HJRobles@aol.com wrote replying to LO22261 --
> I didn't intend to offend, but you remind me that not everyone would take
> such a subject as lightly as I did in this instance and e-mail is
> certainly not a great medium for conveying tone. Perhaps I have become
> extraordinarily jaded given the Clinton-Lewinski-Starr debacle. I do
> apologize.
Dear Harriett - Thank you! I appreciate your acknowledgement and also
that our experiences of public sector leaders are indeed different. And
from these differences can come new insights and perspectives.
(Snip)
> Where I am struggling is exactly how one would write that up "morals" in a
> performance appraisal? ..... .... What's the measurable outcome? The desired
>
> product? How does one rate quality of performance? Who judges? Is
> assessment based on evidence -- or lack of? ....
While it is not my field of expertise, I expect various 'religious'
organizations have experience in defining moral behaviour of members. As
a Christian, I am fairly clear about moral teachings I received as I was
growing up (as are those of other faiths), including standards of
performance, and so on. For most of us, morals live in the domain of
values, religious doctrine, and spiritual beliefs, and we seem uneasy
talking about these in organizational settings (my assessment). Of
course, as societies we have historically separated church and state, and
by extension we seem unclear about how and where morals or other such
concerns fit within our organizations.
So, Harriett, I think any of us individually 'could' write up performance
standards and appraisal criteria for morals, if the context made sense.
(Did the person kill or injury anyone? Did the person have sex with
anyone other than their spouse?) The dilemma that Fiona, you, I and
others face is whether it is relevant and useful to attempt such
assessments, given the accepted boundaries of organizations.
>From my observation, even those institutions in the business of moral
leadership are struggling with this question. Whereas in the past, our
society was based on a widely shared and relatively stable code of
behaviour, today this is not the case. Governments and interest groups
influence (dictate) what organizations can and cannot do in many areas -
including definition of what might be called 'moral' standards. Getting
to commonly accepted standards within an organization or more broadly in
the community would be quite a chore.
Rick
--Rick Fullerton <rwfc@odyssee.net>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>