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The Truth About Tech World Inclusivity In 3 Minutes

The Tech World and Inclusivity

Over the last few days, there has been quite a bit of buzz in the news about the Node.js community and it’s recent failed vote to get rid of a member of the project’s technical steering committee (TSC). The member, Rod Vagg had posted some controversial statements on Twitter about inclusivity in tech. I won’t go into all of the details here, but feel free to look it all up if you’re interested.

Reading about this event, and others like it, got me thinking about my own ideas on inclusivity in a tech environment. Let me start off by saying, I’m not perfect, and rarely have all the answers, but I would like to share a couple of personal experiences that hopefully can illustrate some ways we can be more conscious of inclusivity in our own environments. For me, the key is to realize that, no matter how inclusive we think we are, there are areas where we can improve. Accepting that we need to change the way we think and feel about the world, and how inclusive we are in our daily interactions, is a powerful first step.

Changing the way we talk changes the way we think

I think our end goal, when it comes to inclusivity, is to change the way we think. For example, we can read about it in a book, or online, and figure out all the right things to say, without actually believing or internalizing any of it. But actually changing our mindset can be extremely challenging.

While I was working in California several years ago, I had an experience that helped me see the power in changing the way we think about being inclusive, and what we can do to change it. There were three guys who I considered close friends. We would hang out socially outside of work, and often go to lunch together. However, we had a co-worker, a female employee, who we could not tolerate. Now, we were all pretty nice, and were friendly to her in person. But on our lunch breaks, and outside of work, we would constantly complain about all the things we didn’t like about this employee. This private bad-mouthing went on for some time actually.

At some point, the four of us came to the realization that our attitude and behavior towards this employee, even in our private interactions, was unacceptable. So we made a pact with each other. If, at any point, any one of us said anything negative about that employee, or another employee for that matter, the other three of us would have permission to punch the other person in the arm as hard as we could. I know, I know, a typical ‘guy’ way to solve problems, right?

The point though, is that we often think that inclusivity is a conversation only about how we treat other people in public settings. But the truth is, that inclusivity starts at home, in our private thoughts and conversations that are removed from the public sphere. Changing the way we interact, and our thoughts about being inclusive begins with changing our private thoughts and behaviors.

Now, with my experience in California, an amazing thing happened. It probably took a couple of weeks before all four of us had finally learned our lesson, and stopped all of the negativity outside of work. But the unexpected result was that we were happier at work as well. Our morale had lifted, and we actually all really ended up liking this employee. Our conversations inside and outside of the office changed to a more positive tone, and the way we felt while we were at work improved, and by default, our behavior at work became much more inclusive to all of the employees.

Get out of the comfort zone

My second experience comes from a conversation with my wife. I’m white, and my wife is multi-racial, and so naturally our life experiences, and thoughts about both race and inclusion are different. My wife pointed out to me one time that each of us have built in biases and prejudices. Of course my natural reaction was one of defensiveness. “Of course I don’t. I like everybody. I don’t have any biases.” So, she gave me a challenge. Throughout your day, just be conscious of who you talk to, and who you interact with. Are they all different genders and races? Or, are they most often people who look pretty much like you?

So I took the challenge and really thought about it as I interacted with people throughout my day. Sure enough, she was right. Almost 90% of the people I talked to and associated with were people who looked just like me. And, it wasn’t that I was being consciously un-inclusive, but I was just naturally more comfortable around people who looked like me. It was somewhat of a shocking realization.

At that point, my wife gave me another challenge, which was to just go out of your comfort zone and talk to people who are different than you. Now, as someone who considers himself mildly introverted, that can sometimes be difficult. However, since then, I do consciously make an effort to be more inclusive to everyone. Not just the people who look just like me.

It doesn’t have to be any grand gesture. Sometimes, for me, it’s simply saying “hi” to the woman behind me in line at the grocery store. And that’s the point of inclusivity. It doesn’t have to be any huge changes in our life all at once. But if we do try to make baby steps in changing how we think and how we act, eventually it will make us better people.

In conclusion

These are just a few experiences I’ve had, which have shaped my thoughts about inclusivity. Being conscious of it, both in the tech world, and elsewhere is invaluable. There’s definitely no ‘right way’ to be more inclusive, but the main point is to realize we can do better, and to find ways we can improve our own inclusiveness in the workplace and outside the workplace.

This article was submitted to us by author Ethan Jarrell.
The opinions expressed in this article are that of the author and may not necessarily reflect those of Journey to Diversity Workplaces

The Gender Wage Gap Explained

Many famous individuals have used the quote “Women earn 79 cents for every dollar a man makes”, and although this fact is statistically true, there is a lot that is unexplained in it. The above fact only compares the two median wages of men and women and does not factor into account how the wage gap plays out in individuals with different education levels, different occupations or different ages. These factors are very important to take into account if we want to ever close the gender wage gap.

To explain much of the argument on the gender wage gap, I must first state that economists have modeled wages through the Mincer Wage Equation, which can be stated as:

The equation above can be interpreted as log wages is a function of the years of schooling, plus the amount of career experience, and career experience squared, and an error term and a constant term for other unaccounted for factors. In simpler words, employers reward employees for the amount of schooling and experience they hold.

Child-bearing responsibilities

June O’Neill wrote a paper in 2003 studying the gender wage gap in the US economy by looking at two population surveys. In his conclusion, he writes, “As I have shown in this paper, the unadjusted gender gap can be explained to a large extent by nondiscriminatory factors. Those factors are unlikely to change radically in the near future unless the roles of women and men in the home become more nearly identical.”

