HR’S ROLE IN HELPING ORGANISATIONS CREATE AN ETHICAL CULTURE
As we start a new decade, companies across the globe are busily trying to execute their strategic plans for 2020 and beyond. It is safe to say that a fair number of organisations will be attempting to undergo an ethical cultural transformation, as it is widely understood today that an ethical culture is one of the critical enablers of a successful organisational strategy.
What is corporate culture? It can be categorised as the shared values, attitudes, standards and beliefs that characterise members of a company and define its nature. Corporate culture is rooted in an organisation’s goals, strategies, structure, systems and people processes. So how can human resources (HR) help their organisations create an ethical culture? The natural place of impact is within the people processes arena. While HR plays a role in other areas, such as strategy creation and organisational design, most often HR owns the areas contained within the company’s people processes.
If we think about the processes that affect the people in any company, the spectrum is quite large and can be daunting, but it also provides various areas of opportunity where HR can have a tremendous impact on the desired culture. Starting from the beginning of the HR value chain, the attraction of talent is a critical component for any company to achieve its strategic priorities. The employee value proposition you present to prospective employees can set the ethical tone on behavioural expectations within a company. Advertising such statements as “doing business ethically goes to the heart of who we are” sends a drastically different message than “great pay, great benefits, great place to work”. HR can help organisations craft a proposition that speaks to what the company’s beliefs are and the expectations for anyone who joins.
Apr-Jun 2020 Issue
Novartis