The following article contains the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of ASNT or its Board of Directors.
Unethical Behavior In the Workplace
In March of 2020, the Harvard Business Review published a national survey of more than 14 500 employees across industries in the US economy. They asked how often workers experienced pressure to act unethically and to what extent they were afraid to speak up at work. The majority of workers stated that they never or almost never experienced such pressures to act unethically. However, 11% experienced this pressure sometimes and 12% experienced this pressure often to almost always. That is, 23%, or nearly one in four people, feel pressured to do things they know are wrong.
Most commonly, people encountered experiences that could be described as rule violations (29%), followed by lying (27%), and unhealthy work environment (also 27%). Although less frequent, it was concerning that sacrificing safety (9%), discrimination (3%), stealing (3%), and bullying (2%) were all mentioned as examples of unethical behavior in the workplace.
What Do Leaders Do to Contribute to Unethical Environments?
The leader of the group can contribute to the unethical behavior environment in many ways. First, leaders can make it psychologically unsafe to speak up. If employees see how others are treated when they speak up about perceived problems, then this will influence them to act or not. If the risk isn’t worth the effort, then silence will prevail. This is especially true if speaking up will lead to retribution or harsh reactions.
Leaders can also apply excessive pressure to reach unrealistic performance targets. Significant research suggests that unfettered goal setting can encourage people to make compromising choices in order to reach targets, especially if those targets seem unrealistic.
Leaders often do not make ethical behavior and integrity a routine conversation. Too many leaders assume that talking about ethics is something you do when there’s been a scandal, or as part of an organization’s compliance program. Everyone gets their “ethics flu shot” once a year by going through the mandatory review of the compliance policy, and all is well for another year.
Leaders are not setting the example. Leaders must accept they are held to higher ethical standard than others. It’s presumed they are role models of the organization’s published and implied standards. If you are leading in a “do as I say, not as I do” way, expect others will resent the double standard and not comply.
Why Might Inspectors Contribute to Unethical Environments?
Inspectors rationalize their unprofessional behavior for some of the following reasons:
- Feeling inadequately compensated and taking short cuts to reduce workload.
- Feeling abused by being on the road so much, causing a vengeful attitude.
- Being asked to do too much without time to get it done, leading to taking short cuts.
- Partying too much when on the road and being physically unable to doing the job right.
- Needing stimulants to keep going in boring or repetitious tasks.
- Being on the “front line” too long, causing them to not want to take the pressure anymore.
The inspector might also be insecure in their knowledge and feel ignorance in the face of being expected to know the correct discontinuity and why it came about. This could lead them to take a “pass everything or reject everything” attitude to avoid taking time to find out more about a discontinuity. They may reject them all to be safe.
Employers can counter these behaviors in the following ways:
- Pay going wages to ensure inspectors are adequately compensated.
- If an inspector is often on the road, communicate and reach a reasonable balance.
- Perform more realistic analysis of project work anticipated to ensure that inspectors don’t have too much to do without adequate time.
- If the technician is suspected of “partying” too much, then monitor and seek feedback from the employee. A random drug testing program may be the best solution.
- If the work requires boring or repetitious tasks, then rotate technicians and give more breaks or reliefs.
- If an employee has been on the “front line” too long, again, rotate them out of the cycle as required.
- If lack of knowledge causes inappropriate disposition of hardware, then improved training is the solution.
Note that each of these solutions requires proper investigation of root causes and efficient corrective action by management. These solutions are in tension with the drive to maximize profits; conversely, unethical behavior can be the ruin of a company if not corrected. The human resources department must be an integral part of these potential solutions. All employees must have adequate legal protections including the technician and the manager.
Recommendations to Prevent Future Unethical Behavior
1. Establish a Whistleblower Policy
There are two types of whistleblowing:
- Internal Whistle Blowing: An employee reports misconduct to his superiors holding positions in the same organization. This is referred to as going through the chain of command.
- External Whistle Blowing: Here, the employee reports the misconduct to any third-party person who is not a member of the organization, such as a lawyer or any other legal body.
