How to conduct ethical management of employees

A great man once said that a good system can make bad people become good, and a bad system can make good people unable to do things or even become bad. Similarly, a person who lacks a sense of morality will be less likely to do bad things if they are constrained by rules, regulations, or organizational culture; conversely, a person who has a strong sense of morality will be less likely to do bad things in an organization where unethical behavior is left unchecked. It can also go bad. It can be seen how important it is for managers to conduct ethical management of organizations. The author believes that ethical management should start from several aspects: (1) Hire people who comply with the organization's moral principles. Different people have different personal value systems and moral principles. When an organization recruits employees, it should use various selection methods (such as interviews, written tests, background checks, etc.) to eliminate people who do not meet ethical requirements. When many well-known companies recruit employees, they do not value their employees' abilities and knowledge the most, but first examine the applicants' moral character. They believe that people's abilities and knowledge can make up for it, but people's inner character is often extremely difficult to change. Although it is not easy to completely identify a person's moral character in a short recruitment process, and people with questionable moral principles are often hired, at least using moral standards as a criterion for hiring employees will help managers eliminate those who are immoral. Being shut out provides an opportunity. (2) Formulating and promulgating a formal code of ethics. Many domestic companies and industries have formulated their own codes of ethics. However, some of the moral principles are inconsistent with the norm and tend to be vulgar. The moral codes of many organizations have been turned into formulas such as "three-character songs" and "four-character songs", which are too short and make employees confused or misunderstood. Many "three-character songs" and "four-character songs" are still very long and can be used for show, but they are difficult to become a creed that employees abide by. A good code of ethics should be specific, clear, and short. Consider, for example, the McDonnell Douglas Employee Code of Ethics: “In order for honesty and ethics to be hallmarks of McDonnell Douglas, as members of the Company we must strive to: Be honest and trustworthy in all our dealings; To be truthful and accurate in everything we say and write; To reliably perform tasks and responsibilities assigned by the company; To use all company resources economically; To abide by the law in all our activities." "Integrity and ethics are sometimes important. It may cause us to lose some business opportunities, but we must firmly believe that we can get better results by doing the right thing than doing the wrong thing.” (3) It is not enough for managers to lead by example. Only good moral principles are enough. . Managers must first do what they ask employees to do themselves. Because they are role models for the organization. For example, if a senior manager uses the company phone to make personal long distance calls, gives preferential treatment to his friends, and does not save on travel expenses, it is tantamount to declaring to all employees that these behaviors are not unacceptable. The sage said: If one's body is upright, he will not do what he is told; if his body is not upright, he will not do what he is told. Ethical principles will be ineffective if managers themselves do not practice them. (4) Punishing those who violate the code of ethics If a code of ethics is merely promulgated and it is up to employees to comply or not, then there is no such code of ethics. For a code of ethics to be effective, managers must reward employees who abide by it and punish those who violate it. Compliance with ethical standards must be measured and integrated into the compensation system. When punishing employees for wrongdoing, managers should not only target the wrongdoer and the person involved, but also make the facts public and let people know: If you do something unethical, you will pay the price. In addition, when appraising employees' performance, we cannot only focus on results without examining the means used by employees to achieve results. When only outcomes are examined, the ends justify the means. If managers want their employees to adhere to ethical principles, they must include this aspect in their performance reviews. If an employee who achieved significant results through unfair means is promoted, it is tantamount to demonstrating that unethical methods are desirable. Evaluating results alone encourages unscrupulousness, which puts managers in a paradoxical position. Employees who use unfair means to achieve results should also be punished. (5) The work goals set for employees should be realistic. It is self-evident that clear work goals can motivate employees to work hard. However, if the goals set for employees are too high, ethical issues may arise. Under the pressure of unrealistic goals, even ethical employees tend to abandon their moral compass and adopt a "the end justifies the means" attitude.

(6) Start building an excellent organizational culture. What is organizational culture? Organizational culture refers to the unique value system of members in the organization. The impact of the content and power of organizational culture on employee behavior cannot be underestimated. If all members of an office believe that reading newspapers at work is right, then how dare an employee who objects to reading newspapers not read newspapers at work? Don't dare. Unless he wants to be denounced as "fake positive" by others and ostracized by them. If all members of an office believe that chatting should not occur at work, then those employees who love chatting will be embarrassed to chat anymore. This is the power of organizational culture. A good organizational culture will automatically tell employees what is right, what is wrong, and what they should do. An excellent organizational culture should encourage employees to be enterprising and innovative, and allow employees to argue freely and criticize openly. Employees in this culture will be aware of the existence of unethical behavior and openly challenge behavior they believe is incorrect. Author: Li Jian Source: "China Enterprise News"