Learning and Development CHAPTER 9 Achieving ethical practice

THE PURPOSE OF THE CHAPTER To explain and explore the two kinds of responsibility that L&D professionals hold in relation to ethics: to ensure that they themselves are ethical practitioners, and to work with others to build fairness and trust into the organisation’s relations with its members and external stakeholders. KEY THEMES Ethics and corporate social responsibility Six forces influencing organisations’ CSR and ethics agenda Building trust Ethics and L&D practice Aiding equality: tasks for L&D practitioners Diversity and inclusivity: the challenges

FORCES INFLUENCING ORGANISATIONS’ DEFINITION OF CSR, MORAL PURPOSE AND BOTTOM LINE The media Globalisation of businesses Environmental concerns The talent war Legislation, benchmarking and codes Stakeholder power

BITC’s CSR Index Report 2007: KEY FEATURES OF TOP CSR COMPANIES Leadership from the top Relevant policies across the business CSR incorporated into strategic decision-making Continuous improvement targets and objectives Clear responsibilities at every organisational level Effective communication systems for sharing knowledge Training to ensure competence and delivery of objectives Process for stakeholder consultation and engagement in all key areas Monitoring systems to assess and report progress Regular reporting of key issues, targets, performance and practices Willingness to disclose submission publicly

CSR Index Report 2007: MAIN CONCERNS Key social issues: most still struggling to articulate these Ensuring accountability: only 60% of those working with a community partner have structures for joint accountability Measuring impact: 74% measure their community investment by reference to inputs, but only 57% identify outputs Public reporting: nearly 1 in 5 do not report their community investment targets Consulting on innovation: a ‘disconnect’ between the majority who see innovation in products and services as a key CSR issue and the minority who consult with stakeholders to achieve it Leadership and policies on CSR: good progress, but less in influencing supply chain practices and few going beyond their first-tier suppliers The big workplace issues: recruitment and retention remain the biggest, with more companies identifying skills gaps as a risk to their business Workplace L&D: ‘only a minority provide L&D for employees to work beyond immediate job requirements and to meet their full potential’ Training for health and wellbeing: more targets being set but too few train line managers or provide communication to help employees

THE CASE OF THE WORRIED DOCTOR... EXPLORE: identify and discuss the crucial issues in the case The mentor must help Karen to identify and discuss the crucial current issues, and then to decide what she should do next. REFLECT: on the options to tackle them, and their possible consequences What if Karen ultimately takes the case to the HR director? What if she refuses to take the case any further? What if the mentor reports the case? ACT: decide on a way forward The mentor has two sets of responsibilities: As mentor, he must preserve confidentiality with Karen as far as possible, but without endangering his wider responsibilities. As an L&D business partner, he must alert management to any situation that has grave implications for that organisation or for any individual, if the mentee herself will not disclose it.

An L&D ethical code should: clearly identify the profession’s core values incorporate legal and regulatory requirements be user-friendly provide practical examples of what its values mean in relation to L&D professionals’ everyday work life

Failures in the Metropolitan Police Force’s race awareness training

Other reasons for frequent failure of ethics training Lack of trainers’ adequate education, training or experience in the ethics field Trainers’ preoccupation with compliance-based rather than values- based training Trainers’ lack of confidence in their ability to persuade others of a need for major institutional change Lack of support from other HR colleagues in any proposed attempt to tackle the issue Working in an organisation whose culture is not one where ‘ethics’ is given prominence or discussion Trainers’ and/or management’s complacency, inertia or indifference Trainers’ fear of the personal consequences of appearing not to be a ‘team player’

THE ‘ACCELERATE’ PROGRAMME The initiative: A leadership development programme The participants: Black, Asian and disabled middle managers in the NPS and youth offending teams. Six cohorts to develop between 2004 and 2009 Purpose: To transform an environment in which few ethnic minority and disabled probation and youth justice officers reach the top tiers Specific aims: To provide these staff with the skills and tools to successfully apply for promotion and to understand how to take the initiative in their career development The sponsor: The National Offender Management Service Who identified the need? The Service’s Diversity Unit Programme design: Selection through an assessment centre, then eight quarterly residential workshops and a three-month work placement. Work-based learning methods, focused on the solving of real problems in real time and featuring coaching, mentoring and action learning, with an emphasis on participants’ modelling their own management style Costs: Around £10,000 per person Outcomes by October 2008: Participants achieving promotion: Cohort 1: 50 per cent Cohort 2: 38 per cent Cohort 3: 31 per cent

The ‘Accelerate’ programme: other evidence needed How effective is the performance of those who have been promoted during the programme? What changes, if any, have been made to HR and business processes to support the transfer of learning from the programme into the workplace? What impact has the programme had – or is planned to have – on the NPS’ employer brand and on its recruitment and selection processes? What are the perceptions of the programme by its participants who have not achieved promotion? What are the views of other employees about the programme and its outcomes to date? How is the ‘success’ of the programme measured in terms of its qualitative outcomes? What action is planned to follow the conclusion of the sixth and final programme?