Some people think it is part of my job to lie. I don't mean in my work with Spirit Lake Consulting, but as president of the United States Judo Association. I have been given arguments that "in the best interests of the organization", you can't tell someone that their appeal has not been heard because five of the board members are unhappy that their friend is not president so they are refusing to attend meetings or vote.All sorts of bad things could happen.
- People who very much deserved to be expelled, for example, who molested young children, could argue that shows the organization does not have due process, and so get away scot-free.
- Donors may consider us not a very functional organization, so not give as much money.
- People who feel obligated to those other board members could vote against us and we could lose the next election.
Now, I don't want child molesters to be roaming around refereeing tournaments and coaching children. I want there to be enough funds to support deserving players and coaches to attend camps for continuing education. I do want responsible, honest people elected to the board.
Guess what, though? If I don't respond to someone's request for information about their appeal because it might have one of those effects, am I a responsible person? If I mislead people about how effectively (or ineffectively) some board members are operating, am I an honest person?
In another job, I had completed analysis of data showing departmental performance. Then, there was a meeting about how we didn't want to make these data available to anyone. When I asked why, I was told that people might use the information against us. This didn't make any sense at all to me. Why would we create knowledge and then hide it? Even crazier was the fact that the departments' performance was very good. Apparently, the institution had an entire group whose job was to try to keep any information from getting out on the off-chance that someone, somewhere might misinterpret it in some way. In this case, I got paid and no one asked me to lie about the results, so I just went away shaking my head.
This whole experience reminded me of the article by Susan Cramm, "Don't use smart technologies to do dumb things". One example she gave in that article was a company that invested in noise-masking equipment to keep their employees from hearing executives' discussions about layoffs.
Are these individuals unethical also? To varying extents, yes. I think hiding information goes against the spirit of the principle of honesty. In the first case, I was going to say no harm came of it, but I think some did, for the individuals involved. I believe they lost the respect of others present, including me. When you hide information from your coworkers and subordinates, they begin to lose trust in you. Of course there are times when you must keep information in confidence, for example, you are a person in Human Resources and you know that Mary has been approved for leave because she is receiving inpatient treatment for alcohol addiction. Letting others know that information is a violation of her right to privacy.
In answering the question when is it right to hide information, I think a good question to ask is, "Are you inclined to lie or hide information because you are afraid of the consequences?"
In other words, are you being less than completely forthcoming due to a lack of courage? Are you afraid of the results if you tell the truth? Are you hiding information because you are afraid to face the consequences?
As Cramm said, it makes a lot more sense to face up to the problems causing layoffs rather than to hide information from your employees.
Is lack of courage a justification for lack of honesty?
I'd be lying if I said yes.
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