Most often, the employees fear raising a voice against the illegal activity being carried out in the organization for the following reasons:- Threat to life
- Lost job and career
- Lost friendships
- Resentment among workers
- Breach of trust and loyalty
Thus, in order to provide protection, the Whistle Blower Protection Act was passed.
2. Establish Clear Values
Make sure your staff knows that if they, or a member of their team, makes a mistake, it won’t be the end of the world. If they own up, then you can resolve it together before it becomes a bigger problem, according to the researchers behind the survey. Make sure your employees know what is expected of them.
3. Look for the Real Reason Employees Behave Unethically
For example, if someone is phoning in sick frequently, are they overworked? Maybe work can be reallocated or a “duvet day” system can be put into place.
4. Create a Good Work Environment
Managers should put more effort into creating a good work environment. This would help to prevent people behaving unethically in their workplace.
People need to feel appreciated and involved in creating a good working environment. Managers can assist in this by
- regularly meeting to celebrate small milestones;
- appreciating employees’ efforts, not only results; and
- giving breaks between intense work tasks to enjoy time together.
Loyal employees feel that a company values the hard work they put into accomplishing tasks on a daily basis. A loyal employee is less likely to act unethically. Show appreciation to the employees for work well done on a regular basis to encourage loyalty.
5. Create a Code of Conduct
A written code of conduct provides employees and managers with an overview of the type of conduct and behaviors the company expects. It outlines what behaviors are unacceptable and what measures are taken if an employee violates the code of conduct.
6. Lead by Example
Employees are likely to copy what they see as unethical management from their managers. Good communication and awareness that as a manager you are a role model is important.
Employees look to business owners and managers for direction on how they should conduct themselves. As a business owner, make ethics-based decisions and monitor the individuals you put into leadership roles at your company for the same values.
7. Reinforce Consequences
Business owners must hold their employees accountable when they act unethically. Start by informing new employees of the rules during their orientation sessions. If an employee acts unethically, refer to the code of conduct and take the necessary measures to warn or terminate.
8. Welcome an Ethics Speaker
Schedule an ethics trainer to discuss ethical behavior and explain why it is important in organizations, regardless of the size or industry. Ethics trainers use role-playing, motivational speaking, videos, and handouts to illustrate the importance of ethics in the workplace.
9. Create Checks and Balances
Rather than putting related responsibilities in the hands of one employee, create a system of checks and balances to minimize the opportunities for unethical behavior. For example, a sales associate rings up customer purchases, while an accountant balances the books to ensure that all payables are received and documented.
10. Hire for Values
When business owners hire employees, many seek to bring on individuals who have the education and experience that prove they are skilled workers capable of handling the tasks at hand. Employers who want to prevent unethical behavior should also look at candidates’ values to ensure they mesh with the company’s culture.
Conclusion
Pressure to make money or save face is very strong. We need to practice the characteristics of a professional NDT inspector and management oversight. We need to create the environment so that doing the right thing is attainable with high probability of success.
Reference
Ivcevic, Z., J.I. Menges, A. Miller, 2020, “How Common is Unethical Behavior in U.S. Organizations?”, Harvard Business Review, https://hbr.org/2020/03/how-common-is-unethical-behavior-in-u-s-organizations
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Author
Michael W. Allgaier, Allgaier Consulting and Training, aligator01@optonline.net. Read more by Allgaier on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-w-allgaier-52637a3/
For more information on ethics, check out these articles and podcasts on ASNT Pulse:
- Professional Ethics: The Employer and Employee Relationship, https://blog.asnt.org/professional-ethics-the-employer-and-employee-relationship/
- Professional Ethics: The Role of the “Whistleblower”, https://blog.asnt.org/professional-ethics-the-role-of-the-whistleblower/
- Professional Ethics: Falsifying and Failure to Report, https://blog.asnt.org/professional-ethics-falsifying-and-failure-to-report/
- 8: Ethics in NDT with Todd Sellmer, Chat NDT with ASNT, https://blog.asnt.org/8-ethics-in-ndt-with-todd-sellmer/
Photo by Erce/Shutterstock.com.