Thursday, October 30, 2008

Ethics in Business

Ethics in Business
by Philippa Foster Back

A business's approach to ethics depends on the tone set at the top by its chief executive and board of directors. By tone I mean the qualities and style that characterise the organisation's behaviour, from greeting you at the reception to honouring your invoices on time.

All of this feeds through to the tone that the company, through its employees, displays towards all its stakeholders and manifests itself in how it conducts its business. Does it always endeavour to do the right thing or does it routinely cut corners to secure that deal? There is a growing recognition that an ethically bankrupt business risks becoming a financially bankrupt one. Ethics matter.

At the start-up stage, a business's core values reflect those of the entrepreneurs who formed it. This includes the way that they interact and build relationships with other parties. As the business grows, these relationships will change. The relationship that is most affected is the one between the owners and the employees. At the outset, the owners will know everyone and the growth of the enterprise will be closely allied to the effectiveness of teamwork. As a company recruits more people, the closeness of its original team may start to diminish. New employees will bring with them different values, ideas and aspirations. These can be an important part of helping the organisation to develop, but such changes do need managing. In a small company where the directors know everyone, the tone is clear. But, as the enterprise grows – and certainly once it has got to a size where not everyone familiar is with each other – problems can manifest themselves if there's a lack of guidance on what's expected of people. This underlines the importance of leadership to guide growth.

Leadership is not only about the person at the top; it manifests itself at many levels – the team leader, the project manager, the regional director and so on. It's important that they also recognise the example they're setting. It's human nature to emulate one's leader, so, if employees see that their boss is brusque and bullying in his dealings with people, they might copy him in the belief that such behaviour is the way to advance in the organisation.

How can this risk be managed? The simple way to do it is to write a code of business ethics (business principles, statement of how we do business – call it what you will). People work best when they are provided with a non-prescriptive framework within which they can operate (see table). The code sets down how business is to be conducted. Implementation, of course, is still up to individuals, but they need to know that by following the code they will be supported. Organisations following best practice tend to make this support explicit – for example, by stating: "The company will ensure employee protection in cases where their conformance with the code jeopardises the reaching of financial or other targets."

When implementing a code of ethics, it's important that the company gives its employees the means to raise their concerns about any corporate behaviour that they believe does not conform with it. In the first instance they should be able to discuss any issue with their line managers, but if they feel they can't do this, an alternative mechanism must be available to them. Every call or email to such a "speak-up" service should be treated confidentially in all cases.

Putting in a code of ethics supports a business because it's an integral part of building a culture within the organisation. By following best practice and developing a code based on shared core values in consultation with employees, it can become the glue that cements the company together.

In the main, business leaders recognise that operating ethically is the right thing to do. They also understand that it's not always easy to achieve. It only takes one individual not to behave in the way the company would expect for a customer to be lost – potentially a real cost. So there is a defensive business case to be made along with the sustainable business case, which states that ethical companies tend to be better managed, have better employment relations and achieve better financial performance in the long run!

Having a code is widely accepted as normal business practice, but it is the embedding process, led from the top, that will make the difference. A code of ethics will be effective only if there are training programmes implemented in parallel and a mechanism established for employees to raise their concerns. After all, it's hard to manage what you aren't willing to talk about.

A nine-step programme for developing corporate ethics
  1. Find a champion. Unless a member of the board is prepared to drive the introduction of a business ethics policy, it's unlikely that it will be a useful tool.

  2. Identify core vales. Ensure that your company has established core values. If it hasn't yet done so, identifying them must be the next step.

  3. Secure endorsement from the board. Values and ethics are matters of corporate governance. The board must be enthusiastic not only about having such a policy but also about receiving regular reports on its operation.

  4. Find out what bothers people. Merely endorsing a standard code or copying that of another company will not suffice. It's important to find out the issues on which employees require guidance.

  5. Pick a well-tested model. Use a framework that addresses issues as they affect different constituents of the company (a "stakeholder model"). The usual ones are: shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers and the local/national community.

  6. Produce a code of business ethics. This should be distributed in booklet form or included in a staff manual or on the company's intranet.

  7. Try it out first. The code needs testing, perhaps with a sample of employees drawn from all levels and locations.

  8. Issue the code and make it known. Publish and send the code to all employees, suppliers and others. State publicly that there's a code and an implementation programme that covers the whole company.

  9. Make it work. The policy needs to be endorsed and launched by the chief executive and distributed to all levels and locations. Practical examples of the code in action should then be introduced into all internal and external training programmes, including induction courses. A review mechanism should be established and a code "master" needs to be appointed.
Source: Simon Wesley, Developing a Code of Business Ethics, Institute of Business Ethics, 2003.

SANTAI


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Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Thursday, October 23, 2008

ALIFF dan ATHIRAH BERAYA


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ANAKKU


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ALIFF


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kelab sukan


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Anakku


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BERMAAF-MAAFAN DI PAGI RAYA 2008


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What is effective communication?


Most of the time, we hear about communicating more effectively with the people around us. But what exactly is effective communication? We asked Louise Clark, a career and interview coach, about it and here is the first of Louise's two-part story as she warms up to the task and shares with us on the need to communicate effectively.

On average, about 70% of our time is spent communicating, whether it is verbal, non-verbal or through listening, reading or writing.

In basic terms, communication is the transmitting of an idea or an opinion from one person or group to another person or group; an exchange of ideas. Effective communication is required to ensure the message is delivered, received, interpreted and acted upon in the way it was intended.

Whoever you are – an office junior, CEO or stay at home dad – effective communication is key to achieving both your personal and professional goals.

There are two main elements to Effective Communication, assertive speaking and active listening.

Assertive speaking - To project yourself (verbally and non-verbally) in a direct, confident and relaxed way in order to be able to deliver your message, image or idea in the way that you meant it to be heard, whilst at the same time encouraging the audience to do the same.

Active listening - Utilizing empathy and respect to listen to both the content (verbal) and the emotional (non-verbal) elements of the message, idea or image being delivered in order to hear the message as it was meant to be heard.

Effective communication requires more than just words. It needs positive, direct and confident body language, facial expressions, pace and tone of your voice to all add weight to what you want to say.

Professor Mehrabian of the University of California looked at how face-to-face communication is received by any listener. The research discovered effective communication is based around three main areas, with the content or words used only accounting for 7% of the whole message.

Impact of communication
Communication





Achieving Effective Communication
At school we are taught to read, write and speak appropriately. I am sure we can all remember a teacher telling us to 'be quiet' or the ever popular 'shut up and (listen)'. But with the lack of formal training to listen, coupled with stress, deadlines and tension at work, it is not surprising that we can go through our work and home life without properly listening.

We are often caught in a tug-of-war scenario where more than one person is trying to speak at the same time, struggling for control of the conversation resulting in no one receiving the right message. Tension is created, the conversation takes an adversarial tone and ineffective communication takes over. Effective communicators are aiming to achieve a 'see-saw' style interaction, where one person is the speaker and the other person is listener. This usually switches between the people involved as they aim to achieve the same goal - mutual understanding and collaborative working.

Sunday, October 5, 2008