Ethics: Are you Engaging in Best Practices? NYS AFL-CIO Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations/Union Leadership Institute Thursday.

Ethics: Are you Engaging in Best Practices?

NYS AFL-CIO Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations/Union Leadership Institute

Thursday January 29th, 2009Cornell ILR Conference Center NYC

Instructor-Arthur T. Matthews

Is Ethics Scalable?

Wisdom

Judgment

Knowledge

Information

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Organizational Ethics

Ethics in a organization refers to rules, standards, principles and values governing the conduct of organizational members and the consequences of organizational decisions.

Myths About Ethics

#1 It’s easy to be ethical

#2 There are no rewards for being ethical

#3 Ethical behavior will prevent me from being successful

#4 Work is like a sport. Push the rules and try not to get caught

Adopted from Lawrence M. HinmanAdopted from Lawrence M. Hinman

Rightly-Ordered Desires

Aristotle draws an interesting contrast between:

– Continent people, who have unruly desires but manage to control them.

– Temperate people, whose desires are naturally—or through habit, second-nature—directed toward that which is good for them.

– Weakness of will occurs when individuals cannot keep their desires under control.

* Adopted from Lawrence M. Hinman* Adopted from Lawrence M. Hinman

Two Moral Questions

•The Question of Action:– How ought I to act?

•The Question of Character– What kind of person ought I to be?

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Virtue

• Strength of character (habit)

• Involving both feeling and action

• Seeks the mean between excess and deficiency relative to us

• Promotes human flourishing

Aristotle

Ethics and Virtues

• Virtues are those strengths of character that enable us to flourish

• The virtuous person has practical wisdom and the ability to know when and how best to apply various moral perspectives.

Ethics and Common Sense

• Common sense is not a innate human faculty

• Common sense consists of background experiences from which we draw our ideas and insights from decision making

• What generates common sense is commonality of practices

• What about tacit knowledge? (Implicit Knowledge)

Did You Know?

• Ethical behavior is values driven.

• What is considered ethical can vary across cultures and moral reasoning approaches.

• People have a tendency to rationalize unethical behavior

• One of the most significant ethical conundrums is when organization culture conflicts with a individual’s personal ethics

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Did You Know?

•Values are what a person regards as good or bad according to one’s belief system

• Dignity is the quality or state of being worthy honored or esteemed

• Respect is to be decent or correct in character or behavior

Did You Know?Did You Know?

• Malfeasance is misconduct or wrongdoing especially by a public official

• Misfeasance is the improper and unlawful execution of a act that in itself is lawful and proper

• Nonfeasance is the omission of some act that ought to have been performed

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Did You Know?Did You Know?

• Authenticity is that of being genuine, honest with oneself as well as others. Therefore "authenticity" connotes not only candor, but an absence of hypocrisy or self-deception.

• Ethical relativism is the perspective that the truth of some ethical judgment as applied to a person's behavior depends on whether the person believes the actions to be right or wrong.

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Did You Know?Did You Know?

• Self-deception is a failure to make explicit even to oneself some truth about oneself, often one's behavior. It may take the form of making up some rationalization for a behavior.

• A stakeholder is a person or group who can affect or is affected by an action. Responsible decision making requires consideration of the effects on all stakeholders.

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Did You Know?Did You Know?

• Absolutism is a style of moral judgment that starts with the premise that rules are rigid and always hold (eg: Don’t lie no matter what)

• Exceptionism is a mode of moral judgment that is universal but not absolute. Exceptionists believe that there are justified exceptions to universal moral rules

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Did You Know?Did You Know?

• Relativism is the belief that there are no universal moral rules and that each individual or group has a right to set its own standards

• Moral sphere is the area of problems that require moral reflection

• Utilitarianism is a theory that justifies exceptions to people following rules by appealing to the greatest good for the greatest number and the least harm to the smallest number of people

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Did You Know? * Did You Know? *

• 36% of workers calling in sick are lying

• 35% keep quiet about co-worker misconduct

• 12% of job resumes contain falsehoods

* Wall Street Journal

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Author David Callahan wrote a book titled “The Cheating Culture”

• Tax Fraud is a $345 Billion dollar price tag annually

• Employee theft costs $600 Billion dollars per year ( 6% of the GNP)

• Unnecessary car repairs cost $40 Billion per year

• There are two sets of moral compass

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David Callahan’s “The Cheating Culture”• The top 1% of Americans earn more than 100

million Americans

• Ordinary people are subjected to extraordinary temptation

• Break the rules because the rules are unfair

• Fear of failure

• Nobody’s looking

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Find Someone Who• Is aware of who said “excellence is doing a common

thing in a uncommon way”?

• Knows how many members serve on the New York State Ethics Commission?

• Knows how many counties are in New York State? • Can tell you the definition of malfeasance?

• Can tell you another name for the Landrum Griffin Act?

• Realizes the name of a Whistleblower law?

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Intrapersonal Ethical Checklist

•What is your Ethical Quotient?

• Recognize the Ethical Dilemma

• Get the facts

• Identify your options

• Is it legal?

• Is it right?

• Is it beneficial?

Ethics in the House of Labor

• Minimizing Collateral Damage

• Egregious Behavior: How to address the hemorrhaging

• Spearheading a Tactical Response Team

• Launching a sustainable Ethics leadership process involving all union stakeholders

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Spotlight Questions? *

•How would I feel if my family found out about my decision?

•How would I feel if the local newspaper printed my decision?

Adopted from Susan Alevas Cornell ILR Adjunct and author of an article titled the “Ethical Enabler”

Determining your Union’s Ethical Barometer: What role should you

play ?

• Understanding your Ethical leadership style: Are you a transactional of transformational Leader ?

• Conducting a Ethical Needs Assessment: Tools for your toolbox

• Partnering with other senior stakeholders involved with managing the Ethics portfolio

• Protecting the brand and reputational capital of your union

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Spearheading a Benchmarked Ethical Process

•Create a innovative process (eg:hotline)

•Develop a statement/policy/mission/vision that strongly addresses unethical behavior

•Launch a interdisciplinary training process that will empower all union stakeholders

•Evaluate, gauge and monitor the process

Final Thoughts……Final Thoughts……

“ “We are all caught up in an inescapable We are all caught up in an inescapable web of mutuality, tied by a single garment web of mutuality, tied by a single garment of destiny, what affects one directly, of destiny, what affects one directly, affects us all indirectly.”affects us all indirectly.”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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