In the wake of the recent revelations of UK politicians financial expenses abuses, provoked the last straw for the british populace. The continuous erosion of public trust met the usual swathe of promises, assurances which only demurred into a flagrant ignoring of public opinion finally diminished the last vestige of respect. The people now demand full accountability, even for what could be, in perspective, minor conflagrations. The widespread ire is compounded in further transparently obvious favouritism of who is encouraged to fall on their sword and who is conferred leniency.

This episode has brought into sharp clarity the need for full transparency and accountantability from politicians, who are, in fact, public servants, drawing very adequate salaries, backed up with substantial pensions. It is the opinion of the Relationship Capital Institute that politicans need to bring a new level of responsible governance that forges a renewed trust, for without it, both they and the public suffer crises that stymies positive recovery in a time of considerable recession and all suffer.

I suggest that they set up a department that educates politicians on what it is to create relationship capital and how the bedrock of values that resources the building of such a necessary quality will renew and restore the peoples trust.

Robb Thompson is the founder and President of Robb Thompson International, an innovative company that focuses on developing leadership skills with integrity. His coaching centres on  personal excellence and character development. Recently he wrote on the necessity of honesty as a core value and respect as a mandatory skill:

Honesty

Webster’s defines honesty as honorable in principles, intentions and actions; sincere; frank; truthful. Honesty is the willingness to reveal your true motives. Honesty is similar to transparency, meaning full disclosure.

Honesty is a responsibility to yourself and to others. The foundation of your character cannot withstand the cracks of dishonesty. Every time you allow yourself to be dishonest, you weaken the strength of your character. Every crack reduces the strength of your foundation. Although a crack may be small today, it will eventually split the entire foundation.

Honesty does not change at home, work, or elsewhere. It is always the same. It is a way of thinking. People of honesty can hardly even imagine telling a lie. It’s just not in them. They have aligned themselves to the True God, and His life in them drives them to tell the truth. These people have a hard time believing that other people lie regularly, but they do!

Perceived Payoff:

Everyone does what they do because there is a perceived pay off. I use the word “perceived” because it is not necessarily true. An individual who is lazy has a perceived payoff. An individual who smokes perceives that the pleasure is worth the pain. Likewise, a dishonest individual lies or withholds truth because of the perceived payoff. In every case the payoff is immediate, but the negative costs are delayed. With a little foresight and wisdom, honesty becomes a much sweeter choice during trying times.

Truth always comes to the surface, if not in this lifetime, then in the next. And even if the truth never surfaces, the conscience is a constant, painful reminder. The murderer whose crime is never discovered may have gotten away from the law, but his memory torments him.

Half Truth – Full Lie:

People often lie to make themselves look better. Isn’t it interesting, though, that anyone we know who lies has a horrible reputation? Now, society doesn’t call this lying-it’s just stretching truth. It’s deceiving people without actually saying anything untrue. Nevertheless, honesty leaves no possibility for deception. Do you stretch the truth or hide revealing facts?

Although honesty may cost you in the beginning, you’ll experience the rewards in the end. The Scriptures tell us that the integrity of the righteous will deliver them.’

The message is in order to grow your reputation, you must be honest and be respectful. Nothing else will authentically draw people to do business with you or accelerate your success as much as these traits.

According to the Respect Research Group ‘Respect is an attitude of one human versus another, in which the first recognizes in the latter a reason which justifies in itself that the latter should be recognized and treated in a way so that the latter feels acknowledged in his/her value and significance. Respect stands for acceptance, appreciation and esteem and can make a corporate culture “bloom” not only, now, in the New Economy but also to sustain it far beyond it. It seems like companies with especially vigorous philosophies are particularly equipped to establish it as a value through their mission statements.’

Managers at all levels also play an essential role in this process, because for their employees, their attitudes, personal values and communication styles represent an embodiment of the company’s philosophy. The problem is however, that in modern companies forming and popularizing such value-oriented philosophies, often gives way to short-term oriented action plans, which bring quick financial results at the price of undermining the stability of inter-personal relationships in the company and hence threaten its long-term success. In this respect, the importance of corporate culture cannot be overlooked any more and it is more than ever before necessary for the establishment of a rational, responsible and conscientious management.

