What is your Ethical Quotient at the Union: Are you Engaging in Best Practices ? NYS AFL-CIO Cornell ILR Union Leadership Institute Thursday January 24th, 2008 Facilitator-Arthur T. Matthews

The Ethical Rules of Engagement 1.The Intrapersonal nature of Ethics: What is your Ethical Quotient ? 2.Ethics in the House of Labor 3.Determining your Union’s Ethical Barometer: What role should you play ? 4.Spearheading a Benchmarked Ethical Process

Is there a Ethical Dilemma at your Union that is Impacting You?

Is Ethics Scalable? Wisdom Judgment Knowledge Information

Did You Know? Ethical behavior is values driven. What is considered ethical can vary across cultures and moral reasoning approaches. People have a tendency to rationalize unethical behavior One of the most significant ethical conundrums is when organization culture conflicts with a individual’s personal ethics

Wall Street Journal 36% of workers calling in sick are lying 35% keep quiet about co-worker misconduct 12% of job resumes contain falsehoods

Author David Callahan wrote a book titled “The Cheating Culture” Tax Fraud is a $345 Billion dollar price tag annually Employee theft costs $600 Billion dollars per year ( 6% of the GNP) Unnecessary car repairs cost $40 Billion per year There are two sets of moral compass

Callahan’s Top Reasons for Cheating The top 1% of Americans earn more than 100 million Americans Ordinary people are subjected to extraordinary temptation Break the rules because the rules are unfair Fear of failure Nobody’s looking

Do you Influence with High Ethical Standards? I Invest in Others N Nurture People F Faith in People L Listening to People U Understand People E Encouragement for People N Navigate for People C Connect with People E Empower People

Find Someone Who Is aware of who said “excellence is doing a common thing in a uncommon way”? Knows how many members serve on the New York State Ethics Commission? Knows how many counties are in New York State? Can tell you the definition of malfeasance? Can tell you another name for the Landrum Griffin Act? Realizes the name of a Whistleblower law?

The Intrapersonal nature of Ethics: What is your Ethical Quotient ? Determining what you consider to be right vs wrong Understanding your Ethical Triggers Conducting a SWOT Analysis Spearheading a Individual Action Plan

Intrapersonal Ethical Checklist Recognize the Ethical Dilemma Get the facts Identify your options Is it legal? Is it right? Is it beneficial?

Spotlight Questions? * How would I feel if my family found out about my decision? How would I feel if the local newspaper printed my decision? * Adopted from Susan Alevas Cornell ILR Adjunct and author of an article titled the “Ethical Enabler”

Ethics in the House of Labor Minimizing Collateral Damage Egregious Behavior: How to address the hemorrhaging Spearheading a Tactical Response Team Launching a sustainable Ethics leadership process involving union stakeholders

Determining your Union’s Ethical Barometer: What role should you play ? Understanding your Ethical leadership style: Are you a transactional of transformational Leader ? Conducting a Ethical Needs Assessment: Tools for your toolbox Partnering with other senior stakeholders involved with managing the Ethics portfolio Protecting the brand and reputational capital of your union

Spearheading a Benchmarked Ethical Process Create a innovative process (eg:hotline) Develop a statement/policy/mission/vision that strongly addresses unethical behavior Create a interdisciplinary training process that will empower all union stakeholders Consistently evaluate, gauge and monitor the process

SWOT Analysis S trengths W eaknesses O pportunities T hreats

Individual Action Plan