Business ethics is neither an oxymoron, nor a passing fad. And no, it is not a plot by big employers to use dress-down days or the frills of feng shui to dupe unsuspecting workers into longer hours, more intense labour, and lowish pay.
So what is it? Business ethics means that, while the corporation is still valued by stock markets for its present and future profits, its top leaders prefer to talk up their ‘transparent’ boardroom and accounts, their contribution to good causes (‘cause-related marketing’) and the care they take with customers and with staff. It means driving out conflicts of interest and ridding the world of polio, as Bill Gates really means to do.
More than 250 of Britain’s top corporates now operate written codes of conduct on sharp practice, harassment and disability. But it is not just a matter of big business being able to afford to be lilywhite. Small and medium-sized firms, and especially those led by young people in cultural industries, would like to be able to do right. They believe their famed ‘knowledge workers’ to be their greatest asset – and know that it is no good just saying that. They want to set an example.
Business ethics has surfaced because of the emergence of palpable crises in management. Indecisiveness, (ceaseless ‘change management’), plus a fierce plebeian reaction to the Thatcher-Major years, have institutionalised a regime of politically-correct Band Aid in the office. And that regime promises to have an impact on the working environment more durable than merger and acquisition activity or the internet.
New value at work is created by people, not by today’s cost-cutting. Mergers will subside and e-commerce will become part of the furniture. But the new ether of ethics will envelop people-to-people relations until well past 2010.
Everyone now takes a fluffier view of compensation. Employers want ‘passion’. For employees, pay remains important, but there’s more interest in whether the physical facilities represent ‘a nice place to work’. If the moral experience, process and felt texture of work are OK, employees will quite consciously take on more of it. Dupes they aren’t.
Business ethics will mean more being asked of facilities managers.
M&A and IT will change facilities management which will become more about human resources and how to handle them. Today work is apprehended less in terms of wealth creation as for the personal interactions it stimulates and the socialisation – mentors, coaches, friends, lovers – it promotes.
There will be even more audits of employee stress, harassment and of general health, safety and environmental conduct, backed by more and more legal sanction. Increasingly, top managers will want audits of corporate knowledge, creativity and innovation. Flows of information into and within each company will come under scrutiny.
So watch out for the government committee on the ‘work-life balance’ that will usher in more chill-out zones, 24-hour vending and healthy food service. And watchout for a big burst of lifelong learning and teleworking.
The furore over genetically modified foods should confirm that sustainability will be part of every facilities manager’s brief. Even accountant and consultant KPMG now has a senior UK environment manager to reduce resource consumption.
Finally, expect managers to insist on facilities that appear to promote the exchange of ideas.
Source
The Facilities Business
