Category: Ethics

A Triumph Of Sports Ethics

With all of the fraud and corruption stories in the news, how about a feel-good story: J.P.  Hayes. Mr. Hayes disqualified himself from a PGA Tour qualifying event when he realized he had accidentally used an unapproved golf ball for two shots. Not two rounds; Not two holes; two shots.

By disqualifying himself he became ineligible to play full-time on the PGA Tour in 2009.

On his 12th hole of the first round at Deerwood Country Club, Hayes’ caddie reached into his golf bag, pulled out a ball and flipped it to Hayes, who missed the green with his tee shot. He then chipped on and marked his ball. It was then that Hayes realized the ball was not the same model Titleist with which he had started his round. That was in violation of the one-ball rule, which stipulates that a player must play the same model throughout a round. He called an official over and took the two shot penalty. With the two-stroke penalty, Hayes shot a 74. He came back with a 71 on Thursday and was in good shape to finish among the top 20 and advance to the final stage to earn exempt status on the PGA Tour for the following year.

After the second round, Hayes realized that the wrong ball he had played in the first round might not have been on the USGA’s approved list. It was a Titleist prototype he test a few weeks earlier. Hayes called an official, confirmed the problem and accepted the disqualification.

It is easy to be noble and upstanding when people are watching you. When nobody is watching and  you can get away with doing the wrong thing is when you find out what kind of person you are.

Mr. Hayes can sleep better at night knowing he did the right thing. You can’t buy that kind of sleep.

Don’t think that tournament sponsors didn’t notice this story. I would bet they would love to have story of integrity as part of their 2009 tournament. Maybe Hayes will end up getting more special invites to play in upcoming events than he would if he made Q school.

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Ethical Relativism

Ethical Relativism is a theory that morality is relative to the norms of one’s culture. The same action may be morally right in one society but may be morally wrong in another.

One of the arguments against ethical relativism is that universal moral standards can exist even if some moral beliefs vary among societies.

In the case of compliance, US laws are mandating high levels of business practices. The problem is often what to do in other societies. In Japan you have to think about what to do with the Yakuza, in Russia you need to worry about everyone. How do you operate a business with high ethical standards in these countries? Should you?

Building an Ethical Framework

Thomas R. Krause and Paul J. Voss put forth 10 questions to consider in encouraging an ethical corporate culture.

  1. What is the relationship between ethics and other performance metrics in the company?
  2. Have we, as required by the 2004 federal sentencing guidelines, offered ethics training for all of our employees? Does the training provide more than rote introduction of the company’s code of conduct?
  3. What is the relationship between exercising sound ethics and retaining great talent?
  4. Have we conducted a “risk assessment” to determine our exposure to major ethical damage? What is our potential Enron?
  5. How can we be proactive in the area of ethics, culture and corporate citizenship?
  6. What tone should executive leadership set regarding ethics, integrity and transparency?
  7. What does management need from the board of directors and senior leadership to enhance and buttress corporate ethics?
  8. Who is driving ethics and compliance in the company?
  9. Do we have consistency of message between and among the board, the CEO, the senior executive team and the associates in terms of ethics and culture?
  10. What roadblocks now discourage ethical conversations and the implementation of ethical practices, procedures and protocols?

Norfolk Developer Accused Of Ethics Breach

Michele Morgan Bolton of the Boston Globe reports that Jack Scott, president of Pine Creek Development Corp., was accused last week of violating state law by allegedly offering a free week at his Pennsylvania cabin to the chairman of the town’s Conservation Commission while he had an application before the board: Developer Accused of Ethics Breach.

According to the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission’s press release:

The Ethics Commission’s Enforcement Division, in an Order to Show Cause issued on November 18, 2008, alleges that Norfolk property developer Jack Scott violated sections 2(a) and 3(a) of G.L. c. 268A, the state’s conflict of interest law, by offering a free week at his Pennsylvania cabin to the chairman of the Norfolk Conservation Commission (“ConCom”) while Scott had an application pending before the ConCom.

A public hearing will be scheduled within 90 days.

According to the Order to Show Cause, in May 2006, Scott filed an application with the ConCom to build a single-family home on Applewood Road. On May 12, 2006, while his application was pending, Scott sent an e-mail to the ConCom chairman offering a week’s stay at his cabin. A week’s stay at the cabin cost an estimated $700. The OTSC alleges that, “Scott offered the weeklong cabin stay to the ConCom chair to facilitate and/or reward the ConCom chair for the ConCom’s approval” of his application. The ConCom chairman did not accept Scott’s offer.

Section 2(a) of G.L. c. 268A, the conflict of interest law, in relevant part, prohibits anyone from corruptly offering anything of value to a municipal employee with intent to influence any official act or act within his official responsibility. Section 3(a) prohibits anyone, otherwise than as provided by law for the proper discharge of official duty, from directly or indirectly offering anything of substantial value to any municipal employee for or because of any official act performed or to be performed by such an employee.

The Boston Globe story

Inflated Credentials

The Wall Street Journal had a story on inflated academic credentials: Inflated Credentials Surface in Executive Suite by Keith J. Winstein.

Kroll issues an annual report of its “hit ratio” that says about 20% of job seekers and rank-and-file employees undergoing background checks by their companies are found to have inflated their educational credentials.

Referring to this story, Chris MacDonald of The Business Ethics Blog, writes in Executives & Inflated Academic Credentials:

The details are not exactly eye-popping. A few execs said they completed degrees they only started, one said he got a Bachelor’s degree when all he really got is an Associate’s degree. But still. Their information was inaccurate, and that’s bad. It’s dishonest (though the WSJ acknowledges that some cases might best be chalked up to misunderstandings) and it sets a lousy example for people lower down the corporate ladder.

The Power of How presentation by Dov Seidman

LRN published the transcript of a presentation by Dov Seidman at the Center for Business Ethics at Bentley University: The Power of How: Achieving Enduring Success Through Ethics.

Basically, in a world in which nothing stays hidden, you have to act as if you have nothing to hide. But before you can act as though you have nothing to hide, in fact, you must have nothing to hide. There is an opportunity to literally out-behave your competition. You might not be able to answer a phone faster. You might not be able to create an anti-tampering device and market your bottled water on the basis of that device, because all the manufacturers of bottled water have that nailed down. But you can out-behave someone.