Managers don't realise they're rolemodels

In the latest issue of Management Team, a Dutch magazine, I found a short interview with Muel Kaptein,
professor of management studies at the Erasmus University, and also consultant
with KPMG. He recently wrote a book called "the sincere manager" in Dutch (The Balanced Company: A
Theory of Corporate Integrity in English), in which he explores the
importance of managers that lead by example. He points out that most employees
tend to copy the behaviour of their bosses, where ethics in the workplace is
concerned. Therefore organisational change should target the managers first, as
the employees will follow their lead. This in stead of handing out a set of new
rules to your employees and simply expecting to follow them. He also stresses
the importance of explicitly formulated corporate ethics and values. His
research shows 27% of employees does not honor agreements, because the boss
doesn't either. The same goes for abuse of corporate facilities (25%), bullying
(25%), damaging private activities (25%), internal fraud (23%), and leaking
confidential information (21%). The problem? Businesses see ethics as something
instrumental, and not related to leadership, vision and commitment. However, if
a company wants to steer behaviour they will have to acknowledge the enormous
influence of the personal dimension. Well, that leads us right back on track on
what I've put forward regarding trust, and what Chris Macrae hammers on with
transparancy at valuetrue.com