In a survey taken in January, two-thirds of business owners say they are more concerned about ethical business practices today than in the past. Nearly half of these say their employees also are more concerned. The survey found only slightly
In a survey taken in January, two-thirds of business owners say they are more concerned about ethical business practices today than in the past.
Nearly half of these say their employees also are more concerned.
The survey found only slightly more than a third of business owners use any type of formal ethics training.
“The vast majority of Kauai’s employers maintains a high standard of integrity and use sound business practices because they understand that, in return, they have a marketplace advantage with customers and investors,” said Mamo Cummings, the Kaua‘i Chamber of Commerce President. “In addition, they also tend to achieve better employee performance (i.e. good morale, low absenteeism, high productivity, etc.).”
Owner concerns
Acting ethically because it is the right thing to do (43 percent) and concern for business and personal reputation (39 percent) are key reasons given by the 66 percent of business people who expressed growing concern about ethics.
“The vast majority of Kaua‘i’s hard working business owners are honest, reputable and driven by strong moral values,” said Cummings. “In my 4 1/2 years at the Chamber, I’ve seen maybe one or two situations where business ethics were problematic.”
“I might add that those one or two are no longer in operation, or destined for business closure. Kaua‘i is much too small of a community to tolerate questionable business practices.”
Of the other third (34 percent) of the survey respondents, who felt no additional concern business ethics, more than half (52 percent) said their lack of concern was because ethical problems have always existed.
Other reasons included ethics problems not affecting the business (28 percent) and because ethics did not matter to them (16 percent).
“The fact that two-thirds of business owners are more concerned about ethics in business is a very promising trend,” said Israel Kushnir, president of May International. “However, it is disappointing that more than a third of the business owners feel no greater concern about ethics now than before, even with all the revelations during the past year of unethical conduct by major businesses. Most worrisome is the 16 percent that stated ethical business practices did not matter to them.”
Employee concerns
According to business owners, reputation (45 percent) is the most important ethical concern to their employees.
More than one-third (39 percent) of the owners also stated they believe the reason their employees act ethically is because it is the correct way to act.
The survey results showed that a relatively small but significant number of respondents (10 percent for owners, 8 percent for employees) have been victimized by unethical business practices.
Ethics training
While there is significant concern about ethics, only a limited number of business owners are taking positive steps to improve ethical operation.
Slightly more than a third (39 percent) have some type of formal training program and most of these are for employees (24 percent), not executives (15 percent).
“We are constantly including ethical business practices in some fashion in our training courses for both the employee and employer,” said Cummings.
“This year we plan to hold a Business Ethics training class in tandem with our Employment Law Seminar.”
