Why Do Good People Behave Unethically? How to Manage Morally Imperfect People

Managing Morally Imperfect People
Organizations are composed of people. The average human being is a very good person. But he or she is not a saint. Everyone has his or her own set of moral challenges to manage, such as greed, anger, envy, lust, and pride. Moral perfection is a moving target, always a few grasps beyond our reach.
The managerial challenge is to coordinate the transformation of inputs into products and services in a way that respects the dignity of owners, employees, customers, suppliers, the host community, and the natural environment. It only takes one unethical or illegal behavior to ruin an organization's reputation or result in damaging litigation.
Researchers have documented that the average person lies twice a day. That's actually pretty good when one considers the thousands of statements the average person makes every day. But those two times a day an employee, customer, or supplier are dishonest can be very problematic for organizations.
The dishonesty could be a big lie (e.g., a manager falsely claims that the organization has surpassed revenue targets) or a small one (e.g., a salesperson falsely tells an aggravated customer that the boss is not in the office today). The dishonesty could be a lie of commission (e.g., falsely telling the boss that the work is complete) or one of omission (e.g., not telling the boss anything about the incomplete work).
Due to human nature and the potential negative ramifications of unethical work‐related activities on organizational performance, ethics must be managed.

Why Do Good People Behave Unethically?
Ethics would be easy to manage if simply a matter of detecting and dismissing evil people. But that is not the nature of organizational life.
Sometimes the unethical decision or outcome is not intentional. Unethical situations can arise when a good person has insufficient knowledge and awareness, inadequate job skills, or lacks prudence, judgment, or courage. Ethical problems also result from management and organizational design issues, such as a misaligned management system, inadequate flow of information, perceived management indifference, inadequate legal and regulatory framework, and pressures from unethical customers or competitors.
Sometimes good people will occasionally behave unethically because of contextual reasons. A survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management and the Ethics Resource Center found that 24% of the respondents were pressured to compromise ethical standards either periodically, fairly often, or all the time. Of those feeling pressured, the top five organizational sources were:
1.    Following the boss's directives (experienced by 49%)
2.    Meeting overly aggressive business or financial objectives (48%)
3.    Helping the organization to survive (40%)
4.    Meeting schedule pressures (35%)
5.    Wanting to be a team player (27%)

Why Do Good People Behave Unethically? How to Manage Morally Imperfect People

Reflection after the World Cup

During World Cup period, soccer betting was rampant around the globe. In developing countries, even the poor couldn't resist the temptation to join the excitement. The rich were also speculating heavily to earn big bucks fast. But you know the result, right? the winner of this sports betting is the bookies, not the gamblers. You may have noticed many big flops of the favorite teams. Statistics showed that in many matches, favorite team seldom beat the non-favorite one. The earliest big favorite flops was Spain. Switzerland beaten Spain in courageous, well coordinated game. Many people shocked completely with the result. Why such big-stars-filled team can be defeated by minnows? The event teach us important lessons: there is no strong predictability with any sport game. Even though, on paper it looks like an obvious win, mistakes or poor play just happen.

Fortunately, I didn't bet during the World Cup. The temptation from business partners and friends was enormous, but I politely said to them that I didn't want to do that. Thanks God, if I bet, then I may join millions of people who lost the fortune during that period. I saw plenty businessman got cash flow problem during and after World Cup. Family rifts escalated after they were forced to sell their property to cover the loss. Now is the time to rebuild their lives for everyone. Importantly, make commitment not to repeat the same mistakes in future.

Reflection after the World Cup

4 Behavioural Patterns that describe Different Characteristics of Employee Engagement. ACTIVELY ENGAGED EMPLOYEES. ACTIVELY DISENGAGED EMPLOYEES

The degree to which people demonstrate a positive attitude and their type and levels of activity can be translated into likely engagement patterns. There are 4 simple behavioural patterns that can be seen in regard to engagement.

