Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/58912
To be able to handle ethics situ- ations gracefully, individuals must achieve the highest level of learn- ing—what is called the "be able to" level. They must learn ethics in a self-directed and collabora- tive fashion so they will "be able to" apply their ethics knowledge in real-world situations. My own experience indicates employees develop the "be able to" level for business ethics through study of four broad topics: people, expecta- tions, process, and perspective. n People. Stanley Milgram's research shows that virtually all people will violate their per- sonal ethics if they think their job requires them to do so. But David Bersoff's research shows that the tendency can be countered by management interventions such as humanizing the victim of an ethics violation. For example, employees need to understand who is affected by their decisions and how. n Expectations. When societal and public policy expectations exist, people are more likely to meet a high level of ethical behavior. For instance, the U.S. Sentenc- ing Guidelines for Organizations presents a basic framework for set- ting up an ethics policy; employees who work under such a policy know what their company expects of them. Karl Weick and his col- leagues also have suggested ideas that might identify hallmarks of organizational cultures that exhibit a high level of ethical reliability. n Process. This can be defined as all the ways that people and orga- nizations make decisions. If the process has ethical considerations built in, employees are more likely to make ethical decisions. n Perspective. As employees learn I believe that most people are already ethical. Lynn Brewer—a former Enron executive and whistleblower, now an ethics con- sultant—says that in the compa- nies she visits, 80 percent of the employees are behaving ethically. Where I work, data from the com- pany's ethics telephone line indi- cates that virtually all our employ- ees try to do the right thing. But even if employees don't need to be taught ethical behav- ior, they may need to learn how to make an ethical decision when making such a decision is not easy. People do want to learn that skill for three very good reasons: First, people want to work for Carl R. Oliver EVEN IF EMPLOYEES DON'T NEED TO BE TAUGHT ETHICAL BEHAVIOR, THEY MAY NEED TO LEARN HOW TO MAKE AN ETHICAL DECISION WHEN MAKING SUCH A DECISION IS NOT EASY. more about all of the principles, resources, and issues developed throughout history to think about ethical behavior, they bring that perspective with them to every part of their jobs—and their lives. Many develop a thought process that goes something like this: "Am I doing the right thing? Is the company? The nation? The world?" a company they can be proud of. They want to learn how to recog- nize and join ethical companies, and how to recognize and avoid unethical companies. Second, they want to succeed, not fail. They want to learn how to maximize their success in the workplace and avoid mistakes that would derail their careers. Third, they want to row their boats in a useful direction. They want to make their business lives promote values they hold dear. Company ethics become stron- ger when the collective wisdom of employees is enhanced. It is easier for any corporation to build good ethics programs when business schools have already taught their students about ethics and prepared all employees to row together in the same ethical direction. n z Carl R. Oliver is the corporate ethics process administrator for a corporation headquartered in Los Angeles, California. The views expressed are his own and not necessarily those of that corporation. BizEd SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2006 61