“After reading one too many articles about the need to eliminate cumbersome processes in the industry I found myself thinking about the roots of bureaucracy.

Processes are made to guide the execution of action, and invariably include approval checkpoints to ensure those actions were executed. While processes must be simplified and eventually automated, checkpoints are the real productivity killers.

On lack of trust and inefficiencies

Some are offended by what they consider a lack of trust, others are distressed by foiled acquisition of equipment that could make their work more efficient. I have been on both camps, but I eventually got over both feelings. The reason? Show me a person with some common sense and I will show you four other people who cannot tell what they need from what they want.

At the root of bureaucracy one will often find the need to control the usage of common resources, whether it is the approval for the construction of a wall or for the acquisition of a new network router. In a never ending loop, people in the “”I need the resource to do my job”" camp find ways around the processes and the bureaucracy responds with more control points. Bureaucracy thrives on the intersection of limited resources with resourceful people.

Executives and keyboard purchases

Remove all the control points, and you soon my have a tragedy of the commons on your hands.

Of course, the extreme case of a senior executive approving a US$200 purchase should be avoided. On the other hand, US$200 may be the cost of that matching set of keyboard, mouse, and speakers that look great with the replacement workstation you received last week.

Personal responsibility to the rescue

In the tragedy of the commons, the only known solution is to eliminate or reduce the “”commons”" in favor of personal ownership, whatever that resource may be. Karl Marx would not be proud.

Scott Adams once suggested, in the serious portion of his excellent “”The Dilbert Principle”", that companies actually gave money to employees for the purchase of office items instead of the traditional supply bins spread through the building. It would be up to employees to individually purchase the supplies they needed or keep the money. The actual amount is unimportant – the bean counters have all the numbers they need to calculate that amount – but the company would no longer need to burden administrative staff with those tasks.

The real question is, could one try and stretch that approach to personal laptops or desktop computers? In many geographies, the cost of these machines can rival the monthly salary of their users. What happens when you hand out the money for equipment that should last 3 years and the person leaves the company before that period is over? Impound whatever they bought or demand a refund?

Solve that riddle and the end of bureaucracy may be at hand.

Denilson Nastacio is a software engineer in a large corporation. Through years of experience observing the interactions between his colleagues, managers, and executives, he observed several repeating patterns drawn from science, religion, and politics.

He maintains a blog, called the RTP Scrolls, where he writes about the cyclic influence between individuals and organizations help explain how and why each side reacts to the actions of the other side.

Recent observations and recent communications with business colleagues confirm that there are far too many violations of good business manners each and every day. Manners are essential to build relationships in today’s business world. People, who present themselves very favorably, will maximize their business potential. I must tell you that I remain very passionate about manners in business and believe very strongly in the results that follow the use of good manners.

Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach continues to stress the importance of manners and to seeking advice on that issue and others. And I am pleased to confirm to you that I continue to follow my own advice by seeking outside advice and counsel when needed. In my own efforts for continuous improvement in manners, I recently did some research that resulted in me finding a great resource – a quiz to establish your Business Etiquette Quotient. The quiz was developed by Lydia Ramsey, a business etiquette expert, professional speaker, corporate trainer and author of Manners That Sell-Adding the Polish that Builds Profits. She has been quoted or featured in the New York Times, Investors’ Business Daily, Entrepreneur, Inc., Real Simple, and Woman’s Day. For more information about her programs, products and services, visit her Website

Here is Lydia Ramsey’s Quiz, answers and score interpretation.

1. When shaking hands in business, a man should wait for a woman to extend her hand before offering his.

2. When introducing business people, say the name of the most important or senior person first.

3. When talking on the phone, your tone of voice counts more than your words.

4. The first place to go when you arrive at a business/social function is the bar.

5. Women may remain seated to shake hands in business.

6. Business casual means dressing down one notch from business professional.

7. You should always use a subject header when sending an e-mail message.

8. The guest decides when to start talking business during the meal.

9. If the information on your business card is incorrect, draw a line through it and write the correct information on the card.

10. If you can’t remember someone’s name, don’t attempt an introduction.

11. Handwritten notes are out of place in the business world.

12. Name badges are worn on the right shoulder.

13. A woman’s handbag, if small, may be placed on the boardroom table.

14. Small talk is not appropriate in a business environment.

15. In today’s relaxed business environment, it is not necessary to ask your clients’ permission before using their first names.

Answers

1. False. It is no longer necessary for a man to wait for a woman to extend her hand. In business, everybody shakes hands regardless of gender or age.

2. True. Always say the name of the most important person first or the name of the person you wish to honor. Follow that with “”I’d like to introduce…”" or “”I’d like to introduce you to…”".

3. True. Studies show that 70% of your message is conveyed by your tone of voice and 30% by your actual words. It’s not what you say but the way you say it that counts.

4. False. No matter how hard your day was, resist the urge to go straight to the bar. After all, these business/social functions are more about business than eating and drinking.

5. False. A woman who remains seated to shake hands in business appears to lack confidence. She sends a message that she is not as important as the people who are standing.

6. True. Business casual did not start out as an excuse to wear your favorite old clothes to the office. It is still business, and you should always look professional.

7. True. Why would anyone want to open an e- mail message with “”no subject”"? You always want to give the recipient a reason to read your message.

8. False. The host is the one who decides when to end the small talk and get down to business. As a rule, the business discussion begins after everyone has ordered so the conversation will not be interrupted.

9. False. Have new cards printed as soon as possible. Handing out outdated business cards sends a poor message.

10. False. Always make the introduction. Everyone notices when you try to avoid it and will suspect that you can’t remember the other person’s name anyway. The best thing to do in this situation is to confess your loss of memory, beg forgiveness, and ask for the person’s name.

11. False. Handwritten notes are very impressive. They give the idea that you went to extra effort, whether this is true or not.

12. True. The right side is the correct side. Since you shake hands with your right hand, the eye naturally travels to the right shoulder.

13. False. The only objects that belong on the boardroom table are those that are necessary for the meeting.

14. False. Small talk is the basis for building and maintaining relationships in business.

15. False. While most people prefer to be called by their first name, use titles and last names until you are told otherwise.

What’s Your Score?

Give yourself one point for each correct answer. If your score is 13 points or higher, you are speeding up the ladder of success. (If you earned between 9 and 12 points, you’ll most likely make it to the top. If you scored 8 or below, chances are that you can climb the ladder, but you won’t make it all the way to the top.

Glenn Ebersole, Jr. is a multi-faceted professional, who is recognized as a visionary, guide and facilitator in the fields of business coaching, marketing, public relations, management, strategic planning and engineering. Glenn is the Founder and Chief Executive of two Lancaster, PA based consulting practices: The Renaissance Group, a creative marketing, public relations, strategic planning and business development consulting firm and J. G. Ebersole Associates, an independent professional engineering, marketing, and management consulting firm. He is a Certified Facilitator and serves as a business coach and a strategic planning facilitator and consultant to a diverse list of clients. Glenn is also the author of a monthly newsletter, “”Glenn’s Guiding Lines – Thoughts From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach”" and has published more than 325 articles on business.

To find out more about the benefits & rewards of effectively working with a strategic thinking business coach, please contact Glenn Ebersole through his web site here

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Tags: workplace, ethics, business, training, professional

“One common denominator for all successful business is that they discovered a way to earn profit by solving someone’s problem. Information products are developed by confronting an obstacle, finding a way to overcome it, then showing others how they did it.

There are three essentials for a business which comprise the factors of creating and maintaining an Extreme Competitive Advantage: You, Your Brand, and How Your Product/Service is a Solution.

You are The Star. You bring to your business what you have created, accomplished, or overcome. You are the reason your business exists, whether you are selling a service, information, or a gadget. If you aren’t in the equation, your business won’t exist.

Your brand is Your Story. Years ago, just out of college in my first writing job, a colleague was lamenting that she would never be able to write a book because all of the good ideas had already been written about. While there is some truth to that, everybody’s story is different, and how you present it will be different, too. Your story, your brand will be unique because you are unique. So when you start thinking about your brand, look at your story. What makes it different? What makes you different? Bring that to your business and you will see your brand develop.

Your product or service is The Solution. When you weave the star and the story together, you create and maintain extreme competitive advantage as a support for your solution; it requires looking at several levels of your business, from branding and marketing to product development and R&D, budgeting your resources and staying nimble in your decision-making—in short, developing your Extreme Competitive Advantage. Here are six things to consider as you bring your Star, Story, and Solution to life:

1. Have a profound reason for your business.

The fact is, like a book theme, there aren’t a lot of segments in business that need more offerings. As a result, you will need to look for either a trend-related reason to be in business or for a service advantage that you can provide. What do you know that someone might need or desire that they can’t find anywhere else? What service do you provide that sets you apart from anything that is currently available? How can you position yourself to be distinct in your market?

2. Create Strong Positioning.

Stand out from your competitors. Be clear and dramatic, dynamic and different. What sets you apart? What do you offer that makes people take notice of you and your business? What is the best way of making the presentation of your solution to the world? Everything you do establishes your brand. Look at companies with strong brand appeal. You notice them because they offer something different, or they say it in a way that the market notices.

3. The Continuous Development of Unique Assets is Key.

We’re all very familiar with the iPod. It’s revolutionized how we listen to music, added another tool to share information, and changed how people view Apple as an innovative technology company. For a short time, Apple relied heavily on this unique asset to give them a competitive advantage. However, within months, many mp3 players became available from other companies. So, they came out with other models to cover more of the market; they added new features; they continued to develop new products. Now they’ve developed the iPhone. What Apple knows is that although they have a unique asset, their competitive advantage will go away over time. They need to continually develop new ones to maintain their competitive advantage.

4. Maintain an Economic Advantage.

This is a key area that too many businesses lack. Wise use of budgetary funds will help you to maintain profitability over your competitors. Pricing is important, as is perceived value to the customer. The more unique your offering, whether it is service or a product, the more ability you’ll have to offer products for premium prices and bigger margins, ultimately attracting customers for whom price is not a factor.

