Advice from The Ethics Office at Texas Instruments Corporation
Responsibilities as a Team Member
This pages contains a selection of advice from The Ethics Office at Texas Instruments Corporation.
The advice is that of either TI Ethics Director Carl Skooglund or Glenn Coleman, Manager of Ethics Communication and Education. The articles were distributed among TI employees via TNEWS.
Article Number 172: Ethics of
followership
Followership, like leadership, is essential for progress. Listed here are some of the responsibilities of followers in support of their leaders. Much has been written in this column about the ethical responsibilities and obligations of a leader, about the leader's characteristics and style, about the workplace that leader creates. The booklet "Cornerstone Five" is dedicated to this subject.
Lawrence M. Miller in his book American Spirit, Visions of a New Corporate Culture made the following statement: Leadership requires followership and following is an act of trust, faith in the course of the leader, and that faith can be generated only if leaders act with integrity.
Leadership can be practiced and demonstrated at any level within TI and within society. Yet not everyone in every situation is going to be the leader. There must also be those being led. So let's look at ethics from a different direction. Let's view it from the follower's perspective.
What are the ethics of followership?
- Above all, followers should encourage leaders to be ethical, showing support for their ethical behavior. True leaders look to their followers for support, encouragement...and their energy.
- A good follower observes the surroundings and risks and blunts distractions, allowing the leader to focus on the problem at hand.
- Pay attention to detail. Sweat the small stuff. Do your work thoroughly. Give your leader confidence that you are looking after the details. Mutual trust, candor, and faith will grow.
- Be truthful. Be open. Be complete. Be concise. Give the leader the complete facts.
- Leaders do not always have all the right answers nor do they always make the right decisions. You have an obligation to make recommendations and raise concerns. You can have an impact.
- Passive compliance is destructive. One person observed that "A good way to assure that your leader will fail is to always do exactly what you are told, no more and no less!"
- Be proactive. Assume responsibility. If at all possible, present solutions at the same time you alert your leader to problems and issues. Be ready with your recommendations. Napoleon would listen to anyone's problem as long as it was presented along with two possible solutions.
- Be patient. Followers have an incredibly important role in progress. Although many ethical leaders may be slow to identify the need for good followership, if we practice the above principles our leaders cannot fail to recognize our value to the team's success.
- Be consistent. Be predictable. The best surprise is no surprise.
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Article Number 179: Ethics of followership-Part II
Good leadership requires good followership, and every one of us, regardless of our jobs at TI, has followership responsibilities. What are those responsibilities? Several months ago, the first in this series of articles on the ethics of followership listed some of the responsibilities of followers in support of their leaders.
I asked you for other examples of followers' responsibilities, and the following list reflects your response.
- Attitudes, energies and concentration will ebb and flow, rise and fall. That's expected and accepted, because all days are not diamonds. But dedication and commitment to the team, the project, the goal must remain strong. Try to leave your home problems at home and likewise, your work problems at work.
- Build a track record of dependability. Our leaders must have confidence in our ability to meet our promises and their expectations. When we fall short, review the process openly with the leader and look for ways to set reasonable goals in the future. Candor builds trust.
- Neither leader nor follower should expect perfection in the other. A positive attitude and a long term vision will help us all over the rough spots. Be a team player.
- Do not take constructive criticism personally. Use it to realign your goals with those of the leader. Focus on the spirit and the meaning of the criticism, not on the words or the event.
- Being organized and focused is absolutely essential. They help keep our leader the same way. But at the same time we must remain flexible and responsive to changes in goals and methods. Organization and flexibility, staying focused and staying responsive are not opposites.
- A good follower asks a lot of questions. Questions provide information and clarification to other followers, grease the wheels of open communications, encourage candor, and give feedback to the leader.
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Article Number 181: Perceptions
Sometimes situations are not what they first appear to be. We all have a responsibility to ask questions and raise issues.
Consider the following situations that were reported over the Ethics Office communication lines
- A TI manager has his secretary order paper for his computer at home.
- A TIer resigns from TI and comes back to work the following week as a consultant.
- A blue-badge TIer parks in Authorized Parking and displays a yellow temporary badge on her dashboard...and she does it almost everyday.
- A TIer plays golf with a major TI supplier every Saturday.
