January 22nd, 2008
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Here’s a harsh dose of truth: Deception has reached epidemic proportions in our society.
Think I’m lying? Consider these grim statistics:
Psychologist Gerald Jellison’s research into mendacity leads him to conclude most people encounter 200 fibs and fabrications every single day. That’s a lie every eight minutes or so.
In a study using videotaped interactions among strangers, psychologist Robert Feldman discovered 60% of people lie an average of three times during ten minutes of conversation. That’s a whopper every three minutes and twenty seconds.
Clinical research isn’t the only evidence pointing to deception’s ever-deepening penetration of society. Tune into any newscast or open any newspaper and you’ll see “truthiness” at work. Accounting irregularities at major corporations, a million little fibs in James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces, and an endless series of political scandals have thrust dishonesty into the spotlight. Is there anything we can believe today?
Believe this: the workplace isn’t immune from the “truthiness” epidemic that’s sweeping the nation. In fact, the workplace is a Petri dish for growing a bumper crop of bald-faced lies because deception has become the performance-enhancing drug for any competitive environment. Let’s take a closer look at the general categories of lies we might encounter at the office, as well as their effect on individual performance and the performance of the business as a whole.
1. Lies to Avoid Hurting Others
More commonly referred to as “little white lies,” these fibs are among the most frequent we encounter at work and are also among the least destructive as far as productivity and morale are concerned. In fact, these lies are crucial for helping any workforce function smoothly. There are countless occasions where “the truth” simply isn’t appropriate.
Imagine, for example, an employee presents you with a draft budget for an upcoming project. Immediately, you notice many obvious expenses haven’t been considered. Rather than speak your mind (”Bob, this budget is out to lunch. Are you on the sauce again?”) you employ a more constructive approach. (”This is a good first cut, Bob, but some key expenses are missing. You’ll need to rework this.”)
Bob, in turn, accepts your constructive criticism graciously — maybe even thanks you — and keeps his true thoughts on being handed more work to himself (which aren’t nearly as gracious).
The result? A beneficial exchange of viewpoints rather than finger-pointing acrimony, brought to you by the power of positive prevarications.
2. Lies to Boost Appeal and Likeability
The majority of employees found in any workplace want to be liked. It’s only human, after all. Lies can do for our personality what joint compound and a can of paint can do for an old, boring wall: smooth over the defects and create a nice, glossy finish.
Like the fibs we tell to avoid hurting others in the workplace, this category of lies tends to be common and minimally destructive — unless taken to the extreme. We all embellish our exploits or mold our personality to better fit in with our peers. But inside every office there lurks one employee who takes it too far and suffers from a “credibility gap” as a result. This individual’s constant, over-the-top self-promotion colors every aspect of his being, making it tough to trust anything he says or does.
3. Lies to Avoid Negative Consequences
We learn as children that lies can get us out of trouble with our family and friends. And we never grow out of our desire to avoid trouble and the pain it can cause. Even as adults, our instinctive reaction to situations that carry the potential for negative consequences is to fib. Slept in and missed an important meeting? Blame the power outage that knocked your alarm clock out of commission (and mysteriously affected only your house).
A frequent part of the lying landscape at work, this category of lies can be incredibly disruptive and destructive. Employees may use them to cover up their shortcomings and mistakes. They may also attempt to shift blame to their fellow co-workers, igniting a firestorm of ill will in the workplace.
4. Lies to Gain an Advantage
A byproduct of the competitive workplace environment, lies for personal gain help us boost our standing among the rank and file. They are incredibly versatile and can be used to gain the right kind of attention for ourselves, draw the wrong kind of attention toward others, spread falsehoods that knock our co-workers down and lift us up as a result, and so on ad nauseam.
Left untreated, lies for personal gain can wreak havoc with a business’ mental health, poisoning the atmosphere of trust crucial for successful teamwork. And, equally alarming, these lies can make it impossible for management to accurately identify top performers and reward them equitably. The end result? Less than optimum performance by the business as a whole.
5. Lies to Cover Up Lies
One of the most frightening aspects of deception is the imperative it creates for more deception. Lies breed lies. In the workplace, this exponential growth can create an environment where everyone and everything is suspect. In such a dysfunctional setting, the pursuit of commerce and profits can be an impossible task.