5. Build Complex Business Systems.

Systems are very important for the flow of your business. Another way they are important is that the more complicated they are, the less likely it is that your competition will copy them, allowing you to maintain your competitive advantage.

6. Use Speed and Agility.

You must be mentally, physically, emotionally, and financially agile to maintain your competitive advantage. Staying a step ahead of your competition requires you to be at your best in all areas.

As you build your business, support The Star, Story, and Solution with these six aspects of creating and maintaining a competitive advantage and you will move ever closer to the Success Phenomenon.

Copyright 2007 © Marilyn Schwader

As a Writing and Life Coach, Marilyn uses humor, compassion, and a strong sense of a writer’s abilities to support and motivate her clients to become published authors. Her purpose in life is to give a voice to subjects that benefit others. Her mission is to provide truthful, clear, and motivating information to those who passionately desire more in their lives. Her vision is to use her two passions-coaching and storytelling-to convey this information to as many people as possible. Click here to contact Marilyn.

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Tags: information, maintain, ethics, business, competitive

Money one of the most sought after things in the entire known universe. Money is nothing more than a tool that is needed to survive in this planet. Without it you do not eat in most cases, you do not have a roof over your head, and other essentials that are needed to survive require someone’s money either your own or those who provide for you.

We work to earn or gain money so that we are able to purchase those things we deem needed. If you desire and expensive car or a piece of junk they both require money to purchase and to operate. To provide for your family, religious organization, government, and charities you must supply them with a source of money for their existence and well being.

Yet you hear people claim that money means nothing to them but that it is a means to an end. The end is something that they desire or need so they are not being true to themselves about how they value money. The more you have the more you may purchase or the more that you can contribute to what you find value in.

The poor are just dependent on money as those who have much. If there is no one to provide for the poor their very existence is in jeopardy. No person can survive without food and if no one provides a way for the poor to be fed they cease to exist. With out money to provide for bandages and medicine those who need such things will suffer greatly.

There is nothing in the world wrong with desiring to have nice and elegant things or to go on exotic trips. If you earn or make money by providing goods and services honestly and ethically you are actually assisting others by your spending and purchases. The more you are able to spread around helps numerous people obtain those things they need and desire.

If you belong to a religious organization as many people across this world, that organization likes it when you have more to give them to use in their activities. The charities across the world like those who give to their causes so the more you can give the more their causes can be met. Governments love to tax those who have much so they can sponsor their payrolls and provide the services they fund.

The love or obsession of money can and does lead to a multitude of evils that plague the world such doing harm to others by fraud, stealing, and murder to name a few things that can and do happen when people let the lust for money control their thinking. Money is not evil it is just a tool but the lust for it has cause many to stray from the road of honesty and values of human existence.

To not participate in today’s economies and let other people take care of you when you have the means to support yourself does a disservice to those who provide for your needs and the world as a whole. Those who are in poverty through no means of their own need and deserve the assistance of those who have the means. Just as those who horde all that they have and give no assistance when able appear to give no value to the world or themselves.

Money is a great tool that used wisely adds to the value of human life and those who use it wrongly take away from the true values of this world which is human beings. So making money and using it wisely is a very good thing for the whole world.

Remember these few things that take lots of funds to operate, hospitals, medical research, providing food to the needy, police forces, fire departments, schools, and the roads you travel upon. So get out there and devise ways to make more so that you can do your share in aiding in these and other establishments plus providing the best for yourself and those you love.

William R Brandenburg
Visit him at his Website

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Tags: ethical, issues, contemporary, business, companies

“Shared business ethics and values make everyone’s performance as individuals or teams much easier. People know what they can and what they cannot do, what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. So where does one begin?

Having strongly communicated business ethics within a values statement is the first place to begin. This values statement must be communicated and internalized by everyone within the company or the organizations.

Companies without values statements usually suggest that these same companies may not have strategic plans in place. Maybe this is why so many companies fight the strategic planning process?

For when you commit specific business ethics to writing, now you must enforce those same values. This is what I believe is the real integrity issue that keeps many businesses from writing a strategic business plan.

After you commit the business ethics and values to writing, then you must make sure that everyone is actively engaged in modeling the desired behaviors. Policies must be reviewed and procedures analyzed to ensure that these same policies and procedures do not violate the newly adopted values statement.

For example, if customer service is number one, then sales team chasing out customers at closing time is not a good behavior. Or maybe the call center team is mandated to keep calls no longer than 3 minutes. This might be a problem if customer satisfaction is a team value.

Beyond the policies and procedures, what happens when a team member violates the values statement? This is where the rubber meets the road, again an issue of commitment and integrity to uphold the values statement.

If no action is taken, the overall performance of the team will suffer. Remember back in school when the teacher’s pet did something wrong and was not challenged by the teacher? The same integrity principle applies here.

The values statement must be uniformly enforced if the team is to truly functional at the highest level possible. If you team is not performing where you think it should be, then return to your values statement as your first step to create a culture of high performance where integrity is first and foremost.

Are you interested in learning more about how to master success? Then you may find this combination e book and e workbook of interest, Three Missing Pieces of Organizational & Personal Success. Visit this site to learn more about goals, attitudes and self leadership skills as you travel the road to success.

Leanne Hoagland-Smith coaches small businesses to large organizations and high school students to entrepreneurs to double performance by closing the gap between today’s outcomes and tomorrow’s goals. Please feel free to visit this site and explore how she can help you from the free articles to the improvement tips.

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Tags: business, ethics, corporate, workplace, home

It is astonishing to hear of so much fraud and deception going on in so many areas of life. People in business are being found out and some in leading and highly responsible positions are ending up in prison.

Such high profile cases hit the news headlines and so many in the circle of family and friends must be embarrassed, hurt and so terribly disappointed.

With so many Business Courses being offered it is difficult to understand why some people think they can get off with it. Is there a compulsory Ethics class on these Courses? Are there lectures on basic morals? Why are people not being taught how to behave in business?

I regularly read the adverts in “The Economist” and other reputable Journals and wonder just what the content of these Courses is.

It is not just that an individual’s wrong doing and sins are found out – it is more than that – they are found out.

If the foundation is dodgey and questionable and shakey then no matter what you may attempt to build it will crash sooner or later. Many find that out to be true when it is too late and whatever they have been up to reaches the public domain.

There is such a great need for what is called prophetic ministry, which means men hear from God and speak out what God would have them say.

Jesus Christ taught that the prophet is a key to what God is doing, because what God is doing He reveals to the prophets.

Sometimes that ‘word’ will be for sharing immediately, whilst at other times prophetic people may remain quiet for weeks or months.

In all that is going on around us many are looking for a clear distinct sound, which gives guidance and direction in a time of alarming confusion.

The prophet is regarded as the voice or the trumpet of God, rallying the despondent from despair or discouragement.

Of course, there can be false prophets. That is where discernment has to be exercised.

A bank teller can feel a false ‘fiver’ or false Dollar note without having to look at it. “”Excuse me sir, but there is something wrong here!”" He has been so trained – and the counterfeiter does not present a coin kidding on it is a £5 note. He makes it as like the real thing as he possibly can.

A prophet penetrates and pierces and can even shock the whole religious world. Jesus Christ certainly did that when He spoke and taught on various occasions.

“Excuse me, but there is something wrong here” – and the ordinary people recognised that a great prophet had appeared upon the scene.

Prophecy has been accurately described as that ability granted by the Holy Spirit to a believer in Jesus Christ to speak forth words which proceed from God, and which do not come from the believer’s own wisdom, understanding or education.

When a prophet speaks you have a choice – change – or kill the prophet!

Now, is it not time that such a Course was mandatory in every Business School?

Sandy Shaw

Sandy Shaw is Pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship, Chaplain at Inverness Prison, and Nairn Academy, and serves on The Children’s Panel in Scotland, and has travelled extensively over these past years teaching, speaking, in America, Canada, South Africa, Australia, making 12 visits to Israel conducting Tours and Pilgrimages, and most recently in Uganda and Kenya, ministering at Pastors and Leaders Seminars, in the poor areas surrounding Kampala, Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.

He broadcasts regularly on WSHO radio out of New Orleans, and writes a weekly commentary at this site entitled “”Word from Scotland”" on various biblical themes, as well as a weekly newspaper column.

His M.A. and B.D. degrees are from The University of Edinburgh, and he continues to run and exercise regularly to maintain a level of physical fitness.

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Tags: business, ethics, mandatory, professional, corporate

During intermission at a women’s event recently, I was asked, “Why do hairstylists assume they can ask you such personal questions?” I thought to myself, personal boundaries are essential on both sides of the chair. My first reaction to the woman’s question, was to defend hairstylists. Inside, I also knew this was an honest, evocative, question, and there are a lot of assumptions made by people in the hairstyling industry, and a lot of unprofessional behavior that gives us all a bad name. I needed to take a closer look at what was being stirred up inside me.

I muttered, “Hm…interesting question.”

I have witnessed, and overheard, many hairstylists going for the jugular in their quest for knowing who sits in their chair. Some hairdresser’s inquiries–incessant,insatiable curiosities leave me to wonder, whether they are really thinking about the client’s experience. Did they get permission,unspoken perhaps, to be as personal? Or, did the trust develop through years of seeing one another? Or, were there alot of assumptions made right from the get go? I’m sure a little bit of everything goes on, but what gives us the right to do so? How does it all happen?

When a client sits in my chair there is a boundary line between us, and that line invisible as it may be, is there, and will move depending on who sits in my chair. A line can be found that winds back and forth on itself, building a wall as thin or as thick as anyone of us wants. It is up to each of us to determine what we want to reveal, what we want the time in the chair to look like. And, I know I am guilty of taking the session into a personal realm, of being too self-focused, or maybe even getting too personal,instead of talking about their hair. It always comes back to the hair.

