BONUS | Jolene Lampton - Global Ethics Day

Contact Jolene Lampton:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jolene-lampton-b40127164/


IMA's Ethics Center:
https://www.imanet.org/career-resources/ethics-center


FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTMitch:
(00:05)
 Welcome back to Count Me In. IMA's podcast about all things
affecting the accounting and finance world. This is your host
Mitch Roshong, and today you'll be listening to a bonus episode
featuring a conversation about Global Ethics Day. Jolene Lampton,
Professor of Management, Accounting, and Area coordinator for MBA
and Accounting Programs at Park University, joined Count Me In
cohost, Adam Larson, to talk about the significance of ethics and
values. Jolene is also a member of IMA's Committee on Ethics and
was kind enough to share her perspectives with us on this very
important day. To hear more, keep listening as we head over to
their conversation now.

Adam: (00:47)
Since we're releasing this podcast on Global Ethics Day, I wanted
to start out by asking why is this day important, And what does
it mean to you?

Jolene: (00:53)
On this global ethics day, I believe it is a day for all of us to
search within ourselves, our beings, to bring our values to the
surface as we think about a common set of values. People with
high self efficacy have conviction within their beings to do the
right thing. This in turn gives them confidence. They do not
second guess their own intentions. They act in accordance with
their convictions. People with high self efficacy can speak about
it. They can articulate their values. This is called efficacy. It
means you have the ability to produce an intended result. It is
intrinsic. It comes from within one's being, your persona.
With  conviction, you feel willing or even compelled to
speak your beliefs. This is a point where you can exude
confidence to others, and this will show in your behavior. On the
other hand, people with low self efficacy cannot do this. Rather,
they doubt themselves. They are intimidated. When speaking with
others about a situation, they do not feel confident on how to
act on their own convictions. So you want to achieve high self
efficacy. You want to feel good about yourself and be motivated
and confident to take action accordingly. On this global ethics
day, I hope you will examine your own values and start to speak
about them.

Adam: (02:56)
So when we look at ethics from an organization perspective, how
important is it for an organization to have its foundation rooted
in those ethics?

Jolene: (03:06)
Your values are rooted in your internal beat. They come from
within. Even before you go to work for an employer, you should
check on their websites to see if their values align with your
own. And if you can't find the employer's core values on their
website, it's a great interview question. You should ask them
what their core values are. When this alignment is achieved. That
is the best fit for both the organization and the individual.
It's an ideal cultural fit. You want to work for an organization
with your same core values, your intrinsic values.

Adam: (03:57)
So you just mentioned that, you know, you want to work with an
organization that has your same values and organizations are made
up with lots of different people, and how can someone build the
confidence to do the right thing and to speak up when they need
to? So let's say they've done all that legwork that you said the
organization meets up, but then they notice something that
doesn't, that doesn't match up with their values. How do they
build that confidence to do the right thing?

Jolene: (04:22)
Human beings have special abilities related to learning that sets
him apart from other species. Social cognition theory says we
learn by modeling and imitating others. Think about it. This is
how your own youngster learn to walk and talk. They looked at you
as a role model. Then you grew up and you mastered performance,
gaining some morals and we acquire the ability to function
independently, which is a good thing, and we gain the unique
ability to self reflect, which gives us the ability to have self
efficacy, which gives you confidence to do the right thing.
Giving Voice to Values is an approach that will let this happen
more readily. Giving Voice to Values was created by Mary Gentilly
in 2010. This approach advocates that you will speak your mind
when you know what is right. What you really should do is prepare
and practice for actions and not just any action, but the
difficult, hard, and risky intricate values-based actions. This
is a first step to building ethical muscles, which will give you
confidence to act on your own values. The habit of voicing one's
values takes practice to make our values just come out
instantaneously. So start by crafting your own scripts and
responding to others, when you feel compelled to come up with a
response, let's begin with the scenario of shared values. When
talking about cheating in a cheating episode that you witnessed.
There is a shared respect for academic integrity that you should
work to build upon in order to reduce cheating behavior. Giving
Voice to Values empowers anyone and all of us to voice a sense of
doing the right thing. This scenario requires for you to look
clear eyed and honestly about the act of cheating. Who we are,
who we have been, we can be. To speak up about or wrong, takes a
kind of courage that requires a special set of skills like those
needed to speak up when you see, when you witnessed your first
episode of fraud in action. You need to prepare your script in
advance and practice that message out loud in front of a mirror.
Remember in such instances, you may need allies and supporters.
You may even need to convince your own boss or other official,
and you will need credibility with others when you speak or take
action, or you may need to just pause and gather more data to
make a compelling case. As a mature and capable performer. You
are the determinant to take action or select a time after which
you've gathered sufficient data. You will decide. If you've
prepared scripts in advance, you develop your ethical muscles,
just like a weight builder develops muscles. This takes practice
a lot of practice. This is what Giving Voice to Values does for
you. It prepares your ethical muscles. So you normalize your
behavior. Individuals who have exercised their ethical muscles
often enough find that it becomes a part of their own
self-definition the trick is that when it's normalized and you
come up with a stressful situation, you will, calmly react and
respond to the case at hand, if you practice voicing your values.
This is the position for your behavior to be values-based, and
it'll give you a can do attitude. The more you begin voicing your
values, the better off you will be.

Adam: (09:16)
So as each person finds that ability to bring that voice to the
values, and it's important to know what your values are, how can
each person see how their values align to the organization that
they're a part of.

Jolene: (09:30)
You should know, your organization's values. Core values should
be on your company website. They should be in your policy and
procedure manuals. They should be in on your bulletin board or
other requisite sheets. And more importantly, they should be in
your mind. Begin today, looking for your corporate values and
speak about them in your workplace. As you work today, examine
how your work reflects your core values. As you're performing
reconciliations or preparing reports, think about it. Start
sharing with others in your own department, share with your
supervisor and your colleagues. They too should be reminded that
procedures should align with c...