Thursday, September 25, 2008

Business Ethics & Practice

I am indebted once more to my friend J. Kannan for sharing his wisdom.