ɪnˈtɛgrɪti/
noun
- the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles — synonyms: honour, sincerity, right-mindedness
- the state of being whole and undivided — synonyms: unity, coherence, togetherness, undividedness, togetherness, solidarity
Have you ever met somebody who lacks integrity?
How do they make you feel?
- Queasy?
- Ill at ease?
- Guarded?
- Stressed?
Lack of integrity, it is funny, we can almost smell it, it’s not nice.
But it’s not just people who lack integrity
Organisations can lack it too. How would you feel if you worked for a company that:
Would you take pride in your work?
Those are the biggies, but lack of integrity comes in all shapes and sizes:
- Do you preach about customer service then price your best customers highest?
- Do you wax lyrical about employee engagement then rank and stack?
If you lack integrity you lack unity
Trying to do two different things at once. How will you ever be any good at either of them?
Success will come and go, but integrity is for ever ~ Amy Rees Anderson
Thanks to Maz Iqbal for the idea for this post
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James,
A really great point.
I wonder how many organsiations talk a lot about integrity but 1. don’t really understand what it is and 2. have never audited what they do to see if they are actually acting with integrity or have integrity.
Adrian
And would they do anything with the answer?
Thanks, James. As I always say, actions speak louder than words.
Annette :-)
James, a simple and very valid observation.
But I wonder whether you’re letting us off the hook a little too easily by saying that organisations can lack integrity too?
I’m not sure I see that. I have never witnessed an organisation making a policy, nor making a moral judgement. I have only ever witnessed people within the organisation choosing whether or not to act with integrity in their decisions, policies and actions.
For me, it’s still only ever people who have integrity, and within every organisation that appears to lack integrity there is a person responsible for making, or failing to challenge or change, a poor judgement. And (hat tip to Maz for the term…) there is a ‘top’ who tolerates it (or perhaps even encourages it).
Where I agree wholeheartedly – customers smell it a mile away.
That is a really interesting point Guy. Maybe being in an organisation allows us to hide behind others.
James
Hello James,
Great that you are grappling with integrity and its fundamental importance. If you wish to explore integrity further then I suggest that you listen to the master: Werner Erhard. Here is a link to a relevant document:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=983401
All the best
maz
Thanks for the link Maz