Monkey See, Monkey Do

How do we get managers and employees to be exemplary recognition giving people?

Let’s examine some research carried out on how to instil ethical behaviours in a corporation, which are obviously way harder than trying to practice recognition giving behaviours, and see what we can learn.

According to Drs. Avshalom M. Adam and Dalia Rachman-Moore in the 2004 Journal of Business Ethics their study concluded the example managers set has the greatest influence on employees’ behavior, even more so than what managers say and what is written in the company code of ethics. Hence my play on the title with “monkey see, monkey do”.

In trying to implement an ethical code of conduct many business utilize formal methods such as training, courses, and various rules and procedures that provide enforcement through self-regulation. The formal stuff.

The authors measured the perceived effectiveness of the process deemed most influential by analyzing impact on employee attitudes (namely, personal ethical commitment and employees'' commitment to organizational values ). Their results indicated informal methods such as manager sets an example or social norms of the organization , are likely to yield greater commitment with respect to both employee attitudes than the formal methods of training and courses on the subject of ethics .

From the learning field, it is also management involvement before going to training programs that has the greatest impact on transfer of learning back to the workplace

So from this research one can imply that senior leader example could impact middle managers and middle managers could influence employees. Imagine the difference this could make on employee recognition practices and programs.