Ethics in Business Decision Making

While doing research for this article I found lots of information describing corporate evildoers, a list of 100 top corporate citizens and volumes of university produced case studies. Everything I found described the actions, the good and the bad, and speculated on the question “What motivates unethical choices?”

The writing contained very little that inspired self-reflection or discussion on the subject of motivating ethical decision-making.

So what does motivate individuals to make choices one would label ethical? How do we each discriminate right from wrong? What are the accepted rules of right conduct?

I believe the answer is rooted in one simple statement “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Though simple it challenges us to be forward thinking and considerate of the consequences of our choices. Good intentions are irresponsible intentions if projects are initiated without exploring all the possible outcomes. Will we get it right 100% of the time? Even if a decision is made based on the best information available and sound assumptions, the answer is no.

It is critical to understand that while one choice puts a project into motion, continuously assessing progress, checking assumptions, and making mid course corrections sustains the integration of ethics in decision-making.

What can you do? Find a compass that will support your ethical decision-making – maybe it is the simple statement that I’ve shared. Ask questions. Evaluate your current work environment.

Does your organization’s top leadership role model ethical decision-making?

What does your organization reward? Doing what is best for all the stakeholders or pure revenue and sales generation?

When evaluating project costs and benefits are only financial factors taken into consideration? How about the implications for all stakeholders?

Regardless of the answers you do have the power to make a difference. I encourge you to foster open dialogue with your team. Start talking about ethical decision-making, and start with the small issues so when the big ones come along no one is intimidated to ask the tough questions.

Business Ethics, Part 2 of 5

As I read and re read Mr. Byron’s “ten classic ethical principles” I find myself with more questions than answers. My first response to the discomfort of being in question? Rush to find answers! I often find that life, job, and family are only hungry for answers.

As you explore what these principles mean in your life I hope you will hang out in the questions. Here are a few questions to consider

Are these principles part of what I consider important?
Do they currently influence my actions and choices?
How might they in the future?


Excerpt from The Power of Principles

“I’ve identified ten classic ethical principles and invite the reader to come up with his or her own understanding of each one. You are the world’s leading expert on your own opinion. It is important that you articulate your own opinion on these matters so that you can assess how widely shared, in your present or future workplace, are your values and the understandings you have of these classic principles. Remember, a culture is a set of shared meanings and values. How widely shared are your meanings and values relative to these ten points?

….

Fourth, the Principle of Human Dignity. This bedrock principle of all ethics—personal and organizational—acknowl­edges a person’s inherent worth. It prompts respectful recog­nition of another’s value simply for being human.

Fifth, the Principle of Participation, workplace participa­tion in this case. This principle respects another’s right not to be ignored on the job or shut out from decision making within the organization.

Sixth, the Principle of Commitment. What I have in mind here is that a committed person can be counted on for de­pendability, reliability, fidelity, loyalty.”


Byron, S.J., William J., The Power of Principles: Ethics for the New Corporate Culture, Orbis Books, 2006. Chapter One, Old Ethical Principles, p 5.

Business Ethics, Part 1 of 5

Business Ethics is such an important topic that I plan to dedicate the October “Coaching Tips for the Top” to the subject. Events of the last few years have inspired a lot of discussion about the absence of ethics in business. I was recently introduced to a powerful book by William J. Byron, S.J. on this subject and am so inspired by the content that I want to share Mr. Byron’s words. He discusses “ten classic ethical principles” which are pretty weighty so I’ll include a few each week. As you read each week’s segment please consider a few questions:

Are these principles part of what I consider important?
Do they currently influence my actions and choices?
How might they in the future?


Excerpt from The Power of Principles

“I’ve identified ten classic ethical principles and invite the reader to come up with his or her own understanding of each one. You are the world’s leading expert on your own opinion. It is important that you articulate your own opinion on these matters so that you can assess how widely shared, in your present or future workplace, are your values and the understandings you have of these classic principles. Remember, a culture is a set of shared meanings and values. How widely shared are your meanings and values relative to these ten points?

First, the Principle of Integrity. I think of integrity in terms of wholeness, solidity of character, honesty, trustworthiness, and responsibility. What would you add or subtract from that list?

Second, the Principle of Veracity. This, to me, involves tell­ing the truth in all circumstances; it also includes account­ability and transparency.

Third, the Principle of Fairness. By this, of course, I mean justice, treating equals equally, giving to everyone his or her due.”


Byron, S.J., William J., The Power of Principles: Ethics for the New Corporate Culture, Orbis Books, 2006. Chapter One, Old Ethical Principles, p 5.

