Response #1 to Terrorist Attacks

The September 11^th terrorist attacks have had a positive impact on the ethical climate of most organizations. The company where I work immediately instituted a $1 million donation to the relief effort for families affected by the attacks. In addition the company encouraged employees to contribute to the relief effort and pledged additional matching funds for each dollar contributed by employees. The company also offered counseling sessions for all employees. Employees at several locations throughout the country sponsored fund raising events on their own time and contributed the proceeds to the relief effort. “Business as usual” was certainly not the slogan of the day as a massive effort was undertaken to rebuild the communications infrastructure of a number of customers effected by the attacks. This effort required the cooperation of many employees, from various parts of the country, both union and management, working long hours sometimes in difficult working conditions to complete the job in New York City and Washington D.C. The general feeling among employees seems to be one of “doing the right thing” to help the victims of the attacks while helping the corporation meet the needs of those customers that were most affected. In addition to rebuilding the communication systems the company worked closely with customers whose workspace was destroyed and identified surplus office space to temporarily house the customers’ operations.

Other corporations have made similar monetary donations to the various relief funds that have been established and have instituted special programs to stimulate the economy, which was negatively affected by the attacks. Examples of this can be seen in the current 0% financing offers by the big three automakers. Certainly General Motors “Keep America Rolling” advertisement campaign appeals not only to the strong level of patriotism being exhibited in the country at this time but also is designed to attract additional buyers and increase sales. These efforts on the part of companies exemplify that many organizations view ethical behavior and social responsibility as a core value of their business.

Since September 11^th a new threat involving biological terrorism has emerged. The growing number of Anthrax cases in the U.S. has provided the Bayer Corporation of Germany with an opportunity to exhibit its commitment to social responsibility. In negotiations with the U.S. government Bayer agreed to sell a large amount of its CIPRO antibiotic to the U.S. at a generous discount.

Certainly there have been some organizations that have reacted unethically over the past six weeks. There have been several reports of websites offering prescriptions for CIPRO at extremely high prices as well as some telemarketing organizations fraudulently soliciting donations for the relief effort and some gas stations initially gouging customers, but these organizations have been in the minority.

This change in the ethical attitude of people in organizations will persist long term only if the organization adopts ethical behavior as a core value and demonstrates it on a continuing basis.

Response #2 to Terrorist Attacks

We agree with the Ethics Officer Association meeting conclusion that the ethical climate of most organizations is improving and employees are more open to building a value based system that considers the needs of society.

We consider this is the kind of event that makes us stay closer, think of how fragile we are, and think about the people that surround us. This is a period when some organizations may want to restate their purpose of being, evaluate their social responsibility, as well as think about their future. Along with this, those companies, which have perceived the relevance of these attacks as critical for their functioning, have started to accommodate values, perceptions, needs, procedures and even policies in order to appease safety concerns and reestablish feelings of control and trust.

For example, we have observed a greater expression of patriotism with outward and visible signs being prominent.  While that has given a common bond to the majority of our people, it appears that we must guard against some feeling left out of this if they are different, perhaps of Middle Eastern descent.  Our values must be constantly examined and reinforced so that we are truly inclusive. 

Our values are something that we have to review and keep in front of our employees even more in these difficult times.  For example, if this situation escalates and we need to step up war production, we need to keep employees aware of our values surrounding quality and safety, which may suffer in an attempt to meet production schedules.

In conclusion, the fact of developing programs for employees to embrace higher values and principles is one of the company’s duties to society. Despite all the dreadful consequences these attacks have brought with, it has its practical impact among organizations, which are facing positive changes towards their ethical climate for the long term.

Response #3 to Terrorist Attacks

Frankly, I do not believe there will be a long-term change in the ethical climate of most organizations.  Our memory (referring to humans in general) is short.  While we (adults) may be very focused on other things (family, feelings, patriotism, etc.) at the moment, our values as individuals are established when we are young with some modification along the way.  I have already seen a shift from spending more time with family since Sept. 11th back to working more hours by many within my hospital system.

Similarly, I do not think the ethical climate of organizations will change just like that.  Given that

the Sept. 11th incident has changed our lives forever (my belief), the ethical culture within an organization is set by many individuals, including its leaders, board of directors, and others.  Many organizations and individuals have been donating a bunch of money to a variety of charities focused on the New York attack; however, I do not believe this is necessarily ethics

related.  It may be the socially responsible thing to do and in some cases may be being done just to “keep up with the Joneses.”  By this I mean that competitors may have donated so my corporation had better do something or we might look bad.

I hate to admit it, but the biggest change I have noticed in my healthcare organization and in a variety of industries represented in my geographic area (e.g., Hewlett Packard, Agilent, local government, etc.) is more time spent by people talking about the news of the day and an increase in personal e-mail related to the aftermath of Sept. 11th.  With regard to e-mail I have seen within my healthcare organizations and from some others in different healthcare facilities, much of this

e-mail is of an inappropriate nature to a workplace that is focused on understanding the needs of a diverse customer and employee population. 

So, to sum up, I have not seen an increase in ethical focus in a positive way, but we in healthcare already have a heavy focus on organizational and biomedical ethics.  I have seen a slight negative ethical leaning between the e-mail I mentioned and the sometime “bashing” of other cultures whose members may have been involved in the attacks. 

Long term, if an organization has a focus on ethics; this event will neither help nor harm the process.

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