Operating an honest, ethical business may seem like a no-brainer. But in today’s highly competitive business environment, the temptation to bend the rules looms large. And don’t think that it’s OK to do something “just this once.” Not only is a wrong choice always wrong, but one-time ethics breaches often become habits. And, once the reputation of you and your business are compromised, it may be impossible to repair the damage.
Two-thirds of small business owners say they are more concerned about ethical business practices today than in the past, according to a survey by the management consulting firm George S. May International. “It may be difficult to measure the benefit of ethical actions to your bottom line,” says Israel Kushnir, president of May International. “But a lack of ethics will definitely have a negative impact on a small business.”
Although formal ethics training is rare at small companies, business owners are always looking for new or better ways to define their values for employees and customers. Some are putting ethics policies on paper while others are simply raising the issue more often in the workplace.
There are a few great resources available. First, I would point you to The Josephson Institute of Ethics, www.josephsoninstitute.org, It is a “public-benefit, nonpartisan, nonprofit” organization that helps advance ethical decision-making. Co-founder Michael Josephson’s daily radio commentary on ethics and character-building runs on stations across the country and his “Character Counts” initiative has been adopted by schools and youth groups nationwide.
The Institute’s Web site has a helpful step-by-step guide to making ethical decisions, available free. They have some good resources for schools to do character education training including resources for sports and youth activities. The Institute also conducts Ethics in the Workplace training seminars and has a catalog of publications, videos, CDs, tapes, banners and other ethics awareness products you can buy.
Another great resource is The Ethics Resource Center (ERC) which is a Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization that offers informational products and services, including help creating a code of conduct, an ethics effectiveness test, a business ethics Q&A and other items. Their Ethics Took Kit is an excellent resource for small businesses and many of their materials are free for internal use within your business. ERC also conducts an annual National Business Ethics Survey. You can find more details at www.ethics.org.
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JWB Interest, LLC 2012 All Rights Reserve
Dean L. Swanson, ChairpersonRochester, MN
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