Question: What is the best approach if integrity in the workplace is compromised? I am preparing material to teach integrity in the workplace and one of the questions I have in my brown bag discussion is how one should respond if he/she thinks integrity is compromised. I would like to emphasize that integrity in the workplace can also be as simple as not honoring a contract or agreement with an employee with a justification that management has had a change of mind and direction; or it can be a case of reporting incomplete data to the boss so you make a good impression. What is your suggestion?
Answer: Someone with personal integrity wouldn't shortcut answers so reporting incomplete data wouldn't be an issue. Not honoring contracts or not honoring agreements, again, are all PERSONAL integrity issues.
There is NO corporate integrity since all decisions and all actions are carried out by people, ultimately it comes down to one person's decision to do the wrong thing consciously. If you work with someone like that and it goes against your integrity, then you are consciously allowing that other person's lack of integrity to be stronger than what you believe.
And you can't say that you don't have a choice. You always have a choice to do the right thing - unless your courage is less than your integrity.
ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: If you don't have the courage to speak up when you see something wrong, if you refuse to act or voice your concerns because you're afraid then you are allowing someone else's beliefs to dictate what you do. It means you don't have integrity of your own. Allowing unfulfilled agreements to go on means that you don't really stand for anything. That means you can't play the integrity card. Your actions would dictate your lack of it.
If you're afraid to voice your concerns on honesty, fairness, truth and respect then you really need to find a new line of work - something where "integrity" won't be an issue.
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Showing posts with label integrity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label integrity. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Friday, August 07, 2009
The Entitlement Of Integrity
People want to fit in so badly in the workplace that they will give up their personal integrity in order to do so. Hanging out with the popular people, being liked and being just like everyone else seems the thing to do. There is a problem with that though, if all the people that you work with are doing things of questionable character, do you continue to try to fit in? Problems can range from simple communication issues to integrity issues. Anyone who gives up their personal integrity in the workplace in order to fit in really doesn't seem to stand for anything. I mean, how could you? If you are prepared to give up your personal integrity in order to be liked and in order to fit in then you really don't have anything that you stand for do you?
Ultimately, every single decision in the workplace comes down to one person. One person makes the final decision every single time. Even in a committee setting, a group of individual decisions set the direction for the committee. Perhaps at the committee level, giving up one's values in order to fit in is at its worst.
What's wrong with corporate America is the whole idea that you have to fit in in order to get ahead. You're supposed to be a team player. And in order to fit in you must have the same attitudes, opinions and beliefs as everyone else. Well, if you have the same attitudes, opinions and beliefs as everyone else then you're simply following aren't you? You aren't advancing your own career. You are simply moving wherever the pack moves. That's not getting ahead, that's simply keeping up.
Take a look at any riot event and you will see the mob mentality at work. This is exactly how committees operate. I am not saying that committees are destructive. I am simply pointing out that committees are all-inclusive and will not move forward without all of their members. It's a mob mentality. One person starts and the others follow.
Imagine this same mentality when faced with integrity issues on the job. One person's integrity becomes compromised and the others follow. Now you have a group of people who don't stand for anything. They believe in nothing. They only believe in getting ahead. And what do they do to get ahead? They give up their integrity.
Even whistle-blower policies can be questioned. Are people blowing the whistle on their bosses because it goes against the integrity of the whistle-blower? Or, is it an opportunity for the whistle-blower to get their 15 minutes of fame or to place themselves in a position for promotion? If the second answer, then there is no integrity involved. Bringing someone else down in order to raise your own stature is as wrong as the original crime. As the saying goes, two wrongs don't make a right.
ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: There is a dearth of integrity on the job these days. People take shortcuts. People have been raised to believe that they are special and that they can be whatever they want to be. Many in the workforce today have had everything simply handed to them. They have not earned it. There is a greater sense of entitlement than there is a sense of integrity. This raises one profound question that must be answered. If everyone is entitled, who pays? That question alone should challenge your personal integrity.
Ultimately, every single decision in the workplace comes down to one person. One person makes the final decision every single time. Even in a committee setting, a group of individual decisions set the direction for the committee. Perhaps at the committee level, giving up one's values in order to fit in is at its worst.
What's wrong with corporate America is the whole idea that you have to fit in in order to get ahead. You're supposed to be a team player. And in order to fit in you must have the same attitudes, opinions and beliefs as everyone else. Well, if you have the same attitudes, opinions and beliefs as everyone else then you're simply following aren't you? You aren't advancing your own career. You are simply moving wherever the pack moves. That's not getting ahead, that's simply keeping up.
Take a look at any riot event and you will see the mob mentality at work. This is exactly how committees operate. I am not saying that committees are destructive. I am simply pointing out that committees are all-inclusive and will not move forward without all of their members. It's a mob mentality. One person starts and the others follow.
Imagine this same mentality when faced with integrity issues on the job. One person's integrity becomes compromised and the others follow. Now you have a group of people who don't stand for anything. They believe in nothing. They only believe in getting ahead. And what do they do to get ahead? They give up their integrity.
Even whistle-blower policies can be questioned. Are people blowing the whistle on their bosses because it goes against the integrity of the whistle-blower? Or, is it an opportunity for the whistle-blower to get their 15 minutes of fame or to place themselves in a position for promotion? If the second answer, then there is no integrity involved. Bringing someone else down in order to raise your own stature is as wrong as the original crime. As the saying goes, two wrongs don't make a right.
ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: There is a dearth of integrity on the job these days. People take shortcuts. People have been raised to believe that they are special and that they can be whatever they want to be. Many in the workforce today have had everything simply handed to them. They have not earned it. There is a greater sense of entitlement than there is a sense of integrity. This raises one profound question that must be answered. If everyone is entitled, who pays? That question alone should challenge your personal integrity.
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