Transcript The Qualitative Edge – Incisive Research for Decision Makers

Obtaining sensitive information to get the
true picture
Research study conducted on behalf of the Institute of Chartered
Accountants in England and Wales, Feb-April 04
Presented at the Insight Show, Oct 25 2005
What this paper is about
•
An unusual and complex research study
–
Grappled and explored people’s personal and professional ethics
and the conflicts of interest they face
–
On behalf of a professional and regulatory body concerned with
best practice
–
To help guide its future service delivery
•
The paper will relate context, approach, method and outcome
•
And highlight learning gained (positive and negative) from
the study
What this paper shows
That it’s possible to
apply careful and
traditional
research methods…
…in order to unpick
questions that
an organisation has,
even if they
wonder
whether
these questions could
be asked/answered…
…and successfully
gain useful,
creative and
contemporary
answers and output
Why we think you’ll find it interesting
•
The subject matter is juicy, gritty, thorny, real, human (and
many of us deal with Chartered Accountants!)
•
It highlights the importance that ethical dilemmas have in
affecting people’s behaviour when interacting with an
organisation
•
It gets to the heart of why people behave in the way they do
when it comes to dealing with ethical issues
•
It talks about the strengths and weaknesses of a particular
research method and approach for tackling this issue
•
It shows the positive outcome that can be achieved by an
organisation by tackling such issues head on
BACKGROUND
Understanding the wider context
Media power
Diminished status of
professionals?
Major scandals
CULTURE OF
FEAR, HYPE,
WATCHING
BACKS
Consumer rights
Brand awareness
Corporate responsibility
High time that ethical dilemmas within organisations are more
openly addressed
Understanding the ICAEW context
Media power
Diminished status of
Increasing member
Professionals?
demands
Major scandals
Threat to brand
Development of CPD
Waning public
confidence?
Ongoing concern
with best practice
Ongoing desire to
meet member
needs
Corporate Responsibility
Consumer rights
Brand awareness
Objectives of the study
What can the ICAEW
do to allow members
to better deal with
the ethical issues
that they might
face in their
professional lives?
Findings to
specifically
guide
development of the
ICAEW’s
CPD training
programme
To ultimately ensure
that the integrity of
both the ICAEW and
its individual
members
is maintained
Why was the study sensitive 1?
HOW ARE WE ACTUALLY GOING TO ACHIEVE THIS?
• Threatening scenario, not commonly addressed
• ICAEW as regulator! Threat to professional identity/status
• Divided loyalties?
• How can I be sure what I say won’t be used against me?
• Why now? Why me?
• Realisation of issues in first place
• Whose ethics? By whose standards?
• Need to articulate; how much will members tell us? Unpicking
the complexity
• Comprehension of each member’s unique professional scenario
• Research fatigue
• Need to go beyond superficial
Why was the study sensitive 2?
WHAT ARE WE GOING TO FIND OUT – AND HOW ARE
WE GOING TO DEAL WITH THIS?
• What ethical issues? How serious will they be?
• Will they reflect poorly on anyone? And if so, who?
• What impact is this likely to have?
• Confidentiality vs. need to act?
• Confidentiality vs. need to understand unique context
• Application of unique scenarios for benefit of everyone
Summary so far
•
Professional organisation concerned with best practice and
preservation of its status and heritage
•
Operating within a culture of heightened tension and fear
•
Realises the need to address a highly sensitive issue – for the
benefit of itself and its members
•
Whilst also being mindful of the potentially damaging
consequences that addressing this issue might bring
THE APPROACH
Core elements
Getting the right
people
The right briefing
Iterative
Controlled
Regular updates
Flexible
Recruitment methods
Respectful
Strong team
Enthusiastic
Analysis process
Interviewing practice
The right briefing
•
By trained Chartered Accountants
•
With strong business background
•
Lists of questions and possible scenarios
•
What to expect, what to look out for
•
Strong emphasis on language and terminology
•
Use of background case studies
•
Use of existing training materials and relevant literature
Getting the right people
•
Enough experience to talk knowledgeably (10+ years PQE)
•
Previously taken part in consultations; claim to be happy to do so
again
•
Sufficiently large sample size (26) to ensure accurate reflection of
market
Best practice for recruitment, interviewing
and analysis
RECRUITMENT
INTERVIEWING
ANALYSIS
Signed letter from
ICAEW
Understand context;
micro and macro
Use of templates
Consultation not
research
Use case studies and
3rd person
Regular analysis
reports
Recruiter = researcher
Varied language (eg
conflicts not ethics)
Mtgs with core/wider
team to analyse, check
CPD context
Asking if can go back
later with questions
Occasional recontacting members
Appropriate incentives
Opp to be involved in
analysis
Reviewing subsequent
output
Regular updates
•
Culture of constant and shared thinking
•
Openness to ideas
•
Use of day to day stimulus (newspapers etc) to
spur on thinking
•
Fortnightly meetings
•
Conference calls
•
Email circulations
Momentum. Thirst for insight throughout.
