About seven years ago, I became student again. I was so interested in Human Resource Management that I left my job to pursue an MBA. It was a packed course with loads of learning and it changed my life (for good). There were common courses for all specialisations and there were separate courses depending on what one chose to specialise in.
I can’t remember many of the courses we had, but I strikingly remember a course called Corporate Governance and Ethics. Before the course was to start, there were various reactions from my batch mates. One said, “Really?, we have a course on ethics?” I overheard someone else say “It should have been a part of the HR curriculum, why is it for all of us?”. I remember that the attendance for this class was at an all time low. I mean who wants to study ethics, it’s common sense right?
So I began to wonder. ”Is corporate governance and ethics only for the HR departments?” “Will HR be held responsible for scams or scandals?” Everyone knows that the answer is ‘No’ and every one also knows that ethical behaviour is expected from each and every individual of the organisation. But sometimes we just choose to bury our head in sand.
I was looking at the results of a survey undertaken by EY in 2011 in Europe and was surprised by the findings. Organisations knew that lack of ethics posed a huge risk but failed to take any measures to address in this risk in a meaningful way. The results also showcased on how employees knew that when there was pressure to perform and drive successful results for the company, integrity was often a casualty. Despite the numerous scandals and scams that come out each year, people are complacent. I am not surprised, because a few years later when I was driving the HR governance framework, almost no one was interested. It was probably the last thing anyone wanted to know about because ‘It’s so boring’ and ‘I am so busy’. The only time every one was interested about it was when there was an audit, and sometimes that would be too late. Not every one realises that governance and ethics is not a ‘nice to have’ but a ‘must have’.
Being busy and turning a blind eye could probably work as a short term measure, but what about the long run? The same survey results that I referred to also showed that the statistics were positive when it came to people wanting to work for an ethical employer, so it does pay for organisations who look beyond ethics and governance as a regulation or compliance (usually an inconvenient requirement). They realise that acting with integrity and good governance can be good for business in the long run. Cutting corners can only do so much.
The course that I was talking about in the beginning of my post, Corporate Governance and Ethics, continues to be a part of the curriculum of MBA programs around the world. It is not just to create awareness but also to help students in running successful and sustainable businesses. HR can contribute positively to building this culture but the front runners are the senior leadership. So for all the students who aspire to be successful leaders in the future, this one is not just an HR course, it is something that you cannot afford to miss.
As the saying goes, ‘It takes less time to do a thing right than to explain why you did it wrong’. -H.W Longfellow
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