8/12/2019 Phone Hacking Scandal Ethics Article

1/2

Phone hacking scandal highlights needfor HR ethics

James Brockett

8 Jul 2011

Comments18 commentsOrganisational failings such as thephone hacking scandalat the News of the Worldare often theresult of a bureaucratic company culture in which HR plays a part, according to a leading professorof corporate ethics.

The beleaguered Sunday paper, owned by News International, will close this weekend afterrevelations that journalists had hacked phone messages belonging to murder victims and thefamilies of dead soldiers as well as politicians and celebrities.

While the closure of the paper will lead to 200 redundancies, many commentators have sought to pinthe blame on executives and senior managers for turning a blind eye to the behaviour of those who

were working at the paper.

But ProfessorRoger Steare,Professor of Organisational Ethics at Cass Business School andadviser to many top businesses, told PMthat most moral lapses that endanger a company -including risky trading in the banking crisis - would also be more likely to be prevented if HRprofessionals were more willing to accept responsibility for behavioural standards in theirorganisations.

HR are delinquents when it comes to ethics they have derogated responsibility for behaviour inorganisations so that it rests only with leaders, said Steare. HR professionals need to educateleaders and the board about how human beings are going to behave in the workforce when facedwith certain situationsits basic psychology. They should be presenting the board with theevidence of what is going on around them in the company.

He said that there was no doubt that leaders bore overall responsibility for the ethics oftheir organisation, but that HR should be more willing to speak up when things go wrong. However,while he had worked with some fine HR leaders who were willing to provoke and challenge in thisway, he had also spoken to senior executives who saw HR as a puppy wagging its tail waiting forthe master to tell them what to do.

It is usually bureaucracy and an authoritarian culture that stops HR professionals from taking a morechallenging stance on ethical behaviour, said Steare.

The problem is that that the corporation is a totalitarian construct its set up in law with acommand and control hierarchy. Leaders at the best organisations transcend that, and come across

like they are leading by democratic consent; but in a command and control system the only levers forgetting things done are fear and bribery, and thats when ethics in business can be forgotten.

The recently-introducedBribery Actwill challenge more HR professionals and managers to confrontthe issue of ethics in their organisations, he added.

In the wake of the News of the Worldscandal, Labour leader Ed Miliband has led calls for a newexternal regulator to take the place of the industry-led Press Complaints Commission. But Stearesaid that external regulation was not necessarily the answer to raising standards.

http://www.cipd.co.uk/PM/members/JamesBrockett161126/default.aspxhttp://www.cipd.co.uk/pm/peoplemanagement/b/weblog/archive/2013/01/29/phone-hacking-scandal-highlights-need-for-hr-ethics-2011-07.aspx#commentshttp://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/news-of-the-world-journalists-set-to-bring-unfair-dismissal-claims.htmhttp://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/news-of-the-world-journalists-set-to-bring-unfair-dismissal-claims.htmhttp://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/news-of-the-world-journalists-set-to-bring-unfair-dismissal-claims.htmhttp://www.rogersteare.com/http://www.rogersteare.com/http://www.rogersteare.com/http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/articles/2011/03/the-bribery-act.htmhttp://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/articles/2011/03/the-bribery-act.htmhttp://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/articles/2011/03/the-bribery-act.htmhttp://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/articles/2011/03/the-bribery-act.htmhttp://www.rogersteare.com/http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/news-of-the-world-journalists-set-to-bring-unfair-dismissal-claims.htmhttp://www.cipd.co.uk/pm/peoplemanagement/b/weblog/archive/2013/01/29/phone-hacking-scandal-highlights-need-for-hr-ethics-2011-07.aspx#commentshttp://www.cipd.co.uk/PM/members/JamesBrockett161126/default.aspx

8/12/2019 Phone Hacking Scandal Ethics Article

2/2

The legal and medical professions are a perfect example of self-regulation. Ive been calling forsome time for a similar set-up for company directorsa professional institute where you have toqualify, where complaints can be investigated and you can be subject to the judgment of your peers.Psychological theory suggests that self-regulation is the best route, if the capacity for discipline isproperly built in.

The fact that advertisers pulled out of the News of the Worldfollowing the phone hacking revelationsshows that ultimately there is a strong business case for behaving in an ethical way, Steareconcluded.

If people think that the behaviour of another person or company is morally reprehensible, whetherfrom an advertiser or a customer point of view, they have the right to withdraw support from thatbusiness, he said. When my friends start moaning about the behaviour of banks or thesupermarkets or anyone else, I say, its simple: dont shop there, dont bank there, and they will getthe message. When things go really bad this is the final arbiter and it can even lead to the death of acorporation.