adminthrough strategic planning.
Strategic planning is an integral element of good corporate governance, and crafting a business plan anchored on formal corporate ethics processes gives organisations a competitive edge in the market place.
The need to embed formal ethics management processes in our organisations today in order to curtail misconduct and unethical business practices such as corruption can no longer be overemphasised be it in the public and private sectors, including NGOs.
The endearing call by President Mugabe during the Zanu-PF National Conference in Gweru last month for the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority to stamp out corruption, that has become endemic in their operations, is a message that should resonate in all sectors of the economy.
When organisations decide to embed corporate ethics in company strategy, the overarching goal of that endeavour should be to create a strong ethical culture that transforms employee behaviour to reflect responsible workplace behaviour.
This means growing an ethical culture that must order the “how we do things here” of the organisation, and this ethics thrust must become a tool through which organisations can build unique brands that improve their competitiveness and secure public goodwill.
Plugging-in ethics in business operations is an exercise that must be anchored on accomplishing a number of tasks by organisations. Such tasks include understanding the current ethics state of the organisation, providing unquestionable ethical leadership, initiating business ethics training for employees, and embedding ethics in employee reward systems.
Understanding the current ethics state is a process that should see the organisation doing an ethics SWOT analysis to establish its ethical strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
A clear appreciation of the existing state ensures that the organisation knows what exactly needs to be changed.
A thorough and exhaustive examination of the existing culture will unpack all ethics imperatives in the organisation giving the organisation a strong foundation upon which it can develop impactful ethical business practices.
This process involves asking questions like:
- What form of ethics management infrastructure, if any, do we have in the organisation?
- Do senior executives and management care about ethics as much as they care about the bottom line?
- Do employees feel pressured to compromise organisational values?
- Do employees believe ethical behaviour is rewarded or unethical behaviour punished in the organisation?
These questions touch on the visible aspects of an ethical culture whose scrutiny will provide valuable information that will help to develop a sound corporate ethics programme.
Organisations must understand that the success of any corporate ethics programme is measured by the level of commitment exhibited by company leaders and management to the endeavour.
Corporate leaders must provide ethical leadership in business operations and providing ethical leadership means implementing formal ethics management processes.
An ethics programme that does not exhibit total management commitment and its exemplifying behaviour will not appeal to employees. Employees should believe that management takes ethics seriously, and they should observe consistency between what they say and their actions.
Lack of commitment by company leaders leads to employees reaching the wrong conclusion that business ethics is of little or no value to the performance of the business.
It should also be clear to the organisation that the strategic success of a corporate ethics programme is premised on ethical role modelling by supervisors because of their daily interaction with employees.
An ethical culture ultimately depends upon how these frontline operatives treat employees, customers, and other stakeholders, and how they value business ethics.
- Do they treat employees honestly, fairly and with care?
- Do they hold themselves accountable for ethical conduct, or they focus merely on meeting set targets at whatever cost?
Embedding ethics in the corporate business strategy also goes beyond having leaders of good character to lead the process.
It demands leaders going through ethical leadership training. Leaders should also understand that simply telling staff to do the right thing is not enough.
Employees as well need business ethics training in order to deal decisively with ethical challenges they face in their day-to-day workplace activities. Business ethics training equips both company leaders and staff with the skills, knowledge and understanding that will help them to anticipate ethical challenges, and recognise ethical dilemmas as they come.
The reward system is today clearly the single most observable means that organisations in the country can use to transform employee ethical behaviour given the strong appeal monetary rewards currently have in the workplace.
In order to ensure employees practice sound ethical behaviour, organisations should simply incorporate ethical performance evaluation in their performance management systems and make ethical behaviour an explicit part of compensation and promotion decisions.
Periodic awards such as ethical employee of the month, year etc, can be introduced to reinforce the ethics thrust.
Unethical behaviour must be dealt with swiftly in order to send a clear message to all and sundry that the organisation takes ethics seriously. Other methods organisations can use to cement the ethics effort includes a yearly business ethics training programme for staff, company newsletters, and new employee orientation programmes.
Engraving corporate items such as plates, teacups, ties, pens notebooks, T-shirts, etc, with ethics messages will undoubtedly communicate organisational attachment to the success of company ethics. It will also leave an indelible mark about the strategic intentions of the organisation in the minds of employees and all stakeholders.
Bradwell Mhonderwa is an Ethics Coach and Trainer with the Business Ethics Centre. Send feedback to [email protected] or visit www.businessethicscentre.co.zw, or call 0772 913 875
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