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Further
Reading ...
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6 Easy Steps for a Smoother CD/DVD Order - Adam Platzer
It’s all about turn times in the eMedia industry! The speed with which your vendor can get your CD or DVD project completed is vital to many customers. However, responsibility for these projects meeting their completion dates starts with the...
Quick Quiz - Measure Your Meeting Mastery - Steve Kaye
Here’s an easy quiz to check the health of your meetings. 1) Who leads your meetings? -- a) No one, b) Whoever has the loudest voice, c) A facilitator 2) What happens to the ideas in your meetings? -- a) If we had to think of ideas, it would be...
Five Myths About Inflation - William Cate
Five Myths About Inflation By William Cate A classic definition of inflation is any increase in the money supply. Understanding inflation is vital to anyone seeking investment profits or attempting to build a successful company. As with most basic...
Honey I can’t afford the kids - cashzilla
Sex has a lot to answer for … babies usually … which then, with time and much financial investment, grow up to be beautiful mutations of their parents. Yet as the family absorbs more money as it grows, the need for financial planning and protection...
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Conflict Of Interest
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Written By:
Richard Lowe
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One of the most insidious traps in the world of business (or
in any other place for that matter) is this thing called a
"conflict of interest". The conflict produces a situation
whereby your decision to do or not do something is swayed by
other or outside interests. In other words, you need to make a
business decision, and your decision is changed (or appears to
have been changed) based upon something other than what's going
on at your job.
Sometimes these conflicts are completely and totally obvious.
In our company we are all forbidden to accept any gifts from
any vendor. In fact, this policy is brutally enforced by
suspension and possible termination. Why? Well, let's say a
buyer has to purchase a million dollars worth of product and
he receives "gifts" from various competing vendors. Is he
making decisions that are in the best interest of the company
or is he simply repaying that "special" vendor who gave him a
trip to Hawaii?
There are many ways that conflicts of interest appear.
Sometimes they are hobbies, sometimes gifts from people,
sometimes simply having an agenda other than that of the
company.
I've found that a person with a hobby is a person with what
is potentially a fascinating conflict of interest. For example,
when I was just seventeen years old, I managed a liquor store.
My boss was a German U-boat commander from World War II, and
he loved German wine. We had German wines all over the place.
The stuff never sold, not a single bottle, but regardless we
had the bottles everywhere. I distinctly remember having to
dust them constantly. I used to wonder why we carried these
dogs, but no longer. The boss had a hobby. He liked German
wines, and in spite of the fact that each bottle on the shelf
was wasted money (and a lot of it, these bottles were not
cheap) he continued to purchase them. This part of the
business was actually his hobby.
A more obvious conflict is the one between an auditor from an
outside firm and the auditor's firm. Let's say you hire Joe
from XYZ company to audit your books. You hire lots of people
from this company to perform audits all of the time. Since the
auditing firm makes money from your business, there is an
apparent conflict of interest here - an auditor which finds
problems may find himself out of a job. This conflict becomes
even greater if the auditing firm gets follow-up work based
upon the results of the audit. That's why intelligent managers
make it very clear to their auditing firms that they understand
continued below ...
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continued ...
/>this natural conflict. These managers also MUST make it clear
that they expect unbiased results, and attach severe penalties
for improprieties.
A boss who hires a friend or relative is also guilty of a
conflict of interest - in fact, the boss will find this
conflict will only get worse as time goes on. No matter the
circumstances, employees will never respect the boss who
performed this hiring or the employee who was hired. In this
instance, even if there is no conflict of interest, the
appearance is so strong that it cannot be overcome.
I remember at one job the boss (and owner) hired his wife as
the secretary for the company. She was soon promoted to a vice
president. This cause no end of problems at our company.
Several other competent people were passed over for the
promotion, which created a huge amount of bad feelings among
the staff. Every decision that she made was questioned, and
after that no one really trusted the owner anymore. In this
case the problem was not that she was hired or even promoted -
the problem as that the boss promoted his own wife. If she had
earned her way up and been promoted (or not) by other managers
based upon her merit, then the conflict could have been avoided.
I've seen people in situation where they had to make a decision
and took into account "what was best for their career" or made
the decision that would give them the best raise or bonus.
There is nothing wrong with pursuing a career or working
towards better pay, but decisions must be made which are best
for the company and which are ethical. Period. Thus, if there
is a choice between a good decision for my company or a good
decision for my career, then the company wins every time. And
in the long term, this is the best decision for any career.
Good employees and good managers avoid situations like these as
if their lives depended on it. A conflict of interest, apparent
or otherwise, is never a good thing. Decisions must be made
based upon facts and must be made to the advantage of the
company to which you work for (and owe your allegiance). The
most ethical thing to do is to make decisions which fulfill the
goals of the company, and not which fulfill your own personal
agenda.
About the Author
Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets at
http://www.internet-tips.net - Visit our website any time to read
over 1,000 complete FREE articles about how to improve your internet
profits, enjoyment and knowledge.
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| _Additional Resources ... |
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Who Are You Mixing It With? - Julie Plenty
I talk and write a lot about Life Design – creating and sculpting a life that is fulfilling for you. It is about shaping your personal landscape and environment. Part of that environment involves being conscious of who you mix with and their...
Growing Your Meetings In CyberSpace - Philippa Gamse
As increasing numbers of people search for information on the Internet, it becomes more imperative to have a compelling Website to promote and support your meetings. Here is my list of "The Seven Most Important Things You can do Online": 1....
Teenagers can market products on the Internet. - Chris Ryan
Teenagers, have you ever been put down by the oldies. Who said to you, "You can't sell on the Internet", you don't have the brains, you won't make a cent? Well! they are wrong!! You can do it and you can do it just as easily as any other person. ...
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