I cannot believe I have to explain this to people ....
A part of the new class in Introduction to Ethics discusses the Seven Signs of Moral and Ethical Meltdown, a book and related articles by Marianne Jennings. In it, she points out that much of what we see in the way of ethical violations in organizations does not take a special class on ethics to figure out. She gives Enron as an example and asks, really did anyone say,
Or
Or
As Erich discusses in the course on Introduction to Ethics on Indian Reservations, it isn't that tribal employees and board members are not aware that these behaviors are wrong. There are several reasons unethical behavior occurs.
Erich (Dr. Longie) sees the world in a lot more complex way than I do, which may be a good thing sometimes and other days not so good.
Me, I see it like this:
Lying is bad.
If you have to lie to cover up a situation, that is a sure sign that you are doing something unethical.
When you find yourself repeatedly having to lie to cover up for a person, get away from them. There is no happy ending to such stories unless it is "... And then I got the hell out of there and never had anything to do with those people again."
If I hear one more sanctimonious explanation that someone was just looking out for the children, whether that is a school, basketball team or the speaker's own family, I am going to be really tempted to dump an Indian taco upside down on someone's head. What children really need is adults in their lives who keep their word, who have the courage to make difficult choices and who can be trusted to do the right thing even when it is not easy and popular. Just once, I would like to have someone say to me,
Shameless promotion - if you are interested in the Introduction to Reservation Ethics course, it is available free to members of the Tribal Leaders Institute. For a LIMITED TIME, Tribal Leaders Institute membership is free. This is only an annual membership. Click here to join.
A part of the new class in Introduction to Ethics discusses the Seven Signs of Moral and Ethical Meltdown, a book and related articles by Marianne Jennings. In it, she points out that much of what we see in the way of ethical violations in organizations does not take a special class on ethics to figure out. She gives Enron as an example and asks, really did anyone say,
"The executive director of a non-profit hired his mistress who had no work experience at a salary of $100,000 a year. When donors and the agency that gave us grants found out about it, they were upset. Gee, I never would have seen that coming."
Or
"What, you mean it was illegal for the president to use company funds to buy thousands of dollars of furniture for his apartment? I never would have guessed that."
Or
"To have the accounting company that was supposed to audit us shred thousands of pages of documents that proved we lied about corporate profits was against rules of the IRS and Securities and Exchange Commission? Really? Who could possibly have known that was wrong? Maybe I should have taken that MBA course on ethics."
As Erich discusses in the course on Introduction to Ethics on Indian Reservations, it isn't that tribal employees and board members are not aware that these behaviors are wrong. There are several reasons unethical behavior occurs.
- People have an almost infinite capacity for justifying their actions. "I need to support my family and speaking up would make me lose my job." "Yes, I did not vote against that motion, even though it was wrong but those people can give a lot of money to our school. I was thinking about the children."
- Lack of courage. They flat out are afraid to take a stand.
- Moral dilemmas. Yes, there are rules against nepotism for good reason, but reservations are small communities. What if your sister really is the most qualified candidate? Do you not hire the most qualified person or do you ignore the regulation against hiring a relative, which is there for a very good reason.
Erich (Dr. Longie) sees the world in a lot more complex way than I do, which may be a good thing sometimes and other days not so good.
Me, I see it like this:Lying is bad.
If you have to lie to cover up a situation, that is a sure sign that you are doing something unethical.
When you find yourself repeatedly having to lie to cover up for a person, get away from them. There is no happy ending to such stories unless it is "... And then I got the hell out of there and never had anything to do with those people again."
If I hear one more sanctimonious explanation that someone was just looking out for the children, whether that is a school, basketball team or the speaker's own family, I am going to be really tempted to dump an Indian taco upside down on someone's head. What children really need is adults in their lives who keep their word, who have the courage to make difficult choices and who can be trusted to do the right thing even when it is not easy and popular. Just once, I would like to have someone say to me,
"My word isn't worth a dead rat. Of course I voted for that board motion even though I told you I wouldn't and I agree with you that it is wrong. Hey, if I didn't, people would be mad at me. I was scared to stand up to my uncle who was on the other side. Besides, they voted to send all the board members to Hawaii at that meeting. I have never been to Hawaii and I really wanted an all expense paid vacation. So there."
Shameless promotion - if you are interested in the Introduction to Reservation Ethics course, it is available free to members of the Tribal Leaders Institute. For a LIMITED TIME, Tribal Leaders Institute membership is free. This is only an annual membership. Click here to join.
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