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The Trouble With Moral RelativismAn Advanced Discussion Group

Jason B. Meyer, JD, CCEPPresident, Leadgood LLC@MeyerJason BJason@LeadGood.org

Society for Corporate Compliance and Ethics • Compliance and Ethics InstituteMonday, September 14, 2020 • Session 506

Jason B. Meyer, JD, CCEPPresident, LeadGood, LLC

➢ Former general counsel, chief compliance officer, business executive

➢Decades (!) at the intersection of education and compliance

➢Helping organizations make their compliance, ethics and leadership education better

➢ Consulting on engagement, content organization, vendor and IT procurement, ramping up virtual

➢ Education program assessments, investigations, leadership training

➢ First-of-kind courseware for directors, educators, healthcare, sales, leaders…

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How this “Discussion Group” will work(I think)

AGENDAContext & Discussion

➢The Phenomenon of Two Kinds of “Moral Relativism”

➢ Is It Trouble?

➢What Does “Compliance & Ethics” Do About It?

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Some caveats…

The phenomenon oftwo kinds of relativism

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Moral Relativism

➢ “There is no absolute truth”… or at least, no absolute moral norms

➢Moral standards vary by cultures, places, communities

➢Declining to say, “I’m right and you’re wrong”

Moral Relativismv1: “It’s All Good”

“Subjective relativism expresses the belief that everyone has an opinion and every opinion is as good as any other, and is nicely summed up in the expression, “It’s all good”—the indifferent catch-phrase of Millennial youth.”

-- Stein and Dawson-Tunik, ”It's all good”: Moral relativism and the Millennial Mind” (2004).

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Barna (2018): https://www.barna.com/research/gen-z-morality/

Moral Relativismv2: The Post-Truth World

“Americans are their own fact checkers. People know, they have their own facts and figures, in terms of meaning which facts and figures are important to them.”

-- Kellyanne Conway, in Salon interview (2018).

"Look, alternative facts are not facts. They're falsehoods."

-- Chuck Todd, Meet The Press (Jan. 22, 2017).

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Are relativists wrong? • Haven’t many workplace values been fluid?

• Is relativism just a form of tolerance?

• Are we evidence dependent?

• Has E&C presented or relied on any absolutes?

Is Moral Relativism “Trouble”?

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Trouble?

“Call it what you like—relativism, postmodernism, deconstruction. The lesson is one and the same: The truth is not out there waiting to be objectively uncovered. The truth is made. Facts are fabricated as seen fit by the powers that be, and then consent for those facts is manufactured, enforced.

“How long before a society of atomized individuals rightfully following only their desires, heedless of what they owe others, destroys itself?”

-- Kent Russell, In the Land of Good Living (2020).

Is It Real? • Have you experienced these attitudes in the context of your programs?

• One or both versions?

• Any polemics or pushback?

• What is at its root? Is there a generational component? Is it political?

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Is It A Problem? • Is moral relativism antithetical to the position of E&C?• Is one version worse than the other?

• Are we depending on moral absolutism?

• Where is there room for pluralism and tolerance?

• What is our distinction… and how to we articulate it?

• Is it enough to just say, “Because we said so.”

• What is the effect on culture-setting?

• Is the foundation under our programs unstable?

Trouble?

“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist.

-- Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (1953).

Fewer than half of Millennials believe businesses behave ethically, compared with 65% last year. Concurrently, the number who think that business leaders are committed to helping improve society

dropped to 47% from 62%. There is a continuing gap between the objectives Millennials think businesses should try to achieve and what their own company’s priorities were.

Important to Millennials are 1) making a positive impact on society and the environment; 2) creating innovative ideas, products, and services; 3) creating jobs, developing careers, and improving people’s

lives; and 4) emphasizing inclusion and diversity in the workplace.

-- Strategic Finance Magazine, Aug. 1, 2018 (based on 2018 Deloitte Millennial Survey

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What Does “Compliance & Ethics” Do About It?

What Do We Do?

What do you think?

• “Welcome the Discussion” (It’s OK to disagree; the problem is agnosticism)

• Policy-based: rely on evidence

• Evidence exists, and it matters

• (A problem with v2)

• What works?

• Community-based: “This is how we do things around here.

• Implicit: If you don’t like these community norms, find a different community.”

• Live Our Values Explicitly /Avoid Hypocrisy

• And tap into generational values

• Other ideas?

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Thanks!

Jason B. Meyer, JD, CCEP

Jason@LeadGood.org

@MeyerJasonB

609-534-3535

Appendix

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It’s all about reporting.

A common problem…

Rampant misconduct that is well known within an organization goes unreported.

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Reporting: A fundamental engine of compliance…

Proven by research

Required by law

Validated by common sense

Actual misconduct, when employees hesitate to report wrongdoing, due to fear

Reporting of misconduct, when employees feel comfortable raising normal, day-to-day issues with their leaders

- LRN/Rowen 2012

Increased likelihood employees believe they are encouraged to speak up, if they also believe their managers talk about the importance of ethics

- ECI GBES 2018

• Speaking up is one of the five principles of an ECI “High Quality Program”

• More hotline activity is associated with fewer government fines and lawsuits

- Stubben and Welch, “Evidence on the Use and Efficacy of Internal Whistelblowing Systems” (Feb 29, 2020).

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Reaction: Compliance Amok

82% of companies have mandatory compliance training

$600,000+ average mandatory compliance training spend per company (more than for sales or management/supervisory)

43,400,000 Google hits for “online harassment training”

71% of companies have mandatory sexual harassment prevention training

90% of companies have an anti-harassment policy

Sources: ATD; Training Magazine; Google

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How Important is Culture?

“The only thing of real importance that leaders do is to create and manage culture.”

-- Edgar Schein, Management Professor, Author

“Culture isn’t just one aspect of the game – it is the game.”-- Lou Gerstner, Jr. IBM

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”-- Peter Drucker

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