When Maintaining Personal Integrity Crosses the Path to Insubordination in the Workplace

When staying true to your convictions such as honesty and integrity crosses the path of insubordination in the workplace, how do you handle it? The legal definition of Insubordination is Willful failure to obey a supervisor's LAWFUL orders. What if your supervisor asks you to lie to a client? What if your supervisor demands that you execute a process which you know is wrong? Do you risk losing your job to maintain your personal credibility? Sadly, this happens everyday, as we know in every industry! Please comment or share a story pertaining to this subject, and how it played out.....What was the outcome?

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Permalink Reply by Craig Lockerd on March 30, 2011 at 10:59am

Did we ask you to do something bad?.....lol.....

Wow,great subject,got into the business in 1972.soooooo this has happened just a couple of times ...lol...When I first started the sales persons office's [ desks] were still wired to the managers office.I have seen more than my fair share of phony credit apps,early lease turn ins "Oh don't worry about that,just park it in the back,the bank will come get it from us"....

Permalink Reply by NANCY SIMMONS on March 30, 2011 at 11:21am

No...LOL...AutoMax did not ask me to do anything bad...Never!!!

However, I did experience this once or twice in my retail life! I found myself, as a Comptroller, in the middle of the controversy, way too often! I remained, always, an advocate for the employee who was being honest and doing the right thing!

Permalink Reply by Craig Lockerd on March 30, 2011 at 11:37am

Well you know how we all start to party after lunch each day,so I thought maybe somebody asked you to say something to one of our amazing dealer clients that was bad.....wink!
NANCY SIMMONS said:

No...LOL...AutoMax did not ask me to do anything bad...Never!!!

However, I did experience this once or twice in my retail life! I found myself, as a Comptroller, in the middle of the controversy, way too often! I remained, always, an advocate for the employee who was being honest and doing the right thing!

Permalink Reply by NANCY SIMMONS on March 30, 2011 at 7:52pm

Sadly, when you think of it, how many talented people gave up on promising careers because of walking away from their position due to these types of controversial issues?

Permalink Reply by Abe Hopper on March 31, 2011 at 2:24pm

I have never lied to a customer, my salespeople never lied to a customer ... we created customers for life. I recently turned down a training assignment because of the Dealer's advertising practices. The content of the ad told me all I needed to know about the management of the Dealership.

Permalink Reply by Richard Emmons on March 31, 2011 at 5:47pm

There are enough thoughts by John Q. Public about car people being dishonest without any help from management ordering people to be dishonest. I was at a store that found a local bank to do 1st time buyers. The sales people with full consent of their manager would have any customer with bad credit find a friend that had no credit (a ghost) They would create a job and a credit app, take calls on a number they had assigned or coach the person wanting the vehicle & the straw purchaser how to answer as the employer. Many cars were delivered for 60 days until all the 1st payment defaults came in. The bank agreement was non resource however the bank had a clause in the dealer agreement about dishonest and unfair trade practices that made the agreement full resource. The dealer was 100% on the hook.

Permalink Reply by NANCY SIMMONS on March 31, 2011 at 6:54pm

Thanks for your input Abe! Yes, sometimes you can smell it a mile away!

Abe Hopper said:

I have never lied to a customer, my salespeople never lied to a customer ... we created customers for life. I recently turned down a training assignment because of the Dealer's advertising practices. The content of the ad told me all I needed to know about the management of the Dealership.

Permalink Reply by NANCY SIMMONS on March 31, 2011 at 6:55pm

Sometimes, Rick, people who are caught in that state of dealership practices, believe that is the "norm" or the only way to conduct business and do not even realize how wrong it is..."Everyone is doing it" mentality! Thanks for your comment!

Richard Emmons said:

There are enough thoughts by John Q. Public about car people being dishonest without any help from management ordering people to be dishonest. I was at a store that found a local bank to do 1st time buyers. The sales people with full consent of their manager would have any customer with bad credit find a friend that had no credit (a ghost) They would create a job and a credit app, take calls on a number they had assigned or coach the person wanting the vehicle & the straw purchaser how to answer as the employer. Many cars were delivered for 60 days until all the 1st payment defaults came in. The bank agreement was non resource however the bank had a clause in the dealer agreement about dishonest and unfair trade practices that made the agreement full resource. The dealer was 100% on the hook.

