Believing that “it’s a matter of survival,” a
disturbing number of employees conclude that distortion, deception, and even
outright falsification of numbers are justified to keep their jobs and earn
their bonuses. As a result, almost everyone seems to reach their stretch goals,
and management congratulates itself on generating an unbroken string of
double-digit growth.
Organizational audits conducted by the Josephson
Institute reveal that a high percentage of employees who feel pressured to
achieve ever-escalating numerical goals ignore or defer problems and manipulate
or falsify reports to help them “hit their numbers.” The deceptive accounting
tactics that caused a collapse of trust in Wall Street and the mortgage
industry illustrate one coping strategy called “backing into the numbers.”
Look, pressure is no excuse for cheating, but it is
a frequent cause. Responsible management needs to take into account the
propensity of employees to tell them what they want to hear. There’s nothing
wrong with aggressive growth and profit goals, but if organizations do not
place an even higher value on character in their hiring, training, promotion,
compensation, and discipline practices, all they will achieve is the illusion
of success.
About the author: Michael Josephson is one of the nation’s most sought-after and quoted ethicists. Founder and president of Josephson Institute and its CHARACTER COUNTS! project, he has conducted programs for more than 100,000 leaders in government, business, education, sports, law enforcement, journalism, law, and the military. Mr. Josephson is also an award-winning radio commentator.
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