Few
mangers discuss ethics with employees simply because it is much easier for many
managers to fall to different rationalizations that come to mind whenever one
is confronted with an ethical dilemma. For instance, the issue in question may
have become so ingrained in the daily practices of an organization that one
would easily view it as a standard practice (Gentile, 2010). Secondly, many
managers view the ethical issues that arise as being too minor to elicit
debate. This is especially so in cases when raising the issue may involve
spending on the part of the company or cases when the end consumers seem not to
be complaining of any ethical breaches. Furthermore,
there are those who avoid speaking simply through the passing of
responsibility. Thus, a manager may notice an ethical breach and, nevertheless,
fail to discuss it by rationalizing that the responsibility falls on another
person. Even more common is use group loyalty as a justification for not talking.
For instance, a manger may feel that talking will amount to a betrayal of
trusted colleagues.
The
approaches that Gentile proposes may or may not help depending on the person
and the context in which any of the approaches are to be implemented (Gentile,
2010). Ethical lapses may have become so ingrained into the culture of some
organizations that nothing short of a cultural overhaul can change. For
example, in situations where breaches are created by senior people, their
juniors may be willing to speak out but would normally lack the courage to do
so.
In
making her suggestions, Gentiles makes the assumption that ethical breaches
occur only because those involved lack the necessary knowledge (Gentile, 2010).
That present that knowledge, those people would do the right thing. The truth,
however, is that people normally allow ethical lapses to happen even when they
know what ought to be done. It is only the lack of courage to pursue the right
course of action that leads to lapse.
Reference
Gentile,M.C.(2010).Managing
Yourself: Keeping Your Colleagues Honest. Harvard
Business Review.
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