Strong team
Researchers
Specialists
Management
Consultants
Often with broad
background as
well
Member Services,
Education & Training
specialists
Common goal,
willingness to
work together
IT specialists
Ethics Advisory
Service
Although things weren’t always
straightforward
•
Clamming up mid-interview, refusing to have conversation
recorded
•
Difficultly in overcoming euphemisms and superficial comments
•
Overly technical or specialist comments
•
Contradictions in relaying of events; possibly poor memory
inaccurately reflecting actual situation
•
Referral to previous places of work – of which researcher had no
contextual understanding
And, like all consultations, there were still
some grey areas
How much did members
really tell us? (either
wilfully or without realising)
Did we really manage to unpick every aspect of the
issue, given that we only got one person’s
perspective for a short period of time?
Summary so far
•
Careful and traditional approach
•
With focus, energy and commitment from all those involved
•
Strong element of teamwork and sharing of individual strengths
and areas of speciality
•
Awareness of individual responsibilities
•
Respect for everyone’s time
•
Mutual understanding of need to use research to help guide
thinking – with sufficient flexibility in process for maximum benefit
•
And above all, a shared sense of humour throughout!
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
Overall 1
•
Conflicts of interest definitely exist in most people’s lives
•
They emerge because of differing loyalties and motivations – and
because of the fear of the repercussions that could occur should
they act on these in a certain way
•
Loyalties and motivations tend to be;
–
Commercial
–
Moral
–
Professional
–
Corporate
–
Personal
Sometimes it’s not clear whether
something is ethical or not
Overall 2
•
The situation is not helped by a general culture of outward
discussion/rhetoric about ‘ethics,’ rather than engagement with
how to deal with the reality of such issues
•
It’s also not helped by a general inconsistency in the way that
many organisations deal with conflicts of interest
Quotes
You do get into the whole politics
side of it (ethics). You don’t want
to see yourself as going against
what they’re thinking
Most people want o be seen to be
adding value to the corporates in
which they work
There are procedures in place but I
have my own private views on how
that’s been developed or operated
over the years – I don’t think it’s
been entirely consistent
Overall 3
•
Conflicts of interest seem to become increasingly problematic
when they’re faced by;
–
Middle level people who can’t pass the buck but don’t have the
authority or confidence to simply say no
–
People who don’t feel able to express their concerns
–
People who do not think in the same way as their bosses
–
Those who really know their colleagues/built up relationships
–
Those in organisations where Trade Unions are involved
–
Those who work for organisations which operate in certain countries
and/or where that individual works abroad
–
Those in organisations who primarily focus on short-term commercial
gain more than a longer-term commercial strategy
–
Those in organisations where it’s not clear what the corporate
agenda/’line’ really is
Overall 4
People think about, and deal with, conflicts of
interest in different ways
•
HARD DONE-BYS. Begrudge conflicts of interest. Deal with
them but think they’re unnecessary intrusions
•
ACCEPTORS. Pragmatists. Will work through issues happily
•
RUTHLESS AVOIDERS. Will do whatever it takes to stop the
conflict of interest dead
•
COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNISTS. Love conflicts of interest. A
disguised blessing. Will do anything to turn issue into
commercial advantage
•
COMBATANTS. Will deal with conflicts of interest with gusto
but principle focus is to ensure that their professional
integrity remains in tact
•
FEARFULS. Are terrified of conflicts of interest and prefer to
avoid them at all costs
Emergent conflicts of interest
Different cultural
norms, inc bribery
Personal conflicting
and pay-offs
with professional
eg trading in politically
sensitive areas
Retaining objectivity
in face of client
hospitality/gifting
Dealing with others’
Knowing that one’s
actions will have
damaging effect
on colleagues
agendas (particularly bosses)
when this conflicts
with own role
Compounding global
Admitting mistakes
imbalances by using
when this might not
commercial/political
be the best option
power
overall
Quotes
Hospitality is just a fact of life.
