Ethics and politics

We continued our discussion on ethics and focussed on the political aspects. Interesting office politics inevitably involve an element of an ethical dilemma, otherwise it would be just a simple leadership situation. Few workplace ethical situations have a simple resolution: they invariably involve working with people to resolve. Working with people is office politics and the only Christian response is good Christian leadership. The book, Clever as Serpents: Business Ethics and Office Politics, by Jim Grote and John McGeeney makes this connection with a focus on office politics (and from the slightly different Catholic point of view).

One class member shared about her struggle to motivate department members in a union environment. Her ethical issue is straightforward: whether to intervene in the performance of a subordinate. The harder problem is the political problem of leading that department to greater effectiveness and productivity. It is a very difficult problem in leadership and our prayers are with her.