Management consultant John Pope discusses the problem of bullying and bad behaviours amongst organisations, and questions what we can do about unacceptable failures to ensure consistent and correct ethical standards.

Bad behaviours

A senior manager was allowed to retire early with an enhancement to his pension and the explanation that he was leaving ‘to pursue other interests’. The company expressed regret at his loss; he had been an ‘outstanding manager’.

At about the same time, it was suggested to his ‘other interest’, who had complained about his behaviour, that she ought to go as well ‘to avoid embarrassment’. Some of his other interests over the year were glad to see him go – the lesser complaints of some of them had been disregarded: “He is too good a senior manager to lose”.

It had of course all been kept very quiet, and of course all the staff knew about it.

A simple but revealing incident

A simple incident, not all that uncommon, which tells us something about human nature. What does it tell the staff about the organisation’s culture and values? It will say different things to different people including:

• You can use your position to get what you want.
• Bad behaviour can be rewarded.
• It’s ok to tell lies to cover up something wrong – (what a lesson for the staff in a professional firm).
• It’s ok to break the rules if you get away with it.

Yes, the organisation did that with the best intentions ‘to avoid rocking the boat’, covering up a problem in the hope it will go away. Such problems usually don’t go away, they repeat or get worse.

Why are we such wimps? We tell the staff that the organisation will help the business and that their prospects will be improved, while planning a round of redundancies. We hate giving unpleasant news; we avoid upsets until they are forced on us. As a result we often deliver mixed messages.

Why do we tolerate bad behaviours and culture?

There have been excellent articles recently in HR Zone, one by Quentin Colborn on training for honesty, and one from Sally Bibb on trust, which touch on improving the culture of a business, behaviour and honesty. There are regular examples in the media of dishonest behaviour by managers and of bullying of staff – so many that we scarcely raise an eyebrow except at the size of the subsequent settlement.

Why do we accept and tolerate bad behaviour? What can, and should, we do about it? How can we develop the right culture, ethical standards and behaviours?

We certainly need to have a clear culture, and clear standards, consistently applied, so that those in, and those who deal with, an organisation know where they stand.

Set out principles

We could start by setting out some statements of values, and give examples of how we want to treat the customers, the workforce, and those with whom we deal:

• We will be honest about delivery dates or progress of orders to our customers.
• We will report results and performance ‘straight’ and not disguise the facts.
• We will not cheat, or deliver short measure.
• We will treat all our staff fairly and by the same rules.

You can think of plenty applicable to your own business, and I guess you wouldn’t find it difficult to get managers to sign up to the principles and agree the examples. But that is not enough to get real change. Managers, starting at the top, have to set examples.

As managers we could demonstrate these values:

We will have said we will be honest with our staff. We could start by giving honest assessments or performance reviews and, if we are intending to practice openness, ask for and accept criticism at those appraisal discussions.

We could apologise to the customer that his order will be late, before he finds out.

Senior managers could stop misusing the organisation’s time or resources for their own ends.

We could practice those things we pay lip service to; openness, a progressive attitude, avoidance of recrimination.

We could also start on meeting all the obligations we signed up to – such things as IIP, the various policies on equal opportunities, and so on.

But that is not enough, and we can easily undermine the values. We recruit sales staff and choose people of high initiative who, in pursuit of an order, happily break ‘the rule’ to get the business. If we then reward them for their initiative we have undermined the values. There is little point in signing up to commitments we are not prepared and able to keep.

Bad examples are infectious

A powerful, apparently successful, unethical, cheating, bullying senior manager creates look-alike bullies. Tolerating the bad behaviour of an apparently successful manager, as in the first example, is not only wrong, but dangerously infectious and brings any statement of ethical principles into disrepute.

Reprove lapses in conduct

As managers or, for that matter, members of the organisation, we could voice our disapproval of lapses, of breaches of the code. To the salesman who boasts he has ‘put one over’ on a customer, we could demonstrate clear disapproval of his, or her, win by pointing out the consequence when the customer realises he has been done. To the colleague who inflates his mileage claims, we could show disapproval and, when flagrant, point out that it is fraud, that we don’t approve and would ‘shop’ him for a repetition.

But gentle explanation and reproof may not be enough. When the lapse is repeated or severe, as in my first example, the organisation should apply the necessary discipline and punish the offender. The dismissal of a manager, and especially a senior one, for bullying might seem severe, but when published throughout the organisation would sharply reduce the frequency of that offence.

Can we train for honesty?

I doubt it, but we can select for it – however imperfectly, just as we can select for the other values we want in the organisation. We can find people of the right attitude and character who fit the company without too much difficulty, and we can develop those basic attitudes so that they fit better. We can ‘select out’ those who clearly do not have the right attitudes or character, though we should be careful not to draw the specification so closely that we do not have a proportion of honest mavericks.

We can also help people understand the differences between ‘company’ right or wrong. We can train managers how to confront people issues in a constructive way. We can train staff in their dealings with customers.

You might have to train the staff in handling disciplinaries, in understanding the importance of following the right procedures, in not cutting corners in their work. But after that is done you may find that the training has to be repeated by managers to their errant colleagues and staff. Mutual discipline can be more powerful than official discipline.

How can HR help?

HR can help top management by observing the culture of the organisation in an honest and unbiased way and show how poor or inappropriate culture causes regular problems or reduces productivity or flexibility. They can advise on the legal consequences of tolerating bad behaviour and failing to take action.

HR can help managers at all levels in handling issues concerning lapses of culture or cases of unacceptable behaviour of their staff. HR can be watchdogs – they maintain good contact with staff at all levels, they are vigilant, and they can spot problems quickly before they escalate.

HR could draft the policy statements for safety’s sake – though my personal view is that policy statements in themselves have little effect on behaviour and culture. The biggest single effect on the way people in business behave to each other is the clear and consistent example of top management, transmitted at all levels.

Yes, there are organisations where people are both highly productive and pleasant to deal with, where the customers enjoy dealing with the organisation because it is straight and reliable. Those firms did not get like that by accident – they do not stay like that by accident either. They care strongly about their standards, their reputation, their people: their culture is clear, and often proclaimed to the world.