Overview

This exercise asks participants to design an ethics-based question that might help job applicants self-screen before making important decisions.

Purpose

To identify the “irreducible essence” of a company.

To help participants clarify values.

Group Size

Any number of individuals can participate. The group should be divided into subgroups of three or four participants each.

Room Arrangement

No special arrangements are required.

Materials

Flipchart

Marking pens

Procedure

1.Introduce the exercise by writing on the flipchart: “Do you believe America should be building weapons of mass destruction? If not, you shouldn’t be applying for a job with this company.” Explain that, according to one urban legend, a large West Coast defense contractor has this sign prominently displayed in its lobby, right outside the entrance to the Human Resources department, where applicants would have to go to be interviewed. From the get-go, the company wants prospective employees to be fully aware of what the company does. They realize that if applicants feel the company product is immoral, they simply should not be considering employment there.

2.Ask participants to consider what Senator Hubert Humphrey referred to as an “irreducible essence,” that is, when all else is stripped away, what is your fundamental core, your basic essence, the unshakeable element that remains? For Humphrey, it was love of country. For individuals and organizations alike, the essence question is an important one to ask. Elicit a few responses from participants or perhaps provide your own.

3.Now have participants think about what it is their organization stands for or does. (If the group has several people who work in the same organization, they may wish to work together on this question.)

4.Once they’ve determined their organization’s raison d’être, task them with asking a question and then supplying an answer similar to the one described in step 1.

5.Have small groups discuss whether the essence question (and answer) conflicts with their personal values. If so, invite them to discuss what, if anything, they intend to do about this potential conflict in values.

Variation

Invite participants to consider what it is they stand for—as men, women, employees, managers, team members, Americans, et cetera. Have them draft a letter sharing what they’ve learned over the years about values in a workplace setting. The recipient of the letter is a hypothetical new employee.

Urge the person responsible for new-employee orientation to include some of these letters in the orientation brochure.

Discussion

How much congruence exists between what you value and what your organization, department, or department head values? If a gap exists, how troubled are you by it?

How widely disseminated are your organization’s values?

Other than the need to earn a paycheck, what keeps people in places that don’t reflect their personally held values?

Quotation

“The palest ink is better than the best memory.”

—Chinese proverb

Points of Interest

When there’s a lack of congruence between a company’s public statements and its private practice, everyone suffers. Such was the case with Wal-Mart’s “Made Right Here” proclamation, as reported by Keri Hayes. Along with 17 other companies, Wal-Mart was named in a class-action lawsuit, filed on behalf of 50,000 employees in Saipan (where, according to a Department of Interior spokesman, pregnant women were coerced to have abortions or to lose their jobs). The National Labor Committee found that 85 percent of Wal-Mart’s private-label merchandise was not “made right here,” but rather was manufactured in other countries.