It's not just for business anymore. Our next Enron or WorldCom could come from within government. The fact government sets many of the ethical standards for business means they must have a high standard themselves. It appears those standards are slipping.

The Ethics Resource Center's National Government Ethics Survey (NGES) shows that nearly two thirds (63%) of local government employees said they observed at least one type of misconduct during the reported year. Local government also had the highest rate of workers who witnessed misconduct but did not report it. The combined rate of state and federal workers who stated they had witnessed ethics violations was 57%. The 2007 study did not show improvement over the previous study. This should sound alarms for both government and business. Visit the web site of the Ethics Resource Center to download the the entire survey.

The greatest issues were at the local level, so here's some grassroots, common sense knowledge for you that today's society seems to be overlooking at great expense. Our society is losing its grasp on good old-fashioned values. And like society, business follows suit. Gone are the days where a man's handshake was his promise, his word his commitment. But not gone forever. If you want to learn some methods to pump values back into your organization, and gain confidence back from your customers, you'll want to stress these conditions during all training. Reinforce and remind them on a regular basis:

* The flow of information from top management
* Top management's ability to keep promises and commitments
* The flow of information from supervisors to employees
* A supervisor's ability to keep promises and commitments
* Increase confidence that coworkers will keep promises and commitments
* Use transparent means to reward employees, nothing unquestionable

There is an upward trend of pressure to compromise standards, where situations invite wrongdoing and/or employees' personal values conflict with the values espoused at work. This increasing pressure builds like the wave of a tsunami until it reaches critical mass. Self interest, lying, abusive behavior and internet abuse top the list for misconduct in the workplace within government.

Businesses run the risk of loosing customer and employee trust that is essential for businesses to maintain. Government agencies strongly risk loosing the confidence and trust of the public. In both sectors, eroded trust hinders organizational effectiveness.

Download your free eBook copy of The Soldier's Method: Leadership Tactics for Business by visiting this site - Wesley Ford is known as That Value Guy. He is a leadership, retention and technology expert, professional speaker and consultant who helps develop your leadership skills while getting employees to retain you.

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