Ethics Management Myths: Learning from Them

Many ethical decisions are analyzed in reverse. Choosing what is right is often just an analysis of everything you know to be wrong. But when we're talking about trying to manage those ethics, to attempt the huge challenge of getting a large group of people to behave accordingly, what do we know to be wrong?

There are a lot of very long and involved ethics management plans that you can get from a consultant, but I like this one because it starts in reverse. There are a lot of top 10 lists and top 8 lists and checklists in this plan, but the author, Carter McNamara, starts with his ideas on what we know to be wrong - his 10 myths about business ethics:

1. Business ethics is more a matter of religion than management.
2. Our employees are ethical so we don't need attention to business ethics.
3. Business ethics is a discipline best led by philosophers, academics and theologians.
4. Business ethics is superfluous - it only asserts the obvious: "do good!"
5. Business ethics is a matter of the good guys preaching to the bad guys.
6. Business ethics is the new policeman on the block.
7. Ethics can't be managed.
8. Business ethics and social responsibility are the same thing.
9. Our organization is not in trouble with the law, so we're ethical.
10. Managing ethics in the workplace has little practical relevance.

Have an ethics myth you want to share? Want to comment on this list? Join the discussion in the comments section.