Spotting Conflicts of Interest

Ability to Spot Conflicts

The modern society is characterized by numerous issues on ethics, especially in the increasingly competitive business environment. Corporate scandals have become common in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors, which raises concerns regarding ethics. The increase in corporate scandals in these sectors is partly attributable to the relatively deteriorating ethical standards in the society. While nonprofits are generally considered to be uncorrupted by the desire for profit, recent events have demonstrated that they are vulnerable to ethical lapses that undermine the public’s trust in the entire sector. A critical aspect of these corporate scandals in the non-profit sector is conflict of interest. There seems to be a conflict of interest in the operations of nonprofits and involvement of some of their stakeholders in corporate scandals.
Conflict of interest is a major issue in the modern business environment given its strong link to corporate scandals and ethical issues in the society. As shown in this course so far, identifying conflict of interests is a crucial element in the human resources management. The course has not only shaped my understanding of the significance of conflict of interest, but also given me an opportunity to examine/test my ability to spot conflict of interest. Generally, a conflict of interest is defined as anything that hinders an individual or organization’s ability to act in an impartial manner and in the best interest of others.
I tested my ability to crush conflict of interest based on the quiz provided at Mentoring Canada (2005) and correctly crushed the conflict of interest in six out of the eight situations. Based on this score, the quiz indicated that I have a relatively good ability to spot conflicts of interests that could result in a corporate scandal for a non-profit organization. This quiz showed that I have a good ability to identify situations where board members of a non-profit organization act in a partial rather than impartial manner. In this case, I was able to correctly spot situations where the board member’s action could prevent the organization to act in an impartial manner and in the best interest of the organization.
My quiz on business ethics also enabled me to understand that I have the ability to determine whether board members demonstrate accountability in all their decisions and actions. Accountability is one of the most important aspects towards identifying and addressing conflicts of interest in business. Accountability ambiguity is one of the root causes of conflict of interests in nonprofit organizations (Williams & Taylor, 2012). The ambiguity emerges from the complexities in balancing the relationship between legitimacy and accountability. In nearly all the situations presented in the quiz, the potential conflict of interest was attributable to accountability ambiguity. Moreover, accountability ambiguity in each of these situations was attributable to the multi-stakeholder nature of their organizational environment. Therefore, the board members were faced with challenges in balancing and catering for the interests of all stakeholders in the organization/situation.
The quiz revealed some things that surprised me and areas I need to work on to enhance my ability to spot conflicts of interest. One of the surprising things from this quiz is my realization that a conflict of interest does not necessarily occur when an individual acts in a manner that benefits him/her within an organization. The situations I got wrong were attributable to my assumption that as long as an individual acts in a manner that benefits him/her when carrying out organizational functions, a conflict of interest occurs. I was surprised with this since I have always believed that organizational interest should trounce personal interest in order to avoid conflicts of interest. I learned that there is need for balancing both personal interest and organizational interest when handling a potential conflict of interest. In this regard, when there is such a balance, a conflict of interest does not occur. When there is a balance of personal interest and organizational interest, a win-win situation is realized and a potential corporate scandal is avoided.
In light of this surprising fact, the area I need to work on/improve with regards to identifying a conflict of interest is to effectively examine whether there is a balance between personal interest and organizational interest. Therefore, I need to improve my ability to determine whether a situation contributes to a win-win situation rather than simply assume that any incident involving pursuit of personal interest in an organization is a conflict of interest. This balance is part of demonstrating accountability and taking care of the interest of all stakeholders in the organization.
The conclusions drawn from this quiz and course are very relevant in to my career as a human resource professional. Human resource management basically entails taking care of an organization’s employees and handling issues relating to personnel management. One of the issues that occur in human capital management is workplace conflict including conflicts of interest. Through this quiz, I have learned some important components towards handling conflicts of interest and workplace conflicts as a human resource professional.
It has also demonstrated the need for me to act in an impartial manner and in the best interest of others when addressing workplace/workforce issues. This implies that these conclusions demonstrate the need for me to always demonstrate a balance between my personal interests and organizational interests when acting on behalf of the organization. Therefore, business ethics requires demonstrating responsibility, accountability, and consideration of the needs/interests of others. These are crucial factors towards success and effectiveness of a human resource professional in handling workforce issues. As a result, I intend to apply the lessons learned from the quiz throughout my career to promote the well-being of my organization.
References
Mentoring Canada. (2015). Crush Conflict of Interest. Retrieved September 25, 2017, from http://www.mentoringcanada.ca/training/boards/modules/3_exercise_crush_conflict.html
Williams, A., & Taylor, J. (2013). Resolving Accountability Ambiguity in Nonprofit Organizations. Voluntas: Journal of Voluntary & Nonprofit Organizations, 24(3), 559–580.