What June O’Neill meant to convey in her conclusive remarks is that much of the gender wage gap can be attributed to the fact that females are the only sex that is biologically able to produce offspring. It is not a discriminatory attribute that women have the ability to give birth, and this ability has continuously led to the difference in the amount men and women earn.

What usually tends to happen after college graduation in today’s labour market is after holding a stable job for a few years, when women are in their mid-twenties and thirties, they usually take some time off to give birth and nurture the child after birth. In a study conducted by Bertrand, Goldin and Katz to examine the gender wage gap in MBA graduates, they state that one of the principal reasons why there exists a big gender wage gap between men and women is that in the first fifteen years post-graduation, women take on more career interruptions and work shorter weeks because of household responsibilities. The study also finds that even though some women took modest breaks from work for parental leave, the labour market penalized these breaks greatly. The discontinuity in a professional career during this age is also the prime time to build one’s career.

Such discontinuity is penalized by a lower wage, and this is quite fair because the said individual took time off during a time where they could be obtaining prime experience in their careers. June O’Neill finds that 34% of women with children under the age of six were out of the work force between the ages of 25-44 compared to only 16% of women who were out of the workforce who did not have children. Making the choice to have a child is a quite strong indication of work discontinuity which will directly lead to a loss in experience gain and a lower wage.

Career choice

The science behind the labour market is centralized around human capital theory, where employees are rewarded with wages for their ability to demonstrate their knowledge and do so efficiently.

Again, it is no secret that some careers are better paid in today’s world than others. This is a harsh reality in some underpaid occupations, but in other cases, it is quite justifiable. Rewarding an occupation like a surgeon to perform life-saving operations is very fair in my opinion.

“The expectation of withdrawals from the labour force and the need to work fewer hours during the week are likely to influence the type of occupations that women train for and ultimately pursue” – O’Neill, 2003. This statement in his paper is given by examining the career choices that women have chosen and how they came to the decisions that they did through population surveys. Women tend to lean towards occupations where there is more leniency towards career discontinuity and careers where part-time worked is more readily available. A direct example of this is the nursing versus doctor industry, where most nurses are women. Nurses hold set shifts and know exact times when they will be working and so is more favourable to a mother who has to care for a child. As an emergency doctor that can be called in at any time during the day, your shifts can vary a lot and it would make life difficult to care for a child and be on-call at a hospital.

Conclusion

Much of the gender wage gap can be explained by the two factors that are outlined above. The fact that women take breaks during their working life to nurture children and build their households, and that women choose careers that are more flexible in the hours that employees are required to work, which is a result of the time off women need to take to have children.

Although this explains a lot of the gender wage gap, there is evidence to support that some of the wage gap is purely discriminatory. But there is some good news to accompany this, Pew Research Centre conducted a study that found that “The gender gap in pay has narrowed since 1980, particularly among younger workers…” and so there is some hope that someday we will be able to eliminate the gender wage gap completely.

References

Brown, A., & Patten, E. (2017, April 03). The narrowing, but persistent, gender gap in pay. Retrieved August 11, 2017, from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/03/gender-pay-gap-facts/

O’Neill, J. (2003). The Gender Gap in Wages. The American Economic Review, 93(2), 309-314. Retrieved August 7, 2017, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3132245

Bertand, M., Goldin, C., & Katz, L. F. (2010). Dynamics of the Gender Gap for Young Professionals in the Financial and Corporate Sectors. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2, 228-255. Retrieved August 04, 2017, from http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.2.3.228

This article was written by volunteer Mohammadali Saleh.

Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of Journey to Diversity Workplaces.

Ongoing crowdfunding for the Doris Tretter Memorial Scholarship

On 12 July 2017, we launched a crowdfunding effort to raise funds to offer a new scholarship.

The Doris Tretter Memorial Scholarship for Diversity in the Fine Arts is our effort to help promote diversity in theatre, dance, visual arts, and music at the post-secondary level.

We are still accepting donations towards this scholarship!

My Mom always encouraged me and sister to do whatever we wanted. Music lessons, dance classes, scouting or guiding, and participating in the Greely Players were all par for the course for us, and I am very thankful that my parents were able to do that for us.

Mom also was an accomplished painter. I have this amazing milk can by my front door decorated like an old-church stained-glass window.

Because of this, the arts are a subject that I hold quite dear.

Mom passed away from cancer in June 2014.

Like any good son, I had been wracking my brain for ways I could do something special to honour and celebrate my Mom. Unfortunately, I lack the $100,000+ to have something like a new wing at the hospital named after her.

The Doris Tretter Memorial Scholarship for Diversity in the First Arts was born as my way of honouring Mom.

Please, donate today.
We are a non-profit organization but not a charity. Donations are not eligible for a tax receipt.

Crowdfunding
 

CDN$20
CDN$5,250












I want to tell you about my Mom

Hello –

How does one put into words over 30 years of memories, experiences, and emotions?

Many don’t know that I spent three years at Ryerson’s theatre school. It was a time of adventure and discovery. I still value those experiences to this day.

My Mom always encouraged me and sister to do whatever we wanted. Music lessons, dance classes, scouting or guiding, and participating in the Greely Players were all par for the course for us, and I am very thankful that my parents were able to do that for us.

Mom also was an accomplished painter. I have this amazing milk can by my front door decorated like an old-church stained-glass window.

Because of this, the arts are a subject that I hold quite dear.

Mom passed away from cancer in June 2014.

Like any good son, I had been wracking my brain for ways I could do something special to honour and celebrate my Mom. Unfortunately, I lack the $100,000+ to have something like a new wing at the hospital named after her.

The Doris Tretter Memorial Scholarship for Diversity in the First Arts was born as my way of honouring Mom.

Except I need your help.