1) STAR
Employees defined as ‘stars’ have a positive attitude to change and are action oriented. They have high energy, enthusiasm and make discretionary effort. They are realistic about obstacles they encounter and how to overcome them.
Stars are fully engaged with the organization. Their behaviour is characterized by:
?    giving discretionary effort to serve the customer;
?    seeing the silver lining hidden beneath the dark clouds;
?    viewing change as a challenge and opportunity;
?    treating life as a continuous learning experience;
?    expanding their personal comfort zone.
Stars tend to:
?    feel comfortable with the need for change;
?    be open to possibilities and ideas;
?    be optimistic about the long-term future;
?    like to be challenged and stretched;
?    be realists, not afraid of short-term mistakes or setbacks.

2) CYNICS
‘Cynics’ display a negative attitude and high levels of activity. This group are actively disengaged. They have a lot of energy and can be very vocal, but what they focus on is the negative – what is not working in the organization. They are keen to disassociate themselves from the organization and actively tell others why change won’t work.
Cynics’ behaviour is characterized by:
?    always seeing the negatives;
?    criticizing ideas and solutions;
?    expressing frustration;
?    focusing on the past: ‘We tried this five years ago…’
?    arguing against change;
?    being oblivious to the consequences of their negativity;
?    bringing other people such as the victims and yes men round to their perspective.
Cynics feel:
?    in the right and angry at the world for ignoring them;
?    frustrated when there is confusion and whingeing;
?    not listened to, excluded, constrained;
?    overtly confident in their own ability;
?    rebellious, determined to block change they do not own;
?    unsympathetic to the stress felt by others.

3) YES MAN
‘Yes men’ are characterized as neither actively engaged nor disengaged. They are the ‘coasters’, prepared to drift along, saying the right things but following things through with energy, passion or action.
Yes men are characterized by behaviour that is about:
?    avoiding taking risks;
?    keeping a low profile;
?    trying to ride things out without drawing attention to themselves;
?    acknowledging good ideas but being reluctant to change themselves.
Although Yes men may be positive about what is happening in an organization, they are reluctant to get involved. They feel threatened when too exposed and are comfortable to watch from the sidelines.

4) VICTIMS
‘Victims’ can be described as having a negative attitude and lacking drive. This inactivity, coupled with their negative approach towards new ideas, leads to inertia. Although less vocal than cynics, they still are disengaged from the organization; everything is ‘done to them’, they do not take an active part in organizational life. However, unlike cynics they lack the energy or drive to vocalize this.
Victims react by:
?    avoiding confronting issues;
?    retreating into ‘safety’ – burying their heads in the sand;
?    avoiding risk, doing the minimum;
?    avoiding thinking about what might happen.
Victims may feel unhappy and/or depressed, overwhelmed by work, powerless and fearful of mistakes, but their lack of confidence means that they do not actively seek to find other employment or to improve their current working life.

4 Behavioural Patterns that describe Different Characteristics of Employee Engagement. ACTIVELY ENGAGED EMPLOYEES. ACTIVELY DISENGAGED EMPLOYEES

Traffic School and Defensive Driving Courses

Every drivers want to keep their driving records clean and motor insurance rates low. But, we might get traffic ticket due to our reckless behavior or violation of a traffic law. Our reckless behavior or mistakes include: illegal turn, ignoring stop sign, speeding over 100 mph, speed contest, DUI, reckless driving, and hit-and-run. These traffic violations often result in points deduction on our driving record and indirectly increase our motor insurance premiums. Even worse, an excessive number of points deduction on your official Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) Driver Record could result in our driver's license suspension or revocation. If you need to remove points from your license or reduce a ticket, you can achieve it with Traffic School Online. After successfully completing of online traffic school course, your traffic ticket will be dismissed and your driving record will stay clean.

