Overview

Many companies have written policies on ethics that are distributed on paper or are available on an intranet. In this exercise, leaders and managers are able to sharpen their awareness and understanding of the policy by “playing” with it in a learning situation.

Purpose

To enable participants to learn what the official ethics policy means to them and how they and colleagues would contribute to enforcing that policy.

Group Size

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

Room Arrangement

Arrange flexible seating to permit table groups of four or five.

Materials

Handout 31.1, “Directions”

Flipchart and marking pens

Copies of the ethics policy being considered. (Note: If participants represent several different organizations, select one representative policy and make copies of it.)

Procedure

1.Lead a brief discussion of the importance of having an official ethics policy and having it well publicized in the organization. Include mention of the fact that guidelines are useful for the unclear “gray” areas of proper, ethical behavior as well as the more obvious “black-and-white” areas. Note, too, that when policy has been breached, the organization has the legal protection of having made policy clear. Violators, in other words, knew what they were doing.

Elicit input from participants regarding their knowledge of their organization’s policy and the extent of its dissemination.

2.Distribute written copies of the ethics policy to be used in the exercise and allow sufficient time for people to read it.

3.Give each participant a copy of Worksheet 31.1, “Directions.” Allow at least 30 minutes for completion.

4.Form subgroups to share their worksheet insights.

5.Have a spokesperson from each subgroup in turn present the subgroup’s findings for a plenary session.

6.Highlight the differences in the way the policy is interpreted by the various subgroups and in the way it is applied.

7.Lead a discussion on whether these differences are acceptable.

8.Ask for suggestions to improve the clarity of the policy and the guidelines for applying it.

9.Ask for volunteers who are willing to pass on these suggestions to the policymakers. Commend them for being self-confident enough to speak to senior management about possible changes in the ethics policy.

10.Wrap up by discussing ways the ethics policy can be more fully applied.

Variation

Have subgroups prepare an ideal ethics policy. Have them exchange and critique each other’s policy.

Take a macrocosmic perspective: Ask subgroups to prepare an ethics policy for the industry as a whole or for political, educational, religious leaders, et cetera.

Discussion

What forces may have influenced the originators of the organizational policy being studied?

How often should such a policy be revisited/revised?

Should the policy reflect input from every organizational level?

If so, how could that input be obtained and incorporated?

Should the policy reflect input from those outside the organization?

If so, what particular groups should be invited to contribute their thoughts?

Quotation

“Everyone is a genius at least once a year.”

—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

Points of Interest

Authors Michael Beer and Russell Eisenstat have identified six “silent killers” related to strategy implementation. Too many managers, they maintain, avoid confronting these killers. Relate these killers to the successful implementation of an ethics policy; take into consideration what has been or could be circumvented in your own organization’s efforts to create an ethical culture via issuing a policy.

Top-down or laissez-faire senior management style.

Unclear strategy and conflicting priorities.

Ineffective senior management team.

Poor vertical communication.

Poor coordination across functions, businesses, or borders.

Inadequate down-the-line leadership skills and development.

MIKE enjoys the process of discovering what it means to be a human being. He sees organizations and organizational development as the product of—and the current environment for—the further development of and interplay between individuals. He facilitates both organizational and individual staff development in the roles of trainer, coach, consultant, and change manager.

HANDOUT 31.1