Is there a specific set of core principles of business ethics? As a business ethics motivational speaker, business ethics consultant and business ethics book author, I can point to any number of on-line references and tutorials. Naturally, it is unethical to plagiarize however, I can share that knowing core principles such as compliance, integrity, loyalty, fairness and honesty are not enough.
HR professionals (and I have known many wonderful HR experts) often have their hands tied. For there is often a wall of skepticism and an overlay of boredom that accompanies attempts to teach the core principles of business ethics. There are several follow-up questions that are not asked. As a business ethics speaker, business ethics consultant and book author I want to explore those questions a bit more in this post.
What are the core principles of business ethics? Do they matter?
Here are two follow-up questions:
- Do the core principles of business ethics matter?
- Do they matter to you?
Ultimately, companies – virtual or in-person – are comprised of individuals. It is a given. At the end of the day (or shift), business ethics relies on the individual and how they act and react when no one is around to look or hear.
Here’s a thought: during the pandemic about $800 billion of taxpayer money was handed out to a wide range of corporations in so-called PPP assistance. Of that amount, it has been estimated that (to date) $80 billion was stolen. I would well imagine that thousands of those enterprises and their executives had some kind of ethics training where they talked of compliance, integrity, loyalty, fairness and honesty.
All of a sudden (and instead of worrying about keeping their companies afloat), many executives were driving new luxury cars, buying mansions and luxury baubles. As a business ethics speaker, I cannot tell you the number of “side conversations” I have had in regard to executives who lined their unethical pockets. No wonder the high degree of skepticism and mistrust.
The result, other than a paltry number of convictions, have been mass resignations, rampant inflation and the uncovering of numerous scams.
Please note I have not even approached other recent frauds involving healthcare, banking and finance, transportation, construction, legal and accounting. Every one of those areas lay claim to ethics training.
Again, posing the question of “What are the core principles of business ethics?” we might as well understand why so many in companies are unconvinced that ethics training matters in the least. Business ethics training is useless unless it is seen as relevant and more specifically, relevant to the individual. In other words, don’t tell me how many ethics courses have been taught, I am much more interested in unethical behaviors that occurred when no one was looking.
Matter to everyone or no one
Droning on from an ethics workbook, video, podcast, stream or even class exercise is largely irrelevant unless it is equally applicable. Just as ethical behavior must be consistent from the new intern to the CEO, it must be equally embraced. The choices and consequences must be equally applied. Unfortunately, that mindset is not equally taught.
Teaching business ethics and its core principles must apply to everyone or to no one. That simple point often fails to register, and without question it must.
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