- A TIer wins an award from a professional organization and accepts a free trip for his family to the award presentation.
- A supplier fails to get TI business even though his is the lowest bid for the order.
- A secretary plays solitaire on her computer during work hours.
The situations above are typical of many issues brought to the Ethics Office and it is right, they should raise warning flags. Each should cause us to be concerned about whether we are doing the proper thing. Yet in every one of the particular cases, when the unique circumstances were examined, it was determined that there was nothing improper. There was nothing wrong. There were circumstances unknown to the observer that made the apparent violation appropriate for the situation. We will examine each of these situations over the next few weeks to highlight the issues.
So what are the problems? For every situation like the ones above, how many go unresolved? How many result in a TIer thinking that another is failing to meet the TI standards, is cheating the company or fellow employees, or simply is not doing what is right? How many relationships are damaged? How much trust and respect are improperly destroyed?
Remember this: A situation that is perceived as real will be reacted to as if it were real.
Each of us has the obligation to consider how our actions will be received and, equally important, will be perceived. We must continually consider perceptions and be proactive in the elimination of misconceptions and their resulting rumors and grumblings.
Each of us has the right and obligation to question activities and to raise issues when others appear to be doing wrong. When we know the complete situation, perhaps it will be merely a matter of reception. But we should always check it out at the earliest opportunity. Allowing it to linger only damages relationships. TI is rich in sources of information. Your supervisor is generally the best place to raise these issues because your supervisor usually knows your situation better than anyone else. However, there are other good sources depending upon the issue: TI Human Resources, TI Legal, the open door to higher levels of your management, and your TI Ethics Office. It is important that you ask and continue asking until you are satisfied that you understand the situation.
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Article Number 183: Perceptions-Part II
Some situations are not what they first appear to be. We must ask questions and collect facts before passing judgment.
A situation that is perceived as real will be reacted to as if it were real. The article highlighted several situations that were reported over the Ethics Office communications lines. Although these situations looked very suspicious on first examination, further investigation revealed that the problem was in perception, not in reality.
Let's reconsider these
- A TI manager has his secretary order paper for his computer at home. Is this a case of improper use of company assets...or maybe theft? In this case, the manager had TI-authorized computer equipment at home where he accomplished much of his work. There are many problems and ethical issues created when we are allowed to work at home on TI-supported equipment, such as labor reporting, hardware maintenance and access to TI computer networks. As in this case, many of those problems result from the perception of others. Nevertheless, ordering computer support equipment and supplies and removing them from TI property was quite appropriate. The manager in this situation should have been more sensitive to the perception of others. The manager should have made it quite clear that the paper was for TI-authorized equipment at home, preventing the misperception with its accompanying loss of trust and respect.
- A TIer resigns from TI and comes back to work the following week as a consultant. Normally, there must be one year between TIers leaving TI, either through resignation, termination, retirement or LOA, and their return as a supplier or consult. However, this moratorium can be reduced or removed if it is clearly detrimental to TI's interests. Specific information can be found in the procurement policy.
- A blue badge TIer parks in authorized parking and displays a yellow temporary permit on her dashboard...and she does it almost everyday. TIers may be assigned temporary authorized parking permits if they make offsite business trips at least once a day for at least three days a week.
- A TIer plays golf with a major TI supplier every Saturday. Socialization with suppliers can be beneficial to TI business...but there are many risks. Sporting events are a very visible situation and wrought with the possibilities of misperception. We rightfully restrict and, in some cases, prohibit the socialization between TIer and supplier if the socialization might improperly influence or appear to influence TI business decisions. Those TIers who might impact the procurement cycle may be more restricted than others. Since different parts and functions at TI might have their unique restrictions, contact your procurement management or your TI Ethics Office for more guidance if you are faced with this situation. If there is no business connection, generally there is no restriction. But perception is critical. Consider how other suppliers might perceive regular socialization.
The situations above are typical of many issues brought to the Ethics Office where there were circumstances unknown to the observer that made each apparent violation appropriate for the situation. Remember, each of us has the right and obligation to question activities and to raise issues when others appear to be doing wrong. When we know the complete situation, perhaps it will be merely a matter of perception. But we should always check it out at the earliest opportunity. Allowing it to linger only damages relationships.
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