The recent decision by FIFA’s executive committee to abandon its investigation into unethical – and perhaps corrupt – behaviour by some of its leaders following the resignation of Vice-President, Jack Warner, is a classic example of how out-of-step this organisation is with society’s expectations of leadership accountabilities. The attempt to shut down the debate by [...]
Why it is time to legislate business ethics and how Australia can capitalize on the latest research to restore confidence in business leaders. The Australian Federal Government creates a facilitating legislative environment to encourage organisational leaders to actively manage the ethical dimension of business. Organisational leaders have the power to nurture a culture where the [...]
The upside of the flood levy “Drove my Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry”. These immortal words live more in the lexicon of 1970s middle America and in the songs of troubadour Don McLean than they do in modern-day Australia, but ‘levy’ is a term we have come to understand in the [...]
In 2009, the US based Ethics Resource Center (ERC) and Hay Group published a research study that looked at the link between a company’s ethics management system and its impact on employee engagement. Their research found considerable evidence to show that a leadership commitment to managing the ethical dimension of business is good for business.
As the economic juggernaut that is the Chinese economy rolls on through the old world, one of the questions asked is, where does ethics sit in this most managed-of-managed economies? To find out how things might have changed in the last 5 years, we recently attended a global conference on ethics in Beijing. The conference [...]
“This is your captain speaking. Welcome aboard this flight bound for Utopia. As soon as the last passengers are on board we’ll get under way. Flying time is approximately 12 hours and we’re expecting smooth conditions but we do ask that when seated you keep your seat belts fastened as your safety is our primary [...]
Some years ago while consulting to a large professional firm, I found myself interviewing a graduate recruit who had recently joined the firm … lets call her Angela. Angela bounced into my office, perfectly groomed, eyes shining, brimming with enthusiasm, and obviously delighted to have secured a position with a firm she felt proud to [...]
While the mainstream media debate is around Goldman Sachs, their Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) and the breaking or not of the law (they have just agreed to pay $500 million in damages) the issue that will/should impact Goldmans in the long term is the “tone at the top” of this Wall Street icon. Case histories [...]
The unplanned and ignominious departure of David Jones’ CEO Mark Mcinnes begs a number of questions, not only of his alleged conduct towards employees but also ‘who else knew’. The subsequent leaking of press reports and further allegations of misconduct cast a shadow over the whole organisation whose primary stakeholders are mostly women. It is [...]
First we had the AWB scandals and now the revelations about the Reserve Bank’s subsidiary, Securrency, and the ongoing saga of the BP cleanup in the Gulf of Mexico. One could be forgiven for thinking that we, society, the business community and the hundreds of thousands of professionals who work in, with and behind all [...]
