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Digital branding company’s value is based on the power of the brands they own. The Internet public’s perception of a brand drives customer preference, which results in brand equity (M'zungu, Merrilees, & Miller, 2010). The ethical level to which the public perceives that a digital branding company operates affects how the digital brand’s content is accepted in the Internet market (M'zungu, Merrilees, & Miller, 2010). Digital products are always in flux and brand perception risk abounds in product details. Therefore, leadership in digital branding companies must build and foster a culture of ethics throughout the organization. Ethics in Quality and Security
The Internet is a constantly changing marketplace. Technology advances constantly create new methods for leveraging brand equity. Business stakeholders desire functionality that keeps the brand relevant among category competition, which puts significant pressure on technology developers to deliver. Ethical missteps in delivering digital products can have negative impacts. Sample Case 1 (Quality)
A Project Manager is driving a development team to complete a given functionality set in two weeks, the date requested by the business stakeholders. As the deadline looms developers realize that making the functionality reusable will take too long. Instead developers hardcode variables and press on to meet the demands of the deadline. The result is fragile functionality that will break when any hardcoded variable is changed. Don Gotterbarn says, “When you let the schedule change the quality of software you develop, that is an ethical issue.” (Pliagas, 2000). In this scenario the developer is being unethical by allowing the pressures of on-time delivery to affect the quality of product produced. Sample Case 2 (Security)
The business stakeholders have asked for new login functionality that allows the user to use social-media credentials to customize the appearance of brand web and mobile content. After 2 months of development the product team is able to meet the new functionality requirements and deploys the new login module to the production products. Three months later a glitch in the login module allows a very rudimentary hack to access all user data for social media sites the users have used for login. The hacker posts the data on a forum site and the hack goes public resulting in a brand public relations problem. It turns out the developer knew of the glitch, but did not report the problem. The problem is quickly resolved, but the damage to the brand is done. It is important technical professionals get ethics training from employers because IT (Information Technology) education programs often do not cover business ethics (Pliagas, 2000). Technology that stores personal data about users is extremely sensitive and breaking users’ trust will have a negative impact on the digital brand. Ethical Culture
The examples above demonstrate ethical problems that, while performed by an individual contributor, originate from different levels of an organization. This fact makes certain that the only way for digital branding companies to assure their products are being delivered in an ethical manner is leadership placing a high priority on both formal and informal ethical culture. Formal ethical culture is more systematic. It exists through communicated policy and enforced procedures, reward systems, and training (Schaubroeck, et. al., 2012). Informally, ethical culture is more organically created through peer language, accountability, and shared understandings (Schaubroeck, et. al., 2012). These initiatives must be a constant in a leading ethical organization. Creating an Ethical Culture
Code of Ethics
Drafting a Code of Ethics document provides general expectations that serve as a set of standards by which to operate (Collins, 2012). A code of ethics document will remove any ambiguity about the ethical values of the organization without detailing every situation in which an employee is expected to relate (Collins, 2012). Training
Ethics training is becoming more popular and is often presented as a very boring standard slide show, performed as a legal checkbox (Collins, 2012, Gallagher, 2013). These training sessions should include everyone in the organization and be very industry specific (Gallagher, 2013). Training at digital branding companies should generate collaborative, in session conversation and encourage the usage of examples from daily practice, like the sample cases in this writing. Reporting Systems
Those who report unethical behavior from within an organization may feel intimidated, fear retaliation, or fear stigmatization among peers (Collins, 2012). Digital banding companies have too much at stake to risk employees being silent about unethical behavior. Leadership can be proactive by documenting a standard action plan, training managers, and communicating the details of the process to all employees (Collins, 2012). Employees will feel more comfortable about coming forward with information when they work in an environment where peers are accountable to each other for ethical behavior. Hire Ethical Employees
The best way to grow a culture of ethical behavior in an organization is to hire ethical people. There are ways to discourage unethical individuals from ever applying, like including an ethics statement in job descriptions (Collins, 2012). In interviews managers can ask candidates how they would respond to specific ethical dilemmas then observe gestures and responses (Collins, 2012). Always have Human Resources do a background check, including resume qualifications (Collins, 2012). As Sample Case 2 demonstrates, it only takes one unethical act to impact brand perception negatively. Diversity
Building a workforce culture that values and respects diversity encourages professionalism. A diverse culture encourages ethical behavior and builds a team that can produce a more competitive digital brand by contributing their differences to every project (Collins, 2012). Lead by Example
The above solutions will help a leader generate a culture of ethics in an organization, but no system or hiring practice can replace a leader who is seen as the ethical leader of the organization. Leadership who does what is right makes it clear what ethical behavior looks like (Gallagher, 2013). The same technology digital brands use to generate brand equity can be used to negatively impact brand perception. Leadership must take steps to generate both formal and informal ethical culture to protect brand perception and win market share. References: M'zungu, S. M., Merrilees, B., & Miller, D. (2010). Brand management to protect brand equity: A conceptual model. Journal Of Brand Management, 17(8), 605-617. doi:10.1057/bm.2010.15 Pliagas, L. (2000). Learning IT right from wrong. Infoworld, 22(40), 39. Collins, D. (2012). Business ethics: How to design and manage ethical organizations. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Schaubroeck, J. M., Hannah, S. T., Avolio, B. J., Kozlowski, S. W., Lord, R. G., Trevinño, L. K., & ... Peng, A. C. (2012). Embedding ethical leadership within and across organization levels. Academy Of Management Journal, 55(5), 1053-1078. doi:10.5465/amj.2011.0064 Gallagher, C. (2013). Whistleblowing: How to build a culture of ethics. Leadership Excellence, 30(11), 21.
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Digital Branding, Ethical Leadership, Business Ethics, Culture, Diversity,
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