Permalink Reply by Katie Colihan on April 1, 2011 at 5:21pm

Nancy, I run into this very often. I hear, 'just tell them we'll call back tomorrow" more times than I can count. That's not how I operate. I operate on a "they're on the phone, let's make this the last time we have to pay for them to call our 800 number by solving the problem."

My boss often tells me to "Hang up on them." and each time, I refuse to do so. I get the 'look', and then I counter with "Well, they would have just called back tomorrow." She realizes I'm right, but still argues that I didn't do what she told me to do. It's a vicious cycle.

I think they key here is that if you're being asked to do something that violates your own integrity, then you should think of another, similar way to approach the situation that gets the same results without you feeling bad about yourself in the process. Don't just complain to your boss that you don't feel comfortable doing something, come to the table with an alternative solution.

Permalink Reply by Craig Lockerd on April 1, 2011 at 5:32pm

Got just a couple good ones from my Dad growing up,one I tell our trainers all the time "If it feels wrong,it is wrong,don't do it"

Permalink Reply by NANCY SIMMONS on April 2, 2011 at 1:01pm

Love it Katie!!!!! That is a fantastic solution...most I believe either comply to their supervisor's orders or get sick of it and leave.... Bringing an alternative solution to the table is a great way to handle it!

Katie Colihan said:

Nancy, I run into this very often. I hear, 'just tell them we'll call back tomorrow" more times than I can count. That's not how I operate. I operate on a "they're on the phone, let's make this the last time we have to pay for them to call our 800 number by solving the problem."

My boss often tells me to "Hang up on them." and each time, I refuse to do so. I get the 'look', and then I counter with "Well, they would have just called back tomorrow." She realizes I'm right, but still argues that I didn't do what she told me to do. It's a vicious cycle.

I think they key here is that if you're being asked to do something that violates your own integrity, then you should think of another, similar way to approach the situation that gets the same results without you feeling bad about yourself in the process. Don't just complain to your boss that you don't feel comfortable doing something, come to the table with an alternative solution.

Permalink Reply by NANCY SIMMONS on April 4, 2011 at 10:32am

Wow Tom...Spoken from a true professional who I know plys his trade with nothing but ethical business style and integrity! "Accepted as the norm"... "Everybody does it".... "That's the way the business rolls"... These are the attitudes found in many stores and this methodology sometimes gets so far out of control, that the folks employed there do not know what is the "gray area" any longer and where is the cut-off point leading a "little white lie" into completely unethical, non-compliant and illegel dishonesty! Thanks for your insightful input!

Tom Wilson said:

It's been said that the fish rots from the head down. There are (still) a lot of businesses that subscribe to the philosophy, "high speed, low drag."

The staff is trained from the top down to do "whatever it takes" to get the car sold & rolled. When the GM tells the F&I, "she's an 800, just make the income fit," he sends a message down the ranks that ethics aren't important and it's ok to lie to the banker to get a deal done.

Then the sales team gets the same idea; if the income doesn't fit the deal, leave it blank and the desk will fill it in. Then there's grandma who's going to cosign for grandson on the new truck he wants, but she's in a wheelchair and can't leave the house. It's ok to let the salesman go with the kid to get grandma's signatures on the paperwork. When grandma calls the store 5 weeks later and wonders what this payment book is all about, it's ok to tell her to ignore it and to give it to her grandson - he'll take care of it.

Every little corner that gets cut and every rule that gets bent is all OK because the boss-man says it is. The culture of lying and cheating the system is condoned from the top down and there's never any real reason to change. After all, there's a slush fund for penalties "just in case."

So what does an honest ethical operator do when he finds himself immersed in this kind of culture? He quits; he moves on and finds a home where his ethics, honesty and integrity are valued. One person can't drain the swamp nor can one person impact the culture of a whole staff. Sometimes you just have to shrug your shoulders, realize that you can't fight city hall and take the show on the road.