Business Ethics
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An old article from 1997 the start of the dot.com bust, but Oh So True, and still is today.
Found here on Fast Company.
"There are as many lies in business as there are people in business."
Lie: "People are our most important asset."
Truth: "People are our most worrisome and unpredictable asset. Our most important assets are really our financial assets."
B.S. Detector: This may be the leading lie of our times. "When management starts talking about how important people are," LaFontaine says, "you can bet there is going to be an unpopular human resources decision coming soon."
People are replaceable. It’s often painful, but they are. Sure you can lose time, and knowledge, but everyone can be replaced. The minute you think they can’t be, you have a whole other set of issues.
I applaud companies to take this to heart. But nothing lasts forever. Anything given in good faith becomes an entitlement in a short amount of time, and it takes a purging to reset expectations.
Lie: "This was a rational decision."
Truth: "I wanted to do this."
B.S. Detector: People "want what they want just because they want it," says LaFontaine.
While this can certainly be a lie and often is, you can’t always label this one this way. There are too many variables. Too often those that label this statement as such simply don’t have the data to support it.
Certainly, there are those managers who “want to do this”, and if their folks don’t have the authority to question the decision and get back up for it then there again are other issues at play.
Lie: "We judge people by their performance."
Truth: "I judge your performance based on how much I like you."
B.S. Detector: "Why do most people who keep their jobs keep them?" LaFontaine asks. "Because the people they work for like them. And you get fired when the people you work for don't like you anymore.
This is unfortunately too true. Because this is true, and people want to be liked, they become “Yes Men (or women). As such, they do what ever is asked and that’s not always the right answer. It appears they are performing because they are doing what is asked but what’s being asked is often the wrong thing and they know it.
But rather than do what’s right, they do what will help them be liked. They aren’t going to make waves, or rock the boat. They fear not being liked, because that’s what helps them keep their job.
There’s a local company now going through this. Everyone is scared to death to speak up and help improve the performance of the company, for fear they won’t be liked. The last person that did was fired.
Folks that are leaving aren’t giving feedback as to why. They don’t want to burn bridges either.
Lie: "This is business, it isn't personal."
Truth: "Everything's personal."
B.S. Detector: "As people, we get mad at each other," says LaFontaine. "Attempts to avoid it are cowardly. So get mad. Then get over it and move on." LaFontaine believes that any disagreement can be handled with an honest conversation.
See above.
Everything IS personal. We are people. We have feelings and they get hurt. Get over it because it’s also a business. You owe it to the business to be personally involved. If you aren’t then you are in the wrong job.
Lie: "The customer comes first."
Truth: "I come first."
B.S. Detector: "More often than not, 'the customer' is an abstraction," LaFontaine warns. "People take care of customers when it benefits them and ignore customers when they can get away with it. Nobody says 'I come first,' which is what's usually going on."
Amen.
Technorati Tags: Five Business Lies, Five Business Truths
Written by datapoohbah on May 4th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Business Ethics and The Truth Hurts.
They must defend themselves in this lawsuit:
Winternals Sues Best Buy for Stealing Their Software.
Best Buy was smart enough to admit it and come forth, but then weaseled out like the slime buckets that they tend to be from time to time.
Of course the corporate wheels turn slowly there and apparently they forgot to issue a cease and desist memo to the Geek Squad to stop using their pirated tools.
Now lets face it, everyone participates in a little software piracy-light from time to time, and everyone has extended an evaluation, but if it’s a tool that you use on a regular basis as part of your arsenal to resurrect computers for your paying customers, you are obligated to license that software.
Especially after you’ve come clean and admitted you’re out of compliance. At a minimum you owe for your past sins.
Someone at Best Buy will lose their job over this one.
Make em pay Mark.
Technorati Tags: Best Buy, Winternals, Lawsuit, WTF, Are You Stupid?
Written by datapoohbah on April 21st, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Business Ethics and Commentary and The Truth Hurts.
Every time I visit a Best Buy I walk out with the same feelings, and I swear I’ll never go back. But time passes, usually a couple months and I’ll need or want something and figure they are just as likely to have what I want as anyone else. Probably more likely so I give them another shot. Tonight was one of those nights.
