Partner news. Ethics in business: formalism or a tool for change
Visiting Marina Jashi Elena Vyshlova and Andrey Germanchuk, procurement experts and managing partners of V&G Procurement. Andrey is also the author of the article "Ethics in business: formalism or a tool for change?» (https://vgprocurement.ru/ru/blog_2_ru.html), in which he reflects on why it is so difficult to make ethical decisions, and what companies that adopt the code of ethics should be prepared for.
We all want everything to be good, but are we willing to make unpopular decisions, for example, to dismiss a professional employee, if we know that he has violated the ethical principles of the company?
We discussed the case of IKEA in Russia and it is very revealing from the point of view of ethical leadership when the company's founder Ingvar Kamprad was true to his principles, and has not allowed its top managers to break the code, even taking into account the factor that the managers are acting for the good of business, and not personal gain and desire to get the benefit.
Many people believe that ethics is more of a fashion trend, and many companies follow it without really delving into the philosophy. Hence the double standards. On the one hand, we declare that we share ethical principles, and on the other, sometimes we turn a blind eye to some not very pleasant things. To ethics worked, this should not be, should include the principle of "zero tolerance" approach to violations.
Is ethics profitable and why does business need it?
In the short term, perhaps not. If we are talking about one – day firms, on the contrary, ethics will be disastrous for them, since it contradicts their development strategy.
But if we are talking about companies that are set up for a long game and would like to leave their mark on history, then, of course, Yes.
This is also due to the fact that now the communication models of companies and clients are radically changing.
The important factor is the reputation component. Reputation is still very much undervalued asset in Russia, not all companies and their leaders understand its value and we should work on this.
Of course, the topic is very multifaceted and it may take years to change something radically, but the fact that we are now talking about it and trying to change something is already great, and the speed of change depends only on us.
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