Introduction: What does Ethics mean to you?
I was privileged to participate in an interesting and interactive training hosted by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) Academy. entitled; construction ethics and compliance for construction professionals, and I felt the need to document some of the knowledge as well as share it here. It was an interactive course and we began with a group discussion and a question: what does ethics mean to you? There were numerous answers from participants, just as predicted by Bibb (2008). “When we talk about ethics, we could say that it is equivalent to talks about love. Most people have a good idea what love is all about but may have trouble articulating exactly what it could mean.
Before going into details, it is important to let you know that this discuss is significant because a study by CIOB in 2013 revealed that 48% of construction professionals believe that corruption is common within the UK construction industry and it is arguable that the corruption percentage will double when such survey is carried out in Nigeria.
Andrew Leigh, author of ‘Ethical Leadership, Creating and Sustaining an Ethical Business Culture’ (2013) puts it straight; Ethics begins where the law ends and it’s an individual values application. Let’s review the views of the course participants that I considered stimulating:
Mark Hodson: If an action or decision I take has an impact on other people or a group of people (or society as a whole), then I probably have to consider ethics. If I perceive my own interests to be in conflict with the interests of my client, or the interests of my client to be in conflict with society generally, then I face an ethical decision. Acting ethically would usually mean acting in my client’s best interest to the extent that this is not detrimental to society.
John Perkins: Your ethics are how you act and behave when you think nobody is watching you.
Jeffrey Cintron Sr.: Ethics is like the lines on the road; it’s a guide that keeps you safe. In many cases ethics can vary from culture to culture. The social construct of ethics can change from generation to generation. In addition, ethics also gives insight to the standards of an individual or social group.
Sean Lewis: Ethics can be split into personal and professional; I think. Personally, I treat people how I would like to be treated. I try to ensure I am not rude, condescending or disingenuous to people both whom I know and who I have just met. Professionally, I think I try to bring my personal ethics to bear and ensure that I treat people I work with in such a way as to engender an environment of trust and mutual respect. This will then, hopefully create a good working relationship with all within m and sphere of influence.
A recent situation occurred with the installation of windows in a school that, whilst they were legally safe and met the regulations there was a risk that the environment, they were in could lead to a catastrophic injury to a pupil or teacher. Legally there was no issue morally speaking, however, no piece of paper with guarantee written on it would undo any incident that may occur in the future. This I think highlights the difference between legality and ethics.
Shakira Caird: Ethics is dealing with and being able to differentiate between good and bad and doing so with moral intent. Definitely applies to both professional and personal life.
Paul Allen: To me ethics go a step further than the law.
Awais Raza: Placing a right thing at the right place to maintain equality.
Philip K: I think ethics are the rules and principles you give yourself, to allow you to make decision that you believe to be fair and just. They can either be subjective or objective depending on your personal opinion, but overall, they are your way of justifying decisions.
These definitions of ethics are correct and can be linked to three main factors; Morals – the principles of right and wrong behaviour; Principles – the beliefs governing our behaviour and Behaviour – the act or conduct of a person. This why Paul Nash, Former President of CIOB, emphasized that to be a professional in construction and the built environment is to be ethical. That’s a good summary. There is no success in construction without construction ethics. In all, Ethics can seem to be personal, and differ between people. The Oxford Dictionary defined it as: “Moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity”.
Ethics in construction covers wide range of areas such as:
- Bribery
- Corruption
- Procurement/tendering practices
- Workers’ rights
- Conflict of interest
- Collusion
- Corporate social responsibility
The Influence of Values on Culture and Ethics
Hence since ethics is about personal behaviours, we questioned and identified what influences a person’s behaviour as:
- Childhood upbringing
- Beliefs, including religion, can impact significantly on beliefs and ethical behaviour. Religious persons, would normally have sets of instilled beliefs governing their behaviours.
- Culture is a set of learned traditions, beliefs and guides for behaviour, shared among individuals in a group or society. Naturally, where you are from will impact your behaviour and decisions. So does the culture of your work environment, which can as well conflict with personal core beliefs.
- Values are the things a person believes to be important in the way they live or work. For example, some are more affected by freedom, honesty, fairness, relationships, stability than others. Values motivate your behaviour. By means of what you observe and your personal beliefs will generate emotion & thought. This in turn influences what you will do next, your decisions, your statements, your actions.
- Later life experiences also influence on your ethics, especially if you are faced with ethical dilemmas, as learning is certainly gained from experience. Values and beliefs change with reflection on experience, although values changes with progress through life, such as when children are born or when you advanced into a career.
- Discussion with others is another form of reflection which encourages development of deep understanding and sense of what is right and what is wrong.
Developing an ethical culture begins with values. Understanding what your own values are, what motivates and enthuses you, and understanding the values of your work, are very imperative but the challenge is, do they all blend?
According to Barclay (2015), “Our personal values are at the core of who we are, what we believe in, our self-worth and how we behave. When we are living our personal values, we feel good, we have a positive mental attitude, and feel like we are living life to the fullest”. And values are the core of every culture in every environment, including project environment. Culture is a product of leadership, it is set at the top by their management style, by the way they create choices and make decisions. Culture is vastly dependent on leadership values and norms of behaviour. Therefore, a positive culture encourages people to be open, honest with shared values, creating higher engagement. Positive values and high moral standards leadership, creates an ethical culture.
As ethics is about values and its influencers, let’s examine both. An individual’s value is formed at childhood and moulded by upbringing and culture. Demartini (2013) opined that human beings will naturally act in accordance with true personal highest values. People spend money on what they truly value, and allocate time to things that are most important to them. To understand why you are not doing something you think you should, or why you can’t stop doing something you believe you shouldn’t, the truth is you are inevitably doing what you truly value most”. According to Barrett (2014), the volume of attention you give to satisfying a set of needs such as your self-esteem, relationship or survival needs, depends on three key factors: The life circumstances you were born into or currently experiencing; the situation in which you find yourself at a specific moment in time; and the stage you have reached in your psychological development”. Remarkably, values evolve depending on their influencing factors at any time, and personal values directly influence organisational values, ethical compliance and organisations performance at large.
Earlier, we learned that values-driven organisations exhibit high levels of employee engagement; more customer focused; more productive; they generate higher earnings; and are more profitable with high retention rates and low absenteeism. Hence, they also generate more customer loyalty and enjoy more societal goodwill. As the construction and engineering industry is all about people working together and creating relationships, the quality of project delivered will be based on the quality of those relationships. To truly and effectively collaborate it makes sense to start with understanding the values of the project stakeholders, like the clients, the team members as well as areas of potential conflicts and barriers to project success. The global research by Barrett Values Centre (2015) showed that constructors need three core values:
- Accountability and employee recognition
- Information sharing and open communication
- Leadership development and balance between home and work life.
“Ethics and ethical behaviour are central to professionalism. It does not matter how skilled and experienced a person becomes: if they behave dishonestly and without regard for the rights of others, they are not a professional person” (CIOB website).