Workplace Ethics
Initially the topic of workplace ethics seems like a confusing one to me. The concept of ethics seems like a personal-view, everybody-will-look-at-it-differently type of thing and when you try to implement that into a workplace, well that seems like it might be difficult. I know of people who I have worked with in the past, and some in the present, who have very different ethics than I do…who I probably wouldn’t naturally hang out with outside of work. But that’s just life. Everyone sees things differently and you have to learn to get along…well, you don’t have to, but it sure makes the ride more fun if you do!
When I think about the practicality of defining ethics in the workplace, it seems to me that it comes down to an individual thing. Most of the time you don’t have a whole lot of say over what other people do, you can only control what you do.
If you are a business owner, CEO or such your individual ethics, and how you choose to implement them in the workplace, will have a huge effect on your company and your employees. It will dictate who wants to work at your company, who you hire, how long you tolerate bad employees and to what lengths you’ll go to keep the good ones, among many other things.
If you are a middle manager or supervisor, your personal ethics will dictate how you interact with your clients, underlings and “overlings”. You potentially have the power to set a complimentary or contrasting tone to the rest of the company in you department.
If you are just an underling, your ethical beliefs will influence how you respond to your co-workers and your boss. How hard you work and what you say, or don’t say, under your breath.
I’ll reiterate again that like most of the other topics on my blog, your “workplace ethics” aren’t something that you can just leave at work. Your ethics are a direct reflection of your deeply held beliefs and personal world-view. If you’re faking it for a little bit at work, you won’t be able to keep it up for long and yes, we all know you’re faking it.
Until next time,
Cory
