You've Got to Be Kidding!: How to Keep Your Job Without Losing Your Integrity

The Ethical Office Is Here

Both management and employees “get it” today: Ethical cultures have successfully gone “live” in workplaces everywhere. Why? Because the Ethical Office is a significant competitive advantage. Management and employees realize that the double or triple bottom line (as ethics are sometimes referred to) relates directly to healthy profits.

The Ethical Office has three chief characteristics (I call these my “Three Cs”):

• A corporate conscience, which is a shared understanding about the standards for acceptable and unacceptable behavior. This is accomplished by establishing an agreed-upon and documented code of ethics, code of conduct, and/or a mission statement that articulates the company’s values and standards of behavior. These should not be the window-dressing variety to be just framed and hung on the wall. The corporate conscience emanates from, and is modeled by, senior management. As a dynamic, living part of the organization’s culture, these statements of principles and values inspire employees—at all levels of responsibility—to strive to “do the right thing” when making decisions.
• A commitment to hold yourself and each other personally responsible and accountable for the company’s standards. People working in an Ethical Office believe they have a right and an obligation to their colleagues, both management and coworkers, to uphold their organization’s principles. The commitment to principles and values is matched by a commitment to bring out the best ...