Are incompetent workers more likely to be unethical?
In my experience, the answer is an unqualified, "Yes."
Years ago, a very dear friend of mine had a very good-paying job at a major corporation. He found out that the company was engaged in fraud involving government contracts and it went all the way up to the vice-president, who had always been a mentor to him. When he confronted his boss about it, he was told to keep his mouth shut. Faced with a dilemma between going along with what he knew were unethical and illegal activities and losing a very good-paying job, he took off his company badge, threw it at the vice-president and walked out.
A week later, he had a better job.
That last line is key. For someone who knows he can find another job within the week, it is not such a soul-searching dilemma to challenge unethical behavior.
"What if I expose the number of people using using tribal property for their own benefit, charging for time they never worked and hiring their relatives who never come to work either?"
Well, what if? If you are one of those people who is excellent at their job, who is responsible and reliable, it means that you will be working at a different job next week. That may be uncomfortable or inconvenient but it is certainly not the end of your life as you know it.
On the other hand, what if you really don't know how to do that high-paying job? What if you were appointed because you were related to someone who no longer holds office, and you are just being tolerated in that job because people don't want to rock the boat? What if you pretended to have experience or skills you did not really have, as a counselor, a manager or a grant writer? You really would not want to rock the boat because if you lost that job your chances of getting another like it are not good.
You need courage to be ethical because otherwise you will only be ethical when there is no risk. As Aristotle said, Courage is the virtue upon which all others are based.
When we were writing our on-line ethics course and discussing Marianne Jennings' Seven Signs of Moral and Ethical Collapse, one of those I thought did not apply was 'Young 'uns and a larger than life CEO. Now that I think more about it, I am not so sure.
Yes, we don't see so many very young managers on the reservation and I don't see a lot of larger-than-life CEOs like the heads of Enron, although there have been some. However, what there is in common is people who get into jobs over their heads and don't speak up because they are afraid of 'being found out' or afraid that they will lose their jobs and not be able to get another one like it. So, they go along and our atmosphere of fear and silence grows.
The next time you ask,
"So what if Ernie's brother really isn't the best person for the job. All right, let's be honest, he can't even SPELL the name of this department, but Ernie is an important person to us, and really, what is the harm?"
According to the responses on our Ethical Questions forum, there can be lots of harm and an increasing likelihood of unethical behavior is just a start.
In my experience, the answer is an unqualified, "Yes."
Years ago, a very dear friend of mine had a very good-paying job at a major corporation. He found out that the company was engaged in fraud involving government contracts and it went all the way up to the vice-president, who had always been a mentor to him. When he confronted his boss about it, he was told to keep his mouth shut. Faced with a dilemma between going along with what he knew were unethical and illegal activities and losing a very good-paying job, he took off his company badge, threw it at the vice-president and walked out.
A week later, he had a better job.
That last line is key. For someone who knows he can find another job within the week, it is not such a soul-searching dilemma to challenge unethical behavior.
"What if I expose the number of people using using tribal property for their own benefit, charging for time they never worked and hiring their relatives who never come to work either?"
Well, what if? If you are one of those people who is excellent at their job, who is responsible and reliable, it means that you will be working at a different job next week. That may be uncomfortable or inconvenient but it is certainly not the end of your life as you know it.
On the other hand, what if you really don't know how to do that high-paying job? What if you were appointed because you were related to someone who no longer holds office, and you are just being tolerated in that job because people don't want to rock the boat? What if you pretended to have experience or skills you did not really have, as a counselor, a manager or a grant writer? You really would not want to rock the boat because if you lost that job your chances of getting another like it are not good.
You need courage to be ethical because otherwise you will only be ethical when there is no risk. As Aristotle said, Courage is the virtue upon which all others are based.
When we were writing our on-line ethics course and discussing Marianne Jennings' Seven Signs of Moral and Ethical Collapse, one of those I thought did not apply was 'Young 'uns and a larger than life CEO. Now that I think more about it, I am not so sure.
Yes, we don't see so many very young managers on the reservation and I don't see a lot of larger-than-life CEOs like the heads of Enron, although there have been some. However, what there is in common is people who get into jobs over their heads and don't speak up because they are afraid of 'being found out' or afraid that they will lose their jobs and not be able to get another one like it. So, they go along and our atmosphere of fear and silence grows.
The next time you ask,
"So what if Ernie's brother really isn't the best person for the job. All right, let's be honest, he can't even SPELL the name of this department, but Ernie is an important person to us, and really, what is the harm?"
According to the responses on our Ethical Questions forum, there can be lots of harm and an increasing likelihood of unethical behavior is just a start.
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