Regaining Control of Your Time

A follow up to September 10’s Time Management Tip

Bob, a vice president with a large general contracting company, carefully tracked his time over a two week period. After analyzing the data he was surprised to discover that his 72 work hours are spend doing the following:

40% responding to unanticipated situations,
10% checking and responding to e-mail,
30% attending meetings,
5% doing his own work,
5% listening to Henry complain,
5% doing administrative tasks (scheduling appointments, making copies, etc.),
5% on miscellaneous breaks.

Bob’s own work is suffering so he’s serious about taking control of his time. What can Bob do differently?

Here are a few suggestions.

1. Bob could further evaluate the almost 29 hours he spends responding to unanticipated situations. How many times was his expertise really needed verse how many times was an employee looking to Bob to solve his or her problem? If an employee comes to the door when you are in the middle of something it is okay to ask a few questions before dropping everything. Try “Is this urgent or could it wait 30 minutes until I complete this task?” You’ll be surprise how often someone resolves their own issue in that 30 minutes.

2. Build blocks of time into your schedule to respond to e-mails. Sitting on e-mail is a huge time waster. If you have a Blackberry respond to a message by asking yourself “is this urgent or could it wait until later?”

3. Get rid of Henry the complainer. If Henry’s complaints are legitimate either work to alleviate them or send him to someone who can appropriately address the issues. If Henry’s complaints are way off base take control of the conversation and tell him you don’t agree. You want to nip this in the bud.

4. Bob has an assistant who can be doing 90% of his administrative tasks. Learn to ask for assistance and cultivate a good working relationship with an assistant. This is the person who is going to look out for you.

Delegating

Anyone in your organization doing the work of a team because he or she doesn’t delegate? Most leaders find delegating takes a lot of effort. Effort that is worth expending because everyone’s success, the executive, team, and organization’s, depends on it. What can make the effort successful?

Here’s a scenario: You need a financial report illustrating the fiscal health of your department over the last 6 months. You could generate the report yourself but a few of your team members could also complete the project.

Where do you start? Have a conversation to clearly define what you need and when you need it. Talking through the project provides you and your staff member an opportunity to uncover the details and create a roadmap.

Beware … of a command and control approach – telling an individual what to do, getting the “I understand” head nod, and then dismissing the person to do what you’ve asked.

Next, set up a schedule for monitoring progress and then follow through. It is great news if things are moving forward as needed. If things are not going well you have the opportunity to support your employee to get the project back on track. Let me repeat … support your employee to get the project back on track … not take over completing the work.

Ask questions to get to the root of the situation. Some possible reasons things aren’t going well include

· additional detail or clarity is needed
· additional resources are needed
· competing priorities exist

Notice that “your staff members are incompetent, lazy, saboteurs” is not on the list!

You may go through several cycles on the path to project completion – stick with it. Delegating frees up time for you to focus on strategic issues, communicates that you trust, respect and value the people working for you, and develops tomorrow’s executive leaders.

Effective delegating does take practice. Learn to be the guiding hand that supports others to achieve superior business results.

Time Management

Is time management a problem yet your executive doesn’t seem to be over committed or struggling with setting priorities?

In order to best diagnose the cause of a time management problem the executive must do an assessment of their time utilization. How are they spending this limited resource?

Here’s an assessment exercise you can offer your executive.

1. For the next 2 weeks document how you spend your time. Write down all of the activities and the time committed to each. No one will see this information so please include everything – scheduled meetings, unscheduled meetings, phone calls, e-mail, administrative responsibilities, conversations at the coffee pot, lunch, etc.

2. After completing your documentation ask yourself the following questions to evaluation your data.
What did you actually spend your time doing?
On what did you anticipate/ expect to be spending your time?
How do you feel about how you are actually spending your time?
What action will you take from what you observed in this exercise?

Setting Priorities

Is anyone in your organization missing deadlines because they are overwhelmed by job responsibilities? Many people find themselves pulled in several directions due to diverse project and team responsibilities. And they report to, or are accountable to, several people with conflicting priorities.

How can you support others to set priorities?

1. The best support you can provide is to ensure the individual understands the culture and the criteria important to establishing priorities. Are priorities always set by deadline? How does senior leadership influence priorities?

2. Periodically ask what support the individual needs to be successful. He or she may feel too overwhelmed to even ask for help.

3. The following questions also support an individual to successfully evaluate priority actions on a daily basis:

What is most important for me to accomplish today?
What is most important for me to communicate today?
What actions will move me toward fulfilling my responsibilities?

Setting priorities and using them to guide actions causes a dramatic increase in productivity – try it out.