ETHICAL ISSUES AND PRODUCTIVITY IN OUR WORKPLACE

1. ETHICAL ISSUES AND PRODUCTIVITY IN OUR WORKPLACE BY PROFESSOR TRENCHARD O IBIA DIRECTOR, SCHOOL OF CONTINUING EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF UYO FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE SEMINAR SERIES, JUNE 25, 2013 ADAPTED FROM SEMINAR/WORKSHOP PAPER FOR STAFF OF THE UNIVERSITY OF UYO HELD ON 2nd and 3rd May, 2013

2. The university internationally, is a workplace with set objectives aimed at achieving set goals (productivity).

3. INTRODUCTION CONT’D • Companies and organizations (Coca Cola, Guinness Nigeria PLC and Zenith Bank PLC, Uniuyo Consult, etc), operations are guided by profit motives have to set code of ethics to be competitive in the market place. • The university system though, not a profit making organization must set for itself ethical standards needed to drive the performance and productivity of the system. • Where it gets engaged in business ventures, specific code of business ethics must be made to guide the operation of the business to achieve profitability and productivity. • This sets the tone for my presentation in this training workshop.

4. THE CULTURAL SETTING AND VALUES IN THE UNIVERSTY OF UYOThe university as a public institution is driven by set objectives and policies • VISION STATEMENT “To be a centre of academic excellence by utilizing the available human and technological resources for teaching, research, community service and sustainable development” • MISSION STATEMENT “To diligently pursue scholarship and deploy its output for human capacity development and economic growth in the society, with active participation in information and communication technology, sensitivity to Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage and responsiveness to global environmental change”. • CORE VALUES: Academic Excellence in teaching and research, Qualitative service delivery, Strong work ethics, Integrity, Transparency and accountability, etc • UNIVERSITY ANTHEM: ARISE and SHINE and SHINE FORTH …

5. OTHER OBJECTIVES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF UYO ARE EXPRESSED IN UNIVERSITY MOTTO: Unity, Learning and Service; UNIVERSITY LOGO: made up of circles, symbolizing Integration and Unity with objects of service namely elephant tusk, palm fronds, metal gong and open book, all emphasizing the fact that knowledge is the power and instrument of service; UNIVERSITY COLOURS: Green, Copper Brown and Yellow signifying commitment to National Integration and Service. These are the strings to pull and achieve productivity in the University of Uyo. All these will be meaningless if the human capital within the system does not understand the relationship between ethics in the workplace and performance/productivity.

6. Workplace-Processes-Performance/Productivity Relationship

7. FEATURES OF OUR WORKPLACE (UNIUYO) • Governance (Council, Management, Congregation, Senate, Registry, College, Faculties, Departments and Units, etc) • Funding (statutory, IGR, grants, donations) • Human resources (staff, students, parents, stakeholders) • Materials (books, equipment, vehicles, consumables) • Infrastructure (buildings, roads, hospital, utilities, recreation, laboratories, farms) • Intergovernmental and external relationships • Regulations/Policies (International, national and local) • Measurements (output matrices)

8. OPERATION OF THE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM (MAINLY BY COMMITTEE SYSTEM) • Staff recruitment process • Admissions process • Staff progression process • Staff welfare process • Studentship process • Graduation process • Staff training process • Facilities provision, upgrading and maintenance process • Academic standard process • Teaching and research process • External relations process • Community service process, etc

9. PERFORMANCE/PRODUCTIVITY IN THE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM Key products which the university system delivers: • Qualified human capital: students’ experience from admission through graduation and engagement in service delivery in the society. • Research output/knowledge advancement: this is achieved through research by students and faculties which create new intellectual property • Service to the community: “service” entails participation in and accountability to the local, national and international community

11. ASPECTS OF PERFORMANCE/PRODUCTIVITY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF UYO In the University of Uyo, productivity may be viewed in terms of • The ratio of students admitted to those who actually graduate (attrition rate); • The ratio of those who graduate within the regular time and spillovers; • The ease at which students’ records are processed, issued, stored and retrieved; • The extent of litigations against the University both by internal and external interests; • Engagement of our graduates in gainful employment, employers rating and alumni relations; • The ease of delivery in the provision of critical infrastructure; • The extent of external linkages and relations with regards to research, community service, and public engagement, etc; • The University’s public image; • Etc

12. PERFORMANCE AND PRODUCTIVITY Different audiences assess these from different perspectives and over different time frames. • The Students may see quality as the service provided on the front line viz: registration, staff attitude, humanness, etc. • The University Council may see it in terms of university’s reputation • The University Administration may see it in terms of quality of faculty, curriculum, teaching and research facilities • The Public may see it in terms of the quality of products: graduates, research output and relevance to development (R & D), community service and relationships.