While these common denominators help us to understand why we lie so easily and so often in the workplace, it’s important to note there are unique gender differences in how we fib. Men and women, in other words, lie differently. There are also clues businesses can use to avoid hiring a truth-challenged employee in the first place. These elements of the deception game in the workplace will be highlighted in the upcoming article, “Avoid Hiring a Bald-Faced Liar or How to Deflate a Padded Rsum.”
Conner O’Seanery is a self-admitted serial liar and an expert on detecting deception in any situation. Author of You Won’t Get Fooled at Work Again: 40 Timely Tips for Recognizing Deception in the Workplace and You Won’t Get Fooled Again: More Than 101 Brilliant Ways to Bust Any Bald-Faced Liar (Even If the Liar is Lying Beside You!), O’Seanery is a popular media guest whose insights have been featured on City TV’s Breakfast Television, Global Television’s NewsHour, CBC Radio, Westwood One Radio Network, USA Radio Network and hundreds of radio stations. His books have been featured in the New York Post, National Post, Seattle Times, Toronto Star, Ottawa Citizen and other newspapers. Conner is also a respected speaker who uses a blend of quick wit and well-earned wisdom to entertain as much as inform audiences. To download free excerpts from You Won’t Get Fooled at Work Again and You Won’t Get Fooled Again visit Conner’s website at
href="http://TheSerialLiar.com/">http://TheSerialLiar.com/
To Blame or Not To BlameA man can fall many times, but he isnt a failure until he begins to blame somebody else. (John Burroughs)Fire her, she set me up! John yelled quite loudly. He was incredibly angry and for good reason. However, he was really angry at the wrong person. What he was really saying was […]
Written by info on January 22nd, 2008 with comments disabled.
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In 2002 the corporate world in the United States was rocked with scandals. Enron, Arthur Anderson, WorldCom, Citi Group, HCA, Tyco and others were headline news in print and the lead story on the television news because of business ethics failures. This caused me to reemphasize and stress to each of my clients then and now, the importance of business ethics and to challenge each of my clients to integrate their core values into their policies, practices and decision making. And I recommend that they rededicate themselves to conducting business to the highest ethical standards.
A 2005 National Business Ethics Survey (NBES) was released by the Ethics Resource Center on October12, 2005. Some of the key findings include:
52% of employees observed at least one type of misconduct in the workplace in the past year, with 36% of these observing at least 2 or more violations.
69% of employees report their organizations implement ethics training, up 14 percentage points from the 2003 NBES.
65% of employees indicated their organizations have a place they can seek ethics advice.
55% of employees who observed misconduct at work reported it to management, down 10 percentage points from the 2003 NBES.
Five of six elements of a formal ethics and compliance program measured by NBES have increased over time with the presence of written standards of ethical business conduct up 19 percentage points since 2004.
The NBES defines misconduct as any behavior that violates the law or organizational ethics standards. The two most common types of misconduct observed by employees are abusive or intimidating behavior towards employees and lying to employees, customers, vendors, or the public.
Types of misconduct most observed by employees include:
21% observed abusive or intimidating behavior towards employees.
19% observed lying to employees, customers, vendors, or the public.
8% observed a situation that places employee interests over organizational interests.
16% observed violations of safety regulations.
16% observed misreporting of actual time worked.
12% observed discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender, age or similar categories.
11% observed stealing or theft.
9% observed sexual harassment.
Note: For the full news release on the NBES go to: www.ethics.org
At the close of 2005 I am still asking the question - How can a company SUSPEND the company’s ethics code? How can an individual businessperson in conducting business or an elected or appointed government official, at the local, state or federal level, waive ethics in their governance activities? And what can be done to respond to this dysfunctional and unacceptable behavior?
Here are five things I believe we need to assure will happen.
1. Business and government need to seriously look at strengthening their ethics programs and demonstrate a commitment to integrity in the way they perform their business and governance activities.
2. Companies and organizations must build ethical values and goals into the Vision and Mission Statements of their strategic plans and make sure the managers and employees understand the importance of these values and ethical standards.
