“Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.” _ Theodore Roosevelt,

Preparing a blog post for the class was not an easy task to start with, as I am trying to write on something interesting and to reflect on it from my experience. I decided first to post about profitability and project management in the work place as profit is the major source for opening and operating any business. However, I changed my mind when I came across an article about “Being Ethical is profitable” as I heard from various resources that some managers always use short cuts to add more profits to their business regardless if it is ethical or not but when you read this article it would open a discussion about this issue.

Unethical behavior can be extremely profitable in the short run, but a business is supposed to create long term-customers and shareholders and these scams will not last for long as being ethical matters not just to your customers but to your employees and the team that work on any project. Project manager should work hard to be ethical as it is important for every project to fulfill its social responsibilities and welfare commitments. As an ethical project manager you would follow what is right for society, customers, and stakeholders, while keeping the organization’s long-term vision in mind. In addition, being ethical in projects pays future dividends as the team members feel very safe to share their thoughts and making innovation with no worries.

Why Being Ethical Matters:

The goal of any company is to generate revenue for the shareholders, creditors, employees, and society. Also, the responsibility of a business or project is to remain profitable. “Project managers should not resort to shortcuts and unethical means in order to generate profits because that will be disastrous for the project, client, and the organization in the long run” The author indicated that “Studies show that people are willing to pay a premium for an ethical company’s products and that ethical organizations have continued to survive and grow”

According to Deloitte’s fourth annual Millennial Survey, which includes 7,800 of tomorrow’s leaders from 29 countries, the value of strong business ethics is increasing. This stresses the fact that today’s young workforce also prefers to join ethical organizations that they can trust for their future growth.

I never worked in any unethical companies before but I could see it happened to big companies not only in the US but also abroad. Look at what happened to Enron scandal that the top project managers were stealing money and committed fraud that the economist and historian of the country will be writing about this scandal for years to come.

  • Does being Ethical pay?
  • Have you experienced something similar in your work place? What action have you taken and what advice would you like to share with unethical project manager?

    image001

URL: http://www.projectmanagement.com/articles/300210/Being-Ethical-is-Profitable/