Rolls Royce's reputation has been tarnished recently with a string of bribery and corruption scandals in a number of countries. In addition to training on its revised anti-bribery code of conduct it also launched a 24 hour "ethics line" last week to encourage would-be whistleblowers.
Rolls Royce states it is "committed to creating and maintaining an environment where you can ask questions and raise concerns about business ethics without fear of retaliation".
The Ethics Line blurb states it is "better to ask a question or raise a concern at an early stage rather than to let the situation get worse". The helpline is operated by an independent company called
EthicsPoint where anonymity can be preserved if required and the
whistleblower can be given feedback anonymously too by a confidential
"report key" and password.
The policy however points to the manager as the first point of contact if an employee has concerns. And this really goes to the heart of it. How can organisations engender a culture where managers throughout the reporting line welcome and encourage discussions about ethical issues without reprisals? Is Rolls Royce really starting a meaningful and effective dialogue on ethical business practices internally if the "easy" fall- back position is to use an independent helpline of outsiders, the Ethics Line could just be a quick, but ineffective, fix?
Re the last question I guess it depends on whether the help line is all that is being done or if it is part of a wider set of actions which include internal dialogue. It takes someone with high levels of integrity and self confidence to accept any kind of challenge, never mind an ethical one. We are currently working with a high reliability client in the nuclear sector to encourage question and challenge from employees re safety practices rather than ethical practices but the issues are similar. Competing stakeholder demands and financial and time pressures influence ethical and safety behaviours but the interpersonal risks can have more influence. It takes leadership at the most basic levels to create an environment of psychological safety where people feel it's ok to challenge but that has to be supported at all levels to make a difference.
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