Tomorrow we are doing a Thunderclap.

A thunderclap is when many social media users send the same message at the same time on the same day. Unfortunately, coordinating something like this without technology is almost impossible.

So we are using a website, appropriately named Thunderclap. You can sign up, for free, with your Facebook and/or Twitter and/or Tumblr accounts. It takes no more than a minute.

We need 100 signed up social media accounts. Right now we have 52.

Then on Wednesday at noon Thunderclap will release the same message on all the signed up accounts at the same time.

Hopefully, we become a trending topic.

The other way you can help is by directly contributing to our crowdfunding campaign. We have contribution levels for all incomes.

I appreciate you loaning me a few minutes of your time to tell you about my Mom.

All the best,

Peter V. Tretter
President & CEO
Journey to Diversity Workplaces

Thunderclap

Journey to Diversity Workplaces Launches Crowdfunding for new Scholarship Program

The Doris Tretter Memorial Scholarship for Diversity in the Fine Arts aims to award $1,000 each to two students pursuing post-secondary studies in Ontario in May, 2018.

For Immediate Release

BARRIE, ONTARIO, 12 JULY 2017 – Journey to Diversity Workplaces (J2DW) is excited to announce the creation of a scholarship aimed towards promoting diversity and fair representation in dance, theatre, film, and visual arts. This scholarship is an incredible opportunity for people pursuing a Fine Arts degree to boost their career aspirations.

J2DW’s goal is to promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We respect differences ethically, morally, and legally. We want a different kind of workplace where diversity is championed and so is the worker. An organization’s success and competitiveness depends upon its ability to embrace diversity and to realize the benefits of diversity. This is just as true in the fine arts as it is in municipal government or health care.

“According to Statistics Canada, the number of visible minorities in Canada is expected to increase by two hundred percent and account for approximately twenty percent of Canada’s population through 2017. Racialized and transgender groups are underrepresented in the fine arts such as film. It is important to take steps now to increase workplace diversity and inclusion that will allow for a better future.” said Peter V. Tretter, President & CEO of Journey to Diversity Workplaces.

Anyone who has gone to school in Ontario in the previous academic year and is taking a post-secondary fine arts program in the following September is eligible to apply.

Today, we launch our crowdfunding effort so that J2DW will have funds to award in May 2018. We are aiming to raise $5,000 to fund the scholarship to start off with. The additional funds will be used in future years. The campaign may be found at https://igg.me/at/dtretter

The mother of J2DW founder Peter V. Tretter, Doris was an avid painter creating various paintings over the years. As well Doris was an avid community volunteer, doing makeup and set painting with The Greely Players, leading the Parkway Community Kids Choir, both in Ottawa, and creating wonderful creations at the Gilda Club of Simcoe-Muskoka in Barrie. Doris was a registered nurse and promoted health to the congregants at both the Parkway Road Pentecostal Church before moving to Barrie in 2007 and then to Mapleview Community Church. Doris passed away from cancer July 2014.

Journey to Diversity Workplaces is a Barrie, Ontario based organization formed under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act in December 2013.

— 30 —
Contact:

Peter V. Tretter, President & CEO
p…@j2dw.ca
Phone number

Seasonal employment’s effect on employee absenteeism

Employee burnout is considered as when employees have exhausted their physical or emotional strength. Employee burnout generally happens as the result of extended stress or frustration. Stressful jobs, lack of workplace support and resources, along with short deadlines, can all contribute to employee burnout. The seasons of the year can have an effect on the performance level of employees. Burnout can also occur when employees’ have high expectations of themselves or when an employee has stressful personal circumstances. Burned-out employees can be costly in terms of productivity, and if burned-out employees quit, there are costs of replacement searches and job training for workplaces.

Employee burnout cannot always be prevented, but it can be managed. Full-time, part-time, and seasonal employees can each present unique challenges that employers need to address effectively. Workplaces should understand the reasons for the burnout for their employers and employees. Workplace burnout is often still perceived as carrying a stigma, so staff may be reluctant to seek help at an early stage. Employers and employees should work together to find effective solutions to workplace problems such as burnout. A study of Canadian employees found that an increased salary, improving morale and employees being recognized for their accomplishments were the best ways for employers to improve their work satisfaction.

Absenteeism is an employee’s intentional or excessive absences from work. Some common causes of absenteeism include burnout, stress, depression, illness, harassment and work related injuries. Frequent employee absences can also have a major effect on workplace finances and workplace morale. While employers expect workers to miss a certain number of work days each year, many absences can cause decreased productivity. Seventy-five percent of Canadian employees studied considered the office as the most productive place to get work done. Sixty-eight percent of these Canadians felt that an increase in temperature was a contributing factor to employee burnout. Forty-three percent of Canadians have reported that they are working longer hours simply to catch up on work they couldn’t accomplish during an eight-hour day especially during the summer months.

Employers need to understand the laws governing the various types of employment for the different types of employees. Seasonal work has been an important aspect of the Canadian labour market throughout Canada’s history. However, employee performance can still be affected even when employees are only exposed to extreme temperatures for brief periods of time. Employers should be aware that completing certain tasks may be more challenging for disabled or elderly employees and make reasonable accommodations to assist their employees in completing their assigned tasks. Employers also must take reasonable precautions to ensure the safety and health of their employees.

Sources:
Absenteeism: What’s Missing in Canadian Labour?
Business Advantage Canada
Causes of Absenteeism
Causes of Employee Burnout
Statistics Canada

This article was contributed by volunteer blogger Shan Simpson.