So, how is it then, that this wall can seem imperceptible to us at times, as if there is no boundary? I certainly have experienced clients who have a hard time respecting my boundaries when they sit in my chair, it’s up to me to decide just where the boundary line is, although I find it delicate to establish at times. For example,I have a client who comes in every six weeks for a hair cut, and has for the last 20 years. Once every session, for the last five years, this very loyal client, has asked me, “When are you getting married?” She insists that I need to, and now even more so because my partner and I have a child together. Now, she is at least twenty years my senior and works as a therapist, a little hard to consider speaking up for myself.

“We’re talking about it.” I’ll say, hoping this will end the conversation. I can’t tell her, “Please don’t ask me that question anymore. Please don’t play the role of my mother. And please, don’t pretend to know what is right for me to do.” I love this client, and appreciate her greatly, and I wouldn’t consciously do anything to have her disappear. And yet, I suppose that is some of the fear, that I would lose my clientele if I set a boundary of that nature. “I don’t work that late,” is a boundary of another kind.

The boundary line gets muddled because we like people, and we want to be liked. We want to avoid hurting people, or being hurt, whenever possible. When a client sits in my chair, especially a new client, I follow their lead, I want them to feel comfortable. So I ask questions to get to know them, and remember the answers. I allow them to set the tone of the experience. Do they want to chat? Do they want quiet? I respect whatever it needs to be. I air on the side of being a listener. It’s about their hair after all. We build trust together and we respect the needs. of one another. If it is a new client and they divulge it all in the first visit, I’m left with, “Wait!” There was no time for the intimacy to be established, too much information, so I cut silently.

The normal rules of relationship apply here, even if I do have permission to touch a client’s head, and style their hair, does not mean I may assume they want anything but a haircut. Personal boundaries are essential on both sides the chair for things to work.

If you would like to know more, check out here

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Tags: ethics, business, training, corporate, code

Organisations are finding that not only internal stakeholders, but increasingly external stakeholders are having more of an input into organisational strategy, goals and objectives. Each stakeholder can have differing requirements that they expect the organisation to meet depending on exactly how they interface with the organisation. Have you determined your organisation’s key stakeholders and their individual and collective requirements?

First you need to determine who your stakeholders are! Stakeholders can include suppliers, customers, consumers, shareholders, workers, management, those living in the vicinity of the business location – neighbours, businesses, schools, hospitals, governmental and legislative bodies, certification organisations and non-governmental bodies. The requirements can include, but are not limited to, product safety, product and service consistency and compliance with specifications, health and safety, worker welfare, social accountability, and the organisations actual, or potential impact on the local or global environment, impact on biodiversity and protection of ecosystems, and if applicable animal health and welfare.

The organisation must determine these myriad requirements and develop an integrated strategy that not only addresses organisational performance and cost effectiveness, but also encompasses the needs of its varied stakeholders. However at times these stakeholders may have opposing requirements and the management team will have to determine how they address this issue and this is the role of business ethics. Another output of determining stakeholder requirements is the development of both brand protection and risk management strategies and defining those risks that are acceptable, those risks that need to be managed, risks that must be mitigated and possibly transferred to a supplier or alternative organisation and those risks that are unacceptable and must be eliminated.

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Tags: ethics, issues, legal, cases, business

Can there be any hope in promoting ethical behavior in the modern business culture? The public’s general skepticism of corporate ethics is understandable considering the track record of organizations in recent years of continued downsizing, outsourcing, scandals, increasing executive pay and decreasing employee benefits. “Many believe that executives are not being held accountable for bad management decisions and the pain they inflict on employees as a result(Trevino and Nelson, 2005, p. 3).

For there to be any hope of promoting ethics in a business culture, ethics training, policies, programs and finally, actions, must be deeply ingrained into a culture of an organization in order to be seen as more than half hearted public relations gimmicks that only provide lip service to ethical behavior while the real culture of an organization runs in the opposite direction. Ethics must become a primary function and responsibility of the modern leader in order to have real impact on organizations and teams. While these leaders still must protect and promote the healthy profits of their organization, they also must recognize “”that business has a responsibility to address certain social problems because of its unique abilities, and because a healthy social environment is a prerequisite for a healthy business environment (p. 7). Such a leader recognizes that by serving all of its stakeholders to the utmost of their ability, including their customers, employees, and community, that in the long run they will best bring a return on investment to their shareholders (p. 7).

“Ethics is a body of principles or standards of human conduct that govern the behavior of individuals and groups” (Bottorff, n.d., p.1). While ethical behavior is based on a set of values and principles, ethical behavior goes beyond mere belief; it also encompasses actions of individuals, groups and organizations (p. 2). For there to be ethical behavior in an organization, leaders must not only state a belief in a set of actions, their actions as a leader must be in alignment with those values and beliefs. The leader must work to establish clear business practices within the organization that reward and promote positive ethical behavior and promote the reasoning and consequences of ethics as strongly as they promote business results. In time all individuals and teams must be able to follow the ethical decision-making process involving; “moral awareness (recognizing the existence of an ethical dilemma), moral judgment (deciding what’s right), and ethical behavior (taking action to do the right thing) Trevino and Nelson, 2005, p. 15). They can only do this if an organizational culture has been developed that clearly defines its values and supports actions in alignment with those values. Because individuals may have different values and cognitive ability that influences their ability to recognize and act ethically, leaders must ensure that training, rewards, recognition and consequences are clearly defined in the organization in order to help individuals act accordingly.

A perfect example of such a leader is the story of Aaron Feuerstein, who was the owner and CEO of Malden Mills, the New England manufacturer of “climate control” materials like Polertec and Polarfleece (p. 38). Feuerstein was a business leader who had built his business based on Talmudic teachings and values that extended beyond his responsibilities to the shareholders, but also to the workers and community (Shafran, n.d., p. 1). When a fire destroyed the companies’ New England factories in 1995, Feurestein faced an ethical dilemma (moral awareness). While most other fabric manufactures were closing plants in the US in order to reduce manufacturing costs, he had maintained his factories in Maine. Now he faced a dilemma; would he rebuild in New England or re-establish his facilities overseas where construction and manufacturing costs would have been less. Feuerstein explained “that the ideas of his religious heritage had played the major role in his decision” (p. 1), (moral judgment). He stated in an interview with Parade Magazine in 1996 that “I have a responsibility to the worker; both blue-collar and white-collar…I have an equal responsibility to the community” (p.1). His final decision (ethical behavior), which was in alignment with his stated values, was to rebuild the plants and keep as many employees on the payroll until they opened operations again (p. 1).

All leaders must have the same moral courage to support and to make similar ethical decisions, even if they are on a much smaller scale. I lead the learning and development department for on of the world’s leading organizations for all of Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The company attracted and maintained top talent in part based on one of its stated core values of developing people. Because of this core value and our international approach to development, the company had been recognized for several years as on the world’s top training organizations. I faced an ethical dilemma when the company, which was projecting loses in revenue in the coming years, decided to “downsize” and re-align the Leaning and Development Department. I saw this as a major departure from the company’s stated value of people development (moral judgment). I had to decide whether to abandon this key value and go forward in support of the re-alignment or leave the company. I decided (ethical behavior) that I would stay with the company for one more year in order to ensure all cuts and re-alignments were carried out in a manner that showed respect to the people who had dedicated themselves to people development and to help our clients finish their learning and development commitments. I then left the organization in order to start my own training business where I could contribute to the development of others.

The public’s trust in ethical business behavior can only be re-established by strong leadership of individual leaders within their own sphere of influence; great or small. Leaders must take strong actions to elevate the importance of ethical behavior based on clearly stated values that emphasize equal commitment to all stake holders equally. This may be a strong departure from traditional bottom line focus. Leaders and organizations would benefit from development and coaching from ethics trainers and coaches who can help leaders understand the steps to establish ethics within a team and/or organization.

References:

Bottorff, D. (n.d.). What is Ethics? Retrieved July 6, 2007 from a Website

Shafran, A., (n.d.). Aaron Feuerstein: Bankrupt and wealthy. Retrieved July 6, 2007 from a Website

Trevino, L., and Nelson, K., (2005). Corporate social responsibility and managerial ethics. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Since founding Magnify Leadership and Development, James has developed, facilitated and coached programs including; Change Leadership, Coaching, Communication Skills, Sustaining Learning, Interviewing Skills, Leadership, Territory Management for dozens of leading global organizations; including, Advantis Research and Consulting, IMS, CMOE, Pfizer, Sinclair, Disetronic Medical Systems, StratX, ASTD, Coventry Health Care, Wilson Learning, and many others. James is bilingual and can facilitate and coach in both English and Spanish.

Prior to founding Magnify Leadership and Development, James headed Pfizer’s Learning and Development for all of Europe, Canada, Africa and the Middle East where he was instrumental in the development of a global management curriculum and other training initiatives to enhance organizational effectiveness for over 30,00 employees.

Visit James website here to learn how we can you with your leadership and communication development needs.

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Tags: ethics, business, code, dilemma, issue

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the concept that that a corporation’s responsibilities include other stakeholders and includes other responsibilities above and beyond a return for shareholders. These responsibilities include legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities in addition to economic responsibilities (Trevino and Nelson, 2005, p. 31). Other stakeholders could include employees, suppliers, the customers, the community and others. Types of responsibilities the corporation may hold beyond a return for shareholders could include, protecting and or improving the environment where the company operates, improving conditions for the community where the company resides, etc…

Corporate Governance refers the way in which the corporation governs itself. Governance includes the way the company reports earnings, pays Directors, etc… Recognizing that improper governance can have huge consequences for employees and shareholders, the government requires corporations to follow Corporate Governance laws and guidelines that are designed to reduce the risk of fraud, and financial ruins such as those that caused the demise of corporations like Enron, WorldCom and Global Crossing.