I just replaced my cell phone. Now I know better. I know not to buy my accessories from the Verizon store. Nope, I don’t need to pay $30 for a car charger or $30 for a leather case. For $10, I can get everything I need on eBay plus another $5 for shipping.
But being impatient, I thought; what the hell, I’ll just pop into Best Buy and see what they have. I thought, if they did have a case in the $10 range I’d save the shipping and the time and just be done with it.
Walking in the place I’m hit up at the door, greeted I guess you could say. Does that make me feel welcome? No not really.
I know what I’m here for. I don’t know I’m sure that guys good for something but he’s certainly not as charismatic as the Walmart greeter up the road.
I go straight to the Cell phone aisle. There’s actually a couple aisles, but they were pretty clearly marked.
No sooner had I stepped foot in those aisles and I’m hit upon again. Do you need any help? “Nope, I know what I’m looking for”. I browse through the cases and chargers. I’m not paying $34.95 for a travel charger. They are $2.85 on ebay (+$5.00 shipping) all day long, as many as I can carry. So that’s no good. Nope, I’m not paying $29.95 for a car charger either; they too are $2.00 on eBay all day long.
Then I’m visited again, by employee number 3, “Can I help you find something?” “Nope, looking at Cell accessories, I think I’m in the right place”. I move over to the cases. They have a fabulous leather case, but it’s not my style, it’s nice but it’s pink. It’s also $40.00. I don’t like the wet suits, not for this phone. Then again, no more than 5 minutes later, another person, the 4th in total if you count the greeter, asks me again if I need help, or if she (a girl this time) can help me find what I’m looking for.
This time I bite; “Sure, I want a case for the RAZR, I’m looking at both the clips and/or maybe a leather case”. She reaches over and grabs the only clip they sell. It’s $20.00. I look at it, put the phone in it. It’s fine but the same thing is $3.00 on eBay. Now I know that Best Buy has rent to pay, and they have overhead that the eBay stores don’t. But nope, I’m not paying $20 for this either. It’s not what I had in mind.
I also don’t want to be hassled, 4 times in 15 minutes or less just for the privilege to shop there.
Normally, I’ll toy with them. Get them to show me some laptops and camcorders and ask about things that don’t make any sense. Can I record to DVD with this? While I’m holding up a Hi-8 camcorder to get them to explain the process, or have them really get into the details of what’s different between Windows XP and Home and why I should have one over the other. It’s often amusing.
I have walked out of Best Buy not buying more times than I can count because they are simply too damn aggressive.
They try to mask it as being helpful, but it’s not, it’s annoying.
Technorati Tags: Best Buy, Annoying, Sales Pressure, Sucks, Truth Hurts
Written by datapoohbah on April 5th, 2006 with 3 comments.
Read more articles on Business Ethics and The Truth Hurts.
Check this job out!
If you have a degree, and 2-5 years experience, you can work for one of Detroit's 101 best and brightest companies.
You get to perform intrusion detection and response on all nodes to ensure data integrity and protect stuff. (for this rate of pay I guess you're just going to ping things).
Develop and maintain IRP's.
Oversee computer systems.
Research and integrate security best practices.
Perform System Upgrades
Administer the LAN.
Bennies are somewhat weak, especially for a bank, 401k match up to 1% woohoo! Medical reimbursment for your dependents, but no mention of medical.
They must be the 101st of the best 101 in Detroit. Oh and you get to live in Detriot and earn between $28-$31k
Do the words: You get what you pay for mean anything?
I suppose there may be a glut of auto-workers looking for a career change but that's just sad.
Technorati Tags: Job, Detriot, Evil, IT, Tech, no-good
Written by datapoohbah on April 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Business Ethics and Commentary and The Truth Hurts.
Of all the lessons I’ve learned in my IT career none have been more important than CYA.
CYA in the IT realm can mean many things:
Backup before you move forward (duh) if you don’t backup your work, you shouldn’t be in IT or you won’t be for long.
