|
When the New York Times newspaper's young
rising star Jayson Blair was forced to resign his prestigious post
for plagiarism many wondered: Are the pressures on a new generation
of young professionals too much to live up to? Is there space for
a strong work ethic in a young professional's career?
While Blair claims to be the victim of unattainable expectations, many cannot forget or forgive his lack of moral scruples. We live in a time where everyday life romances new techno-gizmos as necessities. The cost of education is at an all time high and the job market is highly competitive. Being accepted to a decent school is a small miracle unto itself. For the baby boomers, getting good grades seemed less of the life or death situation that this generation feels. For the fresh generation of young professionals a PhD from a top university could still mean working at Starbucks or Gap.
What does the young professional need to
get by? Indeed what does it mean to have work ethics, or a professional
set of morals? Harvard's Graduate School of Education is seeking
to find out just that. Researchers Wendy Fischman, Becca Solomon,
Deborah Greenspan, and faculty member Howard Gardner conducted The
GoodWork Project to examine the moral patterns of young professionals
from ages fifteen to thirty-five. The GoodWork Project wants to
discover how young professionals in science, journalism and acting
deal with the moral dilemmas they must face. The researchers are
careful to realize that workplace ethics is a very complex and multi-layered
phenomenon. Still, what they discovered was both promising on one
hand, and disturbing on the other.
Generation X, Y and Z are more likely to bend rules in the workplace than older generations. The quest for efficiency is a major determining factor for why one worker bends the rules while another does not. The "bottom line" pressure is often what makes a good worker go bad. Is it desperation or deviousness? However, I wonder if this is indeed a mark of generational shifts, or the indication of an overall change in workplace culture.
According to The GoodWork Project, workers generally "take pride in doing something that matters, that serves society, that enhances the lives of others and that is conducted in an ethical manner." Where does this equation fall short?
External factors such as community economics and social interaction can often facilitate work ethic slippage. It is not always "the big money" that pushes young professionals to bend rules. In many cases bending the rules is translated to "doing the right thing" for the job, family, or society. The GoodWork project uses the example of an aspiring biology student that bends the rules in a science competition to do the work she deems beneficial for herself and society. Many of us may relate or even praise her for her determination. When we look back in time to many great scientists, philosophers and doctors that risked their lives to break the rules, we may even feel reverence. Galileo comes to mind.
The fact is morals and ethics are not static and objective, or easily definable for that matter. Is pocketing a couple pencils wrong? How about lying about a co-worker to get a hot assignment? Each of these scenarios carries a different value. The value will depend on the person. Whereas I feel guilty for throwing a sliver of a paper in the garbage instead of the recycling bin, another might feel perfectly justified in lying to a co-worker to get ahead. Does that mean that the young professional is exempt from acting according to a societal ethical standard? I should hope not.
If workers are to abide by a set of moral standards, these standards should to be clear and encouraged by the workplace environment. The GoodWork Project recognizes that workplace ethics are not always an individual project. Companies should consider how the workplace environment allows for good work. This involves understanding the mechanics of human workplace instincts that the GoodWork Project lays out nicely in their findings.
I am drawn to recount the recent movie In
Good Company starring Dennis Quaid as a middle-age veteran ad
exec, and Topher Grace as the fresh young face of the ad world.
The two lead characters, both inarguably good guys, struggle with
the changing ethics of the advertising world. In the end they find
that they are not so different, despite the generational gap. The
movie ends just the way we want it to: ethics, happiness, and success
in tact.
The GoodWork Project is available online
at www.goodworkproject.org.
|