Solid Corporate Governance that protects investors and employees from accounting fraud, conflict of interest, etc., can be seen as a part of any company that is acting socially responsible. Because a CSR company is acting in a way above and beyond what is required of it by law to protect stakeholders in the company, solid Corporate Governance of a CSR oriented company could be viewed as a way in which the company can ensure that the interests of many directly related and dependent on the company can be protected, including; employees, customers, the communities that depend on tax revenues and employment, etc… Solid Corporate Governance can be seen as an essential first step of any CSR oriented company. Without it, it risks conflict of interest of its board members, CEO, uncertain financial and accounting practices and other risks which could have devastating negative impacts on all stakeholders. For example, Enron’s collapse due to failure of Corporate Governance to prevent fraud and deceit hurt thousands of employees, the community of Houston, where most employees lived, the tax revenues that supported public works, the effect on families and couples who lost retirement savings, health insurance coverage, etc… In fact, before Enron’s accounting fraud became known, many would have considered Enron a solid socially responsible citizen because of its much recognized funding of museums, hospitals and many other organizations in the community where they operated (p. 163). However, all the communities would have been better off in the long run, if Enron had never contributed a dime to these social responsible activities, but had rather provided solid Corporate Governance over its internal operations. If Enron had done this, thousands would not have lost jobs, communities would have maintained higher tax revenues, retirements would have been more secured for thousands, health insurance would have been secured by many more, returns would have been higher for investors and shareholders, etc…

Corporate Governance should be seen as a top priority of any company seeking to be a good corporate citizen. More good can be done by a company ensuring solid corporate governance, than other activates usually seen as important for Socially Conscious organizations. Furthermore, more pressure should be exerted on organizations to establish good social governance than should be exerted on companies to sponsor other socially responsible activities and stakeholders in communities, the press, the government, etc., should also recognize and applaud companies who may put more effort on Corporate Governance although they may lack other social activities. Governance should be seen ad rewarded as the top priority.

References:

Trevino, L., and Nelson, K., (2005). Corporate social responsibility and managerial ethics. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Since founding Magnify Leadership and Development, James has developed, facilitated and coached programs including; Change Leadership, Coaching, Communication Skills, Sustaining Learning, Interviewing Skills, Leadership, Territory Management for dozens of leading global organizations; including, Advantis Research and Consulting, IMS, CMOE, Pfizer, Sinclair, Disetronic Medical Systems, StratX, ASTD, Coventry Health Care, Wilson Learning, and many others. James is bilingual and can facilitate and coach in both English and Spanish.

Prior to founding Magnify Leadership and Development, James headed Pfizer’s Learning and Development for all of Europe, Canada, Africa and the Middle East where he was instrumental in the development of a global management curriculum and other training initiatives to enhance organizational effectiveness for over 30,00 employees.

Visit James website to learn how we can you with your leadership and communication development needs.

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Tags: business, work, economic, ethics, public

In Justice Gomery’s final report, he observed that “only a handful of government officials failed to live up to (ethical) standards in the Sponsorship program”. Most of us in business or government have faced situations where our personal principles have come under attack yet, unlike that handful, we successfully resisted temptation. Further, some of us may have faced personal risk standing up for our convictions, taking responsibility, and holding ourselves accountable for our actions.

But is there a point where we might start to bend or even break as they did?

A 2005 global study of over 1100 managers and executives, commissioned by the American Management Association, (with which Canadian Management Centre is affiliated), identified the top three factors most likely to cause business people to compromise ethical standards. All three impact most of us from time to time, so it would be an unusual person who would not have experienced temptation. The factors, in order, are:

1. Pressure to meet unrealistic business objectives/deadlines

2. Desire to further one’s career

3. Desire to protect one’s livelihood

So here is a theory. Model the dynamics that put pressure on people’s ethics and you have an early warning of possible problems.

Dynamic A is Pressure. Sometimes the pressure to compromise comes at a person externally on vectors such as:

• Urgent timing, “I don’t care what the policy book says, I need your decision now.”

• Entrenched opposition that can be avoided, “HR won’t find out till it is too late”

• Superiors or colleagues, “If you don’t do this, we’ll all pay a price”

• Critical impact, “National unity is at stake here”

• Competitor’s tactics, “Competition gives them money under the table. We have no choice.”

Any single one of these, let alone a combination, can isolate a person on ethical grounds.

Dynamic B is Personal Benefit. Even scrupulous people generally look at choices through a lens of self-interest that includes:

• Financial gain

• Financial risk

• Reputation

• Career and stature

• Power and influence

The greater the personal upside or downside associated with a decision, the more internal pressure will build to compromise on honesty and ethics.

When you buy a house from a vendor with hundreds of thousands of dollars and their personal life plan at stake, who is represented by a commissioned salesperson, you know it is wise to get a home inspection done. Buying a used car? Take it to a mechanic you trust first. Interviewing a job applicant who is currently out-of-work? Check references.

These are commonplace, small town, daily examples of a recognized need for safeguards against unethical behaviour by ordinary people when pressure and self-interest intersect. We understand the need to watch out at that level. But when we learn that “a handful” of the participants in multi-million dollar transactions in the colossally critical and legacy-charged national unity debate behaved badly, we have the right to be dismayed but not surprised.

Millions of dollars spent on the Gomery Inquiry has yielded recommendations the country is glad to see. In the clear absence of a sense of personal accountability, the only solution is a body of constraints. But there is a danger now that associated bureaucracy will inflict cumbersome and stultifying rules and procedures on transactions in the matrix’s green low risk boxes. These transactions have neither materiality nor external pressure nor sufficient personal benefit to the buyer or seller to pose much of a risk.

As an
example of unnecessary procedure, in one recent situation, Canadian Management Centre was presented with a complicated federal government RFP that would have required us to invest days of preparation and would require the government people days of due diligence — all for a $6000 contract. We declined to pursue the RFP. There was no pressure and only incidental benefit, not enough justification to warrant the trouble of proving our qualifications beyond the shadow of a doubt

With over 40 years experience; Canadian Management Centre has earned the reputation as a trusted partner in worldwide professional development and management education that improves the immediate performance and long-term results of over 12,000 Canadians every year.

Continue here for more information.

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Tags: business, ethics, dilemmas, decisions

“There are times when a little of something goes a long way. Take salt, for instance. The right amount can enhance the taste of food. Too much and the food is ruined. Many characteristics of successful entrepreneurs must be balanced or in moderation. Although one characteristic that entrepreneurs can never have too much of is Integrity.

Webster defines integrity as the quality of being upright, honest and sincere. Firmly adhering to a code of moral honor and maintaining incorruptibility is one definition. In business, integrity is all about character and conduct.

The Internet has made it possible for people who’ve never owned or operated a business before to go for home based business success. Unfortunately, the Internet has also made it possible for Internet scam artists to promise individuals who want to better themselves and their financial condition that with one purchase they’ll achieve the American dream. The maker of empty promises takes the purchase money then actually delivers nothing but hype.

If you truly desire to rise above your current standard of living, becoming an entrepreneur is a good way. However, on your rise to the top, it’s important to maintain your integrity. Know your boundaries. Stick with business actions that are legal, moral and ethical.

Natural law has proved over and over that what goes around truly does come around. In other words, the way you act today determines how others act toward you tomorrow. Equally important is the fact that in helping others, people help themselves.

By providing legitimate business opportunities or products to others, you help yourself by creating income and advancing your steps toward wealth. You also make it possible for others to benefit according to the product or service that you have provided.

When you maintain your integrity on the road to home based business success, you are building a firm foundation for your future success to stand strongly upon. When the route you take continues to be the moral and ethical one, not to mention legal one, you are building a solid reputation.

Reputation and trust are important for true business success. What could be more satisfying than the ability to live the life of your dreams and attain total financial freedom to live how, when and where you want to live? Knowing that you reached the pinnacle of success without sacrificing what truly matters.

At the end of the day, regardless of profit or loss, you want to be able to rest your head on your pillow knowing that at your core… your inner being that makes up the real you… you have done right by yourself and the world. You cannot lie to yourself and fake this one. You know what is right in your soul. When actions are taken, or promises are made that go against a code of ethics that is woven into your DNA, you will not be able to escape from the guilt, anxiety and depression that linger. An elementary teacher gave me this advice as I was becoming a teenager, and it works for kids as well as aggressive entrepreneurs… “Do Right, Do Right, Do Right. Sleep Well.”

It isn’t easy to reach true entrepreneurial success. Many try. Few succeed. You can greatly increase your chances of success by maintaining your integrity while en route. You can even shorten the learning curve and greatly increase your chances of success by following in the steps of someone who’s been there, and done that. Get your free copy of the Business Evaluation Guide now. A lot of integrity and a little wise research go a long way on the path to creating wealth.

Take Action, and Create a Life by Design.

Greg Six has been a successful entrepreneur for over 15 years. After having owned motels and rental properties, he found success using internet marketing. He now spends his time coaching and assisting others as they search through the maze of internet offers to find the piece of the puzzle that is legitimate, and will ultimately allow an individual to create longstanding, stable wealth, without sacrificing integrity and honesty.

Visit this site now.

(This article may be reprinted, distributed and published at will, if left completely intact with links in place.)

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Tags: ethics, integrity, business, legitimate, legal

A review of case studies of ethical problems various organizations have encountered show that many common ethical problems that organizations find themselves facing arise from individuals protecting their own financial benefit and/or the short-term economic goals of their organizations and not protecting other key stakeholders of the business or organization. Organizations can avoid serious consequences by considering the consequences of their actions to six key stakeholders, including; business partners, customers, employees, opinion formers, community and authorities (Trevino and Nelson, 2005, p. 196). By analyzing decisions using these six groups as a guide; “one can begin to identify how a variety of calamities might affect a company’s reputation and the value of its brand, and how much those calamities might cost” (p. 196).

By reviewing how companies have both effectively and ineffectively responded to severe ethical dilemmas, leaders of organizations can identify 8 steps for preventing ethical dilemmas in their own organizations.

