Leadership & organisational values

Challenges of Leadership In A Low trust worldChallenges of Leadership In A Low trust world

©Managing Values 2011

Dr Attracta Lagan

Know your time• In interconnected world anything you do in

private can find its way into the public domain

• What you do impacts on your company as well as your personal reputation

• People listen with their eyes and take their lead from what gets rewarded

• It can no longer be assumed that people know the right thing to do

• If you go along to get along you can slip over the line

• You need to identify your line in the sand as different situations will challenge how you behave

• When making decisions at work the organisation’s values protect integrity


1.Low trust world where leaders of all institutions distrusted & ethics risen up the business agenda

2.Emergence of a global culture based on consumerism

3.Supranational corporations dwarfing governments & only true global citizens

4.Civil society backlash to global marketplace impacts on domestic economies

5.Rise of NGO (civil society pressures groups) & networked global activism to voice protest & demand new accountabilities

21 Century Social Backdrop

1.Low trust world where leaders of all institutions distrusted & ethics risen up the business agenda

2.Emergence of a global culture based on consumerism

3.Supranational corporations dwarfing governments & only true global citizens

4.Civil society backlash to global marketplace impacts on domestic economies

5.Rise of NGO (civil society pressures groups) & networked global activism to voice protest & demand new accountabilities

21 Century Social Backdrop

5

Agree or Disagree

Employee confidence in the purpose of the organisation Employee confidence in the purpose of the organisation

creates a sense of common mission which lifts standards ever highercreates a sense of common mission which lifts standards ever higher.

Good people will behave in inappropiate ways

I know the range of values based challenges our people face at work

Most employees in my organisation experience it as a fair place to workI begin from a premise that my organisation is judged by how every employees behaves

Leaders set the standard of truth and behaviour for every employee they leadValues led leaders serve the organisation and not themselves

Finger on the cultural pulse?Finger on the cultural pulse?

People want to belong to an organisation that listens

The The IndividualIndividualValues Match

Sense of Meaning

The The OrganisatioOrganisationnBalancing Private interest, Public good

SocietySociety

Sustainability

RISE OF THE CIVIL ECONOMY

Changing Social Expectations & Alignment of expectations

08/04/23 © 2002 KPMG

The World is Changing

Ethical Imperative

Globalisation & Global Commons

Social/Economic Polarisation

Secularisation Society

Sustainability Agenda

Risk Imperative

Failure CorporateGovernance

Rise of NGOs as “Social Vigilance”

Activism Ethical Consumers & Investors

SocietalImperativeLow Trust Society – leaders no longer trusted

Increasing societal despair teen suicide, adult depression

Internet/Global Information-based Economy

Need for New OrganisationalCompetencies

)

Increasing Calls For• Return to core values

Institutional leadership accountabilities social footprint on society

• Quality of life focus vs. standard of living

• Demonstration of ethical practices

Business Ethics @ Workhow good people find themselves doing unethical things

What is right in the corporation is not what is right in a man’s home or in his church. What is right in the corporation is what the guy above you wants from you.That’s what morality is in the corporation Robert Jackall, Moral Mazes


Business Ethics vs. Individual MoralityBusiness Ethics vs. Individual Morality

Morality refers to how individuals make judgments about right & wrong

Ethics is examining moral standards of a person or a society to decide whether these standards are reasonable / unreasonable, and to apply them to contexts and issues

Who decides what’s ethical?


Society decides what’s ethical

(CSR) Corporate Social

Responsibility Sustainability

Institutional integrity - do systems

support stated values?

Do people understand values

/codes and when to apply

them?

Is the common good protected?

..


What does unethical business behaviour look like?

Behaviours that are not necessarily illegal but generally considered unethical include:

Withholding information, cone of silence, distortion of facts

Racisim,Sexisim,Bullying and exploitation other humans Unmanaged conflicts of interests; self interest priority Anything liable to endanger common good Lack of compassion and humanity

So, the law alone is not a basis for ethical decision-making


Ethical challenges at work 2009 & 2010 workplace research

• Rise of amoral generation of managers• Codes of Ethics frighten rather than inspire• Employees experience disconnect between values

and organisational culture• 1 in 4 silent when they see unethical behaviour• 1 in 5 professionals feel compromised at work• Senior mangers most likely to have encountered

ethical issues in the last 12 months• Employees report unethical acts to their managers not

hotlines; managers unskilled to respond• The younger the employee the more likely they say

their organisations behave unethically


Bad Apples, Bad Barrell?

Organisational levelLack ethical leadership

do as I say, not as I do styles

Unprofessional & Amoral managers

Diffusion responsibility

Competing Values

Pressure to conform

Compliance Priority

Blame cultures emerge

Personal level

Group Commitment

Disengagement

Self interest

Ignorance

Poor interpersonal skills

Lack of consequences

Sense of entitlement

Disengagement


How we rationalise behaving unethically

I can get away with it I can be a different person at work I’m only doing what I’m toldThe end justifies the means If it’s not illegal, it’s OKOthers gaming the system too It’s not my problem It’s pressure of work - not me


Context & The Agentic Shift

• Milgram’s research suggests individuals abdicate personal decision making & come to see themselves as agents of the company way of doing things

• Zimbardo Stamford experiment suggests situational factors are more influential than personal values or rationality. Both guards & prisoners behaved in ways consistent with the context but strongly inconsistent with their usual dispositions

• Social psychology teaches us that many people are likely to commit seriously unethical acts in contexts that share powerful & distinctive features as typically takes place in large workplaces including

Depersonalization; De-individualisation Cultural/group dynamics Disengagement


Business Ethics @ Workhow good people find themselves doing unethical things

Entangled handsPersonal gain pursued at expense what’s good for the organisationMisuse time, information, funds, authority

Many HandsOrganizational fiefdoms – counterproductive competition

Conflicted HandsOne stakeholder group gets priority over othersEither or mentality


Why is ethics so difficult?Ethics involves learning what is right or

wrong and then doing the right thing even when the ‘right thing’ may not be popular


The worst of times?

Intentionally amoral managers: – Success priority value– End justifies means– Law obstacle to go around – Business & ethics exist in separate spheres– Sense of entitlement

Unintentionally amoral managers:– Well-intentioned, but morally casual or unaware– Business seen as ethically neutral - don’t canvass the ethical

dimension of decision making/actions (safety, equity, justice)– Expediency driven


Stakeholder DimensionStakeholder Dimension

Time DimensionTime Dimension

Context DimensionContext Dimension

Individual PerceptionIndividual Perception


Defining moment are critical

Our sense of who we are, (or who we want to be) & what we do are interlinked. We need to be able to answer the question:

1. Are we defined by our actions? Or

2. Is it because of who we are that we do

or don’t do certain things?


Co-designing the futureHow are you doing?

I recognise that what I do at work impacts others and my choice is between impacting positively or negatively

I am aware that my workplace habits are shaping the person I become

I know my line in the sand and how to defend it

I know how to raise issues of concern safely I know the ethical challenges my people might

face at work I seek feedback to ensure I role model our

values I know the organisation is better because I am

in it


Courage is part of the new storyCourage is part of the new storyDo well and Do Good Jeff Swartz CEO Timberland

Create a better everyday life for the many people Ikea

Do no evil Google Founders

We’ve found a new way to win in the marketplace…one that doesn’t come at the expense of our grandchildren or the earth but at the expense of the inefficient competitor INTERFACE CEO

Inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis Patagonia

To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world Nike

Bringing the best to everyone we touch Ester Lauder

To give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected Facebook

To experience the joy of advancing and applying technology for the benefit of the public Sony
