‘The good, the bad and your business’ by Jeffrey Seglin, published by Wiley

The more you read about the topic of business ethics, the more you realise that this is a subject that everyone who reaches a position of responsibility should read about, think about and talk about in their company. And the more you read, think and talk the more you realise that ethics is a topic that is highly complex and cannot be covered by general rules and statements.

This book is well written and easy to read, as one would expect from an author with a journalistic background. His academic qualifications may not be as strong as others who have written about the topic but, considering the author has not had much business experience, it comes across as highly practical, without the preaching and religious fervour that can be a feature of writing on this topic.

The book is structured into three main sections – money, people and ‘the common good’. The author tries to build a conceptual framework around these three aspects of the topic but it doesn’t really work; the chapters within each of the three sections do not always relate to the section headings and there is a lot of overlap between them. This shows how difficult it is to structure ethical issues into a standard framework because there are nearly always trade-offs and dilemmas to cloud the more difficult decisions.

The balance between what is right and what is legal is covered particularly well. Two chapters are devoted to this theme and both make the important point that there is a difference between what is legal and what is right and that situations are rarely as black and white as managers would like them to be. There is often a temptation to refer decisions to lawyers or fall back on legal justification, when in fact there is often much more flexibility than is pretended. It can be right to take a risk of prosecution or civil litigation if the course of action is the ‘right thing to do’.

And it is this definition of ‘the right thing’ that makes ethics such a fascinating and important topic. Companies try to solve this problem by making a statement of their values and ethical principles and this can be of major benefit, as long as these are seen inside and outside the business as compatible with what is really happening in the business. This is covered particularly well in the people section; the point is made that all the statements about treating people fairly will not be believed if there are examples of people leaving under clouds of unfairness.

I would like to have seen more examples of well-known companies facing ethical dilemmas; there are some examples but most are anonymous or from small American businesses. One of the most powerful stories is one of the most famous; how Johnson and Johnson decided to take drastic action to withdraw products after someone had inserted cyanide into their Tylenol product, even though it was not their fault. This illustrates a message that comes out in all books on this topic, that immediate, decisive action, based on what is right, will usually pay off over the long term. The delays, the lies and the cover-up have much more potential to damage a company than the initial problem.

This is why Seglin takes the same view as Jerry Fleming whose book I reviewed in January. Ethical behaviour will over the long term improve shareholder return, even if there is short term damage to reputation. This book will certainly help those who share this belief.

Click here to buy the book:
http://www.amazon.ca/Good-Bad-Your-Business-Choosing/dp/0471347795