PREDICTING HONESTY ON THE JOB


Take a look around your office. Who among your own colleagues (and don't leave yourself out of this evaluation) do you think is most likely to cheat? Who would be the one who might take credit for others' work? Which of your writers would be most likely to fail to cite the sources of material combed from the work of others? Which one in your office might be persuaded to make up quotes and statistics?

If you think there is no way to predict the ones most likely to dwell on the moral high ground versus those bottom-feeders who do not seem to have any conscience, you are probably unaware of the recent studies that have tried to do just that: figure out the predictors for people who are more likely than others to be the cheats of the business world. It could help the next time you try to fill that vacant position in your department.

First, we'll define a cheat the way most dictionaries do: someone who acts dishonestly, who deceives others or attempts to defraud. Now let's take a trip back to where cheating first seems to become an issue.

It seems that today's university and college students are just as concerned as you are about the amount of cheating that seems to be running rampant in the modern business world. The evidence: a recent study, reported in Business Week magazine, found that a whopping 84 per cent of a group of 1,100 students surveyed believe that the United States is having a business crisis. [ 6] However, when the same students were asked about their own ethics, they sang a different tune.

Over half the students admitted to cheating (cheating on exams, plagiarism etc) and fewer than 20 per cent of them said that they would report a classmate whom they knew had cheated. These students, by the way, were members of the organization Students in Free Enterprise, an organization active on some 1,300 college and university campuses in 33 countries that purports to teach principles of (among other things) business ethics. [ 7]

Perhaps you might now be considering that just because someone cheats in college or university does not necessarily mean that he or she is likely to be unethical in business. Indeed, when asked, many students ”even my own ”just don't consider college or university to be the real world and the competitive pressures in school are legion ”all of which seems to justify cheating while a student. But we haven't finished the story yet.

All of this new information about the students of today, who are in many ways idealistic, is very interesting in light of a slightly older study reported in the Journal of Education for Business (March-April, 1993) that tried to determine whether there might be a relationship between academic dishonesty (cheating) and later dishonesty in business dealings. [ 8] The researchers found, indeed, that those MBA students who admitted to having ˜engaged in a wide range of academic dishonesty also admitted to a wide range of work- related dishonesty. Given the recent consternation about the almost epidemic proportions of academic cheating going on today on campuses around the world, and the apparent widespread belief that there's really nothing wrong with it (perhaps, unless you get caught), I believe that there is reason to be very concerned about the future of ethical conduct in our business world. So, maybe that notation on a new graduate's academic transcript that indicates an academic offence actually might be important to the potential employer. But these are only the ones who get caught. There are other predictors, though.

Lisa Yoon, writing in the online publication CFO.com , reported on the world of golf for business executives. [ 9] She reported on the results of a study carried out for Starwood of 401 executives that found that 97 per cent of those surveyed consider golf to be a good way to establish a close relationship with a business colleague ”but with sizable ulterior motives at play alongside the drivers and the putters.

˜Twenty percent of executives surveyed said they would let a client beat them, Yoon writes , ˜if they thought it would get them more business; 87 per cent gamble while golfing; and a whopping 82 per cent of executives admit to cheating on the golf course. The clincher, however, was that 86 per cent of these executives also admitted to cheating in business.

Dishonesty seems to be a way of life for some people in the business world of today.

However, in the field of public relations, where honesty has not always been the hallmark of the practice, perhaps we need to be even more vigilant than others that our communication is not only honest, but perceived to be honest as well.

If you're faced with the prospect of publicizing something that you know to be untrue, there is little doubt that in the court of public opinion, there is no justification for this kind of unethical behaviour. On the other hand, there may be ethical justification for partial disclosure so long as it does not mislead the public or harm anyone .

At the end of the chapter you might consider assessing your own view of honesty by answering a series of questions posed in Figure 2.1. Of course, self-assessment requires that you at least be honest with yourself.

[ 6] Weisul, K & Merritt, J (12 December 2002) You mean cheating is wrong? Business Week , p 8

[ 7] See Students in Free Enterprise Web site. http://www.sife.org

[ 8] Sims, R (1993) The relationship between academic dishonesty and unethical business practices, Journal of Education for Business , 68 (4), pp 207-211

[ 9] Yoon, Lisa [accessed 5 August 2003] Double-dealing duffers (October 2002). http://www.cfo.com/printarticle/0,5317,7873C,00.html




Ethics in Public Relations. A Guide to Best Practice
Ethics in Public Relations: A Guide to Best Practice (PR in Practice)
ISBN: 074945332X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 165

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