Lean Project Management - Ethics Education - Tiered Training

The following quotation is from Ronald Mascitelli, Lean Project Management. (See additional book note at end of this page.)  Mascitelli says it so well there is no sense in using different words. Mascitelli is writing here about standards, which can apply to the rules that are given in a code of conduct or in standards that the corporate officer/manager/employee is told to apply in a given situation.

"Any given standard can be implemented as a series of tiered ‘umbrellas.’ At the lowest and most project-specific tier, the standard can be relatively specific and detailed. As one moves upward hierarchically …., a broader and less detailed standard should be established. At the highest tier, the same standard should appear as a very general guideline – almost a ‘strategic vision’ for that particular activity across the company. In each case, however, it is critical that higher tiers of the same standard be inclusive rather than exclusive. In other words, all detailed standards must fit within the umbrella of the next higher tier …. for standards to be effective throughout an organization, it is essential that they be tiered in their level of detail and specificity. As with the laws of our land, higher level standards (analogous to state and federal laws) supersede lower level standards (municipal laws). Higher level standards must be general and inclusive, whereas lower level standards may be specific to a given … project type."
     --- Ronald Mascitelli, Lean Project Management, pp 58-59.

Just as the standard or rule for actions by the persons in a particular tier or department (tier) have to be specific to that tier, the training for that tier has to be specific. In most companies there needs to be training given to all employees on how to make ethical decisions, but the type of situations in which they operate will most often make differ substantially. Hence the type of decision making training and ethics tools they need to be given varies.  E.g., there is no significant value added to a ethics education project for a public mass transportation company in instructing the accounting department employees how to respond to the transportation needs of disabled persons. Lean Project Management thus will manage the ethics training of the company in tiers or departments operating within larger and larger "umbrellas".

At Corporate-Ethics US we believe in stripping out expense to the customer (you) when the action does not add value to the project. That's part of the reason why we customize the project to the customer, instead of delivering a one-size-fits-all box.

Note: Ronald Mascitelli, Building a Project-Driven Enterprise: How to slash waste and boost profits through lean project management (Technology Perspectives, Northridge, CA. 2002, 368 pages hardbound, ISBN: 0-9662697-1-3 ) is a great book for anyone in management who has charge of projects or approval of consultants who are to lead projects.  The purpose of the book is to teach how to strip the waste out of a project team's activities, while achieving the highest possible quality and value. The book does that well.