Break out sessions provide participants opportunity to discuss how to solve
ethical issues.
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Most of us really want to do the right thing in our personal lives and at work. But under stress, or when confronted by gray areas or called upon to cross a line, ethical lapses can occur. What happens to personal values when we go to work?
Ethics is something every one of us struggles with, pretty much from the time we're born until the time we die, says Tom Shanks, Ph.D. We're making ethical decisions from the time we get up until the time we go to bed.
And every one of those decisions helps to create the kind of character that we have as individuals.
Shanks led the discussion on Competitive Advantage, Corporate Values and Ethical Decision Making: How do you do the right thing in the Retail Business? for the Retail Consortium for Management Education on April 5.
Shanks, associate professor of communication at Santa Clara University and senior fellow in business and public policy at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, trains and consults on ethics issues for many organizations, including Charles Schwab Corporation, Propel, Investment Management Consultants Association, and the City and County of Santa Clara.
Ethics is a process that starts with the core values that are important to us in our lives, says Shanks. "Our values will shift at different times, and we actually toss out values all the time. We go back and forth between values that are altruistic and values that are selfish."
He says that much of what ethics is involves asking the right questions, making decisions, and looking at the reasoning process that we went through. We should ask ourselves, "How well does my thought process stand up to another person who is also trying to do good?"
Discussing ethics at work is often uncomfortable. One client told Shanks, I can't talk about ethics at work. People will think I'm a wimp. Many people prefer to say, that's not professional, instead of that's not ethical when they're at work.
Shanks also explored what it means to be an ethical leader. Research coming out indicates that employees make judgements about their managers reputation based upon two things: the qualities they exhibit in management situations, and equally, what kind of person they are outside of work.
Shannon Buscho (standing), Prints Plus and Trader Joe associate analysis options in solving ethical issues in work place.
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Ethical leaders often sublimate their own ego for the benefit of the group, says Shannon Buscho, former executive vice president at Mervyn's and retail industry discussant. Over time, they are the people who can be counted on to be really consistent, so it's easy to follow them. They have strong core values and they know where they're going.
Shanks agrees. I think of them as the glue person. That person really does hold things together in the organization, and it takes something to get there.
It's very important for managers to communicate to their employees why they're doing what they're doing.
Ethics is really us at our best, Shanks says. At the heart of it, ethics is about relationships. Ethics is about choices and how those choices affect the quality of our relationships with others.
Shanks suggests starting or ending the day with quiet time, asking yourself questions such as these: Today, did I practice any virtues? Do more good than harm? Treat others with respect? Act fairly? Was my community better because I was in it? Was I better because of my community?
In evaluating our choices, Shanks recommends considering this: How would I explain my decision to someone else I respect and trust? If all else fails, would I be proud to talk about this on TV?
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