1. Top down responsibility for ethical behavior must exist within an organization. The head of the organization must take responsibility to manage the ethical behavior of the organization. This responsibility cannot be delegated. Furthermore, this responsibility cannot be downplayed to a lesser role than other key leadership responsibilities, such as, short term profits. Top leadership must set the ethical tone of the organization. They must communicate their vision regarding ethical behavior to employees often and with as much emphasis and clarity as they do with other organization goals. The leader cannot leave the ethical tone of the organization to chance or to others within the organization.

2. Organizations must design a code of ethics for the organization. This code should be developed with input from a broad section of individuals within the organization. It should be distributed to every member of the organization and referred to often in training and other types of communication to employees so that it is not just a manual that sits in a file but is seen as a valid document for answering questions regarding what is accepted and not accepted as appropriate behavior within the organization.

3. Policies must be established and reinforced in the organization regarding how to report ethical abuses. Employees must understand how to report problems and know that they can do so without fear of retribution. Care must be taken that this is not just a theoretical exercise but that examples of real reporting be given and employees are rewarded for reporting ethical dilemmas.

4. Ethical responsibility must be taught to members of the organization. This must be done in various settings including on boarding of new employees, ongoing workshops, business meetings, round-table discussions with leaders, newsletters, websites, etc… Training should include case studies where employees must examine and discuss ethical dilemmas that they realistically might face and possible actions they should take. These case studies should include real cases that have occurred or theoretical cases that may occur in the organization so individuals can understand the proper way to handle real life issues. Employees must clearly understand what they have a shared individual ethical responsibility to each of the stakeholders along with the responsibility of the organization.

5. Practices must be incorporated to ensure that discussions regarding ethics are included in the decision making process. For example, a “devil’s advocate” should challenge decisions in order to explore whether unforeseen stakeholders may be jeopardized as a result of the decision; or decisions should be reviewed by an ethics committee or department to evaluate whether other stakeholders may be at risk. The practice of questioning decisions and openly exploring their consequences must be encouraged and rewarded.

6. Accountability for ethical behavior must be taken seriously by all levels of the organization. Unethical behavior should be punished and not allowed to continue. Ethical behavior must be rewarded. Performance management systems should include ethical behavior as well as other key aspects of job performance. Those higher in an organization should be punished equally as those lower in the organization. In fact, it could be justified to punish those higher in the organization more severely than those at entry level positions because they should know better and because of the example it sets for others in the organization.

7. Organizations should act swiftly to protect stakeholders when dilemmas occur. Contingency plans should be made for dealing with a crisis in order to act quickly to protect stakeholders in times of emergencies.

8. Members of the organization must know that their primary responsibility is to defend and maintain the high reputation of the organization at all times. Leaders should encourage standards of behavior to be set higher than what the law requires. What is lawful should be considered a minimum standard; however, standards should be set higher than this minimum in order to enhance and protect the reputation of the organization. Conduct below that standard should not be accepted and raising the bar higher should be rewarded and recognized by senior leaders.

References:

Trevino, L., and Nelson, K., (2005). Corporate social responsibility and managerial ethics. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Since founding Magnify Leadership and Development, James has developed, facilitated and coached programs including; Change Leadership, Coaching, Communication Skills, Sustaining Learning, Interviewing Skills, Leadership, Territory Management for dozens of leading global organizations; including, Advantis Research and Consulting, IMS, CMOE, Pfizer, Sinclair, Disetronic Medical Systems, StratX, ASTD, Coventry Health Care, Wilson Learning, and many others. James is bilingual and can facilitate and coach in both English and Spanish.

Prior to founding Magnify Leadership and Development, James headed Pfizer’s Learning and Development for all of Europe, Canada, Africa and the Middle East where he was instrumental in the development of a global management curriculum and other training initiatives to enhance organizational effectiveness for over 30,00 employees.

Visit James website to learn how we can you with your leadership and communication development needs.

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Tags: ethics, training, questions, issues, business

We see and read about what appears to be obvious lapses of ethical behavior almost on a daily basis and ask “how is that possible”? It appears obvious to anyone learning about these stories for the first time that there was a breech of what is appropriate behavior and we wonder how so many people could be so unethical. We also believe that we certainly would act differently if we were in the same situation.

One reason why otherwise normal individuals may be caught in unethical behavior is because of a social learning process that occurs in all teams and groups. Members of teams and groups learn acceptable and expected behavior by other members and leaders of the team. Over time, a culture evolves that either encourages or discourages certain behavior. Members are even pressured either consciously or subconsciously to conform to what is accepted by the larger group. If the social group in which an individual belongs does not punish negative behavior, or even reinforces inappropriate behavior through the use of direct or indirect rewards, many people who may not behalf inappropriately in normal circumstances, may cross the line and behalf inappropriately in other circumstances.

The Tailhook Association is an association of naval aviators whose annual convention became the center of a sexual scandal because of the 90 sexual harassment charges that resulted from their 1991 convention. In all, 140 aviators were charged. While these men were not participating in such behavior outside of the convention, while at the convention, they felt their behavior was appropriate and undeserving of punishment. These types of incidents had long been known to those in the Navy and those familiar with the organization. The group never had been disciplined for treating women inappropriately.

In fact, most everyone in the military accepted the behavior as appropriate for this type of group and convention. Over the years, a culture had developed within the group that permitted sexually inappropriate behavior to occur. While no one in command would have explicitly rewarded the activity, no one would reprimand anyone for it either. Because it was permitted, the convention became a safe haven for behavior that would have been considered inappropriate in other circumstances. Members “learned” through the lack of punishment and through the tacit acceptance of the behavior that the behavior was accepted and even expected at a Tailhook Convention. It was a place where they could “let their hair down” and have fun, even though they may not have acted the same elsewhere. (Trevino and Nelson, 2005, p. 169).

The public was outraged as to how the men could act the way they did and how the Navy could have allowed such behavior to continue. While the activities seemed obviously inappropriate and unethical to anyone learning about the story for the first time, very few of the men were ever seriously held accountable for the incident. How could the group have developed a culture of such inappropriate behavior? Because, the individuals in the group had received reinforcement through many years of the organization that such behavior was accepted and even expected at Tailhook Conventions. The military did nothing to stop it, which actually encouraged the behavior more. After 1991, they slowly began to change, but still took no drastic action to discipline those involved. This lack of discipline likely reinforced the viewpoint of those involved that the behavior was acceptable and should not be punished.

The implications for other organizations and managers are clear. Rewarding unethical behavior will reinforce the behavior within the organization. Furthermore, even looking the other way and allowing the behavior to continue is a form of reward because it sends the message that the behavior is acceptable. Over time, the behavior can be ingrained in the culture and individuals, who otherwise would otherwise not do so, may begin to feel pressure to conform. Managers must not allow unethical behavior to continue without taking action to correct it. This should include taking actions against those who participate. If the Navy had taken action to punish those involved in sexual harassment at the convention, a clear message would have been sent that the behavior would no longer be accepted, and improvements in behavior may have begun to occur. The same in true in all organizations; managers that may look the other way, while inappropriate behavior occurs in their teams, are inviting unethical behavior to become part of the learned organizational behavior of their teams. Unless, they act to prevent and correct unethical behavior, individuals will continue and new members will be taught and encouraged to begin unethical behavior.

References:

Trevino, L., and Nelson, K., (2005). Corporate social responsibility and managerial ethics. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Since founding Magnify Leadership and Development, James has developed, facilitated and coached programs including; Change Leadership, Coaching, Communication Skills, Sustaining Learning, Interviewing Skills, Leadership, Territory Management for dozens of leading global organizations; including, Advantis Research and Consulting, IMS, CMOE, Pfizer, Sinclair, Disetronic Medical Systems, StratX, ASTD, Coventry Health Care, Wilson Learning, and many others. James is bilingual and can facilitate and coach in both English and Spanish.

Prior to founding Magnify Leadership and Development, James headed Pfizer’s Learning and Development for all of Europe, Canada, Africa and the Middle East where he was instrumental in the development of a global management curriculum and other training initiatives to enhance organizational effectiveness for over 30,00 employees.

Visit James website to learn how we can you with your leadership and communication development needs.

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Tags: ethics, training, questions, issues, business

“How has you organisations corporate social responsibility strategy been developed? has it been produced as a result of commercial one-upmanship or as a result of deep ethical foundations within the organisation? Politicians are in a cycle of ever increasing their environmental credentials over and above their opponents, but does this encourage voters to actually change the environmental impact of their personal lifestyle?

Nearly every day corporations and business organisations are declaring their worthiness with regard to social responsibility, food safety, environment impact, personnel health, safety and welfare, fair trade and ethical supply chains in a variety of reports and policy statements. Third party standards have also been developed that address many of these issues and organisations continue to increase the portfolio of certificates that they display in their reception areas and on their websites. What impact does all this have on the purchasing decisions of the consumers of their products and services?

Mahatma Gandhi said that “”An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind…”" so does this suggest that the constant declaration of improved and enhanced corporate ethical credentials leaves consumers and customers non-plussed? Does the psychology of we will worry about the environment, employee health and safety, etc. when you do, leave us all inactive and weaken organisations by increasing their business risk? Consumers and customers must be able to trust the integrity of organisations and their brands and if this is based on claims and statements of intent then these criteria must be measurable otherwise performance cannot be verified and ultimately that trust may be lost.

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Tags: corporate, business, organization, vision, ethics

“Isn’t it about time that you got right with money? When I say “right” what I am talking about is getting money right emotionally. Money is a very controversial subject in our society. Mention money to almost anyone and it will bring out a certain level of discomfort because almost everyone lacks money. Statistics say that 97% of our population works for 3% of society.

Only around 4% to 5 % achieve a six figure income and one-twentieth of 1% of society achieve a seven figure income. “Why is it,” I ask, “that so many people struggle when we are living in a world with so many opportunities to create wealth?” In this information I will be presenting what I believe to be the reasons that hold so many people from receiving the money they deserve.

I have personally coached hundreds of great people in the last six years whose struggles with money issues have caused them to sabotage themselves over and over. One of the first questions to ask when it comes to money is, “Who was my role model when it comes to money, prosperity, finance, and abundance?” For most of us it was our parents and for them it was their parents. Let’s also state that this information is not about blaming anyone. You are now a grownup and your perception of money is now up to you.