Traffic School Online provides the easiest and best way to attend traffic school and defensive driving courses that are accepted by all courts. It promotes highway safety, enforcing motor vehicle laws, and keeping your driving record clean. Whether you have to take Traffic School to dismiss a Ticket, or take a Defensive Driving Course for point and insurance reduction needed in California, California Traffic School will provide cheap, easy, and fast way to complete your traffic school online requirement. In some cases, your employer may also require you to complete online traffic school program to enhance your knowledge of traffic laws and reinforce safe driving habits.

The above is a sponsored.

Traffic School and Defensive Driving Courses

Middle Managers's Roles and Responsibility. High-impact Management for Organization.

What Middle Managers Do
Middle managers are the fundamental link joining an organization’s strategies to the people and projects needed to produce results. They are the folks in the middle who see and manage how various parts of the enterprise work. It’s a big and often underestimated responsibility.

What the typical middle manager’s role might look like this. In the top portion of the figure, various concerns converge and compete for a middle manager’s time and attention. These concerns include a broad range of tasks such as planning, goal setting, performance management, problem solving, process improvement, relationship building, analysis, communication updates, budgeting, and decision making. Barriers and mucky-muck can block these items from getting the time and consideration they deserve.

The funnel represents the distillation process that middle managers must use to decide how they will spend time and complete their work. Middle managers are like a corporate funnel, interpreting and translating strategies, needs, and choices so their teams can perform. They practice techniques and make decisions that influence results. Ineffective work practices and a preponderance of barriers can combine to slow output to a trickle.

High-impact middle management helps middle managers deal with daily tasks and strategic demands while providing tools to reduce barriers to productivity. Middle management areas of concern that high-impact middle management addresses include
    paradigms that best serve execution and results
    fostering collaboration to improve results and efficiency
    determining team performance
    goal setting for peak performance
    dealing with daily obstacles to results
    removing factors that limit throughput
    time management
    process alignment techniques
    performance management techniques
    skills for coaching others
    using the High-Impact Middle Management System to improve results
    honing middle management skills to build your career.

Middle Managers's Roles and Responsibility. High-impact Management for Organization.

Comfortable and Perfect Fit Bras and Shapewear

I love beautiful, well-constructed lingerie that makes me feel comfortable and enhances my body shape. My lingerie wardrobe includes bras, panties, thongs, sexy lingerie, sleepwear, shapewear, girdles, corsets, hosiery and many more. My favourites are comfort shapewear and luxury bra. You can flatten your tummy, curve your breast, slim your leg, lift and smooth your bottom by wearing right-fitted shapewear. This body shapers redefine your curves and contour your figure into a more pleasing appearance to give you a sexier, slimmer, firmer & more youthful look.

If you are looking for perfect fit bras and lingerie, try HerRoom. You'll find a wide variety of comfortable, easy-to-wear lingerie from more than 200 name brands at low prices, great quality, and free shipping. I love Vanity Fair bras and Wacoal bras for their their softness, extra support, excellent shaping, amazing comfort, beautiful design, and importantly perfect fit. There are so many choices in fabric (Cotton, Polyester, Nylon, Spandex), style and size ( AAA, AA, A, B, C, D, DD, DDD, DDDD) to choose from. In fact, there are different styles of bras (First/Training Bras, Light Support Bras, Full Support Bras, Push Up Bras, Sports Bras) designed for different body types, fashions and activities. Wearing the right bra size is just as important as choosing the right bra style. A properly fitted bra is essential for comfort, great support and improved posture. A poorly fitting bra can cause back problems, restricted breathing, muscle tension, and even headaches. Wearing a good, well-fitted bra will prevent your breasts from sagging, make you appear in better proportion, and make your clothes fit and look better. Typically, a well-fitted bra has a band that lies firmly around the body and stays horizontal at the back. You should be able to run two fingers under the band. Your bra straps should not falling down or digging into your shoulders. Your breasts should not squeeze over the top of your bra. The support should be firm enough to prohibit motion during walking or other movements. Remember, if your bra fits correctly, it should NOT be painful or uncomfortable to wear.

Comfortable and Perfect Fit Bras and Shapewear

The 5 Advantages of Creditworthy Organizations. Why Creditworthiness Matters?