3. Ethics should be integrated into everything the organization and individual does.
4. Organizations should reward ethical behavior and penalize unethical behavior. Everyone needs to be held accountable for his or her actions.
5. Any new ethical issue should be addressed immediately and a definite plan established to deal with the issue.
How does your company or organization address ethics? I would be interested in hearing from you. If you would like to share how your company addresses the subject of ethics, please submit your thoughts to me by going to our contact form on my web site at www.businesscoach4u.com
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, Glenns Guiding Lines Thoughts From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach and has published more than 225 articles on business.
If you would like to find out more about effectively working with the media and delivering effective interviews on TV and radio, please contact Glenn Ebersole through his web site at http://www.prdoctor4u.com or by email at jgeprman@aol.com
To Blame or Not To BlameA man can fall many times, but he isnt a failure until he begins to blame somebody else. (John Burroughs)Fire her, she set me up! John yelled quite loudly. He was incredibly angry and for good reason. However, he was really angry at the wrong person. What he was really saying was […]
Written by info on January 22nd, 2008 with comments disabled.
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Ponzi schemes are hot and even its illegal they always will be hot.
if you go to some online forums on how to make money online you will see members posting threads promoting ponzi schemes and even the so called hyips are most of the time a ponzi scheme.
No matter what they have told you the creator of a ponzi scheme doesnt care about your profits. Most people are running ponzi schemes to make some quick bucks from theirself.
Im sure you have already seen high yield investment programmes where they promise you that they are a team of expert traders making five percent daily or even more. And the fact is that some people actually do believe, even the programme has no proven track record, that their money is traded as it should be. If you see some posting on a forum earn money fast without doing any work than you could say almost sure he/she must be promoting a ponzi scheme.
What exactly is a ponzi scheme
Ponzi schemes or pyramid schemes has nothing to do with investments, business or sales. Simply because they dont trade your money or they dont sell you anything. The fact is that a ponzi scheme uses the money of new investors to pay out old investors. Some ponzi schemes are surviving a few weeks and some of them even a few months. But this is for sure they all go die after some time. Why? Because mathematically its impossible to find new investors.
Or sometimes the legal authorities find out the ponzi scheme and close it.
Charles ponzi: The godfather of ponzi schemes
Charles Ponzi was not the first who created a ponzi schemes but actually he was one of the first people that created a fraud scheme on such a large base. In 1903 Charles Ponzi emigrated from Italy to the United states. He has worked on a post office and studied at the university of Rome, although studied is not a good word for Charles it was more a vacation.
Without almost any money he arrived at the United States and did some jobs there. Four years later he moved to Montreal where he worked in the Banco Zarossi. Zarossi the owner gave a six percent interest on bank accounts. But Ponzi discovered that Zarossi used the money from new client to pay out old client. The scheme failed and Zarossi escaped to Mexico. Ponzi stayed even in prison for fraud for some years but in 1911 he was released. After the war he started his scheme based on postal reply coupons and promised his clients a return of their money in a short time frame of 90 days. His own company called the Securities Exchange Company was a fact. He had a lot of agent that were working for him and in 1920 he had accumulated millions of dollars, a very large sum of money for this time. I think it is no surprise to you that Charles Ponzi lived very luxuriously.
But people were asking questions about his company after an unsuccessful lawsuit.
The Boston Post wrote some negative articles about his company. But however the newspaper offered Charles Ponzi five thousand dollars for his story and it became a headline. However a few days later federal agent closed down his company. On august 13 1920 he was arrested but however some people protested strongly, no wonder at all some of them had invested millions of dollars. He went to jail and stayed there to 1934 after he was released he was deported to Italy. Ponzi spend the last years of his live in poverty and in 1948 he died.
Frederik is an online marketer who blogs about affiliate marketing, adsense and adwords.
In his blog he gives out some good tips that you can pick up to improve your businesses.
Visit my information blog today.
To Blame or Not To BlameA man can fall many times, but he isnt a failure until he begins to blame somebody else. (John Burroughs)Fire her, she set me up! John yelled quite loudly. He was incredibly angry and for good reason. However, he was really angry at the wrong person. What he was really saying was […]
Written by info on January 22nd, 2008 with comments disabled.
