Business

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, ethics is defined as “1. the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation; 2a. a set of moral principles : a theory or system of moral values” (emphasis added) and ‘moral principles’ are defined as “the principles of right and wrong that are accepted by an individual or a social group” (TheFreeDictionary.com; emphasis added). Hence ethics can be paraphrased as a set of rules for good and bad (or right and wrong) behaviour valued by a person or a group of people.

When extending this to businesses, the following questions need to be answered. Firstly, who are the individuals or is the group of people that decide on the rules and that are ‘governed’ by them? The Institute of Business Ethics states that “Business ethics is relevant both to the conduct of individuals and to the conduct of the organisation as a whole. It applies to any and all aspects of business conduct, from boardroom strategies and how companies treat their employees and suppliers to sales techniques and accounting practices.” Although customers are not explicitly mentioned in this statement, their involvement is implied with the reference to “sales techniques”. The inclusion of customers is supported with another definition for business ethics, “Business ethics ensure that a certain basic level of trust exists between consumers and various forms of market participants with businesses.” (Investopedia). So the people who participate in defining the ‘rules of the game’ include the business’s employees, its customers and its suppliers.

The second, and perhaps the more tricky question to answer is what is defined as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ or ‘right’ and ‘wrong’? It is generally accepted the business ethics go beyond the legal requirements to which businesses must comply. Business ethics is about the discretionary decisions and actions. Referring back to one of the definitions for ethics, “a theory or system of moral values”, the right and wrong is defined by a set of values. Businesses need to define their corporate values, which clarify for all employees, and even external parties like customers and suppliers, what is ‘good’. It is important that when defining corporate values that businesses understand their customer’s values and even the values held by any participant in their market, even the competitors. If there is misalignment between the business’s corporate values and their actions, or if there is misalignment between their corporate values/actions and the values of external parties, then the business will probably be seen as ‘bad’ by those external parties.

So why is this concept of business ethics so important? Ethical businesses are trusted businesses. Unethical businesses are not trusted. A breach in business ethics means a breach in trust. Building trust takes intentional, sustained effort over a long time. Loosing that trust can happen very quickly and regaining it can be very difficult or even sometimes impossible. And ultimately, people don’t do business with others who they don’t trust.

One of the rules for creating content for blogs or podcasts is to avoid topics that put a time stamp on the content. This article however is going to break that rule this time. Ultimately the content of blogs and podcasts is shaped by and created for the times we are living in. Significant events like the global coronavirus pandemic infiltrate every facet of our lives.

Eleni Zaude Gabre-Madhin, the former Chief Executive Officer of the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange, is quoted as saying “Anywhere the struggle is great, the level of ingenuity and inventiveness is high”. Taking this statement at face value, it is quite likely that the current “level of ingenuity and inventiveness” globally is at the highest level it has possibly ever been.

Businesses have had to change a lot very quickly, simply to survive. Normal and long accepted ways of conducting business have died instantly without us having a choice in the matter. For example, when engaging with new clients, the norm would involve face-to-face meetings. Now online meetings are the only option for the majority of businesses. Businesses and individuals also have to now adopt options which previously were not deemed the best way to do business or were considered as only applicable for certain industries or types of business. For example, some businesses embraced flexible working hours and work-from-home employees before the crisis arrived. Now many businesses are forced to adopt this model.

This is where the “inventiveness and ingenuity” during “struggles” comes in. It is interesting that many businesses are considering keeping remote working in some form beyond this crisis. These businesses are making some of the temporary changes more permanent, like renegotiating office leases, renegotiating conditions of employment and implementing more permanent technology solutions to support this model.

Now this article is certainly not suggesting ‘one-size-fits-all’ for remote working. The nature of this model does not suit many businesses and industries. However, there are business owners who have gone this route because they didn’t have a choice but they have seen the possible benefits of extending the approach into the future. Remote working employees spend less time travelling to and from the workplace each day and therefore can spend more time with their loved ones, whilst still doing the work required of them. In some cases employees are even more productive. Businesses have made changes which come at an expense to accommodate remote working employees, but they are also seeing savings which in some cases exceed the new expenses. The overhead savings in office space is often greater than the addition expense of the technology solution which enables remote work. Travel allowances and claims reimbursed to employees for business travel is also reduced and can easily outweigh the cost of online meeting platforms.

It is early days in this global health and economic crisis and no-one really knows exactly what the future will look like. Perhaps the world will return back to its original state? There is a lot of evidence to suggest this will not be the case, and there is enough for us to consider the question:

Is the “Office Paradigm” Dying?

When people or companies are faced with “flicking-the-working-remotely-switch” for the first time, it often turns out that it is not always as easy as expected. There are obvious enablers to working remotely, but there are also other factors that also need to be considered.

The obvious physical enablers will include finding a space to work, that is comfortable and can accommodate everything needed to be productive. To mention a few things: a desk and chair, sufficient light, good ventilation and a good cup of coffee! Although working remotely may be done alone, it is not possible to work alone. Being able to communicate with customers and colleagues is essential. So having a telephone or mobile phone, a decent internet connection and possibly a scanner are necessary.

Often change to working remotely is not quick because some work is required before hitting the switch. Company’s processes need to incorporate any steps specifically related to working remotely, for example how to use and process electronic documents. These electronic documents should be made available to employees on an online platform and the employees should be trained on how to complete and process the forms digitally.

Work is also required before the remote working switch can be flicked on the systems used. The cloud or online platforms themselves must be acquired, configured and supported before the remote work switch can be flicked on. Also, every remote worker must have a user account on the required platforms, with the correctly configured access permissions.

Lastly, consider the company culture and the employees’ personality types when going remote. Companies where there is a hierarchical and autocratic culture, with a high degree of management control, will have more difficulty in moving to working remotely than a company with a culture of trust, collaboration and empowerment. Any predominant personality traits in the workforce will also influence the success of remote work. Introverts usually tend to adopt working alone more easily than extroverts, especially for longer periods of time. Gregarious natured employees will require more opportunities to use online meetings and telephone calls.

Much of what has been mentioned can be addressed quite easily if working remotely has to be implemented quickly. However the difficulties, and even possibly the success of working remotely, is dependent on how it is implemented and if there is enough in place when flicking the switch.

There is a business cliché that says “If you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it”. This statement has been around for some time and the concept of managing by measuring is widely accepted. The principle behind the statement is that success is possible if there is clarity to start with.

Performance management is typically associated with the statement “If you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it”. An entire business, a business process or function, or individual staff members can be more effectively managed if key performance indicators are tracked and compared to a performance target.

A slight variation of the statement talks to continuous improvement, “If you don’t measure it, you won’t know if it improves”. All too often businesses embark on improvement initiatives without measuring the performance before the change is implemented. If we don’t know what was happening before the change, how will we know if there was improvement after the change? It is also important that not only the outcome is measured, but also that the inputs (or levers, i.e. those things that will be changed) are identified and measured. Without knowing which change and how much of it affected the outcome, how do we know if there was real, controllable and repeatable improvement?

The principle can also be applied in staff training and development by stating “If you can’t explain it, you can’t teach it”. The induction of new staff is often done by existing staff that often have limited experience, understanding or ability themselves. This means the new staff can only have the same (or lower) ability as the existing staff. It is better for new staff to be inducted by using procedures which document best practices and clearly defined job descriptions.

Being intentional and by putting in some effort at the start of any endeavour will bring the necessary clarity. Getting clarity up-front certainly does not guarantee success. However without it, the chances of success are greatly reduced. So, unlock the door to success with the key of clarity.