Why Creditworthiness Matters
Is this angst different for an organization? Not really. An organization's long-term competitive position today is substantially dependent on its ability to raise affordable capital in the debt markets. An organization's board and management team must attain and maintain a minimum credit rating that permits the organization to effectively compete in its marketplace. Simply stated, credit ratings matter. Why?

First, creditworthy organizations have improved capital market opportunities. One such opportunity is access to credit enhancement such as bond insurance or a letter or line of credit. By purchasing bond insurance or a line of credit, an organization in the "A" rated or better category essentially can "buy up" to a higher credit rating. A higher rating means lower interest costs. A small decrease in the interest rate multiplied out over the life of the bond can mean significant savings.

Second, creditworthy organizations also have access to both taxable and tax-exempt debt. Taxable debt may be required for certain programs or services that don't qualify for tax-exempt debt. Organizations with a strong credit rating ("A" rating or better) may want to exercise the option of taxable debt for investments such as medical office buildings or joint-venture ambulatory facilities. Creditworthy organizations can also access derivative options such as interest rate swaps, caps, and other means or mechanisms to reduce overall interest rate costs and risk exposure.

Third, creditworthy organizations enjoy less restrictive bond document covenants, which give them the full benefit of financial flexibility. Lower-rated organizations are held to different standards that limit their flexibility to protect investors.

Fourth, creditworthy organizations also experience lower costs associated with issuing their bonds. Many of the large investor groups, funds, and insurance corporations that normally buy tax-exempt hospital bonds are precluded from buying debt beneath the "A"-rated category. Hence, the pool of potential investors for "BBB" bonds, for example, is much smaller than that for higher-rated bonds. Selling to a larger pool simply takes less time and energy and results in lower issuance costs. Because of the lower risk associated with issuing bonds for a creditworthy organization, insurance premiums are lower, as are letters and lines of credit from banks as well as underwriting and remarketing charges. In addition, organizations with impeccable credit can often issue their debt without setting aside a debt-service reserve fund.
Organizations with deteriorating credit will often be required to establish such a fund by setting aside at least a year's worth of principle and interest payments in an escrow account that cannot be accessed. This increases the amount of the borrowing, thereby increasing total principle and interest payments over the life of the bond.

Fifth and finally, creditworthy organizations are market consolidators. Organizations with the highest credit ratings are the most attractive partners to those with lower ratings. Such organizations offer excess capital capacity and lower capital costs. In the current business environment, strong organizations are consolidating markets by acquiring or merging with weaker competitors that are often no longer able to compete because of a lack of access to cost-effective capital. As one expert notes, "Winners in the competition for capital are systems that can invest in their future. Capital-poor provider organizations will be forced to sit on the sidelines in a growth era, unable to expand or upgrade facilities"

The 5 Advantages of Creditworthy Organizations. Why Creditworthiness Matters?

Healthcare Industry's Unique Requirements

When you visited modern hospitals or health care centers, you'll find many unique technological improvements designed to improve efficiency, lower costs, improve patient care and deliver quality medical services. From RFID, Medical Imaging, Medical Robots, to special Medical Computer/Terminal are just few examples. What an interesting observation is : Medical Computer/Terminal differs from your home PC/Workstation. It has special features that are designed to meet patients and medical practitioner's unique requirements - Anti-bacterial plastic enclosure, Water-proof and Dust-proof sealed front panel, Ergonomics design, Fan-less design. IP65 rated Touch screen panel is designed for dust-free and water-proof operation, where you can spray and wipe down without the risk of damaging the unit. The protective plastic case that contains an anti-microbial additive are important for hygienic medical facilities and clean hospital environments. Fan-less digital terminal offers extreme reliability with its noise-free operation. In overall, this special medical All in One PC deliver seamless integration and effortless functionality for busy hospitals and clinics to provide high quality care and meets the strictest of standards in patient safety.

