WHAT KINDS OF ETHICAL DILEMMAS ARE EMPLOYEES LIKELY TO ENCOUNTER?

In addition to common ethical dilemmas faced by employees everywhere, organizations

need to identify the kinds of issues and dilemmas that might be unique to their particular industry. For example, a chemical company needs to pay special attention to environmental and safety dilemmas. A financial firm should pay extremely close attention

to fiduciary, confidentiality, and conflict-of-interest issues. A manufacturing company may have to look at the ethical issues involved in worker safety, product quality, product liability, and labor relations. Along with identifying issues specific to their industry, companies need to examine the various jobs within their organization to uncover what specific professional dilemmas their communication program will have to address. For example, an internal auditor faces one set of dilemmas, whereas a manufacturing supervisor faces an entirely different set. Once these dilemmas are identified, an organization can develop a program that’s useful for employees—one that shows them how to deal with their own most common dilemmas.

WHAT DON’T EMPLOYEES KNOW Is the company hiring numerous midcareer hires who may come from other industries with different standards of conduct? Does the company regularly hire large numbers of recent college or business school graduates who may have little knowledge of business standards, much less specific corporate policy or industry standards? The communication program needs to target the specific needs of these different groups.

HOW ARE POLICIES CURRENTLY COMMUNICATED?   How is policy communicated now? Does the policy manual weigh in at 40 pounds, or is it online and easy to search? When a manager has a policy question, what does he or she do—look it up in the manual, ask human resources, ask a colleague, search online resources, or guess? Is corporate policy ever discussed in orientation or training programs? No one is ever going to memorize a policy manual. Therefore, an ethics communication program needs to take a ‘‘snapshot’’ of key policies and concentrate on communicating them. Organizations also need to send a clear message that employees need to know when to ask questions and that the organization encourages employees to inquire. Companies generally do a very good job of telling new hires how to succeed; what they usually don’t do nearly as well is telling new hires how they’re going to fail or get fired or worse. It’s vital for new employees to understand their employer’s standards. What does the company expect from them?

WHAT COMMUNICATION CHANNELS EXIST? How do employees receive messages from management? How does management receive messages from employees? Is ‘‘management by walking around’’ a common practice, or is senior management isolated from most employees? Is there a suggestion program? If so, do suggestions get responses? Are employees generally comfortable approaching their managers with problems, concerns, and questions? Is there a grievance process or a whistleblowing procedure? Do most employees know where to go for help if their managers are unavailable or if their manager is part of the problem? Are human resources, legal, and audit professionals accessible to most employees? Analyzing the answers to these questions will give an organization a good idea of where effective communication channels exist, where they don’t, and where to build new ones.