I have been a member of the Institute of Business Ethics (IBE) for two years and enjoyed the dialogue at the meetings immensely.
Invariably held under the gracious chairmanship of the IBE Director, Philippa Foster-Back under the Chatham House Rule, and underpinned by the excellent research unit led by Simon Webley, my own insights and views have been enriched.
It is also amazing what one unearths in the well stocked library. One find was a Papal encyclical with a fascinating critique of socialism tending to mould people into a state machine.
At heart, the thrust of IBE is to cultivate the practice of behaving with integrity, and a current preoccupation is to “embed” public corporate codes of ethics into actual operations.
My own niggle has been to probe an area that has largely been neglected. Whilst much is known about the formal processes and procedures in organisations, scant analysis has so far been directed on the conduct of informal (or social) networks that interweave most healthy organisations.
More research is needed in this key area, which IBE acknowledges. The value networks approach provides a convenient one stop shop for discovering what really goes on in organisations, and for modelling the interaction of both formal and informal activity. Further involvement (and this may need further facilitation to be most effective) can probe the roles people play and value of what they contribute as felt by others as well as identifying the associated costs and risks in doing so.
One of my favourite meetings was addressed by Dr Georgette Bennett, the Director of the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding. She described the challenges and opportunities arising from religious diversity in the workforce.
In answer to my question: “How does behaviour in an organisation contribute to its long term sustainability (i.e. support its growth and adaptation over time), Dr Bennett replied “Reciprocity is key, it goes straight to the bottom line!”
I’m sure that Chatham House won’t mind my sharing that!
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Comments
They cover the four broad aspects of:
Accountability
Transparency
Responsibility
Fairness
The value network perspective is a sound basis for progressing these and creating "intention teams" with niyya in mind.
It does this by helping participants in a group or workshop setting discover the whole context of their work together, and how interdependent everyone really is for their success as contributors, whatever their role.
On the subject of diversity, the diagram below was hurriedly sketched out during a meeting on diversity organise by Karren Brooks, in 2004 at the London Leadership Centre.
From this one can begin to identify some of the contributions (as deliverables) that the players in the pupil, school, parent, government drama played out every day. I wonder what other stakeholders and contributors could usefully be added. We should also be clear about what we mean by having a "diversity agenda" in terms of "deliverables"and reciprocal benefits. An unceasing list of "demands" based on "rights", however justified morally is unlikely to be received too sympathetically.
On the other hand, from a position of "reciprocity", the motivation and energy for change will be enhanced.
Value network methods have a valuable role to play in helping participants discover where they are today, where they wish to progress towards, and in providing links to complementary tool to achieve success. Neither is this rocket science. There are some excellent adaptations to be found in use today in developing nations with strong tribal cultures.