Lesson 6: How Con You
Promote Ethical and AntiCorruption Behoviour in
Yourself and Othersl
I. What ore the values that underpin ethical
behaviours?
2. What forms of corruption con you name?
3. How can ethical behaviours be promoted*
Key Vocabulary: greed, incentive, whistle blowing,
transparency
Introduction
In this unit, we hove looked at a range of issues which
ore global in nature. As we hove seen, corruption
and unethicol behaviour affect every country
in the world. The problems ore worse in some
countries than others but that is not an excuse for
GOmplocenGy. As we hove also seen in our studies
so for, corruption and unethical behaviour ultimately
Gome down to individuals. Individuals make
decisions to indulge in corruption and unethical
behoviour but their decisions con be influenGed and
framed by the context and environment in which
individuals live and work.
UNIT1:Ethics in Reai Life
Conupt officials ore like weeds which
must be uprooted so thot plonk con
grow.
His Nighness Sheikh Mohammed bin
Rashid Al Moktoum (May Allah protect
him)
In this concluding lesson we will explore some
ways in which transparency and ethical behoviour
can be encouraged. Challenging corruption and
unethical behoviour is something thot involves
leadership. The leaders of a country must make it
clear that corruption and unethical behoviour is
not acceptable, has no ploce in society and thot
transparency is a fundamental feature of society.If
leaders make it clear that corruption and unethicol
behoviour has no place in society, this con help set
the tone for individuals in the rest of the country to
how they behave. If corruption is not tolerated and
it is clear thot it will be rooted out and dealt with
and the perpetrators punished, then this sets the
framework for behaviour for all individuals in the
country.
UNITI: Ethics in Real Life
93
Behaving ethically is not always easy —it takes courage and
determination as well as a reliance on fundamental moral values.
To help showcase the learning you have acquired
during this unit, we will be directing you towards
preparing some assessment material on the
different forms of corruption and ways in which
ethical and anti-corruption behoviour con be
promoted. You will make use of the content included
in this lesson and your own research.
Incentivising Behoviour
We hove seen in the early lessons of this unit how
unethicol behaviour and corruption can arise
because people ore incentivised due to their
personal circumstances.Pure greed is one thing, but
it is possible to understand how people with very little
might be tempted into unethicol behoviour simply
to survive. In these cases, simply passing laws which
allow the imposition of harsh penalties may not work.
tag Discussion Point
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UNlT1:EthicsinReolUfe
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Firstly, people need to be aware of the lows which
exist, what the lows soy and what the consequences
ore of breaking those lows. This is not something
which mony people will be fully aware of. They may
be vaguely aware thot it is wrong to be involved
in corruption, for example. but as we hove seen in
earlier lessons there ore a lot of grey areas. If you
completed the Questioning Task in Lesson 5, you
may have found that people who you would not
associate with unethicol behaviour might actually
behave in on unethicol way even if they do not
appreciate that they are doing so.
secondly, there must be on incentive to behave
in a way which is ethical and to not get involved
in corruption in the first ploce. This might mean
tackling some of the root causes of corruption such
as extreme poverty, perceived unfairness and the
culture which exists in organisations.
The lead for this con come from the government
and the public sector but wfll also be supported by a
strong set of lows and by raising awareness. Indeed,
the youth of the UAEore undergoing a port of this
awareness-raising exercise by being part of the
Moral Education Programme and studying some of
the issues associated with unethicol behaviour and
corruption.
UNITI: Ethics in Real Life
To provide the right incentives to behave in a
way which addresses unethicol behoviour and
corruption, there must be a set of fundamental
principles which underpin any of the other measures
a country puts in ploce to tackle the problem.
The following are some examples of what these
principles might include.
Culture and Values
As you hove seen in your work in the Cultural
Studies pillar of the Moral Education Programme,
culture refers to the beliefs and values shored by a
group of people.These beliefs and values con be
established by the leaders of a country to guide
everyone, and con then provide the basis for the way
in which different parts of government operate. It
is important to apply the beliefs and values across
the rest of society and to the private sector. It is
important thot once these beliefs and values have
been set that there is a commitment demonstrated
to encouraging and enforcing them. They must
however, be relevant to people as a whole to hove
any effect. The leadership of a country emphasising
high standards in beliefs and values is of little
importance if ordinary people feel thot ’it is alright for
them to soy thot, they hove wealth and privilege but
for us,it is not so easy’.
96
UNiT1:Ethics in Real Life
Lesson 6: How Con You Promote Ethico1and Anti-Corruption Behaviour in Yourself and Others*
Action Task
Look at the image
ethics
Value
responsibility
If you had to choose five of the words in the image
which you believe ore the most important for a
society to hove, which would you choose and why?
Compare your choices with some people from your
class.How mony of the words you chose were also
chosen by the others? Between you, con you come
to on agreement on five words which are essential?
Having selected the five words. go back to the
reasons for corruption and write a brief comment on
how those reasons oppose the values.
UNIT 1:Ethics in Real Life
Assessing Risk
As we have noted, the problems of corruption
and unethicol behoviour ore much worse in some
countries and in some parts of society than others.