13. SELF ASSESSMENT OF OUR UNIVERTITY’S PRODUCTS AND SERVICES • As a University, we are a Center of Excellence by definition and Grouping • We operate as a Team with clear focus and mandate on Teaching/ Learning, Research and Community Service delivery. • Our standard as Center of Excellence low because we are grossly deficient in the application of Best Practices in the discharge of our mandate and service delivery, hence the University of Uyo is not research intensive, and it is not community service intensive. • So what are we? TEACHING/LEARNING INTENSIVE? • Productivity in the University can be assessed in terms of quantity (number) and quality (desirability, reliability and sustainability) of the products and services

14. SELF ASSESSMENT OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES CONT’D • From 1983 (Unicross) to 1991 (Uniuyo) to date, can we clearly quantify and qualify our products and services over the years? Do we have a compendium of graduates. • The University of Nigeria in celebrating her silver jubilee (1960-1985) published the names of all past students (certificate, diploma, first degree and higher degree) in a special publication titled “University of Nigeria 1960-1985: An Experience In Higher Education”. • Recently, the University of Lagos celebrated her Golden Jubilee (1962-2012) and put its total number of graduates from inception at 157,767 saying that many of them were “captains of industry and were at the helm of affairs both in the public and private sectors, locally and internationally”.

15. SELF ASSESSMENT (CONTINUATION) • Do we have documented information on our research output and where research knowledge has been applied to solve problems in AkwaIbom State or elsewhere? • Are we in a position to quantify what contributions the university has made to help the society eradicate superstition, low productivity (agriculture, goods and services), environmental degradation, quality of education, science and technology innovation, etc? • A comparison of undergraduates output from the University of Uyo and with other universities may give some idea of the quantity and quality of one of the university’s products (human capital) which the university was set up to produce.

16. GRADUATE OUTPUT: FAC OF AGRIC AS AT 17th and 18th CONVOCATION OF UNIUYO, 2011

17. GRADUATE OUTPUT IN THE FACULTY OF SCIENCE (16th Convocation, 2010)

18. GRADUATE OUTPUT IN THE FACULTY OF SCIENCE (17th and 18th Convocation, 2011)

19. GRADUATE OUTPUT IN THE FACULTIES:2008/2009 and 2009/2010 graduating years in UNIUYO (17th/18th convocation)

20. COMPARISON OF CLASS OF DEGREES ACROSS UNIVERSITIES

21. If First Class is a measure of quality, what does the paucity of First Class graduates in Uniuyo, portray?

23. COMPARE WITH

24. CAN WE THEREFORE INFERE FROM THE FOREGOING THAT: UNIVERSITY OF UYO IS NOT TEACHING/LEARNING INTENSIVE? What should take the blame for product standard and quality? the raw material? or the purification and production (manufacturing) process? The university which graduates students who have been found worthy in character and learning (albeit with very low quality) must also have its character worthy of passing through the students to make them worthy citizens.

25. How concerned is the University of Uyo and Senate about the consistent poor results? Are unethical conducts not partly responsible for the glaring low quality products in our university? Is it unethical if the University (Departments, Faculties, Schools and Senate, Council) expresses concern over the apparent low quality of our products ? (very high turnout of Third Class and Pass degree holders) SENATE in particular can • Call attention to glaring poor COURSE(S) results in Department(s) • Call attention to overall poor results in the Department(s) • Call attention to general poor results in the Faculty(ies)/School(s) • Give capacity to Department(s)/Faculty(ies) to critically consider results and analyze same………………………. THE BIG QUESTION: CAN UNIVERSITY OF UYO SENATE GO THIS FAR?

