'Trend surfers'
by Simon Longstaff
'Trend Surfers' are people who achieve a sense of satisfaction (and recognition) by riding the surface of the latest wave to strike the shores of our island continent. They offer a sense of certainty and like latter-day gurus profess an appealing answer to each of life's more complex mysteries. Above all else, 'trend surfers' value the mastery of technique. Providing that they can strike a confident pose as they glide down the surface of an issue, then they will be content to leave the exploration of the depths to others.
The management community is especially vulnerable to the trend surfers' seductive line. This is because it promises a 'quick fix' for every problem and cheap access to every opportunity. And when it comes to quick, cheap solutions to issues that arise in the field of ethics, then the trend surfers offer a grab-bag of scarcely understood programmes for change. In this respect, there are few better tools of the trade than the trusty Code of Ethics or Code of Practice. Putting it bluntly, even well-intentioned people are fooled into developing codes as an alternative to the active and creative management of an organisation's culture. This is an act of folly.
Serious students of history are likely to have been stimulated by Barbara Tuchman's excellent and provocative book, The March of Folly. Tuchman advances the thesis that history is replete with notable cases of large-scale and avoidable acts of folly. Indeed, an act of folly is defined by her as the wilful pursuit of a course of action, even though there is unambiguous, contemporary advice that to proceed is against self-interest and when a realistic alternative is available. In other words, the relevant act was seen to be folly at the time, and not just with the benefit of hindsight.
It is my common experience that when it comes to addressing the problem of ethics, most companies are looking for a cheap 'off the shelf' solution to their problems. It is also my common experience (and that of most others working in this field) that although these types of solution appear to be efficient – they are almost totally ineffective. It is not that there is anything inherently wrong with the Codes. Rather, the problem arises whenever they are mistakenly applied as a complete solution when, in fact, they were only ever intended to form one part of a more comprehensive response
The relevance of this to business should, I hope, immediately be evident. If business has learnt anything in recent years, it is that decision-making is an inescapable feature of a world in which change is a constant, and that business (like life) is about relationships. In some respects it has always been so. However, we seem to have passed through a time in which the ethical dimension has been submerged beneath a tide of opinion that all relationships could be reduced to transactions in the economic dimension. We have discovered, at some cost, that in setting a price on everything, we risk losing sight of its real value.
It is true that there are uncertainties and challenges in the ethical dimension. But there are also tremendous opportunities. Business people frequently find themselves at the leading edge of issues laden with profound ethical significance. As such they must resist the siren call of the trend surfers. And so must we all. For to fail to do so would be the ultimate act of folly.
discuss this articleDr Simon Longstaff is Executive Director of St James Ethics Centre.
This article was first published in City Ethics (now Living Ethics) issue 14, summer 1994.
© St James Ethics Centre