The Myth
Whether a company is ethical and a good corporate citizen is of little
concern to most of its employees
The Findings
The ethics of their employers are of great importance to the large
majority of workers. Except for gangsters and other sociopaths, people don't feel
good about a day's work that requires lying, cheating, or stealing. And, people
don't want to work for companies that act that way. The authors of The Enthusiastic Employee
find that there are four main sources of pride in a company, all of which reflect
different facets of a single attribute -- excellence:
Excellence in the organization's financial performance
Excellence in the efficiency with which the work of the organization gets done
Excellence in the characteristics of the organization's products, such as their usefulness, distinctiveness, and quality
Excellence in the organization's moral character
People want to work for an organization that does well but also does good. Roughly speaking, the first two of the factors listed relate to doing well (working for a business that is profitable and well run), and the latter two relate to doing good (providing something of real value to its customers and conducting its business ethically). "Excellence" means that employees want their companies to do very well and a lot of good. The four aspects of excellence are, of course, interrelated. It is difficult to produce excellent long-term financial results without providing value to customers, or to succeed for long with unethical business practices. There is considerable research evidence that a strong moral component in corporate behavior is certainly not inconsistent with long-term business success and, in fact, appears to significantly contribute to it. Thus, the pride that employees feel working for a good corporate citizen is reinforced by their pride in the business success such citizenship helps to achieve.
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