In addition, Healthcare industry faces many challenges to meet unique regulatory compliance. For healthcare organizations, HIPAA compliance is a top priority. Failure to comply with HIPAA, Sarbarnes-Oxley Act, Freedom of Information Act, plus other industry standards can be costly. Healthcare organizations must be able to quickly discover and produce large amounts of information in response to litigation or regulatory investigations. For this, they need reliable Email Archiving Solution with centralized data management and on-demand storage capabilities to comply with this regulations. For an organization without email archiving in place, this means the necessity of searching old message from back-up tapes. Back-up tapes are an expensive and impractical method of preserving email for archival. The time necessary to search and retrieve historical email stored on back-up tapes are just too great and infeasible/impractical. Email Archiving Appliance is the right solution for email storage, search, and retrieval. Email Archiving Appliance offers Unified Content (email, file system, etc) Discovery, Enterprise scalability and fine grain Retention Management and Exclusion Policies.

Healthcare Industry's Unique Requirements

15 Signs of Budget Weaknesses. Key Advantages and Disadvantages of Budgets.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Budgets

Budgeting involves cost and time to prepare. The benefits of budgeting must outweigh the drawbacks. A budget can be advantageous because it:
    Links objectives and resources.
    Communicates to managers what is expected of them. Any problems in communication and working relationships are identified. Resources and requirements are identified.
    Establishes guidelines in the form of a road map to proceed in the right direction. Improves managerial decision making because emphasis is on future events and associated opportunities.
    Encourages delegation of responsibility and enables managers to focus more on the specifics of their plans and how realistic the plans are, and how such plans may be effectively achieved.
    Provides an accurate analytical technique.
    Provides better management of subordinates. For example, a manager can use the budget to encourage salespeople to consider their clientele in long-term strategic terms.
    Fosters careful study before making decisions.
    Helps management become aware of the problems faced by lower levels within the organization. It promotes labor relations.
    Allows for thinking how to make operations and resources more productive, efficient, competitive, and profitable. It leads to cost reduction.
    Allows management to monitor, control, and direct activities within the company. Performance standards act as incentives to perform more effectively.
    Points out deviations between budget and actual, resulting in warning signals for changes or alterations.
    Helps identify, on a timely basis, weaknesses in the organizational structure. There is early notice of dangers or departures from forecasts. The formulation and administration of budgets pinpoints communication weaknesses, assigns responsibility, and improves working relationships.
    Provides management with foresight into potential crisis situations so alternative plans may be instituted.
    Provides early signals of upcoming threats and opportunities.
    Aids coordination between departments to attain efficiency and productivity. There is an interlocking within the business organization. For example, the production department will manufacture based on the sales department's anticipated sales volume. The purchasing department will buy raw materials based on the production department's expected production volume. The personnel department will hire or lay off workers based on anticipated production levels. Executives are forced to consider relationships among individual operations and the company as a whole.
    Provides a motivational device setting a standard for employees to achieve.
    Provides measures of self-evaluation.
    Management can make distasteful decisions and blame it on the budget.

A budget can be disadvantageous because:
    A budget promotes gamesmanship in that those managers who significantly inflate requests, knowing they will be reduced, are in effect rewarded by getting what they probably really wanted.
    A budget may reward managers who set modest goals and penalize those who set ambitious goals that are missed.
    There is judgment and subjectivity in the budgeting process.
    Managers may consider that budgets redirect their flexibility to adjust to changing conditions.
    A budget does not consider quality and customer service.

