November-December 2007

	November-December 2007

Facing The Ethics Crisis

By George Burk

Ethics: “the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation; a set of moral principles or values; the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group. Syn; moral; ant; unethical.

It appears from newspaper and television reports the number of ethics violations just keeps growing. From corporate scandals to steroids in sports to local and national political scandals and transgressions, wrongdoing seems to be in the news almost daily. But is it really any worse than expected or what has happened the past 10 or 20 years?

Patricia Harned, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Ethics Resource Center, thinks so.

“We are in an ethics crisis,” Harned said. “Scandal is the new norm. People are not surprised to see it in the news each day. Ethics is defined more by its absence than by its presence these days.”

“Be nice to people on your way up because you meet them on the way down.” — Jimmy Durante, entertainer

Harned bases her findings from her group’s research. More than half — 52 percent — of employees say they’ve seen acts that violate their standards or the law. That’s despite more firms starting ethics programs, Harned said. New ethics programs haven’t led to improvement partly because organizations tend to focus on the near term, Harned said.

“We have very short attention spans,” she said. “Ethics is more of a strategic (long-term) equation.”

This era is currently marked by what Tim Irwin, an Atlanta-based corporate psychologist, calls moral relativism. The difference between right and wrong used to be clearer, he said. There are issues in life that are black and white and not what feels good at the time or fits a particular political or social “feel good” agenda.

“Now, what’s right or wrong for you might not be the same for me,” he said. “People rationalize their behavior.”

“We must exchange the philosophy of excuse for the philosophy of responsibility.”— Barbara Jordan, legislator

My parents taught and showed me ethical behavior at an early age. I knew early in my development as a young man the difference between right and wrong and that life’s about choices and consequences. Ethics was also taught in my grade school and high school, not only in civics classes, but also in the behavior our teachers and administrators expected from us. Ethical behavior really begins at home. If parents aren’t willing to take the time and effort to talk about ethical behavior as part of a family’s growth and nurturing and if it’s not continuously reinforced through words, actions and deeds, it will never be understood and lived in the business world.

“One of the things my parents have taught me is never listen to other people’s expectations. You should live your own life and live up to your own expectations.” — Tiger Woods, golfer

Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.” — John Wooden, basketball coach

Harned, people I know, I myself, through my interaction with the midshipmen and the faculty at the Naval Academy and my own thoughts and hopes, believe the lack of ethical behavior and leadership can be fixed if (and it’s a BIG “if”) individuals and leaders make a conscious, objective, “honest to God” effort to change.

It certainly appears that many people and top officials see themselves as being committed to ethical behavior. But surveys, like the one mentioned earlier, show that those under them don’t see them the same way. The reason is they’re not being overt about it, Harned said. And that’s what crucial in an ethical environment. Leaders must build trust and one way to accomplish that is by making your thinking visible to others. Be open, "vulnerable," and human; and show that you care.

In the 22 October 2007 edition of the Arizona Republic newspaper (pageA13), there was an article about Governor-elect Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. In one of his first interviews, he pressed ahead with his campaign pledge, saying that one of his first acts will be to call a special legislative session to reform ethics laws. “I think we’re setting the bar too low when we say, ‘Look, isn’t it great that we haven’t had a statewide elected official go to jail recently?’” Jindal said.

He wants legislators to create state laws requiring legislators to disclose their sources of income and their assets and to bar family members from doing business with the state. He further stated that Louisiana’s ethics laws lag too far behind other states’ requirements.

"If you can’t get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you’d best teach it to dance.” — George Bernard Shaw, playright

A few other steps that make ethics programs effective:

Set the right tone. Harned and other experts say that misconduct is reduced by up to 50 percent when the top leaders, at home at in the organization, genuinely commit and enroll to being ethical. And…the top means any parent, preferably both and any leader. A parent, teacher, squad, platoon or company commander, branch manager or supervisor gives more ethical cues than the chief executive.

“Honey, if a man has no integrity, he’s naked. I don’t mean clothing for his body but clothing for his soul.”— Willa C. Burk, mom

The parent(s) are the family’s chief executives. That’s where the rubber meets the road every day.

Hold people accountable. Build performance standards to measure ethical conduct. “That,” Harned said, “leads to a rise in reporting, and people stay.”

Keep (and nail) your commitments. Do what you say you’re going to do. It’s that simple! Said another way (I’ve said it many times before here) “walk the talk.” Have your actions match your words. “Put your money where your mouth is.” There are many more clichés and all of them are true. After organizations (and parents) survey employees (and their children), they must commit and enroll to helping the employees and their children solve the issues they’ve identified. If they don’t, then what they surveyed won’t matter to anyone.

Make little things count. One of Irwin’s client firms gives job applicants a quick integrity test. It asks what the applicant’s college grade-point average was. A major discrepancy indicated he lied. If an applicant will lie about a small thing, he’ll likely lie about something bigger. Perhaps no one ever held him accountable before and lying became a way of life. When you lie long enough, your mind begins to believe it’s the truth.

"If you tell the truth, you don’t have to worry about what you tell people.” — Virginia Woolf, writer

It’s not just compliance. Many organizations put in ethics programs just for some type of regulatory compliance…to “fill a square.”

“The focus, Harned says, “is on making sure a box is checked.”

Try to change an organization and family’s culture. Ultimately, Irwin says, it comes down to taking responsibility for your choices, your actions and for yourself. “When it’s all said and done, that’s the only thing that’s going to work,” Irwin said. It all begins and ends with us!

Be honest and dependable; Take responsibility. Otherwise, nothing else will really matter.

Captain George Burk, USAF (Ret), plane crash & burn survivor, speaker, author & writer, www.georgeburk.com, 1-800-769-8568, 480-212-6321(cell phone)

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