Dr. Venta’s “no title speech” was not a typical ethics program, rather a program about ideas of situations in the workplace.  While a fellow at Loyola University in Chicago, Henry’s focus of a life career changed to education.  He sees ethics as a reflection on moral rules in our everyday lives.  

 

The 4 Way Test is a way to apply ethics in life and business.  All the statements are a good way to apply ethics into your work situation in order to resolve issues that come up daily.  The tests are a good idea but they work differently based on each person’s take on what they mean. 

 

One of the most difficult areas to apply the Test is in the area of performance evaluations.  It has been found that 70% of managers dealing with evaluations show bias and skew results.  Evaluations should show the effectiveness of the work performed by the employee but many times evaluators want to avoid confrontation or consider the friendship of the employee to the employee’s advantage.  What managers should do first is to acknowledge that they have personal prejudices and hopefully that will enable them to be more objective.  If employees feel they have been treated fairly and equally, they will be able to do their job better and become an effective employee.  By doing the right thing fairly and ethically, managers provide the employees with the best opportunity of growth and job performance.

 

The best tool tor effective managers is to act ethically by applying the Four Way Test every day by considering if what you do and say will be beneficial to all concerned. Dr. Venta’s reflections show why he is a past recipient of the Rotary Ethics Award.