics training is irrelevant to corporate managers. Practically the question is what is the value of focusing attention on business ethics in the face of competing attention for productivity and profits?
Managers today are asked to evaluate their business performance vs consumer’s interests vs shareholder desire for high profits or healthy dividend returns. Business ethics today must juggle the messy world of mixed motives and moral conflicts.
How do we get the message out?
Many say it takes 21 days to form a habit. I’m not sure it’s that clear cut, but one thing is certain, an annual meeting where an hour or two devoted to ethics training is woefully insufficient!
To address that issue, I have created a 30-day program through Virtual Training Associates which creates a structured training program for rank-and-file employees on ethics and ethical behavior. The program moves well beyond “what to do” but more importantly what motivates behavior. If an employee can understand how an unethical action starts and what that looks like, he/she is more apt to make an intelligent choice.
How does the Virtual Training Program work?
Simple! Once an employer adopts the VTA program, employees will log on to the VTA website and get their 5 minute daily dose of ethics training and reinforcement. It might seem simple, but simple is often the best answer to complicated problems. Evidence shows that just 5 minutes per day of enlightening and entertaining information on ethical choices and consequences move the needle for employees in a positive direction.
Want more information? Give me a call at 828.244.1400 or visit my website: ChuckGallagher.com and go to the contact us tab.
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