Two large online surveys were conducted among employees in Germany to explore the importance employees and organizations lay on aspects of interpersonal respect in relation to other work values. The first study (N1 = 589) extracted a general ranking of work values, showing that issues of respect which involve supervisors are rated particularly high among employees. The second study (N2 = 373) replicated the previous value ranking by and large. However, it is shown that the value priorities indicated by employees are not always matched by organizational practices. Especially respect issues which involve employees’ supervisors diverge strongly negative. Consequences and potentials for change in organizations are discussed.

Values are generally seen as intrinsic and enduring perspectives individuals hold throughout different stages of their lifetime. They indicate “what a person consciously or subconsciously desires, wants, or seeks to attain “. Work values represent these sentiments in applied settings, signaling what people strongly care about at their work place. Following this definition, work values are somewhat similar to the valence term in expectancy models of motivation and are thus believed to have a substantial impact on the actual behavior shown at the workplace. They encourage individuals to act in certain ways, affecting even such things as job choice. Whereas commonly work values are assessed as people’s preferences for certain objects or outcomes, such as job security, level of payment and others, we sought to integrate interpersonal respect in this list of more or less classic work values.

The first kind points towards the general acknowledgement of another human, an equal member of the same group, referred to as “recognition respect” or respect for persons. The second kind is directed at an acknowledgement of expertise or skill, referred to as “appraisal respect” or respect for work. These two kinds, although both named respect, are very different in their essence. Recognition respect is very similar to the kind of respect the philosopher Kant proposed. It follows a categorical imperative to respect other human beings by not only seeing them as means to an end but also as an end in themselves. In an organization this respect may show in supervisors who do not only focus onto the performance aspect of their subordinates but are also compassionate or understanding in a time of a private crisis on behalf of the subordinate. They acknowledge that all humans deserve to be treated in the same way that one would want to be treated oneself. Its essence is thus unconditional. There is no question if it is deserved or not. It is not about a personal appreciation or favoring but about following a clear set of conventions, which give people equal rights even though they are different. Research underlined this reasoning by confirming formal rules in justice issues as one of the antecedents of recognition respect.

Appraisal respect on the other hand points at an entirely different phenomenon. It is about the esteem one receives if one performs, if one masters a skill, or one accomplished things that set one positively apart from the rest. So, whereas recognition respect involves a message of equality, appraisal respect does just the opposite. It acknowledges positives differences and rewards them with status. This kind of respect does not draw itself from a general normative law instead it derives its legitimacy from the perceived object itself; it or its actions demand respect.

Thus in an organizational setting appraisal respect might show itself in a supervisor who acknowledges work or performance, may it be through spoken recognition, a promotion, or a raise in salary. Similarly, employees who state that they work for a supervisor they deeply respect is usually a sign of appraisal respect. Whereas in empirical research recognition respect seems to be a result of formal rule following, appraisal respect seems to rely more on the informal treatment in justice concerns.

The following list of work values were those that were posed to the respondents, which encompassed more or less classical aspects of work values usually investigated in companies (such as the original IBM survey later used by Hofstede, 1991; or typical values assessed by consultancies:

(1) having high job security
(2) having a high income
(3) having good career opportunities
(4) working in a job that is valued by society
(5) having enough leisure time besides the job
(6) working on interesting tasks on the job
(7) being able to work independently
(8) working on tasks which require a high sense responsibility
(9) having a lot of direct contact with other people
(10) being able to help others through the job
(11)working in a job that is useful for society
(12) having the feeling to contribute something meaningful
(13) working in a healthy work environment.
(14) working for a supervisor who appreciates my work
(15) working with colleagues who appreciate my work
(16) working with colleagues who treat me with respect
(17)working for a supervisor who treats me with respect
(18) working for a supervisor I can respect
(19) working with colleagues I can respect

As an article written by Dan Bobinski, CEO of Workplace Excellence, in Management Issues highlights, if managers and leaders will not model the expected behaviors for the workplace community, its unlikely the rest of the employees will have any regard for community standards, either. Behaviours equally ought to reflect a commonality of agreed values for the workplace, irrespective of what individuals espouse outside of work.  Relationship Management Institute endeavours to create a ‘plug and play’ culture that enfranchises all employees under a set of principles that offends no one’s personal beliefs but allows a common concordance of cordial collaboration culturally.