Over the weekend the media has covered the story of Paul Flowers, the ex-Chairman of the Co-operative Group, being filmed undertaking a "drug's deal". This is a fine example of the need, within everyday business ethics, for both the organisation and the individuals working within the organisation to have integrity and to adopt ethical behaviours. Without this, organisations' reputations can be seriously damaged.
In "The Real Integrity" research project undertaken by the IDEA Centre at Leeds University, the importance of individual and organisational integrity is emphasised. Two of the research's defined aspects of integrity include "wholeness of character" where individuals act and speak consistently and the organisation exhibits consistent behaviour and processes and "ethical values" where individuals act on the basis of ethical commitments and organisations have embedded ethical values.
The Flowers example just shows how difficult it is to instill individual ethical behaviours within an organisation without deep-rooted and on-going emphasis on the need for the values and behaviours to be everyday i.e. the basic and fundamental mindset of how business is conducted.
Thankfully Flowers is the ex-chairman.
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