Ethics Corner

Is there any relationship between the way a CEO behaves on the golf course, and his actions back at the office? In other words, if an avid golfer is willing to under-report his score – tell a lie – on the golf course, can we trust him to be totally honest in other areas of his life? Given the ongoing international focus on corporate malfeasance, a recent survey by Starwood Hotels and Resorts (USA Today, June 26, 2002) poses some intriguing questions about possible parallels between personal and professional behaviors and beliefs. In the survey, 401 high-ranking corporate executives reported their views on the connection between golf and business this way:

99% Consider themselves honest in business.
87% Have golfed with someone who cheats.
82% Personally cheat at golf.
82% Hate others who cheat at golf.
72% Believe golf and business are correlated.
67% Say a golf-cheat would also cheat at business.

While some CEOs say golf is purely social in nature and dismiss the survey as an inaccurate barometer of business ethics, the results warrant scrutiny. For instance, 82% of bosses say they personally cheat at golf. If that is so, how can those respondents maintain their belief that people who cheat at golf would also cheat at business (67%), while holding that they, personally, are honest in business (99%)? According to organizational psychologist Ken Siegel, the disconnect is not surprising. Using the example of bosses who say their greatest strength is working with people when subordinates almost always describe it as their greatest weakness, Siegel says CEOs often "lose the ability to distinguish between what is honest and what is not."

Golf fanatics will not be surprised at several other things CEOs reported in the Starwood survey regarding their views on golf:

13% Have broken a golf club.
11% Would rather get a hole-in-one than see their child hit a game- winning home run.
11% Say golf is more important than sex.
10% Call in sick to play golf.

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Cartoons & Pictures

Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson (click on cartoon to enlarge)

CALVIN AND HOBBES copyright 1992 Watterson. Reprinted with permission of Universal Press Syndicate. All rights reserved.

................................... Scenes from the Ethics Train-the-Trainer course held May 20-23, 2002, in San Diego, CA (top to bottom) Ted Rogers, Mountain View, CA, PD; Gary Chambers, Tulare County, CA Sheriff’s Department; Lola Abrahamian, Glendale, CA, PD; Cameron Graber, Lasalle Police Service, Ontario, Canada (left to right); Bill King, US Department of Justice, Tucson, AZ; Rodney Brooks, Glendale, CA, PD (left to right); Randy Pittman, Platte County Sheriff’s Department, MO; Class Photo.

................................... Scenes from the 11th Advanced Management College, May 15-18, 2002, in Aspen, CO (top to bottom): Dr. Gary Sykes, ILEA, and Dr. Carl B. Klockars, University of Delaware (left to right); Steve Sharp, Monroe County, IN, Sheriff’s Department and Mike Shumate, Potter County, TX, Sheriff’s Department (left to right); Class photo. ................................... At the Ethics Train-the-Trainer in San Diego, CA (May 20-23, 2002), Dr. Dan Primozic, Elmhurst College, leads a discussion of character and law enforcement.