| Title: | Topics of Interest to Women |
| Notice: | V3 is closed. TURRIS::WOMANNOTES-V5 is open. |
| Moderator: | REGENT::BROOMHEAD |
| Created: | Thu Jan 30 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Fri Jun 30 1995 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 1078 |
| Total number of notes: | 52352 |
Here's a good "What do you think of this"... Taken from the front page
of the Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, August 21, 1990.
" ETHICS ARE LACKING in business, these working women report.
In a survey of 1,400 women by Working Woman magazine, from 52% to 70%
said they've witnessed managers' lying to employees, expense account
abuses at high levels, office favoritism, or nepotism and taking credit
for others' work. Fully 53% agreed that most successful business
people must sometimes fudge principles to get ahead. And 78% of women
who feel they're highly successful were more willing to bend and break
rules than others.
Just 37% of women who took an ethical stand say it helped their
careers; 30% say it hurt. Over 60% would use a secret report stolen
from a competitor. Fully 66% have 'no problem' with a salesperson
giving costly gifts to sales prospects. Flirting to make a sale was
known by 43%, sex with a client by 10%, with the boss by 29%.
The most unethical behavior occurs in government, said 66%; sales 51%;
law 40%; the media 38%; finance 33%; medicine 21%; banking 18%;
manufacturing 14%."
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 313.1 | :-)/2 | SA1794::CHARBONND | in the dark the innocent can't see | Wed Aug 22 1990 16:11 | 3 |
>manufacturing 14%
lack of opportunity
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| 313.2 | Article not too clear as given | FACVAX::WALKER | Wed Aug 22 1990 17:00 | 9 | |
I read this yesterday. Today on rereading, I question whether the
60-odd percent said to cheat in government reflects the opinions of
people not themselves working in government -- based I guess mostly on
what they've read in the press. The article isn't clear whether the
percentages represent "best guesstimates" by people not working in the
various fields, or whether they represent the real experience of women
working in the various categories.
Briana
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| 313.3 | ULTRA::ZURKO | privacy enhanced mail | Wed Aug 22 1990 17:12 | 6 | |
I've done scummy thngs myself. I've caught myself taking credit for something somebody else did, for instance. I always go out of my way to correct it once I recognise it, but I don't find it easy to be as ethical as I wish to be. I'd like to see the same study in "Working Man". Mez | |||||
| 313.5 | The Game | YUPPY::DAVIESA | Grail seeker | Thu Aug 23 1990 10:23 | 19 |
>..and the lest successful people are those whose personal sense
> of ethical behavior mis-matches with the hierarchy within which they
> are attempting to "succeed".
How would this map on to the idea of women trying to "succeed" within
a male-run heirarchy?
I've found that my own ethics are often directly in conflict with
"playing the game" - the male defined success "game" that says
"To progress in status, level and salary here you must play by these
rules".......
I would suspect that asking the basenote question to a group of men
would elicit a very different response for this reason.
'gail
(who keeps re-reading "Games Mother Never Taught You" and finding it
increasingly relevant)
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| 313.6 | FSHQA2::AWASKOM | Thu Aug 23 1990 13:29 | 20 | ||
I'm not convinced, reflecting on my father's career, that this matter
of ethics is a male/female dichotomy. Certainly my dad didn't get as
far as he wanted to (and he had all the right ticket punches and
anatomy) because he took ethical stands that ran counter to his
management. I've had the same problem - I simply can't look the other
way when I see something sleazy or 'wrong' going on. On a couple of
occasions, I've changed jobs and companies because of it. Quite
frankly, this is one of the places I believe DEC is pretty good - folks
are willing to listen to the idea that there *is* an ethical way to
conduct business and to follow through with changes if needed.
Certainly the business world is a game, and there are rules, and to
succeed you must follow the rules. But business is a game within a
larger game of 'life' -- which also has rules. I've found that when I
follow the rules in the 'life' game, even if that means that the
business rules aren't strictly adhered to, I wind up in a better place
at the end of the day. Being able to live with myself is pretty
important, too.
Alison
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