Ethics Training
May. 28th, 2008 09:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fauxkloreMy company is making everybody do ethics training. They've contracted out some on-line course and I did the first part (of three, I believe) today.
What they have disappointed me so far. For example, they discuss a case where a man and a woman are working to get an overseas client. When they go to meet with the client, he insists the woman not be allowed into the meeting, because women don't do business in that country. Interesting situation - but the training course doesn't have any resolution. (It's also a pretty silly situation, since one would expect that the situation would have come up before this final "close the deal" trip.)
The ones where they did have quiz scenarios were somewhat irritating because my usual answer was "none of the above" (which was not an option). They used an example where a manager told somebody in confidence that the company may have layoffs. Another employee, who was very junior (and, thus, vulnerable to layoffs) then mentioned that she was about to make an offer on a condo and they asked what the person who had been told in confidence about possible layoffs should say. The problem is that I would have already confronted the boss about not passing along the information about impending layoffs.
They also had a quiz at the end which included a question about which of three actions was ethically questionable (with an "all of the above" option). One was going to human resources with an issue without confronting the person involved. The second involved somebody writing a family newsletter on company time. The third one had to do with a supplier buying an employee an expensive cup of coffee.
The answer they wanted was #2. But I could argue in favor or against any of these. The first is probably more a question of etiquette than ethics, but there wasn't enough information about the situation to be sure. While I can understand why they feel #2 was a problem, I don't see a real ethical issue with somebody, say, writing some newsy family e-mail thingy while sitting through a telecon. As for #3, sure it's just a cup of coffee, but that expensive coffee is probably unethical in and of itself, unless it is fair trade coffee so accepting it is tantamount to accepting the exploitation of third world farmers and encouraging cash crops over sustainable agriculture.
It would be really nice if they ever had training that was actually tailored to what we do at work.
What they have disappointed me so far. For example, they discuss a case where a man and a woman are working to get an overseas client. When they go to meet with the client, he insists the woman not be allowed into the meeting, because women don't do business in that country. Interesting situation - but the training course doesn't have any resolution. (It's also a pretty silly situation, since one would expect that the situation would have come up before this final "close the deal" trip.)
The ones where they did have quiz scenarios were somewhat irritating because my usual answer was "none of the above" (which was not an option). They used an example where a manager told somebody in confidence that the company may have layoffs. Another employee, who was very junior (and, thus, vulnerable to layoffs) then mentioned that she was about to make an offer on a condo and they asked what the person who had been told in confidence about possible layoffs should say. The problem is that I would have already confronted the boss about not passing along the information about impending layoffs.
They also had a quiz at the end which included a question about which of three actions was ethically questionable (with an "all of the above" option). One was going to human resources with an issue without confronting the person involved. The second involved somebody writing a family newsletter on company time. The third one had to do with a supplier buying an employee an expensive cup of coffee.
The answer they wanted was #2. But I could argue in favor or against any of these. The first is probably more a question of etiquette than ethics, but there wasn't enough information about the situation to be sure. While I can understand why they feel #2 was a problem, I don't see a real ethical issue with somebody, say, writing some newsy family e-mail thingy while sitting through a telecon. As for #3, sure it's just a cup of coffee, but that expensive coffee is probably unethical in and of itself, unless it is fair trade coffee so accepting it is tantamount to accepting the exploitation of third world farmers and encouraging cash crops over sustainable agriculture.
It would be really nice if they ever had training that was actually tailored to what we do at work.
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no subject
Date: 2008-05-29 02:41 am (UTC)On the layoff thing, it didn't take into account the current economy. With layoffs or not, now may not be the best time to invest in real estate, especially condos (sorry, I know you just bought).
As for the quiz at the end, I got it wrong as well. I thought all three were questionable. If they had just said "coffee" on the last one, it would have been OK. Expensive coffee, however, might go above the nominal value. Family newsletters on company time is officially problematic. The first went against their approach of finding out all of the facts first.
So, yeah, I don't think it was that good training eithers. As they once said when they did ethics training at SDC: We can't teach you ethics: you're either ethical or not. We can, however, teach you the law.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-29 03:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-29 10:02 am (UTC)As for buying real estate, I have a 30 year fixed rate loan (with 20% down), no particular intention of ever selling, and enough other assets to be able to pay the mortgage for several years. So the direction of prices over the next couple of years is irrelevant. It's hard to know if things bottomed out, but prices seem to have stabilized here (based on reported sales in the Post).
But, yeah, I think one could easily have addressed the situation without having to allude to potential layoffs, which is why I didn't like any of their answers.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-29 05:11 pm (UTC)Hallelujah, sister.
I had to take one the other day, as well. We're a healthcare company, so I expected most of the questions to be about healthcare.
Boy was I wrong. It was sales, marketing, sexual harassment...it was on the 7th of 12 little "sessions" that they FINALLY had something that actually applies to what I do at the company.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-30 03:16 am (UTC)