It’s not something that the
Institute should be proud of, but
no one would deny that this
doesn’t take place
Sometimes you have to decide
whether you want things to go
away or whether you want to deal
with it. Sometimes things could
be seen as being paid to go away
although I’d say that they’re
simply part of the negotiating
tactics
I’d like to think I’d never be
compromised. But I do see that
people push the ethical limits to
secure a particular commercial
issue
Quotes
I know partners in all the X firms,
and they will all tell you they are
salesmen first and foremost
The commercial view that’s put on
commercial transactions is quite
often sailing the wrong side of the
wind as far as the tax authorities
are concerned
The younger generation is growing
up with very different views about
what is right and what is wrong
Overall 4
•
The effect of such conflicts of interest is significant stress, insipid
but on-going damage to morale and motivation and the potential
for a lot of wasted time/energy
•
Successful mechanisms to deal with such conflicts of interest,
however, can have the reverse effect and engender loyalty and
productivity
Mechanisms can have the reverse effect
Making aware of the
Allowing people to talk and
issues that they might
ask
face and the implications
of their actions
Staff have
knowledge about
Willingness and commitment
situations in which
to working as a team
they’re working
Longer-term vision as well
Communication of clear
corporate agenda and ethos
Leadership, ability
to stand up for what’s
right as well as listen
and negotiate
as short-term
commercial success
Holistic assessment of
staff – including how
ethically they behave
The ICAEW was able to address many of these…
RESEARCH OUTPUT
Overall – a reminder
It’s possible to
apply traditional
research methods…
…in order to unpick
questions that
an organisation has,
even if they
wonder
whether
these questions could
be asked/answered…
…and successfully
gain useful,
creative and
contemporary
answers and output
On-going training
•
Development of a CD Rom and additional
section of the ICAEW website
•
Entirely dedicated to ethical issues
•
Offering a range of case studies
•
On-going member opportunities to add own
experiences
Useful, creative and contemporary!
FDs will face ethical
dilemmas and if the
Institute won’t address
them, I’m not sure who else
would
How it works 1
•
Several case studies to choose from (c45 at present)
•
Or member can type in relevant examples by keyword, area of
responsibility, role, industry sector or issue
•
Choice of delivery format;
–
Conversational (Flash; opportunity for member to look and consider
range of angles/responses in own time, plus opportunity to pose
questions/get answers)
–
Interactive (Flash; presented with different angles to reflect upon but
need to respond quickly, less opportunity to reflect
–
Plain text (series of short paragraphs of how case study might be
approached)
How it works 2
•
Opportunity to learn about ICAEW’s recommended Best Practice
•
Inclusion of useful links/related articles/ICAEW Reference Guides
and written materials at end
•
Additional links to related case studies
•
Ability to contact ICAEW’s Ethics Advisory Service – email/phone
Example screen shots
Example screen shots
Example screen shots
Example screen shots
Example screen shots
Example screen shots
Example screen shots
Example screen shots
On-going benefit to ICAEW and members
ICAEW
• Better and clearer understanding of
range and types of conflicts of
interest members face – and why
• Better and clearer understanding of
how members deal with such issues
and how the ICAEW can help
• Being able to identify the above by
different member segments
Members
• ‘The case studies are the most
popular section of Ethics in Context’
(ICAEW);
-85% users rate page as ‘Very
Helpful’ or ‘Some Help’
-5228 page views of Ethics in
Context over 1 year period
‘In terms of user feedback, they’ve been a huge success’
CONCLUSIONS
•
Ethical dilemmas are an inherent part of professional life – and
can have a detrimental effect on staff morale and productivity
•
In a culture of heightened tension, scandal and brand awareness,
tackling the issue becomes all the more advisable
•
The issue is a sensitive and complex one, with staff responses to
conflicts varying according to many different factors
•
There are a number of things which fuel these conflicts as well as
a number of things which can help alleviate them
•
A careful and traditional research process can successfully uncover
these elements and guide an organisation when dealing with this
issue