E f f e c t i v e a n d a c c o u n t a b l e s e r v i c e d e l i v e r y importance which people attach to the imposition of timely and effective sanctions for poor behaviour and their belief that this seldom occurs • Robust, effective leadership. It is the leaders of any organisation who are best placed to set an appropriate tone and promote the right culture. Elected representatives, board members and managers at all levels should exemplify the high standards of behaviour they require of others. Organisations need to make sure they grow or recruit leaders with the necessary values The risks of failure to anticipate problems in advance are obvious. Every unresolved issue takes its toll on public confidence. Measures put in place in the face of a media frenzy risk being disproportionate.9 It is preferable for individuals and organisations to take responsibility for acting before being forced to do so. All organisations should make sure that they have appropriate procedures in place to deal with low-level inappropriate behaviour such as bullying and harassment, as well as more dramatic transgressions of ethical codes. The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) notes that: Bullying and harassment are not only unacceptable on moral grounds but may, if unchecked or badly handled, create serious problems for an organisation including: poor morale and poor employee relations; loss of respect for managers and supervisors; poor performance; lost productivity; absence; resignations; damage to company reputation; and tribunal and other court cases and payment of unlimited compensation.10 At our seminar on local government participants told us that those local authorities that dealt most robustly with instances of bullying and harassment were also those who managed to avoid more serious ethical problems. Principles and codes of conduct Principles alone are often not enough as a guide for behaviour in everyday life. Research undertaken with the public demonstrates that there can be genuine disagreement about what they imply in specific circumstances. Codes should never, however, override principles. Behaviour can technically be within the rules set out in a code and yet still offend against underlying principles and values as judged by peers or the general public (whose views may, of course, differ). The lack of transparency of financial loans to political parties, for example, while technically within the political donation rules of the time, offended against the principle of openness that the rules had been designed to reflect. This was readily acknowledged by the political parties themselves when the practice came to light in 2006. Principles and codes should therefore be viewed as complementary rather than as alternatives. It is essential to get the right balance between the two. That balance may change over time. To be effective, codes need to be seen as relevant, every day and not exceptional; proportionate – giving enough detail to help guide actions without being so elaborate that people lose sight of the underlying principles; adapted to the needs and context of each organisation; clear about the consequences of non-compliance; they need to be personalised and, wherever possible, framed positively. A trial by the Cabinet Office’s Behavioural Insights Team supported experimental findings that making people explicitly aware of other people’s good behaviour is more effective than telling them what not to do. Research by the Institute of Business Ethics (IBE) indicates no direct relationship between the mere existence of codes and actual standards of behaviour (in private sector companies).11 Embedding ethics at the outset A good place for organisations to start is at the beginning, by employing people, including on their boards, whose values are a good fit with their own. At the most basic level, employers need to ensure that applicants understand what the organisation stands for and what that means in practice. Some organisations have gone further in attempting to probe the values of potential staff at interviews. Potential employees who understand and accept an organisation’s ethical principles in the course of their recruitment are more likely to be comfortable reflecting those principles in their work. This may both increase their potential contribution and help to reinforce the wider culture of the organisation. It is important that legislatures, like other organisations, take ethical training seriously. Political parties have a clear interest in impressing on their members the importance of attending such ethical training as is provided. Members who are aware of the standards expected are less likely to inadvertently behave inappropriately in ways which could lead to damaging publicity and loss of reputation for their party or the institution as a whole. Leadership The place of leadership among the seven principles has sometimes been misunderstood. It is not a call for all public servants to be leaders. It refers instead to the importance of public servants demonstrating the other six principles in their everyday work, thereby providing an example to each other and helping create a culture in which high standards are the norm. Lord Nolan thought, and we agree, that the principles of public life, including exemplifying standards, were the responsibility of ‘all who serve the public in any way’.12 Exemplifying high standards is particularly important for those in management positions. It is even more so for those at the very top, because it is they who set the tone for an Commonwealth Governance Handbook 2013/14 48
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