26. THE CHARACTER OF THE SENATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF UYO

27. ETHICS IN THE WORKPLACEEthics is defined as "the principles of conduct governing an individual or group. • A set of principles that guide public officials in their service to the society which centre on the principles of rights and wrongs, as well as good and bad. • We also use ETHOS = Greek and MORES = Latin as synonyms. 

28. Manners, Etiquette, Morals And Attitude. • Closely related to ethics generally, are terms like Manners, Etiquette, Morals and Attitude. • Manners and Etiquette constitute the rules of social conduct, and procedures for interaction in polite society and official life. • Attitude and Morals can be defined as a positive or negative evaluation of people, objects, events, activities, ideas, or just about anything in your environment. • ISSUES: Punctuality, Honesty, Sincerity, Respect, Fairness, etc • Respect to laws, rules and regulations. • Security and safety consciousness. • Commitment to the ideals of the work place. • Enhancement and utilization of healthy communication process. • Willingness to share  any thing good in the workplace. • Programs like Structural Mental Adjustment, Ethical and Attitudinal Orientation, etc, are known

29. Ethics vs Morals

30. Ethics vs Morals

31. ETHICS will continue to be of major interest in the workplace thus necessitating: • Creation/establishment of agencies to promote ethical conduct. Such agencies are, National Orientation Agency, Ethical and Attitudinal Re-orientation Commission, SERVICOM, etc; • Implementation of programmes to inculcate ethical standards to eradicate indiscipline such, War against Indiscipline, Kick Away Indiscipline, etc; • Institutional/organizational Code of Ethics/ Statement of Core Values such as that of The Punch Newspapers, (“We are guided by the principles of balanced and fair reporting and commentaries”, etc; Uniuyo’s Core Values are partly stated as “Academic Excellence in teaching and research; Qualitative service delivery; Strong work ethics; Integrity; Transparency and accountability”, etc.

32. ISSUES WHICH CHALLENGE ETHICAL STANDARDS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF UYO

33. ISSUES WHICH CHALLENGE ETHICAL STANDARDS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF UYO

34. Most of these, challenge all facets of our stated Core Values: • Faith in God *questionable by the public? • Academic Excellence in teaching and research *seriouly damaged? • Institutional autonomy * not allowed? • Academic freedom * not understood? • Peer and professional review * almost always in bridge? • Qualitative service delivery * extremely low? • Strong work ethics * largely challenged/eroded? • Equal opportunity * highly stifled? • Creativity and innovation * not encouraged? • Integrity * very questionable? • Transparency and accountability * sometimes compromised? • Peace and orderliness* sometimes extremely challenging?

35. UNDERSTANDING ETHICAL ISSUES IN THE WORKPLACEThe workplace is an assemblage of people and there must be standards of behavior to guide them • These standards, if adhered to, will further the stability , harmony and integrity of the group. If the standards are compromised or violated, the result is decreased stability, effectiveness and impaired productivity. • Every organization expresses itself in terms of its behavioral values. Basis for establishing a code of ethics. • Even the most ethical person can make poor ethical decisions when stressed, confused, pressured, or under informed. • There will always be unethical actions and ethical dilemmas in the work place. • Thus calling for flexibility and doing things sometimes differently. • Most ethical decisions faced by leaders are complex. Work place ethics is not about changing people's values, but rather dealing with conflict between them.

36. ESTABLISHING STRONG ETHICAL CULTURE • In the university we have sets of formal and informal standards of conduct that are meant to guide people and their behavior at work. These standards are partly based on core values such as honesty, respect, and trust; what people see their organizational leaders, managers, and coworkers do on the job can influence their own views of what is an acceptable or unacceptable behavior. • The key to establishing a strong ethical culture is management behavior and action. Management establishes the standards for behavior by what is accepted and what is not accepted as appropriate. • What employees see their top officers, and co-workers do, and get away with, influence significantly their own views of what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior as we are the custodian of the core values in the workplace.

37. The benefits of having a strong ethical culture are: • • Recruiting and retaining top quality people• Having a more satisfying and productive work environment• Building institutional reputation in the community and in the market place• Less chance of expensive litigation expenses• No surprise inspection of the work environment • Employees who work in organizations with a strong ethical culture, who see executives and managers modeling ethical behavior, and who see honesty, integrity, and trust applied regularly have an overall greater satisfaction with their organizations and feel more valued.

