Public remains cynical about business and ethical issues

While the recent economic downturn has uncovered more than its share of ethical lapses on the part of business, character and values still carry a large meaning in the business world.

That was the message of Robert W. Best, chairman of the board and CEO at Dallas-based Atmos Energy Corp., speaking at the fifth annual Greater Tarrant Business Ethics Awards on Oct. 14.

Four companies were named finalists: Innovative Developers Inc., Sanders Travel Centre, Frank Kent Motor Co. and Kubes Jewelers. Of those four, the winners were IDI and Sanders Travel Centre. The winners will go on to compete for the 2009 American Business Ethics Award nationally.

The awards are designed to honor companies that demonstrate a firm commitment to ethical business practices in their everyday operations, management philosophies and in response to crises or challenges.

Organizational sponsors of the event – The Fort Worth Chapter of Society of Financial Service Professionals; The Financial Planning Association of Dallas/Fort Worth; The M.J. Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University and the North Texas Ethics Association Inc. – sought to honor those businesses who exemplify ethical business practices.

Anyone who reads the newspaper knows “that the public is very cynical about business leaders and about ethical behavior,” Best said. “The general public today does not see business as a trusted profession. I think that’s why companies that stand out and do behave ethically; we should honor them. We should tell that story that most of what goes out there is good.”

Criteria for selecting those firms that display high values were based on those for the American Business Ethics Awards (ABEA). The GTBEA is a regional competition and the winners at this level are sent forward to compete at the national level for the ABEA, said Shannon Shipp, chairman of the 2009 GTBEA judging committee and director of the Neeley Ethics Initiative at the M. J. Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University.

The award nominees were submitted by various members of the Society of Financial Services Professionals and members of the steering committee for the GTBEA. The judges are all professors and instructors of ethics at TCU, Shipp said, and anyone with a link to any applicant excludes himself or herself from the judging of that applicant. 

For winning firms, IDI and Sanders Travel Centre, ethical practices figure high in their daily business practices.

“As we went through the process and prepared our application, it really opened our eyes to what we do and helps us explain it to others,” said Glen Hahn, president and CEO of IDI, which is a turn-key commercial development and construction services firm. “We are in an industry that isn’t typically known to be the easiest to deal with or work with from a client’s point of view. In explaining our code of ethics, it also created an opportunity for us to make sure it is what we do routinely.”

Hahn said IDI’s philosophy is that “if we play our cards in an open fashion where people can see every part of what we do and be a part of the decisions that impact their project, they will feel comfortable with the end results. For 40 years, we’ve developed and built projects and never had any litigation or been in court for contract dispute with a client, subcontractor or tenant.”

For Sanders Travel Centre, reputation is key, said Manager Diane Permann.

“It is important to come across as ethical, honest and as a good organization,” she added. “We get referrals because people are pleased with how we handle their travel. We stand by our word if something happens and we wouldn’t want to do business any other way.”

She, too, agreed that laying out the company’s ethics practices on paper was a good exercise.

“Because our company is so small and individually owned, it wasn’t all written down, but this make things more clear by putting it in writing,” Permann added.

The other two competition finalists, too, felt participating in the awards program benefited their firms.

“We believe in business that your word is your bond and our company saying is ‘morals, values and ethics before profit.’ We live, work and raise our families here and we don’t want to disgrace the family name,” said Corrie Churchill , co-owner of Frank Kent Motor Co. “We’re in the businesses every day and if we can’t look someone in the eye and know that we’re giving them the best deal, then we’re not living up to our company motto.”

The company was founded on ethical business practices and we use that as our guiding principle, she added.

At family-owned Kubes Jewelers, “we were raised that (ethical practice) was the only way to run a business,” said Rick Kubes , vice president and co-manager.

“We assumed that everyone ran their businesses with integrity,” Kubes said. “We have tried to be a consumer advocate over the years because we feel you can’t go wrong when you are looking for what is in the customers’ best interest.”

With the third generation of the Kubes family in the business, much of the company atmosphere of ethical business practices was simply handed down via oral heritage, Kubes said.

“Up until now, it has been recited by rote and on-the-job learning, but this award nomination made us stop and actually formalize what we do,” he said. “We took a lot of time and trouble to answer the detailed questions and as we got into it, we realized they were doing us a big favor to have us formalize our attitudes, ethics and philosophy. We passed around to all the family members. This is like a historical reference for what we believe in, how we do it and how we express that in the community. That is very rewarding.”

Shipp said the process of being nominated helps many companies strengthen their resolve because their message to staff can become diluted over the years.

“How do you make sure you keep that tight focus on what got you to where you are? Many have said this forced them to see how they do it and communicate that. It has started a really great conversation in the company about the processes of bringing the next generation along and demonstrating those practices with customers and suppliers every day,” Shipp said.