Religion and the Modern Workplace

Freedom of religion is a constitutionally protected right in Canada. Freedom of religion allows religious believers to have the freedom to assemble and to worship without limitation or interference. However, freedom of religion has not always been granted in the history of Canada. There are numerous religions, and workplaces should be aware that an individual religious employee may have varying beliefs from other religious employees. Employers are required to provide reasonable religious accommodations to their employees. Employers also need to effectively incorporate Christians, with diverging views, into a diverse workplace culture for the workplace to be successful.

The workplace culture has continued to evolve and change over time. Modern workplace employees and employers are now faced with different challenges than previous generations of workers. Technology has changed modern workplace interactions as workplaces have opportunities to become more global and diverse. However, religious employees can still bring skills that will benefit the workplace when these employees are properly integrated with the skills of the non-religious affiliated workers.

Inclusion has become an increasingly important concept for workplaces. Equality forms the foundation of inclusion. Employers must understand that equality does not necessarily mean treating everyone the same, but rather appropriately taking into consideration the differences of employees. Inclusion focuses less on what makes people different and more on creating a workplace environment that encourages employees to bring various perspectives, contribute a variety of ideas, and where employers can be appreciated for all aspects of their diversity in the workplace. There are benefits to creating an inclusive workplace environment. Inclusive workplace cultures develop organizational practices and goals that allow employees having different backgrounds to be treated equally within the workplace. Inclusive workplaces generally have higher job satisfaction, lower employee turnover, higher productivity, increased employee morale, improved problem solving, additional creativity, and an improved quality of employees through better hiring and retention practices.

The integration of work and faith is an ancient concept for some countries. Employee integration is an important component of a successful workplace. The values that workplaces need for long-term effectiveness are similar to the values exhibited in the major religions such as loyalty, compassion, respect, integrity, humility and a belief in something greater than the job or the individual employee. Employee integration can be easier when a culture of respect, tolerance, and acceptance is established within the workplace. Diversity is based on a positive attitude to differences, along with recognizing that everyone is unique and that these differences should be respected for the benefit of the workplace. Workplaces need to develop employee integration strategies that will allow the workplace to maintain success in the future.

Employee integration strategies should recognize the strengths and weaknesses of individual employees. Diversity encourages the individuality of employees and the unique qualities that the employees can bring to the organization by seeing differences as a valuable resource to a workplace. When diversity is acknowledged and respected employers can find new ways to maximize and capitalize on the different skills and ideas. Employees that feel valued and respected are much more likely to be actively engaged or put forth their best efforts for the workplace. Employee integration is more effective when employees feel as though their relevant input is valued. Employers should eliminate employee stigmas and reduce conflict or issues that develop between employees. Employers need to promote a safe and healthy work environment especially as new employees are integrated into the workplace. A diverse workforce brings a unique set of experiences and perspectives, which are essential for developing new ideas and innovations. The management of workplace diversity focuses on integrating individual differences into the workplace to benefit both the individual employees and the organization. Communication is also an essential factor that will contribute to the success of any workplace.

Workplaces can significantly benefit from inclusion and diversity. Progress still needs to be made toward the goal of workplaces becoming more inclusive and diverse in the future. However, employee integration strategies should still remain effective when these strategies are implemented properly to improve the productivity, wellness, and success of future workplaces. Religious employees can provide unique skills and values that will benefit workplaces when these employees are properly integrated with other diverse groups of employees along with non-religious affiliated employees. Each employee should be made to feel valued, included, and respected. Future technology will continue to transform workplaces as employees will utilize various new skills to complete assigned tasks. Workplaces could potentially use improved technological advancements in communication that would make workplaces even more globalized. Employers and employees must cooperatively develop a positive workplace culture consisting of good habits, policies, procedures, and values that will allow the workplace to meet various challenges while remaining successful in the future.

Sources:
Benefits of Workplace Diversity and Inclusion
Diversity and Developing an Inclusive Canadian Culture
Diversity Management for the Modern Workplaces
Diversity in Canadian Workplaces: The Present Building to the Future
Integrating Health and Safety in the Modern Workplace
Stats Canada
Workplace Integration Strategies

This article was contributed by volunteer blogger Shan Simpson.

J2DW is crowdfunding!

Hello everyone,

We are excited to announce that we have taken the initiative to set up a crowdfunding campaign to make it easier for you to contribute to our causes.

Our team sat down a few months ago and came up with a number of goals we would like to achieve over the next few months, but we hit a dead-end in trying to achieve these goals because of a limitation of our financial resources. So that is why we set this campaign up, and we are absolutely confident that you will help us raise these funds.

To give you a better overview of the plans we have for the use of these funds, we have summed up three of our main priorities to achieve once we have the funds:

  • Acquire a service business and restructure it so as to serve as role model business for the message of diversity and good employee management. This business will be profit generating so as to contribute funds to other sectors of J2DW.
  • Campaign and raise awareness of the problem of diversity in the workplace. Too many people are still very ignorant about the issues that exist, and this is in our opinion, unacceptable.
  • Dive deeper into the research of the roots of the problem. Why is diversity still a problem in the workplace? We want to figure out the answer to this daunting question once and for all.
  • In addition, funds will also be set aside to fund a new scholarship that was recently created by the Board.

    The Doris Tretter memorial scholarship for diversity in the fine arts will help youth in our communities be able to access fine arts education at the post-secondary level.

    In addition to or instead of a financial contribution, you can:

    1. Post to Facebook and social media – The more people who hear about us, the more likely we are to meet our target. 

    2. Share with your community – Call your friends, tell your co-workers, make an announcement at your organization’s event to spread the word. 

    Generosity (the platform we’re using, run by Indiegogo) has zero platform fees, so your donation goes farther to help us reach our goal. 

