Ethical Organizations?
Working Internationally
January 16th 2014
Jan Lok
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Spider_web_Luc_Viatour.jpg
Four elements
1. Context
2. Importance of diversity
(major concept in Business Ethics as
well as Cross Cultural Business)
3. Responsible organizing
(based on dissertation of Maarten
Verkerk)
4. Role of a Code of Conduct
(how to get the organization to a
higher ethical level)
http://seseht.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/jenga.jpg
Context
Some basic questions
1. What does it mean when an organization is
responsible?
2. Who is responsible within an organization?
3. How do you organize responsibility?
4. How to combine your convictions with those of others
– a matter of hermeneutics and diversity
5. How do you develop an organization towards a higher
ethical level (if that’s possible)?
Diversity
Personal concept
Reflective concept
Business concept
http://www.cheynestraining.com/resources/images/diversity.jpg
Personal check up
What if…
• Your colleague is gay and communicates it
• Your have to recruit 5% employees from ethnic
minorities and just Moroccon guys show up
• You have to collaborate with someone in a
wheelchair who is depending on you
• Your boss has been to prison for fraud
• You have to work with gypsies who are just in it
for the money
Diversity
item
• Gender
• Race
• Belief
• Conviction
• Health
• Age
• Sexuality
level
• Person
• Organization
• Society
• System
attitude
• Humility
• Listening skills
• Empathy
• Cultural awareness
Some statements…
1. The way you deal with people from other churches
predict how you deal with diversity in business
2. Your worldview is decisive in dealing with diversity
3. In the long run, discussions about diversity always
end up talking about hermeneutics
4. Within Post Modernism diversity is the ultimate
value
Responsible Organizations
http://www.swickph.com/images/uploads/shutterstock_65729302.jpg
A philosophical option…
See reader (@www.che.nl/jtermeurope2014):
• Responsible Behaviour in Industrial Organisation
by Maarten J. Verkerk
(a quite complicated text)
elements
1. conditions by management
2. multidimensional character of org's
3. role of an employee
4. ethics of responsibility
Conditions
• conditions for responsibility
– freedom
– information
– Competence
• role of manager -> leader -> coach
http://socialdesigner.com/stored_images/0001/0927/02_thumb_500_500.jpg
Norms in organizing…
multidimensional character of org's
Organization is 'a whole'
Dimensions:
a. physical (e.g. the chemicals being transformed),
http://sumokina.com/tag/exercises
b. biological
(the reduction of waste materials that polluted the
environment of the plant, ergonomic aspects of
equipment),
http://www.bg-21.com/en/section/environment
c. psychic
(the identification
of the operators
with their work
and group, their
motivation and
satisfaction),
d. power and influence (authority of operators, the
mini-company process, improvement teams),
http://guerrilla
news.wordpress
.com/2011/01/
e. lingual
(sharing of information, communication patterns),
f. social
(cooperation of operators within
a group, informal contacts
between management and
employees),
http://voicesage.blogspot.com/2008/11/future-of-messaging-social-dimension.html
g. economic
(reduction of cost prices, competition in the market),
http://www.jongerenraadtholen.nl/geld-verdienen/dagobert-duck/
h. juridical
(safety and environmental laws),
http://www.google.nl/imgres?q=juridical+dimension&um=1&hl=nl&safe=active&sa=N&biw=128
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ed=1t:429,r:4,s:0,i:79
i. moral
(care for individual employees, quality of labour),
http://bilgrimage.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.html
j. trust
(between management and employees).
http://newdirectionsconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/trust.jpg
role of dimensions
• each dimension has its own norms
• each dimension is unique
– each dimension cannot be reduced to
another one
• aspect of a whole
• frame for moral behavior???
ethics of responsibility 1
• blind spots:
– ethical aspects of design of organisations
– the influence of typical organisational phenomena
such as trust and power on responsible behaviour is
not recognised
• so, inherent normativity of organisations should
be starting point
– anchoring of business ethics in organisational theory.
– implies a normative reinterpretation of
organisational theory
ethics of responsibility 2
• An ethics of responsibility starts with the
deepest motive or ethos of a human actor
– religious ethical motivation
– enlightened humanism of Christian belief
• Stress the importance of
– values
– norm principles
– norms
ethics of responsibility 3
Three lines of thought are integrated:
1. a fundamental line summarised by the key words
dignity and vocation.
2. an organisational line summarised by the words trust
and power.
3. a philosophical line summarised by the words
multidimensional normativity and the normative
development of organisational structures
The Code of Conduct 1
• Basic question: how do you establish
integrity as keystone of your organization?
1. Cultural approach
2. Structural approach
3. Integrated approach
CoC
• Effectiveness is
depending on
–
–
–
–
–
–
Role models
Shared beliefs
Teamspirit
Implementation
Fit with overall culture
Part of policies
http://www.transfieldservices.com/content/Image/Corporate%20Governance/code_of_conduct_pyramid.jpg
A small comparison
Holland
USA
• Team approach
• Individual
(culture)
• Shared beliefs /
convictions
accountability
• Company’s convictions
are leading
• Employees
• Leader
• Enforcing by talks
• Enforcing by rules