Embedding Values throughout the Organisation is Crucial for Ethics in the Workplace
A recent workplace values survey of 65 workplaces across Australia conducted by En Masse found that 28% of respondents found workplace accountability lacking.
En Masse surveyed organisations across both private and public sectors, employing a total estimate of more than 200,000 people. We found that although accountability was a value highly espoused by most respondents it was also the value that most thought needed further work.
What happens where there is a lack of accountability? Non-performers thrive while the diligent staff pick up the slack. Stress levels rise, communication drops and territorialism can become rampant. This all spells a reduction in general wellbeing and performance and an increase in legal and operational risks.
How does an organisation go about creating a culture of accountability, where everyone agrees to work together for the good of the organisation, and then take positive actions to enable? The culture of an organisation embraces accountability when all of its workers are self-motivated to contribute to the overall success of the company and when the values of the organisation are respected and enacted on a daily basis.
En Masse Managing Director and leading workplace ethics educator Mark Dean unpacks this further and discusses the importance of a thorough, well-constructed and maintained values program.
“What our survey uncovered is that the challenge for many organisations is how to make sure espoused values are part of the working culture – with employees knowing and understanding them, and also creating an internal employer brand.
“We generally found that in situations where accountability was lacking, a values program had been established but not followed up or maintained. Values were not successfully converted into better individual and organisational behaviours.
“In such situations the opportunity for effective and sustainable culture change is diminished and indeed the culture can often be left in a worse state than it was originally. In organisastions lacking accountability, we often see a deterioration of ethics, specifically in the employment relationship context. When accountability is lacking at the top level it will flow down. Employees are less likely to abide by the basic rules of engagement that are designed to not only improve productivity (which translates into more jobs and better pay and conditions).
“We also see an increased exposure to legal and reputational risk, which is particularly relevant with the impending harmonisation of the OH&S laws in January 2012. When workers (these include contractors and volunteers), even customers, are not held to account for enacting common values like respect, this can mean the workplace becomes physically and/or psychologically unsafe.”
To build a culture of accountability in the workplace, En Masse recommends the following:
- Define accountability in your organisation, not only what it means, but what it looks like to those in charge. Also define what accountability means and looks like to the customer or client.
- Recognise not only your power (if you are a manager or executive), but also the power your employees or those who report directly to you have. Identify and recognise what you and they have ownership in and what results are expected on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis.
- Be sure that your Values program is embedded in a real way within your organisation. This includes investing in training and make sure management is walking the talk and leading by example and that KPIs and performance management systems require people to check in regularly about their behaviours.
A culture of accountability, implemented and embodied by senior management, means that employees, managers and executives are held accountable for their actions, both through policy and their peers. It is clear that a successful values program sets the standard and says to everyone in the workplace that there is a shared responsibility for enacting the values.