    So please help us by contributing to the crowdfunding campaign. Any donations will be greatly appreciated!

    Join our crowdfunding effort today!

    Ethics, organisational culture and behaviours

    I. Introduction

    One of the big issues in ethics is the basic problem of how to create an ethical culture within

    an organisation i.e. how culture shapes organisational behaviour. We have heard a lot about

    how culture influences organisation by driving organisational behaviour. It is true that the

    workforce is becoming more of a knowledge workforce and they are now not treated as being

    “naturally lazy” or can only be motivated by money (suggested as Taylor theory – one of the

    neoclassical management theories). Hence, excessive controls or rules might not be as

    efficient as it used to be to curb employees’ behaviours. Culture then becomes a modern way

    to manipulate organisational behaviours. It is obvious that, people might be reluctant to rules

    because they have their own judgements. Moreover, the reverse psychology problem is so

    common that when something becomes rule, people would try to figure out a way to get

    away with it. Therefore, culture is then a perfect solution of diverting behaviour by the norm

    without forcing anyone to obey it. This essay will analyse different approaches in the issue of

    aligning ethics to culture so as to accelerate ethical behaviours.

    II. The relationship between culture and ethics

    Anand, Ashford and Joshi’s paper (2004) by analysing the most well-known corruption

    scandals (Enron, Worldcom, etc.) has figured out their common features which are partly

    created by rationalisation tactics and socialisation tactics. This means that rationalisation

    allows people to justify their corruption and if this is collective used, new employees would

    be affected accordingly and commit unethical acts (Appendix 1). Thus, culture considering as

    the act of the norm cannot be ignored within an organisation as it drives ethical behaviours.

    With the help of a euphemistic language, social cocoon and group attractiveness, the

    rationalisation tactics and socialisation process become more intertwiningly facilitated, which

    in turns leads to organisational corruption (Appendix 1). Ethical behaviour among employees

    ensures that employees complete work with honesty and integrity. This is where the “magic”

    happens after the tone of the top (particularly in ethics) has been passed down. The power

    of the norm plays an important role in diverting behaviour because acting to what most of

    other people do satisfies individual social needs. However, ethics can guide behaviours by the

    code of ethics or policies and rules (which align the organisational goals). Having said that,

    those rules should only establish a guidance or framework which help people make ethical

    decisions. Furthermore, sometimes being ethical is actually self-harm. The clear example is

    that most whistle-blowers after reporting wrongdoings because the feel it is ethical to do so,

    are shamed against, got redundant, etc. all sort of bad consequences. Then, the norm power

    is now actually more harmful and it acts as the “bad side of the blade”.

    On the other hand, Anderson and Englebardt (2007) have explained this relationship by

    various ways. They started by arguing that organisation involves a commitment of

    relationship with a common identity of membership. Hence, the culture if formed by

    communication and structures, which make culture greater than the definition of the norm.

    Indeed, “Culture involves major systems of ideology and practice that constitute the

    conditions of our daily affairs” (Anderson and Englebardt, 2007), which is more than just

    shared values. This requires organisations to establish the right membership identity and

    framework of action that is culturally embedded. Therefore, culture would relate to ethics in

    terms of the “interrelationships between the true and the good – between the knowledge

    that justifies and the values that qualify” (Anderson and Englebardt, 2007).

    Militaru and Zanfir (2012) also shows the influence of organisational culture on ethical

    principles internationally. In fact, organisational culture and ethical behaviour are

    interdependent and this provides firms a competitive advantage in the long term. Hence,

    once the culture is embedded, it is difficult to implement as it represents collective perception

    of all individuals to the business values, morals and beliefs (Militaru and Zanfir, 2012). Thus,

    “the economical performances of every company are influenced, sooner or later, by the

    manner of applying business ethics” (Militaru and Zanfir, 2012).

    Some researches have studied this relationship empirically. Valentine and Barnett (2003)

    concluded that ethics code awareness and organisational commitment (as components of

    organisational culture) are driven by perception; an ethics code awareness existing within a

    company suggests higher ethical values and higher level of organisational commitment. Bejou,

    Ennew and Palmer (1998) reveal a more particular relationship in the financial services sector

    that customer perceive their satisfaction on many factors and ethics is one of them. According

    to the authors, ethics directly affects satisfaction via the relationship quality but it also

    influences satisfaction indirectly via trust factor along with customer orientation, expertise

    and sale orientation. Obviously, ethics contributing to satisfactory customer relationships

    assists enhancing organisational performance. Another similar study assessing employee

    satisfaction (Koh and Boo, 2004), “indicates significant and positive links between ethical

    culture constructs (i.e. top management support for ethical behaviour and the association

    between ethical behaviour and career success within the organisation) and job satisfaction”.

    Therefore, management is suggested to encourage organisational ethics to manipulate

    organisational outcomes.

    III. The problems of creating an ethical culture

    Defining ethical behaviour

    According to Business Dictionary, having ethical behaviour means “acting in ways consistent

    with what society and individuals typically think are good values”. If we are considering the

    culture environment in an individual society, following the norm does not necessarily mean

    the act is ethical. Moreover, it also depends on individual perceptions as well. One person’s

    ethical values are not the same as others. In addition, the ethical values of the norm changes

    through time. For examples, Hilary Clinton used to be an anti-LGBT leader but when she ran

    for the president, she actually changed and supported it just to allegedly adapt to the norm.

    Therefore, it’s important to set the right culture to reflect what is truly ethical internally and

    externally to the wider society. Since “the ethical philosophy an organisation uses to conduct

    business can affect the reputation, productivity and bottom line of the business” (Kelchener,

    n.d.), organisations have to constantly tailor and implement their ethical frameworks to align

    with the demand of the society’s ethical necessities.

