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  Support for Dr John Jones - Walking the talk
15/04/2009 12:16:12

  Support for Dr John Jones - Walking the talk
15/04/2009 06:12:49

 
 



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Unethical Practice in Workplace

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Kiplin View Drop Down
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  Quote Kiplin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Unethical Practice in Workplace
    Posted: 13 July 2007 at 08:01

I consider johnjones and orange are both right on the mark with this issue. I expect that in the environment that johnjones is working in it has this strong ethical leadership and confidence to make available a confidential service as outlined. This will lead to a number of real live problems that will have to be addressed by the leadership with regards to legal, moral and ethical issues that may be disclosed. It is the openess and transparency of how these issues are dealt with that will dictate the sucess or otherwise of such a venture.

When we consider the news articles posted in the newsroom we have a long way to go but at least we have started the journey.

 

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  Quote Mr Orange Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 July 2007 at 17:44

What I think is crucial to creating an environment where employees' are comfortable in reporting unethical practice is having an organisation with a "healthy ethical climate". This must be driven, communicated and lived by the leadership who by example instill this environment. 

This of course is not easy to achieve particularly the bigger the organisation. I know of very good small police departments with good ethical leadership and whom have created this "healthy ethical climate" which have consequently reduced the number of ethical mishaps and public compalints. I would suggest that if any organisation had this environment then rather than report unethical practice to a supervisor etc it would be much easier to challenge the practice as it occurs and rectify the potential ethical time bomb before it has time to explode and create the inevitable "vortex" which affects and sucks in other people creating an even bigger problem.

Creating that environment for peer challenge is the way forward in my opinion.

 

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  Quote johnjones Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 April 2007 at 18:45
There is little doubt in my mind that it can be a very costly experience for members of a para-militaristic organization to report wrong-doing. I have spoken with many police officers about this state of affairs (my Ph.D. examined the effects of subcultural constraints on police and correctional officers) and it is a troubling one. One comment haunts me: John, how do I explain to my bank manager, let alone my wife and family, that we can't pay the mortgage because I did the right thing.

I am currently working with a large justice organization in Canada and we are putting in place several ethics assistance pilot programs. These will run for a year or so. One such pilot will be the provision of an around-the-clock assistance telephone line staffed by trained ethicists external to the organization. The purpose is not to report wrong-doing but simply to lend a friendly, non-judgemental ear to callers confronting very difficult ethical dilemmas. They will then be left, hopefully thinking more clearly about their situation, to make their own decision.
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  Quote Kiplin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 April 2007 at 06:22

my experience in investigating police corruption is that whilst people in the work place may see unethical practice they are reluctant to do anything about it as they feel they are breaking the 'Thin Blue Line' some sort of code that says they do not report other officers.

 In reality its self protection because they know if they report incidents of unethical behaviour they will be marginalised by others around them and not trusted.

If this is how a persons feels then we must question the environment in which they work.

Officers make mistakes and should be able to own up to mistakes without being overly defaulted by the establishment, this would encourage officers to be more open and prevent them falling into a spiral of unethical behaviour and procedure from which they can not escape and which can be manipulated by others.

 The officers need to have a confidential escape route?

Just an opinion ? What are other members views ?

 

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riverside View Drop Down
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  Quote riverside Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 April 2007 at 10:32

EiP asked the following question in the March Poll:

 

"Have you witnessed unethical practice occurring in your workplace?"

 

100% of participants stated they had  witnessed unethical practice occurring in the workplace.

 

If we now consider the February question:  

 

"Would you report the facts to a supervisor/manager if you witnessed a colleague engage in unethical practice?"

 

The subsequent result of this poll was 56% of respondents stated that they would not report the facts to a manager/supervisor if they witnessed a colleague engage in unethical practice and 44% responded stating that they would report the facts to a manager/supervisor if they witnessed a colleague engage in unethical practice .

 

We could therefore conclude that whilst 100% of participants recognise unethical behaviour, the environment within the workplace is such that participants do not feel able to report such behaviour to a manager/supervisor ?

 

EiP asks: "What is your opinion or experience on this conclusion?"

 

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