The next question to ask is, “What did I learn in my education about money?” Typical high school curriculum includes courses about economics and government but nothing about how to attract money or how to have a healthy relationship with money. Traditional education teaches how to acquire job skills, and prepares students to get paid what a particular job is worth, not what the individual is worth.

Making more money requires education about free enterprise and how to get paid what the free market bears; getting paid on your terms and your time frame, and learning about service and value. The more valuable you become through the service you provide, the more you make. This is not about working hard because if that were the case, then all of the world laborers would be millionaires.

Over the centuries money has gotten a bad rap by being associated with corruption, greed, pain, and the misuse of power. A perception grew that somehow the rich deprived the poor and that wealthy people were bad people, were not loveable, were disconnected from love, and were greedy. The sad fact is that most people just don’t believe they deserve to have money freedom or peace of mind.

I believe that you can be rich, spiritual, and prosperous, and that with your abundance you can create love and compassion using your wealth to assist others strengthen their skills so that they too have the opportunity to be prosperous in life’s ways.

Most of us have been taught that “Money is the root of all evil,” but the actual quotation from the Bible is, “The love of money is the root of all evil.” Money itself is neutral – not good or bad. It is paper and metal that symbolizes an exchange of goods and services. Money is an energy that you either attract or repel. It is the negative emotions around money such as greed, obsession, and power that can bring negative experiences, and that keep most people from it.

In the last several centuries there has been radical change in opportunity, philosophy, and ways to create wealth. Many courageous forerunners paved the way for new thoughts and ideas about prosperity, abundance, self sufficiency, and enlightenment. Just in the last hundred years brilliant writers and speakers have emerged like Napoleon Hill, Dale Carnegie, Earnest Holmes, Katherine Ponder, Florence Scovel Schinn, Earl Nightengale, Louise Hay, Jim Rohn and Tony Robbins, to name a few of my favorites that have assisted me with my enlightenment.

A whole consciousness of self-help and personal development has become available to the masses. Bookstores and coffee bars are now as popular as some of the old traditional night spots, and we now have access to coaches and mentors to be emotionally, financially, and spiritually fit.

People now realize that they are responsible for their own empowerment. They see that assuming responsibility can bring them prosperity and allow them to become more and to do more. For this to happen, people have to have belief in themselves and grasp the idea that they can control their lives. In our me-too, microwave, lottery-mentality society very few people ever put the proper thoughts and proper actions together at the same time to provoke the results they deserve.

Plain and simple, most people don’t believe they deserve prosperity and abundance. They want, wish, like to, if only, pray for a miracle, and most of all want for change to happen. Sorry, it doesn’t operate that way. Too many people tiptoe quietly to their graves looking back only to say – “I wish I would have!”

Still, don’t lose heart for it can officially become “Now O’clock” at any minute. There are 86,400 seconds in every single day; 1,440 minutes, 24 hours, one day, one week, one month, one year, one lifetime. We can change at any moment. Is it hard or is it easy? You are one thought away from success or one thought away from failure. It is a choice we have the opportunity to make every single day.

I believe God wants us to be rich, prosperous, and free. God did not create fear, it is manmade. Fear overrides most people’s dreams and objectives. Most people aren’t even able to identify what they are afraid of. All they know is they are struggling just to keep up with the other sheep in the pasture.

You have to get past the thoughts that money is bad and will somehow taint you. Abundance is natural and spiritual. Money will not deprive you but could actually enlighten you. Many of the great teachers have given credence to the idea that abundance is spiritual and that it is the power of your thoughts that creates abundance for you.

If you are wealthy more often than not you will be dispersing your money commercially and charitably, supporting many people around you and adding to the velocity of overall wealth. There are literally trillions of dollars passing about electronically on any given day, and those signals are literally passing by you at all times.

If you stop and think about it, there are millions of dollars flowing through your body at the moment. Imagine making a slight flick of the wrist in order to stop some of that money in transit so it sticks with you. A flick of the mind is a flick of the wrist.

Money can be good – greed is not good. There are no reasons why you can’t be very rich, very rich in fact, and still be a very valuable generous spiritual person with a huge heart and compassion for everyone.

Jeffery Combs is an internationally recognized speaker, trainer, and author committed to assisting people with personal growth and development.

He can be contacted online . Jeffery & Erica Combs host The More Heart Than Talent Mindset Conference each and every January to assist you to create quantum leaps to success in your enterprise by bringing world-class speakers and personal development experts together in an inspiring and empowering 3 day forum EVERYONE can afford to attend!

“There are all kinds of companies out there that claim to have the best-trained individuals on the planet, like those individuals with their Masters Degree, or those with business ethics 101. So why do so many textbook business ethics fail? It’s really quite simple. A company’s business ethics are only as good as the ethics of individuals running the company.

Ethics are a part of each of our lives, good or bad. And when it comes to business ethics, the same thing applies, because some businesses have great ethics while others have poor. If you aren’t sure where your ethical radar might fall, here is something you should remember. On average a customer that is not happy will tell 20 people about their experience and those 20 people will tell 40 more and those 40 more will tell 80 more and so it goes; obviously not good for business. Vendors, and employees also complain about unethical practices and treatments and their complaints have the same compounding effect. Perhaps those numbers will make you realize the importance of business ethics.

Its smart business sense to have your business plan in place and part of that business platform is its vision of itself now and into the future, as well as its role within the community. Business ethics are part of that plan including the company’s strategy for growth, stability, and profits.

Ethics involves many things in our personal lives today and tomorrow. When it comes to business, the same thing applies relating to the company. In fact, these days there is a lot of talk about environmental footprints and your business ethics will play a role in what your company does to reduce its impact on the environment.

Ethics involve what’s going on outside the company walls, like the environmental footprints, and the way you handle your obligations in the community, with your customers, and even with your vendors. Your company ethics also apply internally to how you treat your employees and contractors.

Many times business owners are worried that having textbook business ethics will cause their business to fail because of reduced profits, when actually the opposite is true. Your profits will increase because you have a business that is fair to work for, ran smoothly, with effective management, and happy staff, combine that with happy customers and you have the formula for a healthy business with healthy profits.

Remember you are the boss and it’s you that sets the tone for your managers, which in turn filter it down to the employees. Ethics are either important to your company or not but it starts with you.

Business ethics are about the quality of your customer service, the quality of your staff’s working environment, it’s about your involvement in the community, and a host of other things. Good ethics attract customers, and customers are good for your bottom line.

So consider this – what is it you are looking for out of your business? Remember your personal ethics must be there, otherwise the textbook business ethics will fail.

Eugene L Ilten owns and operates this site.

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Tags: business, ethics, international, policies, issues

We often don’t see the connection between the banks and our governments, because we have been sold the fiction that our government is all powerful, and the banks do what they are told.

Yeah, right! The power sits firmly where the money is, and that’s with our old friends the bankers. The Governments of this world do what they can to ease the flow of money into the banker’s coffers.

Witness two recent stories about the British Government that will leave you in doubt that it is always the bankers’ interests that come first, regardless of the detrimental effect on the people and the public purse.

The first story will quite obviously be the Northern Rock fiasco. £25 billion of tax payers money used to shore up a corrupt, mismanaged business. And our money will be paid back (hopefully) within 5 years. However, what our £25 billion does, is allow already filthy rich bankers and business people to buy what’s left of the Northern Rock without taking on its debts and being able to keep all the profits!

Indeed and, this helps the British taxpayer how? Of course, this scheme was dreamed up by the bankers at Goldman Sachs, and of course the bankers were looking to get the best deal for themselves and their cohorts, the British public be damned.

Oh and yes, this deal has been presided over by the UK government, Prime Minister Brown and his Chancellor in particular.

See more on this story at the Times here.

The second story about how the government bends over backwords to help the banks fleece us regards debt relief for people who find they are currently unable to pay their bills.

Currently, we have a system of Adminstrative Orders, which are long term debt management plans administered by the courts. Under these plans all interest on debt is suspended in return for people paying a set amount every month.

So, what would our helpful government like to introduce? New rules being proposed by the Government would enable consumers struggling to pay debts to apply for a court order to have a repayment break.

Repayments could be suspended for up to a year, but interest rates would continue to accrue. The orders will not be allowed to include such debts as mortgages, child maintenance and student loans. And, AND there would be a fee for taking out such a court order.

I’m not sure I see the upside here! However, the Chief Justice Minister Bridget Prentice says ‘Debt’s a problem that can affect anyone at any time. We want to ensure people who run up debts are given every opportunity to pay them off’.

Good for her.Good for the banks. Good for you? I’m not so sure. After all, even though you’re taking a ‘repayment debt’, the total you owe will be higher at the end of the break. Under the current system, no further interest is added to your debts, it’s clear which option serves you and your financial health best.

This administration has presided over policies and actions that have resulted in the UK having a current deficit of £43.6billion. They are further saddling us with another £25billion debt to cover the Northern Rock fiasco. This is money they don’t have because of the profligate spending this government embarked upon since taking office with Tony Blair back in 1997.

The next budget is not going to be able to do anything to stimulate our stagnant economy, no tax cuts, no government spending, because there’s nothing left! And who are we in hock to? That’s right, the banks!

Isn’t it time to step out of such a travesty of a democratic system. We pay over 60% in taxes, do you like where your money is being spent? We then have to try and afford a decent lifestyle even when faced with predatory lending practises and corporate greed.

Take a stand, open you eyes and see what’s really going on. Opt out of the bankers game, opt out of governmental control. Take small steps forward, but move forward to freedom

Cynthia Curry is an ordinary person who came across extraordinary information and now wants to put it into the hands of as many people as possible to help them get out of debt and exit the corrupt banking system.