    As the businesses are now more socially oriented rather than economically responsible,

    culture seems to become the key in driving collective mind-set of individuals. Hence, Militaru

    and Zanfir (2012) has argued that culture has to be managed by considering different level of

    collective “mental programming” to drive behaviour at individual, collective and universal

    level. Moreover, morality is also included in the definition of organisational culture. Internally,

    what morally drives the perception of an ethical culture could be the board, company’s values

    and history; or external factors such as national culture, technical, juridical or economic

    factors could have impacted culture accordingly (Militaru and Zanfir, 2012). Lozano (1998)

    explained the critical relationship of ethics and corporate cultures that this link is exposed

    from 2 perspectives: corporate culture is part of the factors institutionalising ethics and

    corporate culture is the base of forming corporate ethics. This is said to cause many

    confusions in creating a corporate culture, since companies have to approach things

    differently depending on which side of those perspectives they perceive. For example,

    organisations deciding on their processes have to deal with the core cultural identity values

    (difficult to change) or with expressions of culture (easy to change) (Lozano, 1998). Only when

    companies are able to understand this, the definition and the execution of a corporate culture

    could be emerged within an organisation.

    Therefore, the relationship between ethics and culture seems to be Intricate due to different

    paradigms being perceived. “The concept needs to be defined broadly enough to include

    basic elements for a comprehensive definition, and it must be defined distinctly enough to

    facilitate the examination of the concept” (Smith and Hume, 2005), especially for

    organisations when they try to create or implement their culture.

    Trust is everything

    The mechanism of ethics and culture is interrelated with some factors such as the economic

    and politic system (Anderson and Englebardt, 2007). It is a fact that trust in the economy is

    fierce because it involves resources allocation (i.e. values determining). The reason is that

    trusts help justifying for action and acts as the invisible hands so that the market goes back

    to equilibrium from time to time. Culture maybe embedded in the economy that it entails

    obligation and, and obligation entails morality (Anderson and Englebardt, 2007); However,

    the reality is more complicated as multiple market economies are having obligations which

    compete or contradicting. More importantly, the social system is the one which creates trusts.

    Recently due to many events, the people seem to loose trust from the social system from

    many huge political events such as the Scotland referendum, the Brexit, Donald Trump got

    elected, etc. As Sir Bischoff (2016), the chairman of the financial reporting council, has said

    that something must be done to restore trust and building confidence in business and

    corporate sector in order to enhance economic development. Indeed, without trust, the

    ethical values become more unstable than ever. For example, supporting Trump does not

    mean that one person is unethical. However, most of his sayings are unethical from being

    very racist to unreasonable (asking Mexico paying for the Wall); it is hard not to associate

    Trump supporters with supporting unethical behaviours. The attention brings to the point

    that the whole America is being divided just because of the ethical values associated with

    trust.

    It is stated by Kimmel (2015) that trust is more superior than compliance and ethics because

    compliance requires enforcement, whereas, ethics and trusts are voluntary. Also, ethics is a

    subset of trusts and being ethical does not guarantee trustworthiness. Hence, many papers

    have claimed that “trust is essential for understanding interpersonal and group behaviour,

    managerial effectiveness, economic exchange and social or political stability” (Hosmer, 1995).

    In particular, trust within an organisation is proved to influence the association between

    ethical environment and employee engagement (Hough, Green and Plumlee, 2016). In other

    words, employee’ perception of an organisation’s ethics influences their behaviours in

    engaging more in their work because they are more likely trust the organisation. Trust is such

    an important factor in driving ethical culture; however, it is a personal choice. Hence, there

    exists a challenge of how to making people place trust in the organisation in terms of ethics.

    Without trust, the rationalisation of norm towards ethical behaviour would be non-existent.

    In addition, the code of ethics might not be powerful enough to drive ethical behaviour

    because the employees do not trust the organisation. Newer generations facing threat of

    redundancy from financial crisis or technology advancement do not trust the organisations as

    much as the previous generation did that they expected to stay with a company and work

    there for the rest of their lives. Therefore, the degree of trust and loyalty to an organisation

    has changed and it is a challenge for managers to figure out a way to gain trust so that it drives

    ethical behaviours. As Brien (1998) has stated that “the culture is one that seeks to promote

    trust in the profession and trust worthiness as a virtue exemplified in each individual”; thus

    culture of trust would lead to ethical behaviours “at first by the hand, then through the heart”.

    Culture Matters More than Codes

    Militaru and Zanfir (2012) stated that “culture of ethical rules to meet up society’s expectation

    but it does not provide instant benefits to firms”. It is true that corporate culture is proven to

    gives companies with better competitive advantages and, eventually, superior profitability.

    Nonetheless, those are long term so, with the short-termism concern of the management to

    manage expectation, the culture might be neglected. Besides, in the long term, all companies

    will be having what they called “corporate culture”, which does not make having a culture

    unique as a competitive advantage anymore. Hence, this threatens the recognition of the

    invisible benefits bringing by culture, or ethical culture in particular. Lozano (1998) referred

    to this issue by a simple question “Do organizations have a culture or are they a culture?”.

    Obviously, thinking organisation itself as a culture is better helping firms focus more on the

    culture side of it without imposing culture as the sake of having it.

    The pressure of having an ethical culture might be there but organisations focus too little on

    how to manage it. Obviously, promoting an ethical culture just for the sake of having it

    without enforcement will not work and it does not contribute anything to the organisation at

    all. It would be a continuous process of understanding, improving, sustaining the ethical

    behaviours. Specifically, implementation has to reflect what is perceived as general principles

    and values of an organisation. The code of ethics or policies could be useful tool in shaping

    culture as they established a baseline of what should be done and what should not. To

    continuously improve and sustain this, it is essential to notice the effects of business

    environment to ethics up to standards. Organisation also need to educate people and rewards

    people to encourage ethical behaviours so that they can benefit the most from an ethical

    culture.

