Finding an Ethical Employer: Five Questions to Ask in a Job Interview

by Rushworth M. Kidder

WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana
In recent weeks, Martha Stewart has gone to jail, the world's largest insurance broker, Marsh & McLennan Companies, has been accused of unethical practices, and Citigroup has agreed to set aside $5.2 billion to cover legal bills arising from its alleged role in various financial scandals.

So it's not surprising that some of the students I talked to last week here at the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University wonder how they can distinguish ethical companies from unethical ones. Are they about to go to work for an Enron, which sank ignominiously into its own ethical morass, or for a J. M. Smucker Company, which now ranks No. 1 on Fortune's list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For? In a job interview, what questions can they ask that will reveal the inner workings of a company's ethics?

Here are five, in rising order of complexity (let's assume you're interviewing with a firm that has a code of ethics, an ethics office, and a significant international presence):

I've read your code of ethics. How important is it in your daily work around here? Does your interviewer know (a) that there is a code, (b) what it contains, and (c) how it can be relevant? Sometimes an honest recognition of problems ("We have a code, but frankly it hangs on the wall and doesn't much shape people's thinking") is far more positive than canned platitudes about "our high standards" -- and can lead to some pretty enlightening conversation.


Ethics offices can focus on compliance and regulations, or on integrity and core values. Where do you think your ethics office comes down on this distinction? While the right answer is probably "On both sides," this question raises a practical concern. Will you, as an employee, have a place to turn for serious, confidential conversation about any basic ethical failings you may see around you? Or will ethics officers only be interested in talking about explicit non-compliance with law or corporate policy?


Given the need to honor diversity around the world, can a global company have a code of ethics that governs every employee without offending any? Some executives feel that ethics creates a Hobson's choice: You either have to take good home-country values and cram them down the throat of every global business unit (which won't work), or you have to adopt a when-in-Rome attitude, letting country managers do things you wouldn't dream of doing at home (which is a PR train wreck waiting to happen). How does the company manage a code of ethics while still respecting cultural distinctions?


Suppose that I, as a manager, am part of a highly confidential decision-making process planning a downsizing. I'm pretty sure that a result will be that one of my longtime staff members, who trusts me implicitly, will be terminated. She asks whether she's in danger of being let go. Should I lie in order to remain loyal? This gets to the heart of executive decision making. Be alert to simplistic responses that are knee-jerk and authoritarian ("Of course loyalty trumps truth-telling") or woolly and pious ("Of course you must always tell all"). If this conundrum doesn't stimulate some thoughtful conversation, your interviewer may think ethics is only about right versus wrong, not about the tough right-versus-right where there's a moral case to be made on both sides. Watch to see, in particular, whether your interviewer is creative enough to suggest a third way forward that honors confidentiality but respects the truth.


Can you think of an example, large or small, where an employee displayed real moral courage in ways that benefited the entire organization? If this question prompts a pat answer about our whistle-blowing policy, keep digging. Try to learn how the corporation has handled legitimate internal complaints from people willing to endanger their progress by speaking up. If what emerges is a portrait of a culture where it doesn't take lots of courage to raise big issues, try to find out why this is so -- and make a mental note that this could be a great place to work.


Put these questions in your own words, of course, and then watch to see how they are received. Note whether (a) you're being made to feel young and naïve for asking them, (b) the interviewer is politely but impatiently answering you, or (c) the result is a thoughtful, engaged conversation. Remember, you're looking less for answers than for a way of answering. What matters is attitude, depth, and interest in the topic, rather than a brusque recitation of facts. You may not need all five: Any one of them can reveal all you need to know.

Will you offend your interviewer if you dare to raise such questions? Possibly. But isn't it better to know that now, rather than to watch your CEO lugged off to jail, your career made impossibly stressful by unethical subcultures, or your retirement vanish into a vortex of scandal and bankruptcy?

Note: The J. M. Smucker Company is a corporate member of the Institute for Global Ethics.

Questions or comments? Please write to newsline@globalethics.org.

http://www.globalethics.org/newsline/members/issue.tmpl?articleid=10180417083675


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