January 2007 FAQ:

The Ethics of Change

By: Mat Matecko

Question: I have seen so many change models that they are starting to look all alike. If you could add “a missing piece” to many of these models, what would it be?

Answer: The one piece that’s missing from many  models is what I call the ethics of change,  specifically asking for sacrifice from others when big changes are needed, but not showing an equal willingness to sacrifice in the offices behind the glass doors.

A good example was the past CEO of American Airlines, Don Carty,* in changing AMR (American) from an airline that didn’t’ track costs to a great degree, and was ‘employee centric’, to an airline that cares greatly about costs and is ‘shareholder centric’.  You may remember that he had a great communication plan to convince all of the unions that they had to give up salary and benefits (including major cuts in retirement) --- but when it was discovered that he had instituted ‘golden parachutes’ for himself and senior executives, he was forced from office.

Senior execs that talk sacrifice and the need for change, but do not share in the sacrifices (Chainsaw Al Dunlap also comes to mind) merely fan the flames of cynicism that have led to Dilbert’s rise to one of the most popular comics --- which incidentally is published in the business section of most newspapers.

One of the phrases that I’ve heard is “this request from management doesn’t pass the Dilbert test’”--- meaning self serving management actually believes that the employees are buying into their communications about the “urgent need for change.”.

 Is adding ethics to decisions a challenge?  You bet.  But unhappy employees who shrug off the need for ‘change’ are also a challenge.

(This “short but sweet” answer was provided by Mat G F Matecko, a very wise Senior Consultant and Holland & Davis associate, who has “seen changes from many sides now” … Many thanks, Mat!)

For the rest of the AMR story see “Don Carty” in Wikipedia.

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