Got ethics?

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTITIONER

Title: Managing Yourself: Keeping Your Colleagues Honest

Competency: self-development, ethics, trust

Who benefits: this article has broad applications and can benefit anyone old enough to read it

Consultant Usage: every professional consultant regardless of area of expertise should read this article; training materials available for those engaged in ethics training

What’s it about? Most of us rarely think about ethics and ethical dilemmas on a day-to-day basis.  Like CPR, other medical emergencies and a host of peripheral topics, we just hope these are subject matters we never have to use.   

In the case of ethics, if a situation arises, we will probably know what to do … but acting on our knowledge is something most of us are ill-prepared to do.  Most of us know right from wrong.  But if we see a boss, a colleague or a friend doing wrong, do we really have what it takes to confront the wrong-doer?

In “Managing Yourself: Keeping Your Colleagues Honest”, author Mary Gentile confronts all of us.  She suggests that most of us slip into the four most common forms of denial (why we don’t speak up):

1. It’s standard practice.
2. It’s not a big deal.
3. It’s not my responsibility.
4. I want to be loyal.

As I read through these four common forms of denial I started to laugh.  Even as I was reading I was thinking, “Nah, I wouldn’t do that!” – nothing at all on the line and I am denying what I am reading.  Wow, denial runs deep.

Anyway, her central theme is that ethical situations arise in all organizations and that we all need to know how to respond constructively and senior managers need to look at cultural norms that allow these situations to arise in the first place.

It is a good read.  She has a book on the topic, Giving Voice to Values, coming out in September.  And for those of you really interested in the topic, she is supported by The Aspen Institute Center for Business Education, which is making available companion training materials.  If you are a trainer, definitely worth checking out the Aspen site.

Catch you later. 

[tags]ethics, trust, aspen center for business education, values, giving voice to values, mary gentile , bill bradley, william bradley, bradley[/tags]

Bill Bradley

Bill Bradley (mostly) retired after 35 years in organizational consulting, training and management development. During those years he worked internally with seven organizations and trained and consulted externally with more than 90 large and small businesses, government agencies, hospitals and schools.