CAN YOU TEACH ETHICS?

Creating an ethical workplace is increasingly being recognized as an important corporate goal. This can be accomplished via a combination of numerous factors, such as leadership, values, culture, a code of conduct, policies, systems and training. In particular, training as an approach to addressing workplace ethics has flourished to the extent that it has become a growing industry, with business schools, ethics organisations and consultants all offering support for organisations’ ethics training programmes.

However, ethics training programmes often do not appear to have sufficient impact. There are a number of factors that influence the effectiveness of ethics training and which should be taken into account in the design of a training programme.

• Take what is already known and the ‘knowing–doing’ gap into account
  Attending a training course is generally an effective way to improve learning, for example, improving one’s ability in finance or labour practices by building knowledge and understanding of these topics. But, this does not apply to the same extent to ethics because employees almost always already know what is right and wrong in the workplace (which is the essence of ethics). That unethical conduct stems from making a choice reflects a gap – the ‘knowing–doing’ gap – which should be taken into account in designing a training course. Therefore, instead of the course being aimed at just trying to add knowledge, the overarching goal becomes a change of attitude that will achieve more ethical behaviour.
• Don’t teach what they already know
  The programme does not need to focus on what the participants already know, such as the details of policies on fraud, bribery, and corruption. One sentence should suffice: ‘The company does not tolerate fraud, bribery or corruption under any circumstances.’ Time is better spent building clarity about how company values translate into behaviours and what this implies for the individual participants within the scope of their roles and responsibilities.
• Teach ethics based on your ethical reality, not on abstract theory
  The training should be based on the organisation’s current ethical reality. Using the results of an ethics survey (such as the Ethics Monitor) allows course content to be customized to address the actual ethical strengths, vulnerabilities and weaknesses and what can and should be done about it, which significantly enhances its relevance for the company and the participants.
• Combine appropriate theory and practice
  The content should include a focus on ‘theory’ in the form of the organisation’s ethics policy, value statement, code of conduct and supporting policies, and on ethics in practice. This warrants an annual initiative to reinforce employees’ knowledge and understanding the organisation’s ethics policy and supporting codes and standards, which should also form part of the company’s induction for new employees. An electronic module with multiple-answer questions, where incorrect answers direct employees to the relevant code or policy, is a quick and easy intervention. Supplementing this with bi-annual face-to-face discussion groups is ideal to clarify the application and implications of the company’s ethics in the workplace and to provide the opportunity for in-depth discussions on ethical challenges.

These design features, supported by relevant content, help ethics to be taught effectively. But the real impact relies on a comprehensive approach to managing, improving and inculcating ethical behaviour, which extends beyond just one or two half-day workshops or training sessions a year.