Chapter 10: Ethics as organizational culture

“The pattern of basic assumptions that a given group has invented, discovered or developed in learning to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration and that have worked well enough to be considered valid, and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems”

-       Organization culture rises from dealing with problems → coping mechanism

-       pattern of behaviours and assumptions that a group has invented when dealing with problems what is taught to other people

—> coping mechanism to problems and teach it to other members

The 5 monkeys’s experiment

-       monkey example leader bananas, cold water, exchange monkeys, in the end no from beginning

-       Artifacts: dresscode,….

-       Espoused values: code of conduct, values on wall

-       Basic assumptions: unconscious beliefs, perceptions, thoughts and feelings how things are done → much more complicated to surface

Formal Systems

• Selection

• Policies and codes

• Training

• Performance management

• Authority structure

• Decision processes

• Whistleblowing processes

Informal systems

• Role models

• Norms

• Rituals

• Myths and stories

• Language

 —> Alignment among systems is crucial to support

How infuse ethical culture:

-       formal and informal systems

-       formal: selection processes (e.g. recruiting) —> some take ethics into account

-       performance management (-performance review)

Formal process of articulating employee goals, identifying performance metrics, and then providing a compensation structure that rewards individual effort

Examples of integrity indicators in performance management

• Treats others with respect at all times

• Is fair and objective

• Actively listens and incorporates input from others

• Acts with integrity

• Inspires the trust of the team

• Talks openly and honestly

The disclosure by organization members (current or former) of illegal, immoral, or illegitimate practices under the control of their employers to persons or organizations that may be able to effect action

• Agents: employees, former members, applicants, suppliers, or auditors “with privileged access to an organization’s data or information” gained due to his official relationship with the organization

• Locus: inside or outside the organization

• Anonymous and deliberate

• Type of transgression: Substantial, not minor

• Characteristic of a self-correcting organizations

Why should we care about whistleblowing?

-       Whistleblowing procedures —> measures important: procedures important to keep conflicts internal / to keep it in the company

-       Should be anonymous

-       Action should be taken (difficult, he saids / she said). —> investigate and collect evidence first