Cooperative Work Experience Education (CWEE) Fall 2010

Ethics Defined eth·ics –plural noun 1. ( used with a singular or plural verb ) a system of moral principles: the ethics of a culture. 2. the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture, etc.: medical ethics; Christian ethics. 3. moral principles, as of an individual: His ethics forbade betrayal of a confidence. 4. ( usually used with a singular verb ) that branch of philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions.

Did You Bring Your Ethics to Work With You Today?  Think you are a person of integrity and that you bring your highest standards of ethics to your workplace each day? You may reassess your thinking as we explore the topic of workplace ethics this semester.

Workplace Ethics  Despite hundreds of pages of policies, codes of ethics, codes of conduct, organizational values, carefully defined work environments, and company cultures, lapses in workplace ethics occur every day.  Lapses in workplace ethics result from inappropriate officer behavior such as insider stock trading, expense account fraud, sexual harassment, and involvement in conflicts of interest.

Workplace Ethics  Lapses in workplace ethics do not need to rise to that level to impact the workplace environment you provide for employees though.  Lapses in workplace ethics can occur because of simple issues such as toilet paper, copy machines, and lunch signup lists.

Lapses in Ethics In her article on Workplace Ethics, Susan Heathfield recalls the trouble companies have had. “In a nationally important workplace ethics case, Hewlett-Packard company's, successful CEO, Mark Hurd, (now former H-P CEO), became embroiled in workplace ethics issues. I have no insider knowledge, but the public statement from the company indicated that Mr. Hurd left because he violated the company’s expected standards of conduct.”

Lapses in Ethics Ms. Heathfield continues, “Cathie Lesjak, H- P's chief financial officer, who was appointed interim CEO until the company can find a permanent replacement for Mr. Hurd, asked employees “to remain ‘focused’ and said ‘Mark had failed to disclose a close personal relationship he had with the contractor that constituted a conflict of interest, failed to maintain accurate expense reports, and misused company assets.’”

Lapses in Ethics  While most of us don’t have as far to fall as Mr. Hurd, and unfortunately, he is not the first high profile executive to bite the dust over personal conduct in recent years, lapses in ethics occur in workplaces every day.  You can violate the spoken and unspoken, published and unpublished, code of conduct in your organization without a CEO title and without your actions rising to the level of conflict of interests and questionable expense accounting.

To Earn Credit.... Answer the following question to earn class credit for this presentation: Think about your workplace. What kind of ethical dilemmas have you witnessed? your answer to Please make sure you write in complete sentences. Please observe correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation. You must your answer by Friday, September 24 th.