Applying Ethical Intelligence in HR

Applying Ethical
Intelligence in HR
Penny Miller, SPHR, CEBS
Principal, Venture HRO, LLC
HR consultant
Leadership coach
Mediator
30+ years in HR
•
21 years U.S. Air Force
•
Executive search
•
Corporate HR
•
HR consultant
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Business Ethics —
a standard of acceptable
behavior on the job; a set
of rules by which to judge
decisions and conduct in
the workplace
What are Business Ethics?
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Ethical Intelligence
• “What’s the right thing to do?”
• Dr. Bruce Weinstein, The Ethics Guy
• Ethical Intelligence: Five Simple Rules for
Leading a Better Life, 2011.
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Steps of Corporate Social
Responsibility
Philanthropic (giving back)
Ethical (following acceptable stakeholder
standards of behavior)
Economic (maximizing shareholder wealth/value)
Legal (following laws and regulations)
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Fundamental Principles
• HR’s primary focus should be the longterm good of the company
• Decisions should be based upon company
values and philosophy of owner
• Plus: 5 Rules
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–
–
–
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Do No Harm
Make Things Better
Respect Others
Be Fair
Be Loving
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Rules 1 and 2
• Do No Harm
– Harm: anything that damages others
– Prevent Harm
– Minimize unavoidable harm
• Make Things Better
– Yourself as well as others
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Rules 3 - 5
• Respect Others
– Protect confidentiality
– Tell the truth
– Honor promises
• Be Fair
– Allocating scarce resources
– Discipline/punishment
– Rectify injustices
• Be Loving
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What is “Good?”
• “What is morally right, righteous”
• “Being of advantage to someone or some
thing”
• More than financial
• Long term
• Includes intangibles
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A Model….
Not a prescription
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Example
• Company A chooses to compete on a lowcost business model
• Their stated values are:
– Respect for the individual
– Service to our customers
– Striving for excellence
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Ethics Question #1
Is it ethical to expect exempt employees to
be available by phone/email:
– During scheduled non-work time?
– On “weekends”?
– During vacations?
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Ethics Question #2
• Is it ethical to provide no paid time off (this
includes sick, vacation, holiday, etc.)?
• Is it ethical to provide no discretionary
benefits?
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Ethics Question # 3
Is it ethical for companies to pay CEOs 430x
the pay of a front-line employee?
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Ethics Question #4
• Your boss has directed you to hire a
daughter of a friend for an open position,
even though the person doesn’t meet the
requirements of the job
• Later (after hire) you discover the person
was accused of embezzling money at their
previous job
• Accounting reports to you some
suspicious paperwork in the person’s work
area
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Becoming More Ethically Intelligent
• Recognize ethical issues
• Keep ethics at the forefront of the decision
making process
• Review decisions in hindsight (after
actions analysis)
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Building Ethics into Culture
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•
•
•
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Previous statements apply
Talk about ethics and decisions
Leadership is crucial
Be transparent
Have a culture of accountability
© Venture HRO LLC, 2014
Summary
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•
•
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Ethics is a key part of HR’s job
There are often no perfectly right answers
All of us can be more ethically intelligent
We become more ethically intelligent with
practice
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Questions?
Where Can I
Find These
Slides?
http://venturehro.co
m/resources/presenta
tions/upcomingpresentations.aspx
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Contact Information
Penny Miller
Venture HRO, LLC
940-867-9761
[email protected]
http://venturehro.com
People, Performance and Profit blog
http://peopleperformanceandprofit.blogspot.com
@venturehrollc
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