A recent National Business
Ethics Survey (NBES) set out to learn what’s required for successful
ethical leadership, what leaders can do to set an ethical tone at the top and
how they can inspire employees to do the right thing. It explores the
relationship between management behaviours and employee conduct.
According to the Ethical
Leadership Survey: Executive Summary, one notable finding is that the most
significant factor in ethical leadership is employees’ perception of their
leaders’ personal character. Leaders
who demonstrate they are ethical people with strong character have a much greater impact on worker behaviour than
deliberate and visible efforts to promote ethics. Another finding is that the tone
at the top doesn’t just come from the C-suite. With regard to modeling good
behaviour, keeping promises or upholding company standards, direct supervisors
may matter just as much or more than CEOs and other senior executives.
Finally, ethical leadership is increasingly a
round-the-clock job. When it comes to ethics, everything a leader does sets a
tone. In a world where old distinctions between public and private are
increasingly blurred, leaders’ private behaviour can matter just as much as
what they do at work. When leaders practice 24-7 integrity, workers’ own
commitment to ethical conduct tends to be stronger. In matters of ethics,
leaders are always setting a tone.
The National Business Ethics Survey generates the benchmark
on ethical behaviour in corporations in the United States. The findings
represent the views of the American workforce in the private sector. Since
1994, the NBES and its supplemental reports have provided business leaders a
snapshot of trends in workplace ethics and an identification of the drivers
that improve ethical workforce behaviour. With every report, the Ethics
Resource Center (ERC) researchers analyze current and emerging issues, produce
new ideas and benchmarks that matter for the public trust, and identify the
strategies that business leaders can adopt to strengthen ethics cultures.
(Learn more about ethical
behaviour and its role in the exercise of professional judgment.)
