The three basic components
of an ethical community can be defined as follows:
Trust: “The general expectation among members
that their fellows will behave ethically towards them.”
Loyalty: “Acceptance of the obligation to refrain
from breaching one another’s trust and to fulfill the duties entailed by
accepting that trust.”
Solidarity: “Caring for other people’s interests
and being ready to take action on behalf of others, even if it conflicts with
personal interests.”
Here is how they might be
applied to my organization:
Trust:
Trust can be developed with subordinates when they know they can tell you
something without suffering extreme repercussions. One day at work a coworker
and his team dropped a multi-million dollar piece of aircraft equipment. When
they reported it, they admitted that they made a mistake and in hindsight
should have been more careful with the equipment. The way supervision responded
was by thanking them for their honesty and then worked with everyone to try and
figure out ways to prevent the incident from happening again. A new rule came
out that now requires load binders to be used to secure this equipment so that the
incident can no longer happen again.
Loyalty:
Loyalty can be developed by rewarding such behavior. During major inspections
of our group, the test is really more on higher management than on lower
levels. We as airman don’t really get in trouble, but those at the top do.
Those at the top try to reward those that loyally work for them and to make
them look good by giving them free days off of work so that they can spend time
at home and with their families. By working hard now to make someone else look
good, people are rewarded for their loyalty down the line.
Solidarity:
Solidarity is to look out for one another. This is already show by our expeditors
because they voluntarily stay overtime to make sure everyone on their shift is
taken care of. We also foster this type of environment by not allowing anyone
on the same job to go home unless everything on that job is done. This
encourages everyone to help one another so that everyone can benefit with going
home early.
Organizational values need
to have life in order to exist. Those wishing to employ these values need to
believe in it themselves and to live it out in their own lives. Sometimes these
values might not be seen in my own organization. For example in the case of
Solidarity, looking out for one another. Some expeditors are all about the
mission and don’t think about the people. Some don’t care whether or not we
eat, or get rest, or have been working for 11 hours straight. All they care
about is that the job gets done. This creates a sort of tension that degrades
trust and loyalty over time. Thankfully though, such expeditors have been transferred
out due to complaints and new ones put in place. These values are now slowly
trying to rebuild themselves within the organization.
No comments:
Post a Comment