Organizational Communication: The “Trickle-Down” Effect of Management Behavior
Companies today recognize that having a Code of Ethics is
important in establishing a standard of conduct at work.
What is less commonly understood is the significance of the
"trickle-down" effect in implementing ethical behaviour
within an organization and the value of a strong internal
communication system to create a positive environment in
the workplace.
In truth, ethics is all about behaviour, and creating an
ethical workplace culture starts at the top. Owners and
leaders in the C-suite need to be just as accountable to
the code of ethics as any employee on the front line. The
trickle-down influence is significant to organizational
behaviour, just as a company's dedication to holding all of
its people, regardless of position, accountable for
upholding those ethics is essential to internal acceptance
of the set code. In the same manner that the level of
ethics evident in the C-suite affects management, the level
of ethical behaviour displayed by managers impacts their
teams.
In light of this reality of organizational communication,
today's managers would be well-served to remember these
five keys to ethical behaviour:
1. CARING ABOUT PEOPLE: A manager who truly cares is
willing to express feelings of compassion, affection and
kindness towards the team. Making this a part of the way
you lead builds a reservoir of trust for your team to draw
on when facing the inevitable ethical challenges that come
up. When you actively care about your team, you're more
likely to be listening to their concerns, paying close
attention to the challenges they face and being made aware
of issues before they become a problem. This can only
build a stronger team and a more profitable organization.
2. LEVERAGING EXPERIENCE: Every manager comes from a place
of experience that gives them unique insight into any given
situation. Using experience wisely means developing the
ability to take information from those circumstances and
translate it to something that benefits the company and its
people. Sometimes it's hard to control a ‘knee-jerk
reaction' that is based on your own personal plan or
motivations. An ethical manager is capable of recognizing
the difference between personal gain and organizational
gain. If the gain isn't in alignment with the
organization's best interests or the best interests of its
people at large, it's important to be able to say "no".
3. ALIGNING WITH COMPANY VISION: When you align with the
company vision, it becomes effortless to act in the best
interests of the organization. It's clear that the growth
and gain of the company is also the growth and gain of its
people. There are managers who are motivated primarily by
self-gain and finding the path of least resistance up the
corporate ladder. Such managers are usually perceived by
their own teams to be arrogant, untrustworthy and
unethical. Find a personal goal that is aligned with the
vision and mission of your company and watch how this
inspires your team to do the same.
4. BEING IN INTEGRITY: There are times and circumstances
when it takes an immense amount of courage to act ethically
and with integrity. An ethical manager needs to be able to
draw from integrity consistently – without putting concerns
of personal consequences ahead of the best interests of the
team. It's not easy to make hard decisions – especially if
you know they will be unpopular with team members –
however, these decisions must be made and need to be based
in justice after careful deliberation.
5. REMEMBERING THE GOLDEN RULE: People in an organization
develop a strong sense of loyalty when they feel they can
trust the company and its leaders to be fair. Favouritism
and inequitable management of resources or benefits will
inevitably destroy any manager's air of integrity. No one
wants to be treated as if they're less important than
someone else. And no one appreciates their innovative idea
being adopted without a nod of appreciation and recognition
for their efforts. When you give your team a sense that
they're receiving a fair return for their efforts they are
far more likely to have loyalty to the team, company
management and the organization as a whole.
Ethical behaviour within any organization begins at the
top. As surely as the behaviour from the C-suite affects
management, the behaviour of management affects the teams
they work with. Managers can positively impact the habit
of ethical behaviour by modeling it and recognizing their
influence on the standards and ethics upheld within their
teams. When managers model ethical behaviour, they
strengthen their relationships with individual team
members; build trust in the team as a unit and effect
growth of the company in its entirety.
The bottom line is that you have to be ethical to expect
ethical behaviour from others and aligning strong personal
values with consistent action in your own behaviour will go
a long way to inspiring that same philosophy in your team.
