The Right Thing E-Book

Sally Bibb

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 218

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

Trust in business is at an all-time low, but more people than ever claim that working for an ethical company matters to them.  Something has to change.  But in a everyday working environment, ethics often seem abstract and hard to grasp. 

The Right Thing is here to help, as leading business consultant Sally Bibb gives you simple steps to make sure that you’re working ethically.  The book features:

• Simple explanations of big ethical ideas
• Case studies to bring ethics to life, and show how bad it can be when ethics go wrong
• Tips on everything from ethical leadership to creating an ethical culture
• Checklists – so you can make sure you’re doing the right thing

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Praise

Title Page

Copyright Page

Acknowledgements

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Introduction

CHAPTER 1 - Why Ethics Matter

WHY THIS BOOK NOW?

WHAT IS AN ETHICAL ISSUE?

WHY ARE ETHICAL ISSUES SUCH A CHALLENGE FOR PEOPLE TO DEAL WITH?

A REAL-LIFE ETHICAL ISSUE

DECISION-MAKING FRAMEWORK

CHAPTER 2 - Developing Ethics

CORPORATE SCANDALS AND DECLINE IN PUBLIC TRUST

THE GROWTH OF THE INTERNET

CHAPTER 3 - Understanding Ethics

WHY DO WE DO WHAT WE DO?

WHERE DO OUR PERSONAL ETHICS COME FROM?

WHY GOOD PEOPLE DO BAD THINGS

THE PHILOSOPHICAL DRIVERS OF OUR ETHICS

HOW DOES A KNOWLEDGE OF THE ETHICAL THEORIES HELP TO GUIDE DECISION MAKING?

CHAPTER 4 - The Ethical Leader

WHAT IS ETHICAL LEADERSHIP?

THE CORE PURPOSE OF BUSINESS: TO CREATE SHAREHOLDER VALUE OR TO SERVE THE ...

THE BENEFITS OF ETHICAL BUSINESS

THE POWER OF THE LEADER

WHAT DO ETITICAL LEADERS DO?

DEVELOPING ETHICAL LEADERS

CHAPTER 5 - Ethical Working Cultures

WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE?

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO HAVE AN ETHICAL CULTURE?

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF AN ETHICAL CULTURE

THE CHALLENGES OF CREATING AN ETHICAL CULTURE

CHAPTER 6 - The Future of Ethics

KEY CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE COMING DECADES

Appendix: Summary of Ethics in the Workplace Survey 2010

NOTES

FURTHER READING

INDEX

Further praise forThe Right Thing

“A useful roadmap for developing a more ethical culture, The Right Thing is a must-read for anyone from the business school to the board room.”

David Cox, SVP and CFO, Economist Group, Americas

“I strongly recommend this book to anyone who thinks ethics matters in business. And for those who don’t yet think so, beware; the evidence is growing that people prefer to work for and do business with ethical companies.”

Paul Moore, HBOS Whistleblower and Senior Partner at Moore, Carter & Associates

“In these times understanding ethics has never been more important. The Right Thing explores the practical realities of ethical behavior; its driving forces and implications.”

John Harris, former CEO, Calor

“A hearts and minds, root and branch perspective on ethical business.”

Katie Alcott, Founder, Frank Water

“If good leadership is the life blood of a successful organization, then great ethics is the heart beat. The Right Thing is a simple to read, approachable framework for the time poor, intelligent business leader to engage with the critical, ethical and moral questions and challenges of business.”

Daniel Snell, Founder, Arrival Education

“If long-term success is your business goal, you can’t afford not to do the right thing. Sally Bibb provides a fresh look at business ethics and what you can do to instil them in your organization’s culture.”

Daniel H. Pink, author ofA Whole New MindandDrive

This edition first published 2010

© 2010 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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ISBN 978-0-470-68853-3 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-470-97593-0 (ebk), ISBN 978-0-470-97527-5 (ebk), ISBN 978-0-470-97528-2 (ebk)

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Set in 11.5/17pt Jenson Pro by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Book writing is never an individual quest. Writing this one certainly wasn’t and there are a good number of people who contributed either directly or indirectly and who I would like to thank.

First and foremost are those from whom, over many years, the inspiration came to write about ethics. They are the people who have played a particularly strong part in fuelling my interest in and thinking on the subject of ethics: my parents, my grand-father, my friend Jon Cassell, my friend and mentor the late Gerard Fairtlough, my occasional mentor and associate John Harris, my former boss at The Economist Group David Laird, former colleague at BT Marine Rob Struzyna and, even though I never knew her personally, the inspiration of the late Mo Mowlam.

There are a number of people who have helped me with my research. Jan Abbey, Pam Hurley and everyone who gave me feedback on the development of the survey questions helped me to make it a great survey that has elicited useful and fascinating insight. Karen Otazo, Jane Zirlis, Liz Luya and Paul Barlow helped me to make sure that it reached the right people. And of course I am also very grateful to everyone around the world who completed the survey and who engaged in online and face-to-face conversations with me on the subject. My strengths do not run to data analysis and data presentation. Without Simon Walker and Jonathan Gulliver I would have lots of raw data and little useful insight - thank you, guys.

To a large extent it is true that the author is a book’s best marketer. But in reality it takes a team of people. Nick Mannion, Julia Bezzant, the designers and my digital marketing guru Jim Banting have all been fantastic and cheered up many a tough day’s writing with their emails containing cover drafts, new website designs and other exciting goodies.

My friend, writing mentor and fellow author Andy Maslen has as usual been a gem. In his ‘no-holds-barred’ way he has given me invaluable feedback and sound advice on the book proposal, manuscript, title and cover. Thanks, Andy - it’s always educational and fun!

I am grateful to Ellen Hallsworth, my editor at Wiley, who gave me the opportunity to write this book in the first place. Thank you, Ellen, for all of your support, patience and responsiveness.

When I am juggling writing and work I am very conscious that I don’t spend enough time with my precious family and friends. For their encouragement, interest and understanding I give special thanks to my mum and to my friends near and far. And to the wonderful Fi, thanks for all of your texts, your unfailing interest, wisdom and humour.

And last, but not least, thank you to my friend and partner Yannis for encouraging me to write the book and to keep going with it, for reviewing many early drafts and for general all-round unerring support andtolerance.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sally Bibb is a business consultant, writer and speaker. She is co-founder of talentsmoothie, an organization development consultancy. She is also the founder of Engaging Minds, an engagement and communications consultancy. Sally’s background is in international organizational change. Before setting up her businesses she was a director at The Economist Group.

Sally is the author of several successful business books, including A Question of Trust (with Jeremy Kourdi, 2007), Management F/Laws (with Russ Ackoff and Herb Addison, 2006), The Stone Age Company (2005), Trust Matters (2004 - winner of an MCA award) and The Rookies Guide to Generation Y (2009).

You can read more about Sally and workplace ethics at www.sallybibb.com.

INTRODUCTION

Ethics and trust are fundamental to excellent leadership and great organizations but they are often overlooked. They are invariably only treated as a priority when something goes wrong. Unethical practices in the workplace can cause irreparable damage to individuals and to the organization. Reputation, morale, productivity, loyalty, quality of work, the ability to attract the right employees and customers and ultimately profitability are all at risk in an organization that does not operate to high ethical standards. Despite these clear risks there is still not enough urgency placed on the subject. Compared to, say, the attention that executives give to the performance metrics of their organization, ethics is definitely a poor relation.