    Statistics from LRN (Marketwired, 2017) reported that management is trying to foster ethics

    and compliance but it is just for the purpose of ticking the checklists. Specifically, 90% of chief

    ethics & compliance officers agreed that their middle managers are able to communicate the

    code and 70% ethics officers holds leaders accountable for their ethical behaviour.

    Nevertheless, not many managers are aware of their responsibility of implementing or

    actively supporting the code. Evidently, “too many companies don’t do anything with the

    documents; they simply paste them on the wall to impress employees, customers, suppliers,

    and the public” (Donaldson, 1996).

    Enron is one of the great example in illustrating that “business ethics is a question of

    organizational “deep” culture rather than of cultural artifacts like ethics codes, ethics officers

    and the like” (Sims and Brinkmann, 2003). From a company with the status of being economic

    and ethical, Enron’s collapse emphasises the intrinsic value between words and deeds. All of

    those established code and procedures did not shed a line on the true culture of the company

    where it is so competitive that employees were pushed to stretch the rules further and

    further until the limits of ethical conduct are easily overlooked in the pursuit of the next big

    success” (Sims and Brinkmann, 2003). The competitive culture creates pressures on earning

    expectation over the boundary of what is ethically acceptable, while their ethical policies

    were left in negligence.

    Cultural conflicts

    Culture does not stop at individual or group level; it could be extended to a larger paradigm

    such as national level. It is obvious that, if culture means what people do things around here,

    different countries may impose different ethical standards, values, conduct and culture. For

    examples, many acquisitions made my Canadian banks in the US failed because of the ethical

    culture of the banking industry in both countries. Canadian banks obey the “know your

    customer rules” when accepting but US banks focus more on building customer base by their

    network (asking a university friend to make a loan). Hence, it might be unethical in Canada to

    bypass some of the “know your customer” criteria but it is how they do retail banking in the

    US. Furthermore, the specific culture embedded in a country could be potentially affecting

    business culture. As illustrated in Appendix 2 by Alas (2006), in a culture with undesired

    practices, more undesired practices lead to higher need for ethical values and vice versa.

    “People feel that they need some kind of regulation mechanism in an aggressive society, a

    mechanism with strong interest groups and a strong hierarchy” (Alas, 2006). Reversely, a

    culture full of desired practices where ethical values are well established, the need for ethics

    is not as high. Thus, different ethical values across countries or subcultures creates cultural

    conflicts, especially for multinational companies.

    It is stated that organisational values would be more visible and effective if “values are

    selected by leadership to make sure everyone understands what the organization stands for,

    including ethical behaviour and social responsibility” (Ferrell and Ferrell, 2011). Another

    example could be that the CFA institute established their professional code and ethical

    standards as a principles based so that when they got into an ethical culture conflict situation,

    the standards would guide them to solve the dilemma. For instance, if a CFA member lives in

    a country with no security law and does business in a country with less strict law than the CFA

    standards; he must adhere to the CFA standards (CFA institute, 2016). Davidson (1996) also

    argued that many managers came working overseas then returned shortly after due to the

    culture conflict of development and conflict of tradition. This is when the concept of the

    “moral free space” emerges (good activity might be considered bad in other culture).

    Therefore, it is suggested that “codes of conduct must be explicit to be useful, but they must

    also leave room for a manager to use his or her judgment in situations requiring cultural

    sensitivity” (Davidson, 1996).

    IV. How to create an ethical culture?

    “The leaders of a business may create an ethical culture by exhibiting the type of behaviour

    they’d like to see in employees” (Kelchener, n.d.). The code of ethics seems to be a great tool

    in curbing ethical behaviours. However, the tone at the top seems to be more important. A

    research from Toor and Ofori (2009) reveal that ethical leadership plays a mediating role in

    the relationship between employee outcomes and organizational culture. Specifically,

    “ethical leadership is positively and significantly associated with transformational leadership,

    transformational culture of organization, contingent reward dimension of transactional

    leadership, leader effectiveness, employee willingness to put in extra effort, and employee

    satisfaction with the leader” (Toor and Ofori, 2009). We can see that people from Trump’s

    cabinet are the ones who have the same philosophy as him. Deregulation, for instance, could

    ruin the corporate governance system to ensure market functions ethically and people have

    spent years developing it. I am really curious to know what will happen when this tone of the

    top is passed down to organisations, society and individuals. Some signs have been shown

    from the fact that Uber is still accepted by people even though it has a bad reputation of a

    very unethical of culture from the CEO (lack of respect for employees, arrogant, etc.) to

    company image (“male-dominated, high octaine investment banking” – Leigh, 2017) and

    activities.

    It is suggested that managers should develop more “humane and future-oriented practices”

    depending on the characteristic of a specific entity and its ethical dimensions (Alas, 2006).

    According to Alas (2006), over-regulated should be abandoned because the internal

    mechanism would “encourage creative solutions, risk taking, and learning from mistakes”.

    This inner mechanism is also said to lead by collectivism of the entity itself instead of group

    collectivism. Moreover, “Managers should avoid aggressiveness in social relationships and

    also avoid high levels of power distance” (Alas, 2006). Hence, given the importance of the

    code, it should not be overpowered.

