Comments on: The Trouble with Ethics Awards

By: Peter Rushworth

Peter Rushworth — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:16:37 +0000

Rush,

This one hit me. It triggered questions others may not ask.It probably has to do with my age, or more likely the age in which I grew up.

I ask, Why does your organization need to exist? In my view it should be superfluous. It should be just a reminder of who we are, what we do, how we act and think.

Instead, your whole purpose is to run behind the rolling ball of behavior, trying to catch up, but seemingly falling farther behind.

When I (we) were young, when I lied, my mouth was washed out with soap. If I did it again I was also sentenced to my room for a period of time. Of course in those days spanking was not out of the question. My parents went to great lengths, which I did not then understand, to see to it that I had a character that exhibits an ethical and moral behavior that at least at my start, had barriers to the indiscretions of so many of today’s young people.

I have not parented a young child for over 30 years. But I have seen the residue of a lot of parenting and much of it seems to me to be inadequate. Permissiveness is rampant in the interests of letting the youngsters “learn to express themselves”. On the other end is simply apathy on the part of parents who seem to say: “I don’t have the time or inclination to deal with this!”

Of all the errors and insufficiencies of today’s society I think bad parenting is the worse. It stems from the last generation’s permissiveness and if today’s parents cannot or will not adopt the concept that their child’s character depends mostly on them, we are sunk, Global Ethics will be an after thought. The bulldozer you stand in front of will be getting larger and closer.

The current crop of violators, the ones we can see in the news, can probably not be stopped except by Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs: When all the wealth they crave is accumulated, they will go on to higher things.

Your stuff needs to go down, down down. Get them at eight or ten when they have come to the age of reason.’ Perhaps you need to redefine “reason”. But you are really needed.

Peter

By: Hafiz Al Asad Talha

Hafiz Al Asad Talha — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:10:03 +0000

I couldn’t agree more. Superb writing.

Islam is full of ethics compared to the rest!

By: Bruce Balfe

Bruce Balfe — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:54:58 +0000

I agree with Thomas Morton’s point. If we give awards recognizing ethical behavior it sends a signal that ethical behavior is out of the ordinary and not an expectation of everyone all the time. Ethical behavior should not be so unusual that it requires special recognition when one encounter it.
Bruce Balfe
Valparaiso, IN

By: Carsten Tams

Carsten Tams — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:26:43 +0000

Thank you for your article. Your argument against compartmentalizing ethics is spot on. Those advocating for awards to reward desired behavior – ethical or other – through extrinsic rewards often fail to appreciate the complexity of incentives. Designing incentives in such a way that they accomplish the desired effect is far from trivial. Amongst those who study human motivation it is generally accepted that just dangling a reward in front of someone’s nose is not necessarily going to increase this person’s likelihood to behave in the desired way. Studies (some examples cited below) have shown that a monetary incentive that is perceived as too low can decrease motivation. And according to the well studied “overjutification effect”, incentivizing people with money when they are already intrinsically motivated to behave in the desired way can diminish this intrinsic motivation. Bottom line: Dread carefully when implementing incentives programs.
One could easily point to examples illustrating how an overreliance on extrinsic incentives has contributed to undesirable outcomes. The recent financial meltdown is a case in point. Some companies now attempt to counter the negative impact of incentives for financial performance with “counter-incentives” for ethical performance. Good luck with the fine-tuning. An alternative approach might be to reconsider the excessive use of extrinsic rewards altogether. A daring proposition, I know. Be as it may, it would be great to see the findings of motivational research be applied to the field of corporate ethics.
Eberts, Randall W., Hollenbeck, Kevin and Stone, Joe A., Teacher Performance Incentives and Student Outcomes (August 2000). W.E. Upjohn Institute Working Paper No. 00-65.
Frey, Bruno S & Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, 1997. “The Cost of Price Incentives: An Empirical Analysis of Motivation Crowding-Out,” American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(4), pages 746-55, September.
Gneezy Uri and Rustichini, Aldo. “Pay Enough, or Don’t Pay at All.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, August 2000, 115(3), pp. 791–810.
Lepper, M. R., Greene, D., & Nisbett, R. E. (1973). Undermining children’s intrinsic interest with extrinsic reward: A test of the “overjustification” hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 28, 129-137.

By: William O. Blackwood

William O. Blackwood — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:05:40 +0000

We have recognized courage on the battlefield with awards for years. Mr. Kidder recognizes numerous people and acts in his book “Moral Courage.” It seems that a form of recognition has real merit whether it is the person or the act. Legends are created from stories and shape organizational culture. I think there are several questions that should be answered before deciding whether or not it should be done.

By: Thomas Marton

Thomas Marton — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:32:55 +0000

Why should we give an award to a public figure who has done ‘the right thing?’ Isn’t that what’s expected of a public servant? If I’m voting, a political figure doing the job they were elected to do simply isn’t eligible.

This rings the same bell that we hear when some edifice is named after a politician who may have done nothing more than appropriate public funds for a highway, a bridge, or a community center. Name it after a figure or organization that has truly stepped forward and gone beyond what was expected. If we feel compelled to recognize ethics and community involvement, cite a deed that is truly worthy, not an individual.

For example, the ABC show Home Makeover recently rebuilt a home in my area for a truly worthy individual. No good deed goes unpunished, and a huge property tax increase resulted. A local businessman (who, by the way, hasn’t previously been noted for generosity) agreed to pay both back taxes and the current bill. Is this purely ethics? Certainly not, but it’s the action that should be recognized, not necessarily the individual.

Thomas Marton
Erie, PA

By: Robert J. Hamilton-Bruce

Robert J. Hamilton-Bruce — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:45:26 +0000

I do not think that a global ethics award is a good idea.
Each and every day there would be millions of people who are making totally ethical choices, often at great personal cost. They will, as always go unsung.