Adding Insult To Injury: Corporate Ethics

Just this past Monday the corporate office sent a couple of lawyers to train the entire staff regarding ethics. First, let us imagine that lawyers even know anything about ethics. The canons of legal ethics are written in idealistic and altruistic language based upon the constitution, but I have yet to meet the lawyer that did not base their personal and professional ethics upon how much money, power or influence a situation will garner for themselves. Pro bono is only a way to show the boss how much of a super stud lawyer an associate is and how badly that lawyer wants to make senior associate or junior partner.

Anyway, back to our training. The lawyers showed a ridiculus video that had three vignettes that were so obviously out of line that even an adolescent in the throws of hormonal imbalance would be able to tell that these scenarios were unethical. Then the lawyers distributed a booklet that outlined company policies on specific generalities that were unethical or violations of company policy.

On top of the training, our campus has just had an upgrade to our phone system. The system is a managed approach that uses VoIP technology. The software that runs the phone system has the capability to track the use of each extension. Every phone call going out is routed through the corporate office in New Jersey. The software also allows "Big Brother" at the corporate office to listen into any given phone conversation.

In addition, the COO of the corporation has instituted a policy that no phone can ring more than twice before it is forwarded to another person so that a "live person" is almost always available. Now, that "live person" may not know a damn thing about the functions, details and duties of the person originally called, but at least there will be a real person receiving the call. The person receiving the call will probably have to write down a message and forward it to the person originally called, put it inot the office mailbox, but at least the voice mail won't be used the way most companies use them.

Returining to the so-called ethics training, the lawyers presenting the training were asked about some specific issues. The answers provided were as follows:

1. Bold face lies.

2. Avoidance of any real answers.

3. Inaccurate, incomplete or bogus.

4. Unethical in that the answers provided gave everyone the run-around.

There were faculty members in the audience of the training class that provided better answers than the lawyers, which the lawyers affirmed. All-in-all, I (and several of my colleagues concurred) have never been more insulted in all my years of working. The training assumed that all employees were either unethical in some manner, or were completely devoid of any knowledge of ethical standards and practices.

Of course, the real focus of the training was to demonstrate to the lawyers, bankers and potential future investors that the corporation is fully prepared for its upcoming IPO. The corporation is planning on going public soon. Suddenly the CEO and other executives are aware that the corporation hasn't really done a good job of making sure ethical considerations have been monitored and/or implemented. So now that all of the faculty and staff of every campus has had "the training" there are ethics and standards, and if any issues arise it will obviously be the fault of the employee, not the corporation. After all, they had the training.

As part of the training an 800 number and a web site were provided so that unethical or illegal activities could be reported. There were numerous assurances that anyone reporting such infractions were "completely safe from any retaliation." A good number of those in attendance scoffed at these assertions as we have already reported unethical issues and been threatened with disciplinary action. Myself, I have discussed ethical and legal situations involving safety on campus and was matter of factly told to "never discuss legal matters," especially with the executive director of our campus (an Education baffoon and idiot ab initio). Now the matters being discussed at the time involved the fire codes and the use of EMS when a student experienced a medical problem on campus, both of which I carry certification and over 5 years experience. But, none-the-less, I should refrain from discussing these issues or face the possibility of working elsewhere. But, hey, retaliation is not to be a concern.

Above all else, the training on ethics is quite amusing since the number one ethical problem on campus is the impropr recruitment of students. Admissions reps are lying and misleading while talking to potential students and touring the building. Several faculty members have overheard promises made by reps that are, and never will be, true. We have enrolled students that are so physically or mentally handicapped that they will NEVER be able to work in the field of medicine.

A good example is the deaf student that is about to go on externship. The student cannot hear, has a limited capacity for lip reading, has characteristic speech issues, and cannot effective communicate with peers, faculty and/or patients. While every effort has been made to meet the disability issues, learning issues and legalities in the classroom, there is just no way, given the curent circumstances, that the student will make it in the real world of a clinic or doctor's office. The student has paid over 12 thousand dollars for the program and won't be able to use the training or skills. The corporation knew this fact. Financial Aid, the faculty, and Career Services have all put this issue on the table to be discussed in various meetings and encounters with the corproate and campus leadership. I wonder if we should report these issues on the anonymous web site?

Well, the real laugh is that while trying to visit the web site provided in the training, I found that the web site is filtered out so that a person cannot get to the site via the most available computers. In order to submit a complaint or issue, one MUST use a faculty computer, which has one's identity logged in and one's online use monitored. Of course, one could always use the 800 number which is monitored by the new phone system. So much for reporting anonymously. :-)