Immorality. Unscrupulousness. Corruption. Such words describe ethically dubious behaviour you certainly do not want to see in your company. Of course you try to eliminate people with these characteristics during recruitment but often this is impossible. You are then faced with the question of how to manage employees who tend to behave unethically but at the same time are great talents in their field and would be very difficult to replace.
Writing on the Harvard Business Review website, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Professor of Organisational Psychology at University College London, advises managers to accept that some people are simply less immune to the pitfalls of unethical conduct. Managers play a crucial role in whether the number of cases of unethical behaviour in their teams will decrease or increase. What can you do to achieve a decrease?
Ensure they are happy at work
Even generally less ethical employees behave in a more moral way when their job assignments are meaningful, they receive recognition for their achievements and supervisors do not treat them like children. If you turn your employees into enemies, you even risk those with high moral integrity acting unethically.
Set an example
A team leader's morals determine to what extent their subordinates perceive the company as ethical or unethical. Thus if you want your staff to behave morally, you yourself must be the first to behave thus. Your staff should be able to trust you.
Connect weaker employees to stronger colleagues
Working together with colleagues who show higher moral integrity will motivate your less ethical employees to improve their behaviour. Much can be learnt by watching others, even if we often do not realise it.
Provide training
People form their ethical predispositions before reaching adulthood. As adults, however, they frequently do not attend any training on how to behave ethically. Change this by holding training sessions focused on how to behave in various ethically questionable situations your employees may face.
Create a selfless corporate culture
Promote the value of disinterested and selfless behaviour not only on bulletin boards but in everyday work with your team.
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