Just as a heightened awareness of ethical imperialism is necessary for international business, so too is the knowledge that there is no such thing as "global ethics." What is considered to be acceptable in Bangladesh (i.e., working conditions) may be considered appalling and unethical to Switzerland. Whether or not the Swiss company chooses to do business with another country that may disregard basic human needs, depends upon the company’s ethical code. The point is the drastic difference in ethical foundations. There is simply not a synonymous ethical language spoken across nations and thus, it is paramount that the ethical standards referenced within nations are consistent and prevalent.

Considering cultural relativism must be taken into account when doing business internationally, it’s equally as important to have leadership in place that recognizes the nuances in cross-culture ethics - well, not only cross-borders but within them too. Three guiding principles suggested for ethical consideration in difficult scenarios include: 1) Respect for core human values, 2) Respect for local traditions, and 3) The belief that context matters when deciding what is right and wrong. We can adopt ethical leadership in our backyard - and these considerations have the ability to permeate throughout a culture.

This is timely. We are in need of ethical leaders.

There must be a backbone for corporate ethics. At the root: ethical decision making is the difference between successful companies and broken ones; the variance in nations that thrive, and those that are broken from within. If leaders do the work, they will be aware of the steps to take when an ethical dilemma is presented. Without a guideline, those in positions of influence and in positions of power could make a decision lacking in sound judgment.

What should be applied in any decision-making process?

Preciseness.

It’s logical that any person who faces a predicament should reference corporate materials that were created to help guide leaders in complicated situations. The majority of companies (ninety percent of all Fortune 500 companies, in fact) have codes of conduct. These materials have the need to be explicit about procedures in an array of situations. If a lack of specificity is provided, the leader should seek out answers to questions. Ideally, though, these procedures are already in practice.

Call for Core Values.

At the deepest level of an ethical dilemma, leaders should reference core values in order to determine their next steps. These values include respect for human dignity, respect for basic rights, and good citizenship. These concepts are in alignment with the theoretical concepts constructed for ethics, as seen in ethical leadership texts dating back to the 1970s.

When determining what is ethical, it would serve the leader well to consider these core values and or ethical theories, prior to making a decision and/or presenting options to a supervisor.

But what about the processes for implementation of these guidelines?

Ethics Committee.

Adopting an ethics committee will support the goals of maintaining an ethical organization. The committee can be composed of both company leadership and representatives from all company hierarchy. The purpose is to discuss ethical issues/problems being faced. It is important to include all levels; when subordinates feel like their input is valued, they are more likely to be invested in the company, ending in higher loyalty and decreased turnover. The participants would be welcome to provide input into possible ethical code additions or adjustments.

Leadership Training.

It’s no surprise that subordinates learn by example. In order to ensure proper conduct, leadership training would be paired with ethical values training. This training would provide the framework for ethical decision making and would help team members learn about appropriate conduct in an array of situations. This would be part of the on-boarding process, a foundational topic raised in meetings and corporate updates, and would be an annual training program.

Code of Conduct.

A code of conduct would not only be created, it would be treated as the road map for decision making. The code of conduct, or ethical standards, would need to be treated as the must all, whether at home or abroad. This consistency would reaffirm the company’s values and help establish its footprint for ethical practices.

What practices does your organization have in place to ensure ethical leadership?

First published on LinkedIn.

In recent years ethics in business have been studied more closely. With what seems to be increasing opportunity to behave unethically in business, costing credibility of the company, its individuals, and innocent bystanders, what are the checks and balances to ensure moral behavior?

The dynamic at play is of unique consequence; laws have been implemented to insist upon certain transparencies and practices, e.g., penalizing the act of bribery or inflation of revenues. Yet, according to the National Business Ethics survey, employees – or members of the organization – on whom society relies for whistleblowing, are consistently silenced for fear of employer’s retaliation. With this knowledge, researchers seek to understand what influences individuals to behave ethically.

In sorting through the data, I think the most helpful insights are as follows: individuals rely on their judgment about an ethical issue but place more importance on social expectations. Meaning, when social consensus is high (agreement that something is unethical) individuals more often than not follow suit – e.g., charitable behavior is “good.” This shared behavior can supersede the self-view, acting as a motivator to behave ethically. (If interested in the full study by Albert, Reynolds, and Turan, 2015, I will gladly make it available to you.)

The reason this matters: societies – and micro-societies (your office) can drive and influence behavior. Knowing this, I wanted to look for how. How can we make sure we are leveraging ethics as a culture-driver?

It’s two-fold. Companies have an opportunity to incorporate their values into decision-making. Further, the company values should align with ethical expectations. In fact, researchers emphasize the importance of trust and trustworthiness as a guiding principle. After additional research by Hoover and Pepper (2015), it was found the practice of sharing ethics statements, publicly, increased approval ratings both externally and internally.

Sure, anyone can conjure up an ethics statement, but it circles back around to the essentiality of using frameworks every day. The example I often return to is the importance of a vision statement. This isn’t merely a statement. It needs to be the leading force and the guiding light behind every employees’ behavior. From an ethical perspective, leaders have an opportunity to integrate a complementary ethics statement. (Just in case there is any uncertainty about how a person should behave!)

The goal is to enable each person to take responsibility for their decisions, irrespective of the existence of a formal organizational hierarchy. This ownership mentality – guiding employees to do the right thing – helps decrease the fear of retaliation for the expectations are ubiquitous. This, in turn, creates commonality among team members and social expectation which, as the research tells us, influences others through social consensus.

A Call for Ethical Leadership

Bringing Ethics into Your Leadership Strategy