Do you look for your leader to behave ethically or will you be ethical even if everyone around you is not
Amany NuseibehSpeaker, Global Leader | Optimal ConsultingSydney, Nsw, Australia
I joined a new team recently - I was impressed by the call from the executive to be ethical and respectful to each other as the pressures of the large transformation the organization is undertaking takes its toll. The executive message was echoed by every manger within the hierarchy. Hence the question, do you look for your leader to behave ethically? to set the tone? and how would you behave in an environment where everyone around you acts unethically? Saving Changes...
Meade RubensteinPM III| IT Project GuideSparta, Nj, United States
Amany - specific to your questions:
Hence the question, do you look for your leader to behave ethically?
- I look for consistent and ethical leaders, from direct management to the top. EVERYONE makes mistakes - but I think it's the intent of the actions behind those mistakes that determines if there is a true ethical issue.
to set the tone? Leadership sets the tone and culture of any company - it may be an intentional direction OR the by product of the leadership model in place. I think part of the issue in 'weak' companies is that the tone is communicated but without any reasoning behind it or consistently down the ranks.
and how would you behave in an environment where everyone around you acts unethically?
- I feel that we all need to make our personal decisions - and if you're in a company that you have issues with (ethical being a key one), the best you can do is move on. I have never seen an ethically challenged company change WITHOUT the key leaders being changed
Thank you Sante. I was wondering if you could share with us how would you behave in an environment where everyone around you acts unethically?
I don't know about everyone, but in the Philippines let's just say there wasn't a single project I didn't come across several stakeholders that didn't expect and sometimes demand some kind of monetary gift. An example, City Hall of the major business center came knocking on one of our project sponsor's door not long after opening, and notified them that one of the many permits required for operations was not completed. The reason? Because the city makes sure that not all permits are completed but still allows you to run a business, so they can come back later and shake you down for money. Another example, another vendor that we provided a turnkey project was in operations for around 12 months. The BIR (same as the USA's IRS) did an audit (let's call it a raid) of the company's records. Now since it was a cash business, naturally it was easy to spot some inconsistencies even if it was due to simple errors from waitresses with their receipts. The BIR found several of these inconsistencies involving small receipts worth say $100, and then calculated the maximum penalty with each offense, in this case totaling around 2 million pesos or $40K USD. But they didn't give it to the vendor in an official report, only a "draft report" issues by the BIR system that "may" result in imposing the penalty upon "subsequent investigation". In other words, if you pay something under the table, the problem might go away. This vendor met representatives at a local hotel lobby, over dinner (which they had to pay for the BIR reps) and then handed over 400K pesos in case in a brown paper bag, literally. That week, the problem went away. I can give perhaps 100 examples like this. Saving Changes...
Judging a behavior ethical or not are effected by current situation, personal culture, company value, personal habit and etc.
Once I had a leader who forced a colleague of mine to steal confidential documents from business partner but finally give up.
Based on only this behavior we may say he is unethical, but considering the situation (the partner play bad during the partnership and made our company lose a lot) , he is just a person who want to make things better for our company.
and of course he finally gave up the decision make him ethical to me. Saving Changes...
Thank you Karan. I was wondering if you could share how would you behave in an environment where everyone around you acts unethically?
I am fortunate to rarely have had cause to do this, but I would cover my backside from here to Sunday with documented evidence of my behaviour and my decisions.
I would also raise red flags to the appropriate stakeholders - keeping them informed of things and reducing the risk and impact of a fallout later in the cycle. Saving Changes...
Alankar KarpeProject and program management, Speaker and mentor | WiproBangalore, India
Mar 12, 2018 4:33 PM
Replying to Meade Rubenstein
...
Amany - specific to your questions:
Hence the question, do you look for your leader to behave ethically?
- I look for consistent and ethical leaders, from direct management to the top. EVERYONE makes mistakes - but I think it's the intent of the actions behind those mistakes that determines if there is a true ethical issue.
to set the tone? Leadership sets the tone and culture of any company - it may be an intentional direction OR the by product of the leadership model in place. I think part of the issue in 'weak' companies is that the tone is communicated but without any reasoning behind it or consistently down the ranks.
and how would you behave in an environment where everyone around you acts unethically?
- I feel that we all need to make our personal decisions - and if you're in a company that you have issues with (ethical being a key one), the best you can do is move on. I have never seen an ethically challenged company change WITHOUT the key leaders being changed
Couldn't agree more on your points! Saving Changes...
