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TOWING & RECOVERY June 2011 Keeping industry pros on their tows tow Partners ADVISOR Now FOOTNOTES Month ® Every www.trfootnotes.com iStockphoto.com/travellinglight The Greater Good Towers everywhere should seek to achieve this By Scott Burrows Ethics is about how we treat each other, every day, person to person. If you want to know about a company's ethics, look at how it treats people — customers, suppliers, and employees. Business is about people, and business ethics is about how customers and employees are treated. — R. Edward Freeman “ “Being an ethical employee requires choosing the greater good” ” Volume 22, Number 2 © 2011 Dominion Enterprises. All Rights Reserved. ❘ $3.95 Towing & Recovery Footnotes ® 10 Bokum Rd. Essex, CT 06426 PRST STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID PEORIA, IL PERMIT NO. 315 Difficult ethical issues e x ist in the towing and recovery business. Fly-by-night operators keep the profit mar-gins at depressed levels by operating under the radar when it comes to insurance coverage, licensing require-ments, and other requirements that ethical businesses must adhere to. Other companies are then forced to decide whether to operate ethically or to adjust to the questionable local rules to ma x imize profits. It should be the goal of towing com-pany management to demonstrate to employees how to evaluate a problem ethically and reach a solution based on the highest moral values. Being an ethical employee — a responsible cit-izen —requires choosing the greater good of society when confronted with questions of self-interest versus the public interest. Owner and employee actions should always be based on answering the question “What would happen if everyone did this?” If the answer is that everyone, meaning society in general, would benefit, then the act passes its ethical test. The converse is that if the results would not be good for every-one, would or could hurt someone somewhere, then the action should not be taken. Many Decisions The job of a towing company man-ager involves many, many things: planning, organizing, staffing, direct-ing, coordinating, reporting, and budg-eting. All of these functions require interacting with other people in order for them to be performed well. They involve relations with peers, with See GREATER GOOD , page 3

The Greater Good

Scott Burrows

Ethics is about how we treat each other, every day, person to person. If you want to know about a company's ethics, look at how it treats people — customers, suppliers, and employees. Business is about people, and business ethics is about how customers and employees are treated.<br /> <br /> Difficult ethical issues exist in the towing and recovery business. Fly-bynight operators keep the profit margins at depressed levels by operating under the radar when it comes to insurance coverage, licensing requirements, and other requirements that ethical businesses must adhere to. Other companies are then forced to decide whether to operate ethically or to adjust to the questionable local rules to maximize profits.<br /> <br /> It should be the goal of towing company management to demonstrate to employees how to evaluate a problem ethically and reach a solution based on the highest moral values. Being an ethical employee — a responsible citizen —requires choosing the greater good of society when confronted with questions of self-interest versus the public interest.<br /> <br /> Owner and employee actions should always be based on answering the question “What would happen if everyone did this?” If the answer is that everyone, meaning society in general, would benefit, then the act passes its ethical test. The converse is that if the results would not be good for everyone, would or could hurt someone somewhere, then the action should not be taken.<br /> <br /> Many Decisions<br /> <br /> The job of a towing company manager involves many, many things: planning, organizing, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting, and budgeting. All of these functions require interacting with other people in order for them to be performed well. They involve relations with peers, with superiors, and with subordinates. The standards set by management during these interactions create an organization's culture, and employees’ moral judgments reflect that culture.<br /> <br /> Company guidelines, traditions, and expectations creep into employees’ normal, day-to-day judgments, almost automatically. A company may be known as good to work for, but it does not necessarily follow that being good to work for also inspires goodness in employees. The latter can be easier said than done. It is unfortunate that many tow operators would probably agree that the deck is stacked against ethical decision-making in our industry.<br /> <br /> Ethical Responsibility<br /> <br /> A group cannot act ethically unless its individual members choose to do so. When individuals act ethically, together they produce ethical group action. Individual and group ethical values include caring, honesty, accountability, promise keeping, pursuit of excellence, loyalty, fairness, integrity, respect for others, and responsible citizenship.<br /> <br /> Excellence in the towing business begins with these values. Every time a tow operator has to make a choice, the choice is based on his or her values, meaning one’s moral code, which provides the framework for principled reasoning and ethical decisions.<br /> <br /> It is unfortunate that these basic community values elude so many towing companies.<br /> <br /> <br />

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