Integrity at Work

Costs of Low Integrity

Whether the definition chosen for integrity is broad or narrow, however, it is clear that organizations are rightly becoming more concerned with identifying individuals low in integrity. Estimates of employee theft in the United States alone were in excess of $400 billion annually in recent years, although it is worth noting that even the definition of theft is inconsistent. Some organizations (and indeed, some approaches to assessing integrity) treat an employee who takes a long lunch as stealing time, treating wages lost while the individual was not at his or her desk as accountable theft, whereas others do not.

Higher-profile examples of low integrity also abound. Enron, WorldCom, and a variety of other organizations have recently come under fire for what might kindly be called low-integrity accounting practices. Although estimates vary on the actual costs the failure of such companies may have had for shareholders (depending on the source, Enron shareholders lost between $1.2 million and $70 billion, while WorldCom shareholders may have lost as much as $100 billion), there can be no doubt that there have been nonmonetary consequences to a great many organizations as a result. Such demonstrations of low integrity can severely damage corporate reputations, leading to loss of business, profits, and jobs. They [Page 356]also engender problems with loyalty, organizational commitment, motivation and retention, and, perhaps most damaging, trust. This lack of trust—on the part of both employees and the general public—in whether organizations have the best interests of both the community and the organization's many stakeholders at heart can easily be the difference between success and failure.

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