With the number of reports of sexual harassment now a tidal wave, some very pointed questions are being asked: “How could this have happened for all these years? Not only how could this have happened, Why didn’t anyone say anything?…
Ethics
Is Your Culture the One You Want?
What’s the condition of your organization’s culture? Every organization has one. From a small business to a multi-national, it’s got a culture. From a team to a department to a division to a region to a country, it’s got a…
Wells Fargo Scandal: What Was HR’s Role?
For most of my long HR career in service industries, my colleagues and I believed our role to be an advocate for the employee. Those who spent their HR career in a collective bargaining environment may feel they advocate for…
When Does Your Company’s Recruiting Cross the Line?
The University of Louisville’s basketball program is under fire because of allegations by former recruits and players who claim that Louisville paid for strippers to entertain them on recruiting visits that included paid sex. From ESPN.com: Five former University of Louisville…
Ethical Sourcing: If It’s Good For Coffee, It’s Good For Talent, Too
I read in the newspaper yesterday morning that Starbucks has achieved an incredible milestone for the ethical sourcing of virtually all its coffee – 99 percent! This means that more than 400 million pounds of coffee served globally meets really…
How to Keep HR Off the Front Page of the Newspaper
Last week, the head of Human Resources for my city’s public school district resigned after it became public she exchanged text messages with a subordinate regarding other employees and their weight, age, and race. To add further insult, when asked…
5 Ways You’re Turning Your Employees Into Crooks
When it comes to your employees, the adage holds true that one bad apple can spoil the barrel. Even one dishonest employee can do enormous amounts of damage, and, if that employee is in a management position, he or she can…
The Ethics of Over-The-Top, On-the-Job CEO Rhetoric
CEOs are a fountain from which the culture and identity of an organization flows from the top down. However, they can sometimes get a little “fired up” when it comes to speaking about their competition in front of their employees….
What Happens When a Workplace Culture Is Built on Lies?
A friend and I were talking the other day about unethical business practices and why companies get away with them, even when the bad behavior is an open secret among staff, community partners, and Board members. Well, it’s really not…
The Price of Principles: What Do They Say About a Company’s Culture?
The New York Times published an article about yet another successful, high profile sports coach who has been caught lying about his credentials. Times writer Juliet Macur interviewed Manhattan College men’s basketball Coach Steve Masiello a few days prior to…
Keys to Employee Enthusiasm: It’s All About Principles and Purpose
By David Sirota and Douglas A. Klein “Make no small plans…for they have not the power to stir men’s blood.” — Niccolo Machiavelli, 1514 “The way I see it, leadership does not begin with power but rather with a compelling vision…
One Big New Year’s Resolution You Really Need to Make
We’ve officially kicked off the New Year, so happy 2014! With the New Year comes the tradition of resolutions, which we hear a lot about in these first few weeks of the year. I’ll be honest — I’m not so…
So, What Will YOU Do When Your Employee Lies to You?
Lying is one of those odd things in life — everyone lies to everyone, but no one likes to be lied to. This gets even weirder in the workplace, because it’s bad form to call someone out as a liar,…
Hiring Wisdom: Asking For Some Honest Interview Answers
According to the most recent report card on American Youth issued by The Josephson Institute of Ethics, the Institute found the number of students who said they had cheated on an exam in the past year dropped from 59 percent in…
Horrified by Something in Your Culture? Better Look in the Mirror
We see media coverage nearly every day about horrific behavior, a rogue employee or deeper criticisms about the culture of an organization. This week is no different as we prepare for college basketball’s Final Four. Rutgers University fired their basketball coach…
Lance Armstrong & Manti Te’o: When We Let Image Hide the Facts
Sometimes we want to believe the story so much that the facts simply get in the way. It’s easy with celebrities or athletes because they star in the fairy tales that we accept as truth. But, it can happen at…
Why in Business and in Life, It’s Important to Play by the Rules
This isn’t just another one of the thousands of articles, blogs, and stories sharing personal feelings of betrayal in light of Lance Armstrong’s recent confession to Oprah Winfrey. There’s already been so much public outrage that anything I add about…
Leadership and Unethical Behavior: How Does It Impact the Organization?
So by now we’ve all heard about the scandal with retired general and former head of the CIA, Gen. David Petraeus. Some of my European colleagues have noted that we can be a bit uptight in the U.S. when it…
Civility in the Workplace: Can We Remember the Lessons from 9/11?
There is an old saying in engineering: “Don’t fix the blame, fix the problem.” It’s also good advice in every other walk of life; whether you’re leading an engineering team, a management team or a project team. I was recently…
Top 11 Litigation Tips to Help You Manage Risk in Your Workplace
According to our most recent Employment Law Thermometer, the absolute No. 1 workplace legal issue at the moment is how to prevent and manage litigation. That’s not surprising. EEOC claims are at an all-time high. Class actions continue to rise….