HOW TO CREATE A CULTURE OF ETHICS & ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE WORKPLACE

 

What is accountability in the workplace?

Employee accountability in the workplace refers to taking ownership of one's own performance as well as the results of the company. When something goes wrong, they take full responsibility for it rather than assigning blame. Responsible staff members attempt to find answers rather than wasting time trying to appear good to others. The organisation prospers as a result.

What are workplace ethics?

Workplace ethics pertain to the moral principles and values that underpin an organisation's actions both internally and externally, as well as its culture. In addition, it describes how workers act in the workplace. Businesses can learn from ethical workplaces by seeing what behaviours are appropriate and inappropriate. This pertains to the way in which an organisation manages its operations, engages with its internal and external stakeholders, and handles its suppliers and consumers.

Ethics and accountability play significant roles in company culture. From employee satisfaction and productivity to maintaining a favourable reputation with customers and business partners, prioritising ethical decision-making and accountability has numerous benefits.Esther Han(2023)

By focusing on making ethical choices and being accountable, a company can experience advantages ranging from boosting contentment and efficiency to upholding a positive image among customers and associates.Despite its growing importance, creating a culture of accountability can be challenging. This is largely because organisational change can suffer from poor employee buy-in, an unclear vision, or inadequate understanding among managers.Robert Ford(2023)

How do you build ethics in the workplace?

Here are six simple ways in how to create and maintain an ethical workplace culture environment

1. Integrate core values into the day-to-day

Generating an ethical workplace culture is almost impossible without basic values. In addition to communicating what matters most to the organisation, core values inform prospects, clients, and staff about the direction the company is headed. Organisational culture is shaped by fundamental principles, which are developed internally to foster trust with staff members. Additionally, they give the workforce a sense of direction and clarity about what they should be aiming for each and every day.

Below are examples of core values that these companies have established to create and maintain an ethical workplace with employees and customers:

• Integrity: We are honest, open, ethical, and fair. People trust us to adhere to our word—Adidas

• Green: We strive to minimise our negative impact on the environment—Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream

• Genuine: We’re sincere, trustworthy and reliable—Adobe

2. It begins at the top

The work is done now that  have established  key values. Not exactly. Executives and managers need to live the company's fundamental principles and set an example for their teams to follow if they want to ensure that workers are inspired to do the same. Leaders need to be aware of how their actions are interpreted by their staff.

A manager's unethical behaviour will trickle down to the staff. Taking short cuts to accomplish objectives, misleading the CEO about measurements and figures, and using abusive language are just a few instances of how leaders can act unethically. When coworkers witness such actions, they will either regard the manager and the organisation untrustworthy, or they will find the behaviour distasteful and decide to emulate it.

3. Reinforce the message

As an HR leader, it is his  responsibility to keep people informed, even though it may take some time for executive influence to become apparent. Have disseminated the company's basic principles and ethics via email, the website, meetings for the entire organisation, and the onboarding of new employees. Even with all of that, sadly, employees still forget what the core values are, ethics breaches in the workplace increase, and many even ask the HR department, "Where can I find our core values?"

To be Carry on the discussion regarding how moral conduct is consistent with the company's basic principles. Spread the word about ethical behaviour in a number of ways. Some examples include internal company publications that showcase ethical behaviours, open door lunch and learn meetings to discuss potential ethics violations, and training and workshops that educate how to overcome ethical difficulties. Use role-playing to incorporate role-playing into  team meetings to illustrate ethical versus unethical professional behaviours and positive reinforcement versus negative consequences. Urge senior executives to discuss business values in their speeches. Posting your core principles and ethical rules throughout the office is a terrific method to further reinforce the message. When a worker inquires, "Where can I find our core values?" 

4. Create a safe, open space for communication

A safe, open workplace culture motivates ethical behavior. If ethics violations are happening, employees should feel safe to bring it up.It can be awkward for employees to discuss a potentially unethical matter because it is such a delicate topic. Workers may believe it is unworthy of discussion or that doing so will make a manager irate and unfriendly. Employers have an obligation to provide a free and open environment where workers can voice concerns about problems at work.

Workshops and training sessions are useful for laying out the guidelines for creating a "open-door policy." Organise a training to teach staff members how to handle moral conundrums at work and what HR can do to support them. Remind employees that HR is not to be feared.

5. Reward good behaviour

HR focuses most of its emphasis on bad behaviour because we want to try to address it. And what about excellent manners? Recognising and rewarding excellent conduct is another strategy for inspiring and influencing workers. Companies will benefit even if it may seem like a parenting tactic to praise and acknowledge good behaviour. offering an employee more time off for lunch on Friday afternoons, offering them regular positive comments, or extending their lunch break are some ways to recognise and reward ethical behaviour. Positive effects can be achieved with even a straightforward "Hey John, that was a great email you wrote to the VP of Product."

As leaders and HR professionals, notice and acknowledge good behaviour in employees so that the right employees are moving up the ladder and getting the promotions they deserve. When these employees get into leadership positions, they can continue to create an ethical workplace culture.

6. Partner with ethical vendors

Influence and motivation can originate from dealing with outside vendors as well as from within the organisation. The process of choosing a business, vendor, or individual to invest in or collaborate with primarily based on a person's or an organisation's values and beliefs is known as ethical investment. It is just as crucial to collaborate and cooperate with suppliers who share your company's ethics and values in the workplace as it is to have your leaders aligned with these principles.

1. Creating and sustaining types of an ethical workplace culture does not happen overnight; it takes time, effort, and patience. Using core values as the base of building your ideal workplace culture will propel good behavior and prevent any ethical violations that hurt your company. Hassina Obaidy(2019)

TAKE ACCOUNTABILITY

1. It can be challenging to accept responsibility, particularly at work. It is necessary, though, to maintain a morally sound and productive workplace and shield your company from unfavourable financial or legal consequences.

2. If you find it difficult to deal with corporate ethics, you might want to work on your leadership abilities. Enrolling in an online course on leadership, ethics, and corporate accountability is one approach to do this. You can create a framework for comprehending and fulfilling your obligations to clients, staff members, and investors by taking part in an interactive learning experience with real-world business situation

Conclusion

Building a culture of ethics and responsibility at work is crucial to encouraging employee trust, integrity, and output. Organisations can establish a culture where moral behaviour is not only required but also cherished and rewarded by implementing the above-described methods.

Leadership plays a crucial role in setting the tone for ethical conduct, and clear values, policies, and procedures provide the framework for guiding employee behaviour. Continuous education, open communication, and recognition of ethical behaviour further reinforce the importance of maintaining high standards of conduct.

Creating a culture of ethics and accountability is ultimately a continual process that calls for commitment, hard work, and growth. The work required to create such a culture is greatly outweighed by the advantages it offers, which include improved trust, employee happiness, and organisational success.

Reference  

Esther Han (2023) How to create a culture of ethics & accountability in the workplace(online)

available at https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/ethics-and-accountability-in-the-workplace

Robert Ford (2023) How To Create a Culture of Ethics & Accountability in The Workplace(online)

available at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-create-culture-ethics-accountability-workplace-robert-ford

Hassina Obaidy (2019) Ethical Workplace Culture :6 Simple Ways to Create and Maintain(online)

available at https://emtrain.com/blog/workplace-culture/ethical-workplace-culture/