The Role of Executives and Managers in Setting Ethical Standards

Executives play an important role in creating company policies on ethics and by visibly following and upholding them. Employees look to executives to decide whether standards-of-business-conduct policies should be observed and respected. When executives bend the rules or turn a blind eye to bad behavior, the policies lose value, and executives lose the respect of employees. This opens the door to a range of unanticipated issues, as employees look to ethical norms outside stated policy and beyond the executives’ control.

Internal promotions send very strong signals about what is important to a company. When the company hires an employee from a different company, she is likely not well known by most employees. If the company promotes an employee who is already working at the company, others may know her and understand what she has done to deserve the promotion.

If the company promotes individuals to management positions when they have displayed questionable ethics in the workplace, it creates two issues. First, it creates a level of managers who are more likely to encourage their employees to achieve business results at any cost, even when ethics are compromised. Second, it sends a message to all employees that business results are more important than ethics.

Vocabulary:

upholding – supporting, defending, or keeping a law or rule alive, “The judge is responsible for upholding the laws of the country.”

executives – top managers or leaders who make the big decisions in a company, “The company executives met to discuss the new budget.”

observed – followed, obeyed, or respected a rule or custom, “The drivers observed the speed limit to avoid getting a ticket.”

bend the rules – to break or change a rule slightly, usually to help someone or make things easier, “The teacher decided to bend the rules and let him hand in his homework late.”

turn a blind eye – to ignore something bad or pretend you do not see it, “The guard chose to turn a blind eye when the boy climbed over the gate.”

opens the door to – makes it possible for something else to happen, “Learning a new language opens the door to many great job opportunities.”

unanticipated issues – problems that happen unexpectedly or without being planned for, “The heavy rain caused several unanticipated issues during the outdoor concert.”

ethical norms – shared rules or expectations about what is morally right and good behavior in a society or group, “Honesty and fairness are important ethical norms in business.”

internal promotions – giving higher positions or better jobs to people who already work inside the company, “The company prefers internal promotions instead of hiring strangers.”

signals – signs, movements, or actions that give a clear message or warning, “Dark clouds are clear signals that it is going to rain soon.”

deserve – to earn something or have a right to it because of your hard work or good actions, “After working hard all day, you deserve a good rest.”

questionable ethics – behavior or choices that are dishonest, unfair, or morally doubtful, “Cheating on the test showed that the student had questionable ethics.”

at any cost – doing whatever is needed to achieve a goal, even if it causes harm or problems, “He wanted to win the race at any cost, so he tripped another runner.”

compromised – weakened, damaged, or given up on high standards or safety, “The safety of the building was compromised because of the cheap materials used.”