Ethical companies are often marked by not only a willingness to hold on to enduring values but also a desire to be responsive to an increasingly mercurial workplace.
When facts arise to indicate a clash is occurring between company operations and a firm’s mission statement, it may be time for managers to take a closer look at the company’s internal values.
Has the firm drifted from the company’s mission statement? If so, it’s time to consider ways to bring the moral compass back to the correct position.
Increasingly more and more Fortune 500 firms are exploring ways to ensure a company is sensitive to the need to uphold widely endorsed ethical values. The difficulty arises when moral standards shift in the culture at large.
Outsourcing in particular is one industry segment that has been pointedly criticized for abusive practices, but no company operates in a moral vacuum. Every industry has a legacy of committing some moral lapses. Examples include moral quandaries surrounding outsourcing and the ethical implications of tapping a contingency labor force.
In short, the spirit of the age should not be used as a compass for how a firm conducts its business. Managers will find that a specific code of ethical behavior circulated among employees will reduce undesirable behaviors among staff when consistently enforced.
Lastly, line managers should receive training on how to create a positive, productive organization in which everyone is accorded fair, ethical treatment. Then the company’s stakeholders will assuredly know the goal is to pursue the highest moral caliber.