Ethics in the Workplace from an Integral PerspectiveIn looking at ethics in the workplace from an Integral Perspective, we first need Integral Map as the reference frame. (For a more detailed overview than the one provided on this site, I recommend visiting the Integral Life site.) The following is a very brief overview of applying Integral Theory to ethics in the workplace. I invite further discussion, as this is a very large topic with much more depth than this article has been designed to deliver.
We will start with the quadrants. If we start with the upper left quadrant, this is how we experience ethics in the workplace as an individual. Do we feel ethical? Does the workplace match our values and beliefs? Is there a fear of speaking up or out? Is there too much talk and not enough walk? Are the values of the business connected in any way to influences that may cause it to cross the line? Are there any conflicts of interest? When someone feels that their own ethics are being violated in the workplace, it reflects a mismatch of values, behaviour, culture and/or systems. (Any of the other three quadrants.) In the upper right quadrant, do the behaviours of the leadership team reflect the espoused ethics? Do your behaviours align with the espoused ethics? How are we measuring the behaviours and outputs, and are we missing vital pieces of information? For example, if we just measure profitability, are we missing measuring the human cost, both interior to the business and exterior, plus the environmental cost, plus the long and short term costs, plus the full cycle of cost from the very beginning to the end of the product? Are we taking into account the field effects of our product, actions and behaviours? In the lower left, does the entire culture resonate with the same ethics? Or are there divisions, where groups of people act and behave very differently to each other and the espoused ethics? Are the divisions healthy levels of dissonance, or are they fractures based on carelessness and oversight? How is the ethical culture perceived by others outside the business? In the lower right, are the systems designed to re-enforce the ethics in the workplace? What are the policies that are currently in place? Do the policies need changing, editing, additions, deletions? Are the systems and policies supporting the ethics of the business, or ‘hot wiring them?’ What are the systemic impacts, short and long term, of the ethical policies currently in place? Do the policies allow for natural emergence, or are they rigid and fixed? Are they matched to the levels of development of people within the organisation? If we then add the lines of development to the mix... Using a simplified version of stages or lines of development; Egocentric stage People at the egocentric stage will only implement the policies and rules of the business if they agree with them, and especially if it suits their purpose. They are motivated by self interest, and “no body tells me what to do!” They will work the polices to suit them, or ignore them entirely, and screw the consequences. If your workplace has a large number of people at this stage of development they need to be inspired by more meaning and purpose. Help them understand the consequences of their actions, but be sure to do so in a way that brings them along versus alienates. Ethnocentric stage At this stage, rules are made to be kept and there is a heavy fundamentalism that seeps in. The downside is that there is no adaptation to changed environmental conditions, and a very limited flexibility. There is also little regard for how others may be experiencing the world, especially people at the margins. (Women, minorities.) “As long as you adopt my view of what is right, and do not argue, we will be fine.” Anyone who doesn’t is ostracized, neglected and shamed. There is little place for disagreement. An organisation with a heavily ethnocentric staff needs to appeal to the possibility of all members having a better life through their work. A large divide between the leadership and the workers will only build in resentment, where as leaders that speak the language of the workers will have much more cooperation. Sociocentric stage At this stage of development ethics only works if there is a profit to be made, or if my status is improved, or if it gets ‘me’ results. Therefore, I am going to adapt the policies to suit me, or ignore them completely. Or I will manipulate them to get my results. In distinction to the egocentric stage, which is all about self, (I, me, mine) this is all about self plus what I get from the deal. “Show me the money!” At this stage the temptation to yield to corruption becomes extreme. Worldcentric stage At this stage people are interested in doing the right thing for others and the environment. However, they also have trouble implementing very clear boundaries and rules when the policies and procedures are broken. There is a high egalitarian attitude, an “anti” punishment rule, “being too nice”, “not rocking the boat”. The paradox is that people often get away with breaking the rules all the time, because there has been an almost total elimination of rules and boundaries. Political correctness is at its peak. Fear of speaking up in case I ‘offend’ is the order of the day. Integral stage (For simplification we will only outline this one last stage, even though there are subsequent stages.)At this stage people have a sense of the greater whole, that to employ ethics in the workplace in all systems and actions has a ripple effect that creates at the least, a triple win. A win for the business, a win for the customer, and a win for me.This stage demands the level of ethics in business that starts with the individual, and goes to their relationships, actions, behaviours; being in alignment with the actions, behaviours and values of the business. People walk their talk. The ethics support the value of the business in all domains, profit, people, environment, future. There is a flexible yet firm ethos. Personal responsibility and accountability are high. Combining the Quadrants and the Stages. Integral Theory has levels of complexity that we will not cover in this article. Once we have looked at the quadrants and the stages, we then need to integrate them, and look at all stages in all four quadrants. For example: How do the people at the egocentric stage feel about their values alignment within the business? What are their behaviours? How do they relate to others and the culture in general? What systems and policies support them or not? Aligning a business and its ethics to resonate with all stages of development in all quadrants is a complex task. We will not be able to meet everyone at the level of ethics and values that match them. We are in favour of building a company that has a high attraction mechanism, where people with similar values and ethics gravitate naturally towards the business. To do this, our ethics in the workplace need to be very clear, and need to align in all four quadrants, at minimum. However, healthy dissonance is good for a company. It allows growth, challenge, tension in the status quo. Be careful of finding only perfect matches. You want some Positive Deviants, who are attracted to the overarching values of the company, and yet are not afraid to speak up. In Summary To review a business to determine how aligned their ethics are we must consider at minimum all the quadrants and all the lines of development. If the business is heavily centred at the Ethnocentric stage, with a heavy emphasis on the right hand side of the quadrant, our task is not to dismantle all systems in place, but to find elegant pathways to navigate to a more integrated alignment. Is the business able to move to a higher order of operating, where the minorities are included? Are we able to create a very healthy ethical business that matches where the business is at and needs to be? Considering the wise action and the implications on all is vital to the analysis. For more on this see the article on To Return from Ethics in the Workplace to Business Ethics
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