0807aa7f-fd00-48af-9332-fd50585ccc25 (1) - Flipbook - Page 49
How does it work.
Our EDMT has several layers, which get more detailed
as you progress further. It may be that on any particular
decision, you can stop after one or two layers as it will have
become clear what the ethical imperative is and how it
balances with other worthy aims.
Embedding
ethics in everyday
decision-making
Throughout this blueprint you will notice our compass icon. This is
our reminder that making ethical business decisions is at the heart
of what we do. Coops were founded as an ethical retail movement
and that’s more important today than at any time in our history.
The compass is the symbol of our Ethical Decision-Making Tool
(EDMT), which is an approach to management that sits alongside
our financial, risk and compliance decision making processes.
When you are running a business, every single decision has an
ethical component (just as nearly every decision has a financial
component). It would clearly not be business-like for us to make
decisions without doing the financial analysis first. Similarly, it would
not be good business for us to make any decision without doing the
ethical analysis before acting.
The one question.
At the top layer our EDMT has one simple question;
“Is this the right thing to do?” It is important to start with
this one, even if we are going to go down to more complex
questions before we come back up to this one. When we ask
ourselves ‘is this the right thing to do?’ we create a pause
in our thinking process that enables us to reflect on our
purpose and values. Often, we will feel or intuit the answer
before we think through the logical reasoning.
The next layer.
The next layer of our EDMT asks the question “How is it
good for…” We generally ask this in four different ways:
How is this good for our members and the
communities (places) in which they live?
How is this good for our planet?
How is this good for our own people?
How is this good for our partners in business?
CI Coop
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