How to talk Ethics with our teams

 

When I recommend ethics related discussions, I often hear the comment: “Why should we bring up this topic? People understand ethics, they know what the requirements are, they do not need such reminders”. I usually read under lines “let’s not bore them with something like this”. Nevertheless, these discussions have a purpose and a tangible result. In order to prove this, let me challenge you with a question I’ve found in Dan Ariely’s Irrational Game. He describes an experiment in which the researchers asked the participants to list ten books they read in high school and others to list the Ten Commandments (to the best of their memory). Afterward, the participants were asked to perform a simple math problem, being paid based on their number of correct answers. The trick here was that participants self-reported the number of questions they answered correctly, meaning that they could lie about their scores and get more money. And now comes the question:

How did writing down the Ten Commandments instead of writing down ten books from high school affect people’s cheating habits?

What do you think: did the participants who first wrote down the Ten Commandments cheat more, less or to the same degree?

Dan Ariely disclose the results of the experiment: those participants who were asked to write down the Ten Commandments cheated less. Kind of interesting, don’t you think? The simple refresher of the values we were thought (probably) during childhood makes us more willing to respect them. Or, as the researchers state: “When we are exposed to external triggers that remind us of the importance of honesty, we became more aware of our own morality. As a result, we act more in line with how we would like to behave.” (Mazar, Amir, Ariely, 2008).

And what is the relevance of this experiment to us, project managers, you might (rightfully) ask: well, we are responsible for creating and maintaining an environment in which the values we believe in as project managers (Responsibility, Respect, Honesty and Fairness, the four values listed in our Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct) are respected. As project managers, we are responsible to set and agree on the norms that are expected to be followed by our team members. I know many colleagues who are doing this (some of them by developing those norms with their teams, others by referring to the company’s rules and regulations that should be accepted). But I don’t know anyone who – in the whirl of the project – takes the time to remind those things to their team. I’m sure that you know already that simply asking them to read the norms is far from being enough. They won’t, humans we are! So what can we do? As we have seen that even just a reminder can help. Can we have an interesting discussion with our team regarding ethics? The answer is simple: yes, we can! as we have a great tool. One that relies on the team’s answers (the beauty here is that they cannot argue against their own statements). The tool: Project Team Ethics Assessment is available to all of us (please download it from the PMI website: www.shorturl.at/bprAT) and it comes with detailed, step by step instruction on how to use it, how to facilitate the discussion and how to develop a plan to proactively address the team’s challenges.

Project teams are frequently confronted with potential ethical issues. Especially in today’s challenging times when we must cope with remote work, changing composition of teams, uncertainty regarding availability of resources, pressure of high expectations, and often blurred boundaries between the organization’s and the project’s authority. Let’s support our team members and create an environment where ethical issues are openly discussed and stopped to become an additional burden. Maybe people won’t speak up, but how can you argue with their anonymous feedback addressing what no one will talk about unless you have identified the need and created the environment where you can respectfully, honestly and candidly have those discussions. Give a chance to this tool: www.shorturl.at/bprAT.

Mazar, N., Amir, O., & Ariely, D. (2008). The dishonesty of honest people: A theory of self-concept maintenance. Journal of marketing research, 45(6), 533-644.