In Search For Ethics In Business
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When I was invited to write on the topic of Ethics in Business by Institute IntegrityMalaysia (IIM), the first thing that crossed me was — where does one begin?Defining ethics and seeking consensus? The consensus (if reached) has to beuniversally accepted ethics that cuts across creed and culture, sovereigntyand markets, traditions and ideals.
One then has to overlay these principles has to be applied across the differentneeds of industries and sectors serving the varied demography in the diversesetting of countries with distinct political and economic requirements.We then move into the argument of where does ethics or its teachings begin, whosparks this, who is liable and responsible for it, and how does one enforce ethics?Can you legislate ethics? That is like asking can you legislate a person’scharacter.
The discourse on Ethics In Business, which I have tried to address here, is onlythe tip of the iceberg, given the remits of this paper. There are numerouscomponents and parameters that contribute to ethics inter-alia:
1. How does gender affect ethics or does it;2. Treatment of workers and labour ;3. The role of watchdogs as an oversight and their limitations;4. The role of governments and policymakers;5. Media and Ethics is a huge topic that warrants research in and of itself;6. Civil society’s role in ethics and building ethics in businesses and the agendaof civil society;7. The role of education from the dinner table to the boardroom;8. The revolving door and lobbying culture between public and private sector;9. Then there is ethics across specific industries from energy to finance, toIslamic finance to medical industry and this is a non-exhaustive list;10. The roles of international institutions and what that should entail in institutingethics across businesses;11. How does on address leadership issues such as narcissism in leaders and of those with power and authority;12. Role of morality in corporate governance and ethics and the differencebetween the two;13. The remits of Corporate Social Responsibility as a tool to building Ethics InBusiness and not a tool for evading tax;14. How do you track ethical behaviour? What are the standards?15. Can you legislate and regulate character by law?16. Role of faith and religion in business ethics?17. The role of politicians in enabling and disabling ethics in business
The list above is only an attempt to address areas that need a serious discoursewhich is not available in countries like Malaysia as yet — or at least not openlyand publicly done by all parties concerned with a leading body/institution/personable to converge the divergent views to arrive at some consensus.
This discourse needs to desperately begin, with able people who have theunderstanding of the subject and the disposition to bridge the differing andopposing views. Efforts have been made to set up institutions, bring in peoplefrom private sector into public sector and the likes to address corruptionand corporate governance. This formula has yet to be proven to be effectivein Malaysia. The discourse is much bigger. Corruption is the end product oflack of ethics. The method perhaps of addressing and weeding out badbehaviour in society needs to be redefined and transformed in Malaysia.This needs to begin from top down and bottom up across all sectors ofsociety.
My proposal — Bring in capable individuals who can develop what it will take forMalaysia to achieve its economic and societal goals through imbuing sustainablepractices called — ETHICS IN BUSINESS. People with no fear or favour toanyone!
This discourse is urgent as we only have to read the cries in the media that arecries for ethics from the man on the street in an environment where the boardroomis clenching on profits. If we do not address these cries, we will have our childrenconfront us on the state of this planet and our role in diminishing its state.
There is a Greek proverb which reads — A society grows old when old menplant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. This world is notinherited from our ancestors but we borrow from our children. Thus what we leavebehind for them, will define how the stories of the two generations will be told!
