Ethical matters for various reasons have been on my mind quite a bit in the last few months. In Australia we are in the throes of an election campaign, and to put it frankly the ethics of the two major parties are questionable. Normally I avoid public political comment, and in my former calling as a soldier I wasn’t allowed to make comment. Now I can and I will voice my disgust at the antics of the two major parties at the moment. Take for example postal votes. Both parties have sent letters to every household in my electorate. These letters at first and second glance appear to be from the Electoral Commission. They tell one how to make a postal vote and even provide a form for the postal vote. The trouble is it isn’t an official form and the return address in both cases is a party office. Is it a public service as it is touted to be? I don’t think so. Is it deceitful? The answer is a resounding yes! Is it ethical? I think not!

From time to time I give a presentation called ‘Rwanda: A Case Study in Ethical and Leadership Dilemmas’ to military and public organisations. The presentation examines the experience of the Australian contribution to UNAMIR II, where we provided health support in Rwanda following the 1994 genocide. Each and every one of us faced ethical difficulties every day, and those of us that are psychologically intact are better people for the experience. All of us have an acute sense of what is right and wrong, and what is ethical. The lessons I learnt were:

• Ethics are as much an attitude as they are a set of values, skills and knowledge.
• Ethics are not constant – they are reflective of societal norms, and vary from society to society, and group to group.
• Decisions are developed within an attitudinal framework.
• Do not expect your colleagues to apply your own ethics to their decisions.  

Recently I forgot my fourth point and put a great deal of trust in an employee – trust that proved to be misguided. Unfortunately the employee’s ethical principles and those of mine and my business partner were not in alignment, and we sacked the employee on the spot. It was a very unpleasant day for all concerned.

Knowledge management is dependent on trust, so it seems to me the organisation’s ethical principles and requirements should be made explicit. My business partner and I assumed all parties understood our principles, but our assumption was wrong. In Rwanda we assumed other United Nations forces followed our principles – they didn’t. The two major political parties justify their actions by saying they are providing a public service. In my mind they have compromised themselves. Trust matters and I don’t trust them!

Regards, Graham.