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Any day we can pick up the paper, listen to the radio or see someone on television and learn about people whose core values have brought their behaviors to local, state or national attention. From the corrupt officials in Corporate America to the equally corrupted politicians, citizens from school age children to adults can see the affect of poor leadership when positive values or ethics are not present.
Values are the rudder for successfully navigating the challenges or rocks that we face as leaders when sailing through the various business seas. These non-negotiable rules of conduct keep us on course, our direction steady and focused even when the waves become turbulent and may appear to momentarily capsize our vessel.
As people navigate the issues of making good choices and tough decisions, what is so interesting is that very few identify the lack of value or ethics as the real problem especially those in leadership roles. Excuses are made from “It was over 20 years ago” to “that depends upon how you define is.” For if we acknowledge that values are the real issue, we are being judgmental and in America, making judgements are viewed as breaking some unwritten commandment.
When values are present, so are judgements along with personal responsibility and accountability. Without clear and articulated positive core values, we attempt to navigate the easy way around the storm and compromise our own personal integrity.
What I know as an executive coach is that companies who do not proudly display their company’s values statement both on their walls and through the daily behaviors of all shareholders are the first companies to lose loyal customers and market share. Also these same companies, in many cases, are the first ones to complain about having bad business results.
The founding fathers of the United States understood the importance of having a strong rudder or values when crafting the Declaration of Independence in their efforts to navigate the successful creation of a young country. If your business has not invested the time to construct a company’s values statement, now is the time to take such action. If you have a core values statement, take the time to review it as well as your overall strategic plan. Of course, if you want to answer to the rocks, the choice is yours.
Leanne Hoagland-Smith, M.S. is a business coach and executive coach with offices in Indianapolis and near Chicago. She writes, speaks and coaches people in businesses to quickly double or triple results through the creation of an executable strategic plan along with the necessary leadership skills “to pull it off.”
One quick question, if you could secure one new client or breakthrough that one roadblock holding you back from success, what would that mean to you? Then, take a risk and give me, Leanne, a call at 219.759.5601 to experience incredible results.
Visit http://www.processspecialist.com/ and explore everything from free articles to connecting with Leanne.
To Blame or Not To BlameA man can fall many times, but he isnt a failure until he begins to blame somebody else. (John Burroughs)Fire her, she set me up! John yelled quite loudly. He was incredibly angry and for good reason. However, he was really angry at the wrong person. What he was really saying was […]
Written by info on January 22nd, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on ethics.
Although it is said that 95% of companies suffer from employee theft, it is probably closer to 100%. Serious theft, however, is a different thing entirely. There is a world of difference between the theft of a few pens and the steady depletion of stock through organized crime within a large organization. This sort of employee theft is estimated as causing over 30% of all company bankruptcies, and many companies are in desperate need of a means of controlling it.
The first action a company must take is to clarify to employees the penalty for employee theft. At the very least, immediate suspension pending investigation must be stated as the initial step. The matter should then put into the hands of your lawyers, and the law processes should be allowed to proceed. You should not dismiss anyone until the case has been proven legally, or you could find that you are the one answering charges. These procedures should be clearly stated on company notice boards and should have union support where relevant.
There are some forms of employee theft that are almost impossible to control. Intellectual theft of company secrets can be controlled theoretically by the introduction of tight contracts with key personnel, such as senior managers and scientists, but if they decide to move to another company such contracts are almost impossible to enforce. Though a contract may state that a senior scientist cannot legally work for another company in the same line of business for a set period of time after employment is terminated, how do you stop them working for a competitor from home or from an overseas facility?
How do you stop customer theft, another form of employee theft that frequently involves an employee either providing a new employer with a customer list, or taking customers that they personally deal with along with them? This is very difficult if not impossible, since you cannot control your customers allegiances.
Proper control starts at the employment stage. Employee theft can be reduced by the use of a rigid employee screening procedure that is designed to detect potential thieves prior to employment. Criminal record and credit rating searches can detect anyone with potential problems that either indicate a previous record of theft or someone who could be tempted, and psychological profiling can achieve the same thing at the interview stage.
For best results, both of these functions are best carried out by professionals. Either company employees trained in these functions or a professional agency will be able to provide the level of service required to reduce the chances of you employing someone who will be tempted to become involved in employee theft.