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Tags: ethic, questions, review, business, law

“I know few people who are really happy with the way things are going in America. Most think we need a fundamental change in direction. Some think the problem is with government, some think it’s immorality. I think it’s ethics – a severe dis-connect between the values we claim to believe when we’re in church on Sunday, and the amount of abuse we are willing to tolerate when those values are violated by ‘the system’ where we work during the week. It’s a spiritual problem.

We really don’t need pastors to be out in the street or in the face of all those unbelievers out there. All we really need is pastors who aren’t afraid of their congregations and who will challenge their people to “”Take Their Conscience To Work”" – and hold them strictly accountable if they don’t.

What most of us don’t understand — or refuse to believe — is that WE ARE DOING THIS TO OURSELVES. The IRS doesn’t send an agent from Utah or WashDC to harass us and steal our stuff. They have a local office, and a sheriff, and a judge, etc. etc. These local people are members of our churches, or neighbors, maybe even members of our families. The places where they work run because WE staff the offices and ‘turn the wheels.’ If all the ‘behind-the-scenes’ people, the clerks and so forth, simply REFUSE to participate in illegal activities, the whole process stops. True, it will tend to stop quicker if the judges and our elected officials stop their state-sponsored terrorism against us (is there any rational person who thinks the IRS is not a terrorist organization?), but if every Christian finally decides to just do what’s right, the system will grind to a halt.

But we don’t. We Christians continue to function and give our little daily pushes to the wheels of tyranny because we say, “”I’m not really doing anything wrong. I just _______ (open the mail, answer the phone, administer the network, take out the trash, etc.) If our duties, as menial as they might be, were not essential to the functioning of the business or office, our jobs would be eliminated. If immorality, societal decay, socialism and tyranny are being promoted in any way by the business you are in, you are contributing to it.

So I think “”Take Your Conscience To Work”" should become a rallying cry of all freedom-loving people. Let’s truly integrate our Christian principles in our life’s work and refuse to do anything that contributes to the further decay of our culture. The problem isn’t Mexicans coming over the border, or megalomaniacs in DC. The problem is that we each, in our own little ways, contribute to tyranny every day. Why? Because ‘we need the money,’ and if we don’t perform, we don’t get paid. And if we are willing to be slaves to mammon, we will get just what we deserve.

Perhaps this is why neither Jesus, nor John the Baptist, nor Paul railed against the oppressive Roman government. They each realized that the empire’s engine of oppression could only operate with local support. So instead of decrying ‘the government,’ John specifically addressed the agents through whom tyranny was exercised: “”Collect no more than what is appointed for you.”" “”Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.”" (Luke 3:13-14) No railing against “”the system”" and no attempt to change policy or politics. Just do what’s right.

Jesus also dealt with the tax system when He called Matthew: “”Follow Me.”" (Mark 2:14) That was it; one less tax collector for the people to deal with. What will happen if every Christian in the government decides to truly follow Christ, instead of just paying Him lip-service on Sunday? And what would happen if, as I suggested previously, the pastors would hold their members accountable for seven-days-a-week discipleship? Jesus saw two clear and exclusive loyalties: God and Mammon. It’s gotta be one or the other; can’t be neither and can’t be both.

Paul said, “”Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hand the thing that is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need.”" (Ephesians 4:28) We all know (or sure should by now!) that the mis-applied ‘income’ tax is simply theft. Those who promote it and those who benefit from it are stealing property. Again, Paul does not rail against ‘the system’ but rather simply tells Christian participants to drop out of it.

Most Christians I’ve met are too immature to understand the power of this sort of obedience, even though Jesus Himself explained it in clear terms in Matthew 16:19. Your un-Christian neighbor wants to be ‘just as good as a Christian’ (is supposed to be) but doesn’t want to get involved with church, religion, or (God forbid!) obnoxious Christian people. Still, the standard is set by the people of God. When we quit trying to tell the world how they should live (self-righteousness or holier-than-thou, both nauseating to Christ) and start living as we ought, we will raise the bar and set the standard to which the culture must rise if they want to be ‘just as good as a Christian.’

It’s really no more complicated than that. As long as we’re content to gather in our little buildings and sing our little songs and have our little Bible studies, the world and the culture will remain unchanged. As long as we continue to ROT as we pretend to be disciples and are really just compliant cowards, our culture will continue to deteriorate. Chuck Missler has pointed out that “”faith is not belief in spite of the evidence. It is obedience in spite of the consequences.”"

When we start taking Christ seriously and we take our Biblically-informed consciences to work: when we refuse as a matter of faith and obedience to participate in any way to the further destruction of our culture, THEN we will start having an impact.

The longer we wait, the more expensive it will be.

The author is a transition and self esteem coach living in Raleigh, North-Carolina. Strategies and resources are available here

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Tags: ethics, workplace, work, business, office

In today’s society everything from grocery shopping to ordering pizza can be done online? Lets face it, everyone wants convenience. Today’s society is fast paced. It is no surprise that most business owners have taken their products and services and placed it online. In the present day and age it is almost impossible to have a successful business unassociated with the Internet.

The Internet opens new opportunities for any sort of business. Such as: low overheads, convenience for customers and clients, and presents various methods to display important and relevant information about your business to your clients and so that they remain up to date and well informed.

As a new business owner, starting an online business may be your first alternative. The question that arises is how to go about starting an online business? You may have heard of many who have tried and failed or may have succeeded but are not as successful. This may be due to lack of tools and research.

Research is very vital to the success of any business. Once you have decided what type of online business you would like to develop, then research the topic. The first step is to research your competitors. Research the products or services they offer. Find out as much information as you can. What makes their business successful? Who are their target audience? Where do they advertise? What products or services sell most?

Now that you have educated yourself and you feel comfortable with the knowledge you have gained it is time to research and develop your business plan and expense report. It is always recommended to prepare these documents especially, if you are planning to apply for a business loan or working with investors. Once these steps are taken care of it is time to focus on other key objectives.

The main focus of an online business is the website. Your website will act as the middle-man when it comes to selling and buying. The domain name you select is very important and should be chosen wisely. You may have already chosen your business name; but is it catchy enough to be used for your domain name? Your domain name should be catchy, easy to remember and unique.
After deciding an appropriate domain name, it is required to select a good web hosting company. When searching for a web hosting company there are some basic points you need to consider:

1. Reliability:
It is very important to find a web hosting company that is reliable and have a low percentage of downtime. As a new online business owner, your business needs to be up and operating at all times. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Research the web hosting company of your choice and it may be a good idea to find a web hosting company that offers a money back guarantee.

2. Server Hard Drive Space:
Keep in mind that most web pages average 10-50 kilobytes in size. It is important to cover all of your web pages. It is recommended that you select a package which offers web space more than your requirements to be on the safe side.

3. Customer Care or Technical Support:
We have all been in a situation as a customer where you order something online and have question but there are no answers. In most cases, technical support is offered in the Web Hosting package. However, double check before purchasing. See how quickly the technical support center responds to your questions.

4. Secure Server:
Ordering products or service from an online business can have its consequences. Especially identify any theft and possible security issues. It is important to your customers that their information is protected and safe. Most online businesses offer this protection by having secure servers. It may be an additional cost; but it is one that is worth it.

5. POP Accounts:
Allows you access to emails sent through your website. Each account is password protected. In most cases, you will receive 5, 10, 100 or more POP Accounts. You can assign an account to all your employees.

6. Other Tools Such as FTP and Website Wizards:
If you are like most online business owners, you do not have the skill to create a website from scratch nor do you have the money to pay some expensive web site designer. In this case, a web host company that offers a web site design wizard and other tools will be of great convenience.

7. Price:
It is not impossible to find a web hosting company that offers you quality and quantity at a great price. Make sure to bargain with the company you are purchasing from as most hosting companies are willing to offer further discounts to acquire new customers.

Now it is time to create your website. Here are a few tips:

The content on your web site should be informative, interesting and well written. It should catch the attention of the reader and keep them interested. Each page should sell your product or service. Include a mailing list and maybe a referral program. Newsletters are great as well.

Building a web site is usually fun and inventive. However, marketing your website will prove to be a little more difficult. Nevertheless, some web hosting companies offer great information and additional marketing tools for an added fee.

This information should assist you in starting an online business and help you towards developing a new website for your company.

William King is the director of UK Wholesale Suppliers Directory, Wholesale Trade Supplies, Dropshipping Directory, and Pakistan Property Portal . He has 18 years of experience in the marketing and trading industries and has been helping retailers and startups with their product sourcing, promotion, marketing and supply chain requirements.

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Tags: business, ethics, corporate, management, companies

“In the end, integrity is all you’ve got…” this statement succinctly encapsulates the

importance of ethics in the corporate scheme of things, and underscores its role as the
corner stone of business practices today.

Jack Welch, former chairman of GE is a major champion of the supremacy of ethics in
business. Whenever an employee’s actions have put GE on the wrong side of the law, he
has hastened to co-operate with investigators, admit guilt and take prompt corrective
action. Such corporate mea culpa has served the company well.

The time-card scandal in 1985 was the first significant ethical challenge of Welch’s 25year GE career. GE Re-entry Systems, a GE subsidiary, was making a new nose cone for the Air Force’s Minuteman missile. Federal prosecutors in Philadelphia charged it with 108 counts of criminal fraud. The indictment alleged that GE managers had altered worker’s time cards with improper charges totaling $800,000. Welch’s response and damage control were brilliant, thereby winning the trust of government officials. Welch personally called on Secretary Orr, presenting a comprehensive proposal for cleaning up the mess and preventing such mess from recurring. He created a top-level review board within GE to oversee compliance.

In this time-card case and other similar instances, candor and a determination to ally GE with the forces of law have enabled GE to emerge with more vitality and systematic approaches to ethics. The experiences also underscore the challenge of having to raise employees’ awareness of the need for high ethical standards.

