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Ethics: The Trickle Down Effect
Appear in: Builder & Developer Magazine - January 2005
Developing a professional code of conduct is a critical task for human resource professionals.
Imagine that you are a representative for a major benefits administrator and you have been called upon by one of your largest customers to integrate another benefits option package for their employees. However, this morning you learned that this particular benefits package would be significantly reduced in terms of cost to your client.
You have two options: You can take the order for the additional benefits package at today's cost, or you can inform your customer that the cost of this benefits package will be reduced in the next five to seven working days, thus saving your customer a significant amount of money. If you enable your customer to attain the benefit package at the lower price your commission will be substantially lower. What would you do?
The Dynamics of Ethics
Ethics is normative and prescriptive, not neutral. It addresses the question of what ought to be. Business people and successful organizations reflect these values through their internal and external influences. Professionals are confronted daily with the problems of interpreting and adjusting to values that are not always clear in a changing world.
Are the people who make up your organization trying to function without a professional code of ethics? If so, it is important that human resources professionals convey that the leaders of the organization, as well as the employees, should examine their values, ethics, and professionalism and find a balance that will compliment and lend strength to the organization. By developing a professional code of ethics that is in line with your organization, it will benefit business goals.
Do unto others
Ethical representatives generally learn that they have far more consistent, loyal and profitable relationships when their customers are treated in a responsible fashion. Making an ethical decision will in turn generate repeat business and prove profitable in the long run.
As HR professionals, it seems to be an unwritten responsibility to uphold not only the ethics of the profession, but of your organization. The standards of conduct and moral judgment you believe in and demonstrate through action are an integral part of your professional package. A person or organization will judge your business values and standards by how they perceive your ethics. It is important, therefore, to be mindful of what you say and do. Others should perceive you as ethical, as well as professional. Your accountability, credibility, and truthfulness all should reflect positively on you and the way you choose to conduct business.
Company policies
An imperative role for the HR professional is to educate your employer on the importance of developing a company code of ethics. It is important to convey the message that employers should at all times carefully consider the ways that they are perceived by others. Loyalty, honesty, commitment, values, decency, and the sense of right and wrong are what comprise foundations for professional ethics. Taking the time to establish a well-rounded list of ideals should reflect the ethics most valued in the workplace, and should be the groundwork for building a company professional code of ethics.
Professionals in the HR filed already know the importance of the examples managers set through business dealings and behavior. Good examples of appropriate behavior are not necessarily conveyed to employees through announcements in interoffice newsletters or memorandums, or even the grapevine, but by always having appropriate role models making principled choices. How employees perceive your organization's professionalism will lend to the respect they have in the company's ability to manage and lead.
With an understanding of the structure of what ethics should be, coupled with the fact that they are the "teachers" of ethics to the organizations workforce, smart managers begin to develop smart employees whom begin to understand that the company's integrity is apparent in all activities. A consistent viewpoint on ethical conduct should become an integrated part of any type of corporate culture.
HR professionals should recommend building an individual professional code of ethics based on the manager's ideals. Charging this responsibility to each individual employee should fall in line with the organizations code business ethics and code of conduct. The importance of deriving a code of ethics is an integral part of any professional career and should dictate the conduct and responsibility of each individual, which in turn commits the individual's responsibilities to the organization.
As HR professionals, we can see the need to take a much more careful examination of values within the organization, especially the values and standards of conduct among the organization, its managers and employees, and how each of them are intertwined.
The challenge of a poor ethical code
Effective human relations depend upon sincerity and a concern for ethical values. While it is not always easy to obtain agreement as to what should be valued, HR professionals should emphasize to managers and employees that careful attention be given to ethical values in the performance of their duties for their organization. HR professionals should continually remind their managers and employees that when confronted with certain temptations, ethical values are not necessarily obsolete. Besides, if you engage in unethical practices with others, two principle types of problems might challenge you.
The first problem relates to living with your own conscience, and the second problem relates to the tendency of assuming that others are as unethical in their dealings as you are. You will discover that you can live a far more confident existence professionally if your activities do not border on the unethical.
No matter the size, culture or industry of your organization, ethics is a key factor for success.
By Traci Winters
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