This action does not resolve your existing problem, but it does help to stop it growing. It reduces the chances of new thieves joining the company. There is another benefit of introducing a strong employment screening procedure. If theft from your company continues and causes harm to shareholders through loss of their capital, they could sue you for negligent hiring. You have to be able to demonstrate that you took all reasonable steps to ensure that you did not employ people who already had convictions for theft and have tried to prevent employee theft at the hiring stage.
Part of the problem in normal companies is that it is neither fully understood, nor clearly stated, where the line is drawn between theft and what is allowed to be taken. Many companies allow substandard or rejected products to be taken home by employees, and others do not. An employee moving from one company to another may misunderstand that these policies are specific to individual companies, rather than general throughout industry. Employees should not be criminalized through ignorance and your failure to clearly state your policy. If you do not allow employees to use rejects, you should clearly state that fact with prominently placed notices. Do not assume that all employers have the same policy.
Your policy with regard to what constitutes employee theft should be clearly stated in the employees handbook if there is one, or along with the acceptance of their application for employment. If you have an induction scheme it can be introduced to them then.
The mistake that many employers make is to try to control serious employee theft themselves when there are many professional companies available that could help them to save a lot more money than it would cost to have the problem controlled.
Advanced Research http://www.arsbackgrounds.com is made up of a team of experts in HR, Risk Management and Legal Investigations. We provide a free consultation to assist you in mitigating your potential hiring risks.
To Blame or Not To BlameA man can fall many times, but he isnt a failure until he begins to blame somebody else. (John Burroughs)Fire her, she set me up! John yelled quite loudly. He was incredibly angry and for good reason. However, he was really angry at the wrong person. What he was really saying was […]
Written by info on January 22nd, 2008 with comments disabled.
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Men cease to interest us when we find their limitations. The sin is limitations. As soon as you once come up to a mans limitations, it is all over with him.
Emerson
Many people wonder about the trends of unethical conduct by todays leaders. Obviously, some executives and government officials have not upheld the standards of their positions by not stopping the unethical behavior among their peers.
If an observer was to review past leaders conduct, one would be able to appreciate the ethics involved for 21st century organizations. There are still problems to solve and challenges to discover. As people continue to be hired or elected in order to gain power for the wrong reasons, society will continue to see unethical conduct. However, people must expect high standards from todays leaders and never compromise their own principles in the process.
Organizations can be most effective when they build their organizations around shared values. However, leaders must buy-in and become value advocates. Leaders must model the way, and they must demand proper ethical behaviors from their peers. This can be clearly understood from a biblical context. 1 Corinthians 15:33 reads, Don’t fool yourselves. Bad friends will destroy you. People, especially leaders, need to pick their friends and associates carefully.
President Harry Truman said, Men make history, and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.
Therefore, it is important that leaders align themselves with the right people.
Just as God provided Adam the instructions to lead humanity, leaders must provide a blueprint for greater ethical conduct for others. Therefore, this responsibility is in the hands of todays leaders hands.
References:
Ciulla, J.B. (1998). Ethics: The Heart of Leadership. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Heuser, B. (2005). The Ethics of Social Cohesion. Peabody Journal of Education. 80(4), pp.8-15.
Kern, C. (2003). Creating and Sustaining an Ethical Workplace Culture, Pepperdine University.
King, S. (2006). The Moral Manager. Public Integrity. 8(2), pp.113-133.
2007 by Daryl D. Green
Daryl D. Green has published over 100 articles in the field of decision-making (personal and organizational), leadership, and organizational behavior. Mr. Green is also the author of four books, including More than a Conqueror: Achieving Personal Fulfillment in Government Service. Do you want to improve your life? Do you want to make better decisions? If you answer “yes,” then go to the ‘master decision-making’ website at http://www.darylgreen.org
To Blame or Not To BlameA man can fall many times, but he isnt a failure until he begins to blame somebody else. (John Burroughs)Fire her, she set me up! John yelled quite loudly. He was incredibly angry and for good reason. However, he was really angry at the wrong person. What he was really saying was […]
Written by info on January 22nd, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on ethics.