Team building and ethical behavior

In my organisation the environment of the organisation helps and I guess not everyone has this in place. We have a robust set of policies and standards regarding ethics which includes a whistle-blowing policy and conflicts of interest. The required ethical behaviours are clearly defined too. All employees have to sign an annual declaration that we have complied. Unfortunately, most people appear to sign without ever reading them (which in itself is unethical, of course). There are awareness sessions for new employees as part of the on-boarding process (but they have so much to take in at that time they may not fully take it all on board).

As well as acting in a way that is beyond reproach (leading by example), I do the following: a) Identify any conflicts of interest as early as possible and deal with them appropriately and promptly (which may mean moving someone off the project) b) thorough documentation of decision-making processes, often above and beyond the company's standards c) In team meetings bring up occasional topics for group discussion for some key areas of concern as this raises awareness (sometimes in conjunction with our compliance team) d) Don't ever tolerate unethical behaviour but be aware sometimes individuals need guidance and don't even realise they are being unethical e) Tackle individuals on a one-to-one basis where unethical behaviour is suspected or witnessed

What you do today builds your reputation, credibility, skills & relationships for the future. Make the right choices for your project & for yourself.

Projects are all about people, process and politics and everything in between. The culture of your organization will dictate the above which will directly influence your projects, stakeholders and team members. Building trust, relationship, communication and influence with your key stakeholders, team members and your sponsor will go a long way in getting your project started off on the right foot.

While I haven't personally experienced such a situation, unethical behavior impacts the project in any number of ways - it creates distrust among stakeholders and team members. Additionally unethical behavior sets expectations for team members that they need to act in a less than ethical behavior (following the example of the project manager or another leader.) It may cause shortcuts to be taken that impact quality which will impact the perception of the organization in the eyes of its customers.

Thanks for your comment Naomi.
When you talk about organization's culture I understand you are not talking about having an ethical code in the company (which people apply or not) but it is needed the company acts proactively for sensitizing all company members to applying it and understanding the strategic importance to have an ethical behavior.
is my interpretation correct?

Fosco:
Ethics is implied/required. Teaching ethics should not be the role of a PM; an employee is responsible for their behavior, applying the ethics code and has a functional manager that they report to that is accountable for their performance with support from HR. A PM must set the tone and manner in which the team will perform on the project, establish stakeholder engagement and manage all communication channels. An organizations culture may be open/casual/creative/less structured or closed/conservative/more structured; a PM must assimilate into these environments and provide culture training to their team so they perform well for that project in that environment. Projects can take on a life of their own and some PMs can thrive in some environments while others may be challenged in others. Behavior issues from team members can be addressed using advanced PM skillsets, escalation to the sponsor for risks to project and also corrective action addressed by the team members functional manager.