Warning Signs of Ethical Dilemmas

During ethics training, employees should gain a thorough understanding of company policy, as well as the importance of maintaining an ethical workplace. Here are some practical guidelines for ethics training:

• Introduce new employees to the organization’s ethics policies and standards during their orientation period.
• Make sure that all employees—old and new—get awareness training that introduces them to ethical problems and issues on the job.
• Periodically review policies and codes of conduct with employees. These are the standards to which employees will be held. They need to fully understand them.
• Make sure your training program also teaches employees how to make ethical decisions on the job.
• Include in your training sessions studies of ethical problems that could occur—or have already occurred—on the job; for example, case studies based on actual or realistic scenarios within your organization or industry can help drive home the training message. By discussing case studies and/or using role play, employees will gain insight and practice in solving ethical problems and develop a greater awareness of and sensitivity to ethical issues in the workplace.

All your employees can be leaders in ethical behavior if they receive effective training, and now there’s a convenient and reasonable way to get it done—BLR’s Leadership for Employees Library at the online, 24/7, Training Today. Get More Information

What are the Warning Signs of an Ethical Dilemma?

Train employees at all levels to recognize the signs that they may be facing an ethical dilemma. Explain to them that sometimes ethical problems are obvious. But other times they may not really be aware of a looming ethical dilemma. They may be preoccupied with other pressing issues, or they may be in denial. But warning signs of an impending problem are usually there if they know what to look for.
For example:

• If something about a situation is making them feel uncomfortable, it’s time to start digging and try to figure out what’s bothering them and why. There may well be an ethical issue at the root of their discomfort.
• A clearer indication of an ethical problem is a feeling of guilt. If they’re feeling guilty, they probably did something wrong—or are thinking about doing something they know is wrong. They shouldn’t deny this feeling. They should explore it and respond appropriately to it.
• Stress can be another indicator of an ethical dilemma. They’re feeling a lot of pressure; they’re losing sleep over something. These can be signs that they’re putting off making a difficult, but necessary, choice. Time to take a closer look.
• Anger might also be a sign of an ethical problem. If they’re feeling pressured to make a decision that makes them feel uncomfortable, they may be angry at the person or people who are pressuring them.
• Embarrassment is also a sign of possible misconduct—or the contemplation of misconduct. Would they be embarrassed to tell their boss, co-workers, friends, or family about what they’re doing or thinking of doing? If so, there’s a very good chance that it is unethical. They shouldn’t do it. Why risk losing the respect of all these important people in their life?
• If they’re afraid of getting caught for what they’re doing or thinking about doing, it’s pretty clear that it is something they should not be doing. They need to pay attention to this feeling and stop before it’s too late.

Acting ethically is the behavior of a leader, and in that way all employees can be leaders. What other ways can employees show leadership?
By training them on communication, organization, team building, and other skills, you can empower all your employees to be leaders on the job.
How can you go about training your employees to be leaders? It’s never easy to find the time or the money, but leadership training has a tremendous ROI value for employers.
The Leadership Library provides you with a sensible (and economic) solution.

The Leadership Library for Employees allows you to:

• Train on demand. Employees can complete training anytime from anywhere. All they need is a computer and an internet connection.
• Reinforce training topics with engaging graphics and quizzes to test their knowledge.
• Monitor and track the results of your training program with the built-in recordkeeping tool.
• Save costs. The more you train, the more cost-effective the training becomes.

The Leadership for Employees Library is a Web-based training tool that can be utilized by any organization. All you need is a computer and Internet access, and the library is open 24/7.

Trying to get your employees trained to show leadership? It isn’t easy to fit it in—schedule-wise or budget-wise—but now there’s BLR’s Leadership for Employees Library. Train all your people, at their convenience, 24/7, for one standard fee. Get More Information

The Leadership for Employees Library provides tools and information to employees in a leadership position, or aspiring leaders, to improve their business, leadership, and professional skills.
The courses cover a range of leadership and managerial topics, including the following:

• Email Best Practices For Employees Training
• Business Writing Skills Training for Employees
• Conflict Resolution for Employees
• Crash Course in Leadership Skills
• Effective Employee Communication Training
• Employee Ethics Training
• Negotiating Skills for All Employees
• Organizing and Planning for Success: What Employees Need to Know
• Workplace Problem Solving Training for Employees
• Workplace Stress Management Training – Wellness Training
• Team Building Training for Employees – Workplace Team Building
• Training the Trainer: Effective Techniques for Dynamic Training

This turnkey service requires no setup, no course development time, no software installation, and no new hardware. Your employees can self-register, and training can be taken anytime (24/7), anywhere there is a PC and an Internet connection. Courses take only about 30 minutes to complete.
TrainingToday automatically documents training. As trainees sign on, their identifications are automatically registered. When the program is completed, the trainee’s score is entered. So, when you want to see who has been trained on any subject, or look at the across-the-board activity of any one employee, it’s all there, instantly available.
Course certificates can be automatically generated from within the training center and are automatically retained for recordkeeping purposes.
Get started today on helping your employees be the best they can be!
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