Budget Weaknesses
The signs of budget weaknesses must be spotted so that corrective action may be taken. Such signs include:
    Managerial goals are off target or unrealistic.
    There is management indecisiveness.
    The budget takes too long to prepare.
    Budget preparers are unfamiliar with the operations being budgeted and do not seek such information. Budget preparers should visit the actual operations firsthand.
    Budget preparers do not keep current.
    The budget is prepared using different methods each year.
    There is a lack of raw information going into the budgeting process.
    There is a lack of communication between those involved in budgeting and operating personnel.
    The budget is formulated without input from those affected by it. This will likely result in budgeting errors. Further, budget preparers do not go into the operations field.
    Managers do not know how their budget allowances have been assigned or what the components of their charges are. If managers do not understand the information, they will not perform their functions properly.
    The budget document is excessively long, confusing, or filled with unnecessary information. There may be inadequate narrative data to explain the numbers.
    Managers are ignoring their budgets because they appear unusable and unrealistic.
    Managers feel they are not getting anything out of the budget process. Changes are made to the budget too frequently.
    Significant unfavorable variances are not investigated and corrected. These variances may also not be considered in deriving budgeted figures for next period. Further, a large variance between actual and budgeted figures, either positive or negative, that repeatedly occurs is an indicator of poor budgeting. Perhaps the budgeted figures were unrealistic. Another problem is that after variances are identified, it is too late to correct their causes. Further, variance reporting may be too infrequent.
    There is a mismatching of products or services.

15 Signs of Budget Weaknesses. Key Advantages and Disadvantages of Budgets.

Top Ten Most Common Customer Complaints. How to Turn these 10 Customer Complaints into Positive Customer Expectation. How to Achieve Customer Service Excellence.

Welcoming Complaints
Today’s unhappy customers are no longer restricted to talking with friends and neighbors over the backyard fence or the phone. They are also equipped with the Internet, which can quickly spread their message of dissatisfaction to the whole world. Websites that are dedicated to bashing non–customer friendly providers and organizations have proliferated. Enough negative write-ups or mentions on these websites will severely affect an organization’s reputation and put its business model at risk. Furthermore, recruiting new customers is much more costly than retaining an existing customer base, a research finding that was as true in the late 1990s as it is today.
Surveys and interviews are not required to determine that most customers expect a positive experience from a service provider. Customers complain when they encounter factors or situations they do not expect. These complaints are a good source of information, however. Examining what customers do not want can provide insight into what they do want. In his book Discovering the Soul of Service, service expert Len Berry (1999, 31) lists the ten most common customer complaints, which are still valid in today’s healthcare marketplace. A common thread in these complaints is that customers feel disrespected:
?    Complaint: lying, dishonesty, and unfairness by the organization and employees
Customer expectation: to be told the truth and treated fairly
?    Complaint: harsh, disrespectful treatment by employees
Customer expectation: to be treated with respect
?    Complaint: carelessness, mistakes, and broken promises
Customer expectation: to receive careful, reliable healthcare and the promised clinical outcome
?    Complaint: employees without the desire or authority to solve problems
Customer expectation: to receive prompt solutions to clinical and nonclinical problems
?    Complaint: waiting in line because some service lanes or counters are closed
Customer expectation: to wait as short a time as possible
?    Complaint: impersonal service
Customer expectation: to receive personal attention and genuine interest from employees
?    Complaint: inadequate communication after problems arise
Customer expectation: to be kept informed of problem-solving efforts after reporting or encountering problems or service failures
?    Complaint: employees who are unwilling to make extra effort or who seem annoyed by requests for assistance
Customer expectation: to receive assistance rendered willingly by employees
?    Complaint: employees who do not know what is happening
Customer expectation: to receive accurate answers to common questions from informed employees
?    Complaint: employees who put their own interests first, conduct personal business, or chat with each other while the customers wait
Customer expectation: to have customer interests come first

Top Ten Most Common Customer Complaints. How to Turn these 10 Customer Complaints into Positive Customer Expectation. How to Achieve Customer Service Excellence.

June 2010 - Top 10 Entrecard Droppers

I like to thank to all droppers for their continued support.
My special appreciation for the following Top 10 Droppers for June 2010:

Positive men

Life With Roxxymetal

Online Social Networking

Symbian Freeware

Photography by KML

My Linux Today

Michelle's Menagerie

Teen Suicide Talk

Cooking Japanese Style

Art Shout!

June 2010 - Top 10 Entrecard Droppers