Is going to the supply closet and taking stuff home an unethical act? Does it depend on the amount you take? Would one pencil be okay, but a box of pens stealing?
Now, people who are feeling a bit guilty about their business sins can go to Ethics Confessions . Here's the concept. You share a nasty deed you that you've done and then readers "vote" on just how unethical you've been.
Only thing I can say about the voting is Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling better hope their jury is of the same mindset as the readers of Ethics Confessions.
Some of the confessions so far:
I got a $35 million contract from a company because a VP showed me another vendor's bid and gave me the opportunity to improve on it so I would get the business.
178 people have voted (it's one a 1-10 scale with 10 being never acceptable. This business "sin" is ranking about a "6" with readers.
However, with over 345 votes, the readers gave a ranking of "4" to an employee who stole from the YWCA.
"The YMCA allows people to pay a fee to use the facilities for one-day. Back then I think we charged $8 per person for a full day's pass. We sold around 10 day passes a day, or we could have sold 10 per day. For two years, I took half of them and never put them in the system and pocketed the money."
Either the people doing the voting are confused about the voting scale or they are treating this interactive exercise with as much respect as a vote on American Idol.
So much for integrity in voting on ethical issues. As I read these sins, I would love to also read people's rationales for their votes. Why are so many people "okay" with the employee who pocketed the money on the free passes?
The Ethics Confession is part of a larger blog
called Ethics Crisisthat bills itself as
A blog about global business ethics, from SRF Global Translations, specialists in nuanced, localized, multilanguage compliance materials for multinational companies.
The creator of the Ethics Confession is also baffled by her reader's acceptance of these unethical business practices. As she shared in a comment on another blog,
No doubt about it, ethics is hot and getting hotter. At Ethics Crisis the blog I recently launched (and write) for SRF Global Translations, people can anonymously confess the most unethical things they've done in business. Others can rate and comment on the confessions.
The feature, meant to bring a fun and possibly viral element to the Ethics Crisis blog, immediately took off.
The scary part is that no matter what people confess, the community seems to think none of it is too bad.
We are surprised at what people confess, but more surprised at the way many hundreds of people are reacting to the confessions.
There seems to be public ethics, or what one says about ethics, and a darker, more private type of ethics.
Our goal is to generate conversation about ethics, and judging from the response so far, people are hungering to talk about the subject.
Posted by: B.L. Ochman | May 17, 2006 at 04:34 PM
For more reading on business ethics, check out Andrea Weckerle's post Corporate Responsibility,Ethics and Good Business. at New Millennium PR.
My StumbleUpon Page
