Do managers put profits before ethics?

Submitted by Charlie Fox on Tue, 04/10/2011 - 10:09

Britain’s bosses are prioritising profits over principles, according to a report that fuels the controversy sparked by Ed Miliband’s division of the business world into “producers” and “predators”.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ceb08890-edd8-11e0-acc7-00144feab49a.html#axzz1ZnUSa4af

Do managers put profits before ethics?

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Submitted by Colin Millar MCMI MIC on Tue, 04/10/2011 - 10:29 Profile image

I would hope not but suspect they do and think this is indicitive of the culture we've groomed over a period of years, consciously; subconsciously and unconsciously.

Submitted by Adrian Gaskell MCMI on Tue, 04/10/2011 - 11:10 Profile image

We did some research earlier in the year suggesting that as many as 25% of managers have behaved unethically. It is sad indeed.

There have been schemes such as the MBA Oath, and of course we have our own code of practice/management manifesto. I wonder however if the decision to behave unethically goes a whole lot deeper than signing a pledge not to.

Submitted by Adrian Gaskell MCMI on Tue, 04/10/2011 - 12:08 Profile image

I'd had some research in my 'to blog about' pile for a while, and this has been a good prod. Apparently a poster of a set of eyes is enough to get people behaving better.

http://www.managers.org.uk/practical-support/management-community/blogs/...

So in the past few months we've had reports of teddy bears in the boardroom and posters of eyes encouraging us to do good. A couple of easy (and very cheap) options there if we have the bravery to give them a go.

Submitted by Eoin McCarthy FIC CMC on Tue, 06/12/2011 - 11:46

Prods and nudges will never be enough to ensure that the RIGHT thing is consistently what gets done by managers.

This is because our experience is that successfully resolving ethical dilemmas together is hard - it takes a certain amount of skill. Skill is needed because those involved know it matters, and come at it from diverse perspectives. Having diverse perspectives means that we have difficulty engaging with each other. When something matters to us, and we feel we are not being heard, we tend to get entrenched in our view and often become emotional about it. So its easier just not to talk about ethical dilemmas, and have the sleepless nights instead!

Happily, ethics training for managers that ensures we do take the time to consider ethical dilemmas and that we are competent to resolve them sucessfully, is now available. See

http://www.threshold.uk.com/buildingcompanyintegrity.php

for more.