code of ethics for business
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- The Litmus Test: Don't Lie, Cheat, or Steal
In life, "Truth matters", to quote one of my favorite leaders ever, a former General Counsel with whom I worked. If you are like most people and want to sleep well at night, stay off the slippery slope. When an alarm bell rings in your mind, listen to it! It probably sounded off for a reason. Pausing to consider why the alarm went off ensures you will take time to reconsider the situation from an ethical point of view.
Definitions of fraud, describing various kinds of theft, understanding what constitutes a conflict of interest all serve to help you consciously consider ethical choices. But having this knowledge isn't enough. You also need to have an instinct for what is right and what is wrong. If you ever have that niggling sense that something isn't right, stop and ask someone you trust and admire to help you think through the situation.
The risky thing is to take action without really thinking about the variety of choices you are faced with on a daily basis. Sometimes, you may not even realize that your choice has an ethical side to it. You may simply see it as what is easiest for you, or what causes you the least conflict, or helps a situation keep moving forward. However, putting on ethical lenses could prevent a mis-step that you would later regret. The examples in previous articles may serve to illustrate just how easy it is to start down the wrong road without even knowing it.
While you may not be at risk of committing even a slight ethical transgression, it is amply clear from the debacle on Wall Street in the fall of 2008 that your simple ethical decisions can affect more people than you'd ever imagine. For example, you can blame the predatory lenders, or you can blame the dangerously innocent borrower, or both. Which ever way you look at it . . that the Wall Street mess was deliberately engineered by a variety of business, or that the whole mess is an example of what can go wrong unintentionally, the fact of the matter is that we all suffered. If people in any part of the equation had slowed down to consider whether what they did was right, not just was it possible, we might not find ourselves in the financial crises we are in today.
I recently finished reading Extraordinary Circumstances: The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower by Cynthia Cooper, formerly of WorldCom. This woman, whom I was privileged to hear speak recently, is the heroine who blew the whistle on the WorldCom fraud. She recounts that her strength to blow the whistle on the huge Wall Street darling company came from lessons from her child hood. Specifically, she relates that her parents told her, "Don't ever let yourself be bullied", and "Think of the consequences of your actions."
Three really simple rules can help you negotiate the sometimes treacherous times life thows at us. Follow them, and you should be in good shape:
1. Rule Number One: Don't lie.
2. Rule Number Two: Don't cheat.
3. Rule Number Three: Don't steal.I wish us all the strength to do in all circumstances what we know to be right.
About the Author
Sally Rhys, MS, coaches and consults on business ethics. As the former Director, Ethics and Compliance at a $1.5B publicly traded company, her expertise will help you increase both your business knowledge and professionalism. Contact her at http://www.coachingforperspective.com
Article Source:Content for Reprint
- That Slippery Slope: Four Examples of Stinking Thinking
You have probably heard of examples of behavior at work that seem unbelievable. Imagine a case where an employee in a landscaping business is found to have been ordering extra plants and other supplies from a vendor to use at their home and their families' homes. You think to yourself, and maybe have conversations with co-workers, "WHAT was she thinking?" It is an interesting question. Based on thought leaders, my own experience, and research results I offer the following to try to explain the seemingly inexplicable.
1. "I deserve some slack". This form of entitlement thinking is the "Hey, I've worked here for 13 years;I deserve some special consideration, after the way they have treated me!"
In this "stinking thinking" pattern, a person believes that he or she is due something extra. Maybe the person has felt underappreciated over time, or believes their compensation level is inadequate. Whatever the case, they convince themselves that it is okay for them to take something that is not theirs in order to make up for a slight they believe they have suffered.
2. "It isn't really much." A daisy here, a trowel there . . what is the difference? It does make a difference if the, "Oops, I accidentally took this trowel home" becomes, "Hey, I think I'll re-landscape my yard."
Whether it seems like it at the time or not, taking something that is not yours is theft. The concept of theft extends to theft of time. Time spent at work on personal tasks such as personal phone calls, e-mail and errands beyond the inconsequential is a form of theft. Would you want your child's teacher to spend classroom time on personal chores?
3. "I'll pay it back later." This stinking thinking can have to do with cash, such as the petty cash drawer or accounting entries, or time.
Imagine that someone arrives at work and discovers that they don't have any cash in their wallet because they forgot to go to the bank last night what with going to the grocery store, picking up the kids, and polishing off some homework for night school. The employee figures that they will just take a few bucks from the petty cash drawer to cover lunch from the lunch cart, and put back what they borrow tomorrow. Well, tomorrow never comes and the cash is never replaced. The intent is good, but the follow-up never happens.
4. "I'll never get caught!" The examples above are those of people who unintentionally take the first step on the slippery slope. This example is different. It is for the person who knows at the time that what they are about to do is wrong. They just figure that they are so smart that the world won't catch on to them. Well, sometimes they are right and sometimes they are wrong.
Believing you will never get caught is the first step in a web of deceit, and there isn't an easy way back. If you or someone you know has such an idea, squelch it from the beginning. The idea can't be good for you.
While you may not see yourself falling into any of these stinking thinking scenarios, is it exactly how the wrong things start. If you hear any of these phrases at your work place, stop the thinking it its tracks and get back on the ethical plane.
About the Author
Sally Rhys, MS, coaches and consults on business ethics. As the former Director, Ethics and Compliance at a $1.5B publicly traded company, her expertise will help you increase both your business knowledge and professionalism. Contact her at http://www.coachingforperspective.com
Article Source:Content for Reprint
- Business Ethics: Why They Are Important For a Company and Its Success
Business ethics is an interesting branch of business theory, primarily because of the fact that they are inherently interesting in a market economy. People tend to be extremely distrustful of corporations in market economies and the bigger they are, the worse that problem of trust usually gets. Business ethics therefore are politically charged in many different circumstances and that in turn serves to make them interesting. Aside from this academic interest however, business ethics are also important for a company and its success. Here are some ways in which this is true.
Public Image
It is impossible to discuss business ethics as a branch of academia without taking a look at the relationship between business ethics and public image. Each corporation has a particular public image, which represents the way in which the public views the corporation. Wal-Mart, for example, has a terrible public image. Toyota, on the other hand, has a very positive one. These public images are the result of a number of different things, but they are primarily the result of the way in which a corporation acts with respect to the different things around it.
A corporation's environmental policy, the way they treat their employees and the way they treat the communities they exist in are all part of their overall behavior and this in turn is the principle factor in dete