The truth and nothing but the truth?

    Medium
    Chefredakteur Ian McMaster
    © Oliver Kühl
    Von Ian McMaster

    20.12.2017

    How honest are you at work?

    There’s a well-known expression in English about doing “an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay”. The idea behind this expression is that of fairness: the employee does a full day’s work and gets paid a fair wage for doing so.

    Most people would agree that this is a desirablewünschenswertdesirable situation, even if the reality is often very different in the modern business world.

    But what about the concept of honesty in the workplace in the more standard meaning of the word? Should we always tell the truth at work? Indeed, is it possible to be honest all the time and to to maintain sth.etw. aufrechterhaltenmaintain good working relationships with colleagues, bosses, suppliers and customers? Or do we need to tell lies sometimes?

    Bob Dignen to investigate sth.etw. untersucheninvestigates the controversialumstritten, kontroverscontroversial Thematopictopic of lying in the latest issue of Business Spotlight, on sale from today.
     

    Is it possible to be honest all the time at work?


    In his Business Skills article, Bob provides some thought-provokingzum Nachdenken anregendthought-provoking insightEinblickinsights into the concepts of truth and Unwahrheitfalsehoodfalsehood. He suggests that a key communication skill is to become an effective “manager of truth”, which is not the same as always telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

    Read Bob’s article in the magazine and find out whether you are to be comfortable with sth.sich mit etw. wohl fühlen; hier auch: (etw.) mit etw. anfangen könnencomfortable with this idea. And see here for our special case study on this topic. You can think about what advice you would give to those involved and then read Bob Dignen’s comments.

    In the latest issue of Business Spotlight, you can also test your telephoning skills, find out about the intercultural challenges of working with Russia, read our debate on whether diesel vehicleFahrzeugvehicles should be banned from cities — and much more.

    As 2017 to draw to a closesich dem Ende näherndraws to a close, I would like to thank you personally for your support and feedback this year. We wish you and your friends and family all the best for the holiday period and the New Year — and to look forward to doing sth.sich darauf freuen, etw. zu tunlook forward to seeing you again in 2018.

     

    Ian McMaster

    Ian McMaster is editor-in-chief of Business Spotlight. You can contact him via i.mcmaster@spotlight-verlag.de
    In his blog, Ian McMaster has been commenting on global business issues since 2002. For older entries, see the blog archive on our former website.