The line between ethics and morals in the workplace

Ethics training is often a subject that is met with deep sighs and eye rolls.  With the recent political discussion expanding in its complexity, I have been thinking about the best way to actually teach ethics in an organization.  

We all know the headlines on ethics: sexual harassment, diversity, insider trading, stealing from the company, IP infringement, and others of the like.  But how do we actually teach the nuance of what is the right and wrong way to act in an organizational setting?  Who decides what is right and wrong, and how do organizations design a curriculum to address it?   

This first must-do is to know the difference between ethics and morals.

In an organization, ethics are within the organization's jurisdiction, but morals are not. These two terms are not interchangeable.  

Ethics are based on social structures and governed by organizations. I like to refer to ethics as "the right thing to do" or "the rules of conduct”.   Ethics are less about "how to be in life", and more about "how to act as an agent of this organization".

Morals, on the other hand, are individually-driven and personal, often transcending governing bodies of rules.  I think of morals as "the right way to be" or "principles" that drive the ethics.  

“Ethics are “the right thing to do” whereas morals are “the right way to be””

It is absolutely an organization's responsibility to teach and build curriculum around the ethics of the organization.  The curriculum, in my opinion, should be based around the values of the organization. 

For example, let’s say your #1 value is TRUST.  The curriculum surrounding that 1 organizational value has a few components:

• - building trust and transparency with your working team
• - honesty, transparency, and having integrity with your customers
• - data security (i.e., we trust that the company and customer data is kept safe and secure)
• - creating a culture of trust in a large global company - building psychological safety, creating avenues for communication, and being open to feedback.

This is an example of just 1 value.  Teaching the values of an organization must be the backbone of ethics training - the driving force of the organizational learning.  Further, organizations must take this training seriously, and not only for legal reasons.  Communicating the company’s values with a regular cadence is a critical part of integrating ethical behavior into an organization, and of course the goal is making it sustainable.  

Take a look at your company’s values.  Do they make the ethical responsibility of your employees clear and indisputable?  Do they ring true as ethics for the organization and not prescriptive morals on what to believe?  If you’d like a second set of eyes, please reach out, I’m happy to provide help.