An ethical business ...
From Yesterday
Lionel WIJESIRI
It starts with a company's mission and vision statement, where
the mandate for ethical business behavior is set.
That mandate comes from how a company answers few questions: What
do we do for our customers, employees and communities? How do we
make products and provide services that improve the lives of our
customers? How do we create a work environment where employees feel
engaged and productive and valued as contributors? What should we do
to be a good customer to our suppliers? How do we make sure we're
good corporate citizens wherever we do business? Second - There has
to be an inbuilt culture where ethics and business go together;
where they are not viewed as separate concepts, but as intertwined.
Studies have shown that such value-based companies outperform
others.
Third - our corporate leaders must be role models of what they
and the company stand for. They also need to create an environment
that allows people in the organization to feel valued and safe
enough to speak up.
Business leaders need to ask themselves if they've created the
type of culture whereby employees are compelled to speak up if there
are issues or behaviours they see that aren't consistent with the
corporate values. In the debacle of one large Group of Companies
last year, for example, many mid- and lower-level employees knew
what was going on but wouldn't speak up because they knew they
wouldn't be listened to.
When faced with ethics issues, it's also important that business
owners and chief executives have mentors, colleagues and confidantes
with whom they can confer; the right people who will ask them the
right questions to help them arrive at a clear decision.
And fourth - it's important to celebrate when an employee does
the right thing. The bosses should not hesitate to acknowledge it
and say, "thank you". At the same time, a great majority of teams
and team leaders are doing the right thing. We need to celebrate
that, too.
In today's highly competitive, performance-driven business
climate, regulations are not enough; professional ethics codes are
not enough; the ethical leadership from the top is the key to
reducing corporate misconduct. If we are ever going to return to the
level of trust and confidence that we had two decades ago, all
business leaders need to take a good look in the mirror and honestly
ask themselves what they really stand for.
Let them not forget the Golden Rule: 'Do unto others as you would
have them do unto you.
