7 Questions

There are times when business ethics seems to be a matter of stating the obvious.

In a recent article in the South African business publication Business Day, Graham Willcock wrote “In order to understand what constitutes moral behaviour, morality needs to be understood as using reason to govern behaviour while giving equal weight to the interests of those affected by that behaviour.”

It isn’t easy for us to give “equal weight” to the interests of others. As a social species we understand the value of cooperation, but as a competitive species, we are vitally aware of the personal benefits to be gained from putting our own interests just a little bit ahead of those of anyone else.

To counter this tendency we create all sorts of elaborate codes and processes to act as checks and balances. The problem of course is that the more elaborate the system, the easier it is to circumvent. Or in case of ethics. the easier it is to convince ourselves that we’re not circumventing it at all.

The 7 Questions takes a minimalist approach to the question of ethics. There are no elaborate manuals, no paragraphs of qualifications. Just 7 Questions that ask us to ask ourselves if the action we’re taking gives “equal weight” to those who will be affected by it.

They’re tough questions. but they’re ethical ones.

Business consultant Bev Smallwood of Magnetic Workplaces, in an article titled Don’t Misinterpret the Golden Rule, points out that it takes more than putting ourselves in an employee’s situation to effectively motivate and retain staff.

Ms. Smallwood’s article uses the Golden Rule to make her point. In general, managers do make sincere efforts to consider the needs of the people who report to them. Too often though, we try to address those needs based on what we would expect if we were in the same situation.

Instead, suggests Smallwood, we should take the time to learn enough about each person that we can understand what truly motivates them. This avoids costly misunderstandings that lead to lost productivity and higher employee turnover.

After all, as the article concludes, “I may like ice cream, but when I go fishing I use worms, ’cause fish like worms.”