Is this a fair question?

"Are you corrupt?"

Is this a fair question? It’s one that was asked of Assistant Metropolitan Police Commissioner John Yates by MPs in the Select Committee yesterday in the Wilson Room at Portcullis House.

It may be a fair question, but is it any use?

Not really. It’s hard to imagine that anyone would answer this question with a “Yes.”

The purpose of the question

We need to know what the purpose of this question was. It almost sounds as though the questioner was trying to make a statement rather than ask a question.

The right questions

If you want to know if someone is corrupt, then you need to ask different questions. You need to identify what they did and compare that with the behaviour of an honest person.

Strangely quite a few people who we would consider to be corrupt often don’t seem to think they have done anything wrong (you may recall questioning of the directors of Enron and the looks of disbelief of those questioning them).

Another question, “Are you incompetent?” is of similar value.
The trouble with these questions is that they tell you more about the competence of the questioner than the person who is being questioned.

Get more information on how to ask questions here.

Phone hacking - should the managers have know?

Should the editor of the News of the World have known what was going on and that many stories were being sourced through illegal phone hacking? Is it possible for an editor to know all the details of what is going on in his or her paper?

You can’t know everything

It’s simply not possible for the editor to know what everyone is doing and how every story has made it to the paper. Just as it is not possible for the CEO of any company to know every detail of what goes on in the business.

You can still make sure it’s legal

However, people at the top are paid not just to get results but also to make sure that they are achieved without breaking any laws.

The old excuse

It is completely unacceptable for senior managers to give the excuse that they ‘didn’t know’ what was going on.  What this means is either they did know and are lying or they did not have the proper systems in place to make sure the company was being run legally.

In either case, they have failed in their duties.

Systems

You need to have systems that ensure and encourage people to behave properly and meet the required standards. If the systems are designed well, it will be easy for employees to behave properly and meet the standards.
And if they don’t meet the required standards, they either need help or to be penalised.

If the BBC behaved like this, they could lose their license. But there is no such penalty for a newspaper. So there is no reason for them to behave within the law.

System failures

System failures need to be dealt with by installing new systems that work properly. Managers who do not have the skills or inclination to set up these systems should not be in the job.

For more on how to manage effectively go to our website