Student Choice Assignment, “Corporate Ethics”

“I Actually think that in many cases doing the right thing in often inconvenient. It can be very unpopular. It can be dangerous, and in the short-term, it can certainly be unprofitable. Something that is exactly when you know you are doing the right thing when it feels to inconvenient.” – Dov L. Seidman, CEO of LRN

Dov L. Seidman is the CEO of LRN, a company which has challenged the way organizations view ethics in business and moreover, how organizations inspire and coach ethics and ethical culture. Seidman suggests, in an interview with Kenneth Thompson, that the minute a company says, “we need to train people on ethics, “they are going down the wrong road (Thompson, 2014, p. 79). Seidman’s (2014) view of ethics stems from companies requiring the 35-minute online training class, instead of educating employees by adopting a different pedagogical approach. Seidman (2014) expresses that the re-framing of the organizational education of ethics is the crux of the matter stating that if you get it right in the beginning, the organization has a chance. However, if you get it wrong at the beginning, people will shut down and tune out.

Mr. Thompson (2014) suggests in a question to Mr. Seidman that the global economy forces organizations to become very amoral in the sense, “well if we don’t bring prices down somebody else will take our market share, and then we won’t be around to serve anybody.” Mr. Seidman agrees with this statement in that it is very tough to make decisions in the midst of this; however, Mr. Seidman also suggests that doing the right, ethical thing, can make you very unpopular and it’s very inconvenient. However, sometimes that is exactly when you know you are doing the right thing when it feels so inconvenient (2014). In his book, Leadership: Theory and Practice (2019), Northouse (2019) presents to the reader the principles of Ethical Leadership. One of these principles is that ethical leaders manifest honesty (2019, p. 350). Northouse (2019) states that when leaders are not honest, others come to see them as undependable and unreliable. People lose faith in what leaders say and stand for, and their respect for leaders is diminished. Seidman (2014) also states that employees are watching their leaders and if something happens, even one time, that is seen as unethical, this “one” fosters cynicism and betrays trust. Mr. Seidman (2014) concludes this section by stating that new MBAs coming out of school are willing to take a pay cut to work for those companies who are already viewed as more ethical.

In regards to the non-profit organization that I work for, I believe that it is doing all that it can to promote sound ethical procedures. The organization even has its own Ethics Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba where one can find the organization’s position statements, learn about issues and accountability, as well as a fully functional ethics library. Where the shortfall happens is through the organizational leaders actually accessing the resources available and then putting them to good use. It’s one thing to have an ethics centre; it’s another thing to use the resources available. Or organization also bases our ethics on Biblical teaching. One key verse of scripture that directly relates to Mr. Seidman’s (2014) interview responses is 2 Timothy 3:12 (New Revised Standard version), “Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” and Matthew 7:13-14 (New Revised Standard Version), “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” While, according to the Asbury Commentary (2012), this is looking at the tendency to take on the rigorous demands of discipleship seriously, it could also be used to look at the rigorous demands of taking ethics seriously.

References:

Carpenter, E. E., & McCown, W. (1992). Asbury Bible commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Pub. House.

Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and practice, Eighth Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Thompson, K. R. (2007). A corporate training view of ethics education: An interview with Dov L. Seidman, CEO of LRN. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 13(3), 79-91.