Tom Sechrest, Ph.D., Program Director, Master of Science in Organizational Leadership and Ethics and Associate Dean, School of Management and Business, St. Edward's University and Ann Hume Wilson, Executive Director, Conspirare

1. Building & Sustaining
Ethical Nonprofits
Values, Blind Spots, and Strategies
Tom Sechrest
Ann Hume Wilson

2. Overview
• What do we mean by ethics?
• It starts with values
• Blind spots and shadows
• Identifying ethical issues
• Ethical decision-making
• Tools you can use
• Strategies for building ethical organizations

3. problems right dilemma
everyone
QUESTIONS
EVERYONE situation
Code of Conduct
normative wrong
philosophy
ethics
principles
JUSTIFY
VALUES
DUTY
RULES
moral behavior
standards
utilitarian

4. Ethics: Working Definition
• Doing what’s right….
• What you do when no one else is
looking…
• Obedience to the unenforceable
Rushworth Kidder
Does this definition resonate?

5. IT’S ALL ABOUT VALUES
courage helpfulness
beauty obedience
inner harmony
competence
broad-mindedness pleasure
politeness world peace
forgiveness
love freedom
ambition collaboration
imagination
logic
social recognition
cheerfulness
salvation
happiness
equality

6. Group Discussion
• Working alone, complete the Identifying Values
worksheet as instructed
• Turn to 2-3 of those seated around you
• Spend a few moments sharing personal values
• Then share a few key organizational values
• Share with larger group as you are willing

7. Aren’t we all pretty ethical?
• Want vs. Should
• Blind Spots
• Leadership Shadows
• Compliance vs. Commitment

8. “Want” vs. “Should”
I should behave
Prediction ethically…therefore Recollection
I will Memory revisions
Forecasting errors
Shifting Standards
I should have behaved
Should ethically…therefore I did!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Want
Decision
I don’t see the ethical
Time Implications…so I do what
Ethical Fading I want to do.
Visceral Response
Bazerman, Max & Tenbrunsel, Ann. Blind Spots. Princeton University Press 2011

9. Blind Spots for Nonprofits
Things known by others but not ourselves:
• Traits in ourselves or our organizations we fail
to recognize
• Information we regularly suppress, distort, or
dismiss
• Persistent lack of knowledge about areas of
leadership

10. Blind Spots for Nonprofits
Heroic leadership
• A “cultural addiction” (Senge)
• Leaders have difficulty obtaining feedback
• Misplaced loyalties
Denial
• We don’t want to believe that something
unethical might be taking place
Narcissism
• Are we deluding ourselves about the unique
superiority of our mission?

11. Leadership Shadows
• Power
• Privilege
• Misplaced Loyalty
• Inconsistency
• Quasi-moralism

12. Compliance vs. Commitment (Values)
• Family Connections
• HUB Vendors
• Penn State
• “Stolen” art?

13. Ruggiero’s Ethical
Decision-making Model
1 Study the details
– Context, circumstances, research
2: Identify relevant criteria
– Consider obligations
– Consider ideals
– Consider consequences
3: Determine possible courses of action
– Imagine the various alternatives
4: Decide what is most ethical
– If there are choices, choose what produces the greater good
or the least harm
Based on: Thinking Critically about Ethical Issues by V. R. Ruggiero, 7th Ed., 2008

14. Laura Nash’s Twelve Questions
1. Have you defined the problem accurately?
2. How would you define the problem from the other side of the fence?
3. How did the situation occur in the first place?
4. To whom/what do you give your loyalty?
5. What is your intention in making decision?
6. How does intention compare with probable results?
7. Whom could your decision injure?
8. Can you discuss with affected parties?
9. Are you confident your position will be as valid over the long term as it is
now?
10. Could you disclose your decision to boss, colleagues, family, etc.?
11. What is the symbolic potential of your action if understood?
Misunderstood?
12. Are there circumstances when you would allow exceptions to your stand?
Nash, Laura L. "Ethics Without Sermons." Howard Business Review 59 (1981): 79-90.

15. Kidder’s Nine Checkpoints
1. Recognize there is an issue
2. Whose issue is it?
3. Gather relevant facts
4. Test for right-versus-wrong issues
5. Test for right-versus-right paradigms
6. Apply resolution principles (ends-based, rules-
based, care-based)
7. Is there a “third way?”
8. Make the decision
9. Revisit and reflect on the decision
Kidder, Rushworth. (1995). How Good People Make Tough Choices.

16. Factors In Ethical Conduct
• Awareness: recognition that a situation raises
ethical issues
• Decision making: determining what course of
action is ethically sound
• Intent: identifying which values should take
priority in the decision
• Action: following through on ethical decisions
James R. Rest, 1994

17. Nonprofit Dilemmas
• Compensation
• Employee Confidentiality
• Conflicts of Interest
• Donor Influence
• Grant Reporting
• Transparency

18. Strategies for Building & Sustaining
Ethical Nonprofits
• Look at your Code of Ethics
• Discuss ethical issues at board meetings
• Awareness is key – how can it be fostered?
• What are some metrics that can be used?
• Create a “Values Card” for staff and board
• Other ideas?

19. Wrap-up:
Remember These Key Points
• Awareness
• Allow Time for Decisions (Resist Pressure For
Immediate Decisions)
• Be Intentional About Your Strategies