Most companies have ethics and compliance policies that get reviewed and signed annually by all employees. “Employees are charged with conducting their business affairs in accordance with the highest ethical standards,” reads one such example. “Moral as well as legal obligations will be fulfilled in a manner which will reflect pride on the company’s name.” Of course, that policy comes directly from Enron. Clearly it takes more than a compliance policy or values statement to sustain a truly ethical workplace.
Despite good intentions, organizations set themselves up for ethical catastrophes by creating environments in which people feel forced to make choices they could never have imagined.
Here are five ways organizations needlessly provoke good people to make unethical choices.
— IT IS PSYCHOLOGICALLY UNSAFE TO SPEAK UP: Creating a culture in which people freely speak up is vital to ensuring people don’t collude with, or incite, misconduct. A manager’s reactions to an employee’s concerns sets the tone for whether or not people will raise future issues. If a leader reacts with even the slightest bit of annoyance, she is signaling she doesn’t really want to hear concerns.
— THERE IS EXCESSIVE PRESSURE TO REACH UNREALISTIC PERFORMANCE TARGETS: Research suggests unfettered goal setting can encourage people to make compromising choices in order to reach targets, especially if those targets seem unrealistic. People might feel pressured to cheat in two ways: either by cutting corners on the way they reach a goal or by lying when reporting how much they actually achieved. Organizations must ensure people have the resources, timelines, skill and support they need to achieve targets they are given, especially ambitious stretch goals.
— CONFLICTING GOALS PROVOKE A SENSE OF UNFAIRNESS: Once a sense of injustice is provoked, the stage is set for compromise. Research on organizational injustice shows a direct correlation between employees’ senses of fairness and their conscious choices to sabotage their organizations.
— ETHICAL BEHAVIOR IS NOT PART OF ROUTINE CONVERSATION: Too many leaders assume that talking about ethics is something you do when there’s been a scandal or as part of an organization’s compliance program. Leaders have to infuse everyday activities with ethical considerations, designing policies and norms that prioritize ethics.
— A POSITIVE EXAMPLE ISN’T BEING SET: Leaders must accept they are held to higher standards than others. They must be extra vigilant about not only their intentions but also how others might interpret their behavior. Leaders must be aware of any unintended messages they may be sending.
Organizations who don’t want to find themselves on a front-page scandal must scrutinize their actions to a far greater degree than they may have realized. In an age of corporate mistrust, creating ethical workplaces takes more than compliance programs. It requires ongoing intensified effort to make the highest ethical standards the norm — and ruthless intolerance of anything less.
