Corporate Values and Corporate Ethics in the Course of Digitalization

00:06 We live in a world where anything is possible, regardless of whether you are a manager, an employee, or a private person.

00:15 We are in charge.

00:18 We constantly defend and represent ourselves, our department, and our organization. This has progressed to the point where we are constantly threatened by a shitstorm. Mistakes will be posted online right away, where they will quickly spread.

00:35 Correcting the course, slowing things down, or avoiding it is nearly impossible.

00:42 Everything is clear, and data is available in fractions of a second.

00:48 Data is being collected everywhere and all the time; customers are being examined, and staff are being appraised.

00:55 At the same time, jobs are being outsourced and digitally connected to the rest of the world. But the fundamental question is, do we want that? Are we allowed to do so, and what are the limits? This is where corporate ethics comes into play.

01:11 A subset of business ethics is company ethics.

01:15 You wonder, "What should the moral standards of the economy, of a company be?" In the best-case scenario, it should be in the best interests of the entire actions, the planet, and society. It's about moral issues.

01:33 Following the 2008 economic crisis, more and more people lost trust in banks and insurance companies - and perhaps even in the economy as a whole - and we understood how strongly a system is based on a good concept, on good behaviors, and how a system might fail without these. As a result, corporations had to recognize that business behavior and morality are not mutually exclusive.

02:02 Since the financial crisis, you might argue that the question of ethics has been popular, and there is, of course, this contradiction between maximizing profit and ethical ideals.

02:16 Every two years, we all desire a new smartphone in our pockets.

02:22 At the same time, we see photographs of African communities having holes the size of Swiss cheese because they had to dig up the coltan from the ground - we need it for our iPhones. We now have Bitcoin as our new currency.

02:37 However, bitcoin produces more CO2 than several countries.

02:42 These are the major difficulties, but businesses walk this fine line on a regular basis: you pay for clicks, you pay for favorable reviews, you recommend the product, it's really fantastic and it brings in more cash, but from a moral standpoint, it may not be justifiable.

03:04 Where is a thin line the boundary? You can utilize company values to determine the border.

03:14 Company values are a responsible, long-term attitude that is instilled and reinforced in all employees of a company at the same time.

03:26 This means that employees, managers, and everyone else is behaving in the interests of these principles, and these values provide meaning to all members.

03:36 They provide direction; they serve as an identity for the organization and its members. These ideals can, of course, be conveyed and presented to others.

03:49 Ideally, suppliers and partners will also act following these values.

03:53 New employees will be drawn in if the values are strong.

03:58 However, in most cases, companies have established values that they have written down on a piece of paper - and that's all.

04:06 These principles aren't even worth the paper they're written on.

04:10 We have principles like discipline, trust, integrity, innovation, and customer focus in the traditional business sector.

04:24 "We understand our customer," is the company's motto.

04:28 Our client is king." We have quite different ideals in the modern economic world.

04:38 These values are mindfulness, dignity, credibility, creativity, peace, and joy - and how they manifest themselves will differ.

04:50 That implies we are creative; we enjoy our work; and we are change-makers.

04:59 Another crucial reality is that the firm values are not fixed in stone; they may and will evolve.

05:07 So, how will your corporate values change if you work increasingly digitally, perhaps exclusively digitally at some point? How will corporate principles change as work and life become inextricably linked? How will corporate values alter when the industry's or perhaps the world's motto is "faster, higher, further"? And now comes the most important question of all: how do you turn values into action? The piece of paper is insufficient, and we have other possibilities here.

05:38 You could, for example, begin designating meeting rooms based on the values tomorrow.

05:44 We'll now convene in the sustainability room.

05:48 We'll meet in the creativity room tomorrow, and I have a meeting in the discipline room the day after tomorrow. This would highlight the values.

05:59 Simultaneously, you may rationalize and align all company decisions based on values, as well as communicate them in this manner.

06:09 Employees of the month could also be chosen based on their principles.

06:16 This is Rosy. She is the woman who managed to lower her department's electricity bills by 20% last year.

06:23 This refers to the value of sustainability or cost efficiency, which you can choose.

06:30 In any case, I wish you much fun - be creative and enjoy the process of establishing and reinforcing these principles while also enjoying the process of increasing your profits.

06:43 Yes, there are problems here, yet this balancing act is feasible.