Whether we wish to face up to it or not, many organisations in the public and private sector are in crisis as their rasisin etre is missing.
Organisations need an ethical framework, but the vast majority are unbothered.
Within this context, the paper below was published this month and presented in a speech to the Chairmen and CEOs of the UK FTSE350 corporations by Ian Powell, the PwC UK Chairman.
http://www.pwc.co.uk/eng/issues/trust.html
A key person involved in the paper's constructions is Professor Roger Steare whom I know and I respect. At a personal level he has been supportive of my work over a number of years. In other words, he walks the talk.
He is Visiting Professor in Organizational Ethics and Corporate Philosopher in Residence at Cass Business School in London, where he teaches Ethics and Corporate Sustainability at undergraduate, postgraduate and MBA levels. Roger has been appointed a Fellow of ResPublica, the new policy think-tank launched recently by David Cameron and Phillip Blond. Roger was a member of the Expert Drafting Committee for "Rights and Humanity" invited to prepare recommendations for the G20 London Summit in April 2009. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts; and a Fellow of the Institute of Recruitment Professionals.
The paper draws extensively on the ethicability® Moral DNA research programme and proposes a combined focus on:
* Purpose and belonging in business
* Leadership and "tone from the top"
* Behaviour, beyond the code of conduct
* Authenticity - beyond transparency
* Less regulation, more responsibility
Some key points include:
The past two years have seen radical change in the relationship between business and society. Events ranging from the credit crunch to oil spills to ‘payment for failure’ have put businesses’ behaviour under the microscope. The widespread perception of a growing disconnection between corporate behaviour and ethicalconduct has triggered a sense that global public trust in business has declined.
Key questions all boards should consider:
How would the board describe the ‘tone from the top’?
Would you terminate a profitable relationship with another business if you believed it was acting unethically in another part of the world?
Should the CEO’s word be final?
Do you know if constructive challenge is something encouraged in the organisation?
Do you care whether your employees feel connected to the board, or is it enough that they do what their line manager tells them to?
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If a board is capable and well qualified, does it matter if the members are all white, middleaged
men with the same backgrounds?
Food for thought.
Justin Patten, Change Management Consultant