“You can’t audit integrity into a system any more than you can inspect quality into a machine. Where you can make a difference is by changing the culture, by tireless, forceful leadership that won’t tolerate winking, rule-bending or looking the other way.” Welch was quoted as saying. His favourite question to GE employees was: “Can you look in the mirror every day and feel proud of what you are doing.” According to Welch, “In a global business, you can win without bribes. But you better have technology. That’s why we win in business like turbines, because we have the best gas turbine. You have got to be the low-priced supplier, but in almost all cases, if you have quality, price and technology, you win.”

Even the comeback kid, Donald Trump has this advice for businessmen: “Be honest,
even if there are others around you who are not.” In the 1999, he almost wanted to run as

Companies spend a lot of money in selecting its candidates. This is normally based on competence and achievements, which are easier to measure. However, it is equally important to select candidates with high levels of integrity and ethics. Strong ethical practices should pervade across the whole corporate spectrum. It is important that board members need to be more independent. Analysts too need to provide independent views and assessments in their reports on companies. Shareholders and investors need to focus and do their homework rather than merely relying on earnings per share and short term profits. All of these issues have to do with integrity as it is necessary to do what is right
and ethical.

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Dr Mike Teng (DBA, MBA, BEng, FIMechE, FIEE, CEng, PEng, FCMI, FCIM, SMCS) is the author of the best-selling business book “Corporate Turnaround: Nursing a sick company back to health”, in 2002. In 2006, he authored another book entitled, “Corporate Wellness: 101 Principles in Turnaround and Transformation.” Dr Teng is widely recognized as a turnaround CEO in Asia by the news media. He has 27 years of experience in corporate responsibilities in the Asia Pacific region. Of these, he held Chief Executive Officer’s positions for 17 years in multi-national, local and publicly listed companies. He led in the successful turnaround of several troubled companies. He is currently the Managing Director of a business advisory firm, Corporate Turnaround Centre Pte Ltd (Website), which assists companies on a fast track to financial performance. Dr Teng was the President of the Marketing Institute of Singapore (2000 – 2004),

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Tags: ethical, article, business, issues, ethics

Bad bosses, poor supervisors, inept managers create negative impact on the bottom line including less production, higher turnover and increased operating costs. These individuals all share one common trait – poor business ethics and values.

An organization is a group of people working together to achieve shared goals. Everyone should have the same high personal ethics and personal values respective to each other, the customers, the vendors and even the community. However, when supervisory or higher employees continually demonstrate negative values and ethics, the organization’s performance suffers from the bottom up.

Unfortunately, many of these same organizations believe the answer for these employee related issues is improved training for their employees and waste thousands of dollars focusing on the symptom instead of the problem. These organizations are living Einstein’s’ definition of insanity (doing the same thing over and over again hoping for different results) on a daily basis

Florida State University just released a study (January 2007) of more than 700 people within a variety of industries and at different employment levels revealed some interesting facts:

• Almost two out of five bosses (39%) fail to keep their word
• One in four supervisors (27%) insulted those they supervised to fellow co-workers
• One in five (23%) blamed others for their mistakes
• Almost one in three (31%) used the silent treatment to show displeasure

All of these behaviors demonstrate that these bosses lacked personal values and personal ethics. This lack of ethical behavior may be attributed to top management because upper management has probably modeled the same behaviors. Finally, there is probably no core values adopted by the organization within the strategic plan. Even if there is a values statement, it is much more for show.

With all the national attention on corporate malfeasance to corruption politicians, we, as Americans, should not be surprised by the results of this study. Poor ethical behavior attracts poor ethical behavior and becomes the justifying reason for continued poor ethical behavior.

To stop this negative drain on productivity and the U.S. workforce in general demands that organizations adopt a values statement of non-negotiable behaviors within the strategic plan to be demonstrated to all external and equally important internal customers. Failure to adhere to these values is a reason for termination and termination will happen.

Ethics and values are part of the performance for all individuals. If management fails to treat everyone with respect, then how can management expect loyal employees?

Audit the leadership in your business to determine if you have bad bosses

Determine if a business management plan may help you with your ethics and values.

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Tags: ethics, management, communication, business, development

Everyone knows that hurricanes and major storms bring with them a rising tide of flood waters, torrential rains, and high winds. The damage left behind is measured in millions, if not billions, of dollars. While many well meaning people and legitimate companies move in to lend a helping hand, enough scoundrels find their way to the damage zones and prey upon vulnerable home and property owners.

Scoundrels take many forms. Looting is common in evacuated communities. Looters are opportunists who see an opportunity and take it – along with whatever they can get their hands on. Other scoundrels include unlicensed or out-of-area contractors who want to make a fast buck – often by overcharging for services, performing shoddy work, or flat out taking your money – never to be seen again.

What other types of scoundrels descending upon your disaster area? Be wary of anyone going door-to-door promising quick fixes or asking for cash up front. Legitimate contractors and public insurance agents have plenty of legitimate business and shouldn’t need to go door-to-door. It’s not uncommon for scoundrels to pose as contractors, ask for a cash advance for “materials” and then disappear with the receding flood waters. Even those contractors and agents that are properly licensed and ready to work may not be the best choice. Inflated prices and sketchy warranties are reason enough to find your own contractor through trusted sources.

While looters may be locals and other scoundrels may come in from nearby towns and states, long distance scoundrels are ready to exploit the situation – and they may be half a world away. These reach far beyond the disaster area, targeting the goodwill of charitable people wanting to help. Online scams, phishing attempts, and e-mail campaigns soliciting donations are designed with one thing in mind: lining the scoundrel’s pockets.

In the first few days following a major disaster dozens of related domain names are typically registered. Whether these web domains belong to legitimate relief agencies or contractors isn’t always apparent upon first glance. Like phishing web sites, it’s not terribly difficult to publish a professional looking Web site in a matter of hours. With savvy search engine techniques and a huge audience of people wanting to help, the Web sites operated by scoundrels are sure to turn over a quick buck or two before being discovered (if ever) by the authorities.

Offline scams in the immediate disaster area and online scams extending from all corners of the globe are more common than you may think. Whether you live in the immediate disaster area or are a concerned citizen living elsewhere, it’s important to be skeptical and consider the possibility that the person knocking on your door or the e-mail that arrived in your inbox is either a scammer or a scam.

What should you do to prevent being the scoundrel’s next victim? Remember that scammers can be personable, professional-looking, and downright charming. Phishing messages and phony Web sites are designed to look like the real thing and pull on your heart strings. Rather than allowing contractors, relief agencies, and public insurance adjusters find you, you find them – through legitimate avenues. This means asking trusted sources for referrals, using companies you’ve dealt with in the past, or doing a great deal of research before agreeing to any work, contract, or donation. This also means never paying cash up front and asking for (and calling) references. Other steps that you can take include checking with the Better Business Bureau, checking with your state’s contractor licensing or insurance licensing board, and checking with charity watchdogs to find out if the contractor, public insurance agent, or charity has any complaints on file, is properly licensed, or is a legitimate organization.

Scoundrels are everywhere but they love to descend upon areas that are ripe for exploitation such as areas devastated by flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, and earthquakes. No matter what disaster has affected you, beware of the scoundrels that are sure to emerge from the debris.

Dryout® Inc.

Dryout Inc Emergency water damage restoration, drying, deodorization, decontamination, disinfection, mold removal, water and fire damage repair services by a network of trained specialists, technicians and restoration professionals across the USA and Canada.

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Tags: issues, ethics, ethical, business, legal

Sensational headlines add fuel to the fire. In Canada, there was a report published in most of the daily newspapers saying that by 10 am on January 2nd, the 100 top paid CEOs in Canada have already earned more than what the average Canadian makes in an entire year. A few more facts on this story: The average income of the 100 top paid CEOs in Canada is $9 million per year. The income of the average Canadian worker is $38,000 per year. Look at it this way – By the end of the fourth day of each year, these CEOs make more than twice what the average person makes in the entire year!

Stories like this are sensational. Sensationalism hurts reputations. Nothing was published about whether these CEOs earn their keep or how anybody would go about measuring their worth. Sure, some of these people are probably overpaid. But some are not. Some of these CEOs, I’m sure, risked everything to start the companies that they now preside over. They risked a lot. They now enjoy the rewards that come with success. Not to mention, many of these CEOs are probably responsible for the creation of many jobs.

In the end, nothing is really told except a headline saying that CEOs make a lot of money – Headlines written in a method to grab people’s attention and sell newspapers. There is more to sensational headlines than meets the eye. The unsuspecting public naturally comes to the conclusion that these CEOs are overpaid and immoral. In most cases, I don’t think that’s true.

Tino Buntic created his website, TradePals, to provide free sales leads without cold calling to business professionals across The United States and Canada. Visit the site and create a free professional profile to get started.

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Tags: ethical, business, compensation, pay, issues

The factors the influence a leader to develop an educational institutions code of conduct can come from two sources. Either the leader will instill the institutions educational code of conduct as a proactive measure to prevent unethical practices from happening in the future or there has been an ethical violation in the past and the institutions code of conduct needs to address those issues and put in place measures to prevent other unethical issues from arising. Either factor is imperative in maintaining an atmosphere where the staff of the educational institution contributes to the ethical and moral conduct while maintaining professional environment.

Ethical thinking needs to be instilled in any organization, not just educational institutions. The leadership should not assume that a staff will follow the moral past just because they are teachers or administrators. Each individual has their own set of morals that may be different than the overall organizations. The educational leader must realize that even though the individual may be thinking that he or she is making an ethical decision, that decision may go against the code of the institution or the leader’s vision of where ethics should be placed within the organization. An individual’s view of ethics is not always parallel to the ethics of a school culture.

A good direction for the leader to create, modify, or reinstall an institutional code of conduct is to create a committee of staff that come from different grades, departments, or job descriptions. This team can use their collective beliefs to come up with norms and dictates that will guide the staff as a whole toward more ethical decisions. The code of conduct should be reviewed in a systematic approach to change the ethical dictates to meet the changing views of society and the school culture.

Don Rainwater has written many articles on educational and business ethics. To view his books and products please view http://www.dkrainwater.com

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Tags: ethical, mind, reality, code, business