    Sinclar (1993) discussed two main approaches managers to improve organisational ethics via

    culture: the unitary culture approach and the subcultural approach. An organisation with a

    unitary culture consider ethics bring in common shared values but it does not always lead to

    morality because it excludes self-reflection. On the other side, subcultures within an

    organisation nurture ethics from self-reflecting instead of imposing standards. By

    understanding this, managers could better reflect cultures and get the best mix of each into

    the organisation.

    The role of the Board is also important in “establishing and delivering the right behaviours

    and importantly the right incentives” (Bischoff, 2016). They can do this by applying the

    mechanism illustrated in Appendix 3. It is obvious that one the culture of Ethics and

    Compliance is embedded, companies have to continuously implement and assess it using the

    factors specified in the chart with the principle performance of people, process and

    technology. As the environment is changing dynamically, ethical values could be successfully

    reflected in culture using this mechanism.

    V. Conclusion

    The individuals’ moral structure is so complex than what any organization includes as their

    culture. “By a careful examination of a culture that flourishes under the concept of organizing,

    a moral organisation is continuously making decisions based on ethical considerations, mixed

    with political systems, and social enactments” (Anderson and Englebardt, 2007). Poor culture

    would lead to a widespread of bad behaviour, which in turns will taint the organisation

    ethically. “For that we require a concerted effort to improve the integrity of business and its

    connectivity with society” (Bischoff, 2016). As mentioned above, the Code should be tailored

    to the best suitable practice in each organisation. As the value ethics brings into the

    organisation is intangible and long term, it is necessary to measure it with the right proxy so

    that it is well transferred and interpreted within the organisation. Moreover, Bischoff (2016)

    has stated that “we need to promote a culture in our organisations that resonates with

    employees and other stakeholders important to us, as much as with the top management”.

    Hence, companies that are on the way of designing an ethical culture should analyse what

    values are best perceived by their employees and clients in terms of cultures. For the ones

    with the culture already emplaced, they should continuously enforce, assess and improve it.

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    Appendices

    1. Rationalisation and socialisation of the norms

    (Anand, Ashford and Joshi, 2004)

    2. Ethics in countries with different culture dimensions

    (Alas, 2006)

    3. Ethical framework

    What you need to know about child labour

    Child labour is the regular employment of Canadian children under the age of fifteen or sixteen. Attitudes toward child labour have changed since the late 18th century when it was generally assumed that children should contribute to the family economy from about age seven. Prior to the 19th century, children were often seen as economic assets to families.  By the beginning of the 20th century, most provinces had enacted labour legislation to restrict the employment of children. The employment of people who have not reached the age of adulthood can cause significant workplace issues. Younger employees do have unique skills that can benefit a workplace.  However, it is important that employees understand the Canadian laws that are associated with hiring younger employees.

    In Canada, the provinces have established ages of majority for the purpose of determining when a child has the legal capacity to enter into contracts, is able to purchase restricted products, is free of parental control, and can exercise full civil rights. Child welfare and employment are within provincial jurisdiction in the Canadian Constitution, but most of the young worker legislation is created at the provincial level. The minimum age for working in Ontario is fourteen years for most types of work. However, fourteen through seventeen-year-olds are not to be employed during school hours unless they have been excused from school attendance under provisions of Ontario’s Education Act. The legislation governing minimum age for employment, the number of working hours per day and the time of day that a youth may work varies between the provinces and territories. Some provinces require parental permission for a minor to be employed. The Ministry of Labour enforces and promotes the awareness of employment standards, such as minimum wage, hours of work and public holidays. Explore the Ministry of Labour website to learn more about employee rights and employer obligations in Ontario. The legislation also exists to protect minors from working under dangerous or hazardous conditions.

    Child labour consists of the employment of minors in any labour industry, particularly when it is illegal or exploitative. Labour shortage is a significant problem in some countries.  Child labour’s main advantage is that compared with employing an adult child labour is remarkably cheap.  Workplace expenses could be driven down by expanding the child workforce. Child labour potentially can teach children to help provide for their family or could be beneficial in earning and saving funds for educational opportunities such as tuition for college later in a child’s life. Child labour also could allow children to develop a  variety of useful skills from a young age.  Child labour is a prevalent driving force in countries such as China and Vietnam.  It is easy to imagine that a wider scope of goods could are manufactured from such regions using child labour.

    Child labour risks are rising around the world.  Young workers are still developing their physical, social and mental skills or judgment.  Young workers may find it more challenging to protect themselves from injury, overwork, or abuses than adult workers.  Verbal abuse or sexual abuse can have a detrimental effect on a child’s mental health.  More than two hundred million children today are child labourers worldwide.  An estimated one hundred twenty million child labourers are engaged in hazardous work.  Several countries now consider underage child labour as an unethical practice and a violation of human rights.  The effects of some forms of child labour are traumatic, and the consequences can include long-term health or psychological problems for the children that are involved.

    Child labour is still a significant issue that needs to be effectively addressed.  There are many aspects to active child labour that employers might consider. Employers and employees have an interest in maintaining workplace health and safety standards. Laws can change suddenly and employers have a responsibility to understand how these laws affect their workplaces. Workers have the right to know about any potential or real workplace hazards that they may be exposed to. Workplace employers should not treat their employees as slaves, but rather employers must maintain respect for their rights as employees.  Employers also should respect an employee who exhibits proper conduct toward their employees.  Workplaces can operate more successfully when employees are encouraged to communicate their concerns and to provide input to employers or supervisors that cooperatively assists in resolving workplace issues.

    Sources:
    Child Labour: Canada’s Invisible Crisis
    Pros and Cons of Child Labour
    Statistics Canada
    The Canadian Encyclopedia

    This article was contributed by volunteer blogger Shan Simpson, and was edited by both volunteer editors Parul Datta and Peter Tretter