38. Leaders could be faced with a key ethical decision. When that happens ask yourself some basic questions: would I be happy for this decision to be on the public record? Think about all the poor decisions business and political leaders have made that did become public knowledge. What would happen if everybody did this? Imagine that your decision becomes a rule for behavior for the organization. The right decision for one person should be the right decision for everyone. This minimizes the unpopular use of the phrase “cans of worms” Will the proposed course of action bring about a good result? Does the decision produce the greatest balance of good compared to harm? How would I like it if someone did this to me? The fact that you may not like the same thing to happen to you may force you to consider other alternatives. What will this decision do to my reputation and the reputation of the University? Decisions help to shape our character and vice versa. If an unethical practice becomes a habit, it undermines values and principles. Is the proposed course of action consistent with my stated values of the university? The gap between word and deed create cynicism in the workplace. “we are familiar with “do as I say and not as I do”

39. WHAT MAKES A LEADER? Additional variables to look for is a high degree of EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE characterized by five components

40. WHAT MAKES A LEADER? Additional variables to look for is a high degree of EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE characterized by five components

41. GUIDELINE IN EVALUATING/MEASURING PERFORMANCE AND REWARDING THE WORKFORCE • Punctuality/Attendance: Arrives/leaves on time; notifies the boss in advance of planned absences. • Character: Displays loyalty, honesty, trustworthiness, dependability, reliability, initiative, self-discipline, and self-responsibility. • Teamwork: Respects the rights of others; respects confidentiality; is a team worker; is cooperative; is assertive; displays a public service attitude; seeks opportunities for continuous learning; demonstrates mannerly behavior. • Appearance: Displays appropriate dress, grooming, hygiene, and etiquette. • Self-Esteem: Demonstrates a positive attitude; appears self-confident; has realistic expectations of self.

42. GUIDELINE IN EVALUATING/MEASURING PERFORMANCE AND REWARDING THE WORKFORCE • Organization: Manifests skill in prioritizing and management of time and stress; demonstrates flexibility in handling change. • Communication: Displays appropriate nonverbal (eye contact, body language) and oral (listening, telephone etiquette, grammar) skills. • Leadership: Displays leadership skills; appropriately handles criticism, conflicts, and complaints; demonstrates problem-solving capability; maintains appropriate relationships with supervisors and peers; follows chain of command. • Respect: Deals appropriately with cultural/racial diversity; does not engage in harassment of any kind. • Productivity: Follows safety practices; conserves materials; keeps work area neat and clean; follows directions and procedures; makes up assignments punctually; participates.

43. TIPS IN ESTABLISHING ETHICAL PROGRAMMES Key questions to ask in establishing ethical programmes are: • Why should good people in this institution do unethical things? • What are our institution’s values? • Have we adequately articulated these values internally and externally? • Does our institution have written ethics policies, procedures, or structures? • To whom is our institution accountable? • What do we mean by “success”? • Does the leadership at all times support the idea of an ethical workplace?

44. WAYS TO IMPROVE ON ETHICS AND PRODUCTIVITY IN THE WORKPLACE

46. CONCLUDING • It is obvious that performance and productivity in the University of Uyo appear relatively low, even by Nigerian standard going by the number of third class and pass degree graduates the University turns out yearly; • Overwhelming number of third class and pass degree graduates should therefore be of concern to us the managers of the university; • Notice should be taken of low research output targeting R & D and uncoordinated and undocumented community service delivery; • The University must get all internal stake holders to understand its core values and ethical standards in all its facets of service delivery; While maintaining very high standard in the admission processes for students and recruitment processes for staff, the University must look critically into issues relating to ethics and attitude of staff to service delivery in the workplace.

47. THE CHALLENGE • This Workshop should challenge us to review our individual and collective ethical standing aimed at improved performance and high productivity in our graduate output (quantity and quality), ground breaking research output and problem-solving community service delivery; and • We must make conscious effort to reverse the very low turnout of First class graduates and correspondingly very high turnout of Third Class and Pass degree graduates. LET US ALL AND THE ENTIRE SYSTEM BE CHALLENGED! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!