Ethical |
Unethical |
|
Legal |
Can and Should |
Can but Shouldn't |
Illegal |
Can't but Should |
Can't and Shouldn't |
Something can be quickly learned from this ethics matrix. I came across this in an article that I was reading about ethics in business. Upon discovery of this simple model I related to it straight away and it totally fitted into what I was learning and experiencing at the time; it really reminded me of failed businesses, such as Enron, which I was studying at the time.
The basic idea is that we all know that we should be operating from the top left quadrant, but how many organisations actually operate from here all the time? You may find that some or most of the time we operate form the top right quadrant; where we believe that by following the letter of the law automatically indicates, and provides intrinsic comfort, that we are acting ethically...but this is often not the case; acting legally DOES NOT automatically result in ethical practice.
So what the best way to find out if you are acting ethically?
- How do your staff feel about working for you? Give them the opportunity to express their feelings and you will get an indication of how your workforce feel.
- Introduce a human element into your decision making; "How will this decision affect the employees, the surrounding community and our customers?"
- Do you feel like you are doing the right thing? Or does it feel wrong?
- Put yourself is the shoes of others; how do you think your workforce feel about what the organisation is doing?
- I guess a big indicator will be if you find yourself awake at night, thinking and worrying about what your organisation is up to.
