Ethics Communications 2
Aside: Leo Strauss & Ethical Communications
Neoconservative philosopher, 1899-1973
¡ From knowledge to the overdrawn notion of intelligence as deception
¡ Proponent of esoteric knowledge: hidden meanings
¡ Confine the discourse of rule & ruling to elites (vanguards fanning populism?)
¡ In order to defend the institutions of liberalism (corporate-based business, capitalism), one had to be cautious, creative, and duplicitous
¡ Secretiveness, hidden agendas, manipulation: good means to “noble” ends...
Edelman 2010
¡ What shapes a trustworthy reputation?
¡ Transparent and honest practices 83%
¡ History of trustworthiness 83%
¡ High quality products/service 79%
¡ Frequent communications 75%
¡ Treats employees well 72%
¡ Good corporate citizen 64%
Grassroots Campaigns
¡ Spontaneous, self-organizing generation.
¡ Coordinated alliances between individuals and groups.
¡ “Ground-up” structure: hives & swarms?
¡ Boycotts, advocacy, conservation/preservation.
¡ Historically contingent: grievances, illegitimacy, historical
Astroturf
¡ “Fake populism”
¡ Top-down organization
¡ Highly orchestrated campaigns
¡ Attempt to disguise/conceal leadership.
¡ Deceptive at the outset?
¡ E.g. Koch brothers
What is Whistle blowing?
¡ Whistleblowing
§ “[A]llegations made by someone inside the organization” to those who are in the position to take corrective action (Liyanarachchi and Newdick, 2009)
¡ Remember Fleming & Zyglidopoulos: usually occurs when deception is severe and pervasive, not long before crisis or organizational failure
Types of Whistle blowing
¡ A communications process: reporting by one without power to effect change to one with power to effect change. (MacNab and Worthley, 2008)
¡ Internal: reporting within the organization (Ombudsman, hotlines)
¡ External: reporting outside of the organization (law enforcement, the press).
¡ Links have been well established between the lack of a well-managed internal process and the occurrence of external whistleblowing (MacNab and Worthley, 2008)
Whistleblowers: Who & What
From Liyanarachchi & Newdick (2009)
¡ “A complex phenomenon”
¡ Process and timed-based
¡ Moral reasoning abilities
§ Conflicting loyalties: to self, to moral and social obligations, to organization.
¡ Reasons for not blowing the whistle:
§ Effective action will not be taken
§ Report will not be treated confidentially
§ Risk averse; fear of retaliation
Whistle blowing
¡ 34.2% of “occupational fraud” detected in 2006 was revealed by whistleblowers
¡ Toll-free “whistleblower hotline” mandated by Sarbanes-Oxley, along with legal protections.
¡ Half of Fortune 500 companies utilize external hotlines: Allegiance, Inc., ReportLine, EthicsLine.
¡ Frequency of episodes increasing
¡ Public support increasing
¡ Awareness of necessity for adequate whistleblowing support within organizations.(Liyanarachchi and Newdick, 2009)
Helping the Whistleblower
¡ Foster culture that promotes the organizational benefits of internal reporting.
§ Workshops
§ Training
§ Demonstrations
¡ Remember: moderators, control systems, codes of ethics
Communicating Ethics
¡ Culture is all: the environment can encourage/discourage whistleblowing
¡ More ethics education needed to foster ethical reasoning.
¡ Work to enable professional awareness (campaigns) of highest ethical standards.
Rewards of High Ethical Corporate Culture
¡ The stronger the ethical culture, the more employees perceive executive compensation as appropriate.
Neoconservative philosopher, 1899-1973
¡ From knowledge to the overdrawn notion of intelligence as deception
¡ Proponent of esoteric knowledge: hidden meanings
¡ Confine the discourse of rule & ruling to elites (vanguards fanning populism?)
¡ In order to defend the institutions of liberalism (corporate-based business, capitalism), one had to be cautious, creative, and duplicitous
¡ Secretiveness, hidden agendas, manipulation: good means to “noble” ends...
Edelman 2010
¡ What shapes a trustworthy reputation?
¡ Transparent and honest practices 83%
¡ History of trustworthiness 83%
¡ High quality products/service 79%
¡ Frequent communications 75%
¡ Treats employees well 72%
¡ Good corporate citizen 64%
Grassroots Campaigns
¡ Spontaneous, self-organizing generation.
¡ Coordinated alliances between individuals and groups.
¡ “Ground-up” structure: hives & swarms?
¡ Boycotts, advocacy, conservation/preservation.
¡ Historically contingent: grievances, illegitimacy, historical
Astroturf
¡ “Fake populism”
¡ Top-down organization
¡ Highly orchestrated campaigns
¡ Attempt to disguise/conceal leadership.
¡ Deceptive at the outset?
¡ E.g. Koch brothers
What is Whistle blowing?
¡ Whistleblowing
§ “[A]llegations made by someone inside the organization” to those who are in the position to take corrective action (Liyanarachchi and Newdick, 2009)
¡ Remember Fleming & Zyglidopoulos: usually occurs when deception is severe and pervasive, not long before crisis or organizational failure
Types of Whistle blowing
¡ A communications process: reporting by one without power to effect change to one with power to effect change. (MacNab and Worthley, 2008)
¡ Internal: reporting within the organization (Ombudsman, hotlines)
¡ External: reporting outside of the organization (law enforcement, the press).
¡ Links have been well established between the lack of a well-managed internal process and the occurrence of external whistleblowing (MacNab and Worthley, 2008)
Whistleblowers: Who & What
From Liyanarachchi & Newdick (2009)
¡ “A complex phenomenon”
¡ Process and timed-based
¡ Moral reasoning abilities
§ Conflicting loyalties: to self, to moral and social obligations, to organization.
¡ Reasons for not blowing the whistle:
§ Effective action will not be taken
§ Report will not be treated confidentially
§ Risk averse; fear of retaliation
Whistle blowing
¡ 34.2% of “occupational fraud” detected in 2006 was revealed by whistleblowers
¡ Toll-free “whistleblower hotline” mandated by Sarbanes-Oxley, along with legal protections.
¡ Half of Fortune 500 companies utilize external hotlines: Allegiance, Inc., ReportLine, EthicsLine.
¡ Frequency of episodes increasing
¡ Public support increasing
¡ Awareness of necessity for adequate whistleblowing support within organizations.(Liyanarachchi and Newdick, 2009)
Helping the Whistleblower
¡ Foster culture that promotes the organizational benefits of internal reporting.
§ Workshops
§ Training
§ Demonstrations
¡ Remember: moderators, control systems, codes of ethics
Communicating Ethics
¡ Culture is all: the environment can encourage/discourage whistleblowing
¡ More ethics education needed to foster ethical reasoning.
¡ Work to enable professional awareness (campaigns) of highest ethical standards.
Rewards of High Ethical Corporate Culture
¡ The stronger the ethical culture, the more employees perceive executive compensation as appropriate.
- Strong culture 90%
- Strong-leaning culture 69%
- Weak-leaning culture 45%
- Weak culture 20%
- Strong culture 30%
- Strong-leaning culture 42%
- Weak-leaning culture 43%
- Weak culture 51%