-or-
Have a backup plan, such as, if I make this change and it makes things worse, can I un-do what I just did so that I can “at-the-very-least” get back to where I was? Or if things really go wrong. Do I have a plan B? Such as: If I put this piece of hardware in this server and puffs of smoke come out. What will I do then? It’s not supposed to do that, but what if?
That is technical CYA and failing to do that may very well get you thrown under a bus, but that’s not what this particular article is about. No Sir.
———————
The other type of CYA is political CYA.
This is the most difficult type of CYA for us IT types because we tend not to recognize it. We tend to look at things in black and white. Working or not working. Broken or not broken. Fast or slow. On or off. Access Allowed or Access Denied.
For us stuff works or it doesn’t and when it doesn’t it’s our job to make it work, fix it if it’s broken, and generally the sooner the better right?
When was the last time a user complained to you and did so with your job in mind?
- “I can’t check mail, or my email is broken, but I understand you can’t fix it right now. I’ll sit tight until maintenance night so you don’t impact all the other users”
- “My VPN connection doesn’t work but I understand you can’t help me because I’m not at home to test it.”
- “My XYZ application is really slow, do you have a work around that I can use until the real solution (hardware/resources/etc) that are beyond your control can be put into place?”
Oh, Never that’s when. We’re expected to routinely read minds and perform miracles on a daily basis with little to no information and do so without ever interrupting anyone, anything or any service.
But we try, and try as we may to short circuit the process, to help folks be productive and fix these problems and not make users wait it will sometimes cause rifts.
We constantly have to weigh the risks of making changes to things now vs. waiting to make change later and the impacts that may cause. We have to react to requests of upper management who may not have all the data to support the changes they are requesting, but we have to do it anyway, because, well, they said so.
All you can do in this case is document your role. Document the fact that you’re trying to do what’s best for the organization from your point of view. That you’ve worked with the right people and received adequate permission. Documentation is the key, and it will save your ass every time.
While it’s true people don’t argue with their own data, they won’t argue with yours either if it’s well documented and logged. If you produce evidence that you did everything in your power to reduce the casualties and got permission to make the changes to improve the results then life will be good.
Written by datapoohbah on March 2nd, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Business Ethics and Commentary and The Truth Hurts.
First, read the Actual Google Code of Conduct.
Our informal corporate motto is “Don’t be evil.” We Googlers generally relate those words to the way we serve our users – as well we should. But being “a different kind of company” means more than the products we make and the business we’re building; it means making sure that our core values inform our conduct in all aspects of our lives as Google employees.
The Google Code of Conduct is the code by which we put those values into practice. This document is meant for public consumption, but its most important audience is within our own walls. This code isn’t merely a set of rules for specific circumstances but an intentionally expansive statement of principles meant to inform all our actions; we expect all our employees, temporary workers, consultants, contractors, officers and directors to study these principles and do their best to apply them to any and all circumstances which may arise.
The core message is simple: Being Googlers means striving toward the highest possible standard of ethical business conduct. This is a matter as much practical as ethical; we hire great people who work hard to build great products, but our most important asset by far is our reputation as a company that warrants our users’ faith and trust. That trust is the foundation upon which our success and prosperity rests, and it must be re-earned every day, in every way, by every one of us.
So please do read this code, and then read it again, and remember that as our company evolves, The Google Code of Conduct will evolve as well. Our core principles won’t change, but the specifics might, so a year from now, please read it a third time. And always bear in mind that each of us has a personal responsibility to do everything we can to incorporate these principles into our work, and our lives.
Apparently, evolving corporate principals mean that if China wants you to actually be evil, you say, “sure!”.
Also, this is why Codes of Conduct, Vision Statements, Etc. have such a dismal reputation among American corporate workers. They’re either rah-rah bs designed to get us to put more time and effort into a company than it’s worth. Or simply a waste of time to keep the executives busy.
For once I’d like to see this on a company “vision” statement.
We plan to make money on making and selling widgets. We want to make the best widget we can so we can sell it for a higher price. Also we want to make as many widgets as we can, so we can sell more.
A great roundup on the Google Evilness at BizzyBlog.com.
Written by CmdrChalupa on January 25th, 2006 with 2 comments.
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