What must happen, therefore. is thot the risks of
unethicol behoviour and corruption ore assessed, so
thot actions and incentives to deal with these risks
con be put in ploce.
Part of risk assessment might involve asking where,
in a country, on organisation, in departments of
government, and so on. there is a potential for
corruption to flourish. If. for example, this assessment
identifies bribery at ports associated with the
granting of import licences as a high-risk area, then
the authorities and low enforcement organisations
con target resources at that high-risk area.
Monitoring and Evaluation
There must be systems in ploce to detect signs of
unethical behoviour and corruption at early stages
so that intervention measures con be put in ploce.
This might include providing systems which allow
individuals to report signs of corruption or instances
of unethical behaviour and to be able to do so
without fear. Various processes might be put in
ploce to check thot actions and activities ore carried
98
UNIT I:Ethics in Real Lifa
out properly so thot if there ore signs of fraud, for
example. this con be identified at an early stage and
tackled. Once organisations hove these systems in
ploce, they need to be evaluated and monitored to
ensure thot they remain up-to-dote and relevant
to the changes in the way unethicol behoviour and
corruption evolve.
Ask members of your family who are in work if they are aware
of monitoring systems in their workplace to identify instances
of corruption and unethical behaviour. If they are aware, find
out how these systems work and whether they ore effective.
Providing Ethicol Incentives
We have noted obove that systems can be put in
place to encourage individuels to report instances
of unethicol behoviour ond corruption. This might be
one type of ethicol incentive: the ideo that onyone
can report their suspicions without feor of retribution
or punishment. This is eosier said thon done,
however, ond whilst there are many countries that
encourage so-colled whistle blowing os a meons
of helping mointoin tronsporency ond incentivising
ethical behoviour, there is still o feor that
whistleblowing will not be in the individuel's longterm
interests. Whistleblowers are often individuols who
are not in any major position of responsibility but
who are willing to report instances of wrongdoing in
an organisation.
UNIT I: EthiCs if\ ReOI Life
99
Other ways in which individuals con be incentivised
is through establishing a clear code of conduct
which all in the organisation ore required to read
and acknowledge formally. This is designed to make
it clear thot no-one con use the argument thot
they‘were not aware’ of the code of conduct and
expectations of behaviour that ore established. Of
course. it may be the case that people do not read
the code of conduct but the very fact thot there is
some mechanism where they must record officially
thot they hove. is an incentive itself to be more
aware of what is expected in the way of appropriate
conduct, and equally what is inappropriate.
Fifnc It c oofinition of ‘vvnistlc olo ’ing’. Why ego you.1 think tlJcjt
the renortiing of r.unethical or inopprooriato activity must
bC ‘in the pu olic intorost’ How vvoulrJ you ocfino ‘the public
iiztcrcst’
We ore determined to keep the
environment of work clean so thot
sincerity, transparency, efficiency and
equal chances prosper.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin
Rashid Al Moktoum (May Allah protect
him)
UNIT \: Ethics in Real Life
You arr rcquired to present o rcport on different forms of
corruptio». +ors wilI be working in groups u f1a oach group will
be askcd to look at two aifferoint forms of corruption You will
leave to orcsont yntsr report to tne rest of your cIans.
How you present your report will be up to you and
your group to decide. Some options to consider
might be a front of class presentation which should
not toke any more than seven minutes . or it could
be a poster presentation, in the form of a cartoon
strip or a short drama piece (again, no more than
seven minutes).
The aim is to educate your audience on the different
forms of corruption you and your group hove
researched.
Fighting administrative and all other
forms of corruption is on unshokoble
approach in running public affairs,
established by our flue religion. This
approach has stemmed from our
values and traditions.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin
Rashid AI Moktoum (May Allah protect
him)
UNIT ]: Ethics in Real Life
lOl
Research Task
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Action Task
Youore to use these news stories and the
information in this lesson to focus your presentation
on how the promotion of ethical and anti—corruption
behaviour might help in preventing similar stories
from arising in the future.
You and your group will do your presentation to
the rest of the class and hove a maximum of ten
minutes to complete your presentation.
UNITI: Ethics In Real Life
As with the action task above, you may choose
different methods of presenting: it does not hove to
be a front of class presentation.
Encouraging you to think of different ways to
present will be useful as you approach the second
term of Grade J2 when you will hove to prepare a
project for assessment. The skills and experience
you develop through this type of activity will be
useful practice for you.
The three news stories ore:
1. The Wells Forgo Account fraud. Wells Forgo is a
bank based in the United States. Investigators
uncovered a fraud in which employees of the
bank set up millions of fake accounts to help meet
company targets and claim bonuses.
2. Volkswagen (VW). VWis a German car
manufacturer. In 2015.it emerged that employees
in VW had developed software which could
artificially improve test emission results in its cars.
3.In some countries, it has been reported thot
some employers require employees to sign
‹non—disclosure agreements› (NDAs) as port of
their employment contract. TheNDAis a legal
document which seeks to protect businesses
from confidential information from being made
publicly available. However, they might also
include measures to prevent employees releasing
information about harassment which they might
face at work.
UNIT ]: Ethics in Real Life