Chapter 8 Ethics & Business
Day 16
To follow ethics in business,
we need to be free from stress.
Let us now examine ethics and business. Think about why people generally pay attention to ethics.
People follow ethics out of fear - fear of losing their job, or fear of starvation, or fear of prosecution. People also behave ethically out of a natural sense of commitment to their work.
Sometimes they may be tempted to resort to unethical means in the false belief that they will benefit more or gain favour with others.
But that is not the case really, when we see the broader picture. It is short term benefits and long term problems that we get every time we follow unethical means.
It is best to always act on the right side of ethics. Though it may feel tough initially or though you may find it difficult keeping up your efforts in the long run, rest assured that it keeps up your spirit, that it keeps you happy and healthy always.
When people realise the truth of this, their commitment to good ethics improves. What we have seen in our organisation the world over is a high level of motivation and commitment which springs out of innate
happiness.
And this is not out of expectations, not out of saying, "Okay, when you do this, you will find place in the heavens after your lifetime or you will find happiness in future."
It comes from the right attitude that makes them ask of themselves - "How I can help people around me, how I can sustain this joy and happiness that I am experiencing right now?"
I see stress as the biggest problem. Stress and mistrust among colleagues within the organisation is a big hindrance to ethics. For a business to run based on sound ethics.
You need to create an atmosphere of trust and caring, you need to develop a more human face to the business. Then this assurance, that by following the right ethics you will only go up the ladder in the organisation, has to come from the top.
Do you know what we did? We conducted several 'Corporate Culture and Spirituality' programmes where we brought together big businesses, who have always practised ethics, who have practised certain corporate social responsibilities.
We got them to share their experience with the small businesses, as if to boost morale by saying, "See, if this big business could do so well, following a certain code of conduct and following good ethical practises, then you can also do that."
This encouragement is what is
needed today for every business, a sort of reassurance I would say, that you can walk on the right side of the ethics line and still make money.
Often, people think that they can get away with a little bending of their ethics and make some quick and easy money, and they believe that will be able to sustain such actions.
But that has proved to be an illusion in many cases including Enron and some dotcom companies. I do not want to mention names, but what I do want to emphasise here is that we need to instil faith in morality and faith in ethics at all levels in business.
Think about it, no businessman wants his subordinates to cheat him. He would surely expect to see certain ethics in his workers, colleagues and subordinates.
But for this expectation to percolate to their level, he has to practise those ethics himself, and that, I feel, is only possible when he is free from stress.
We need to promote this mantra of being stress-free as much as we can, so that the workplace becomes more a place of celebration, a place
of joy and happiness, with a feeling of commitment rather than tension, stress, mistrust among colleagues.
Lately, I have often heard that people are not truly engaging in the work that they are doing, they are just working to make some money and then take off. It is not a healthy sign.
But you see the world over todav, as I said earlier, the percentage of depression has risen alarmingly. In Europe, about one third of the population is depressed.
I heard that in England, there is a big market for Prozac. If this trend continues, only a few companies will benefit, such as those manufacturing these pills, they will make big money no doubt, but people will suffer to no end.
We need to look into the stress
levels of people and think about how we can reduce these. And we need to devise many ways, there could be many ways in which the stress can be minimised or better handled and a sense of belongingness can be brought about in a workplace.
With such efforts, the perception, observation and expression of people will change. And naturally, every enterprise, business or governmental office will show remarkable differences in their results.
We have seen this take place in many cases. So, I would say that, for every employer, just giving a raise or increment to a person in service is not enough.
You need to see that your employees are always in a good mood, in a healthy environment that motivates and challenges them. And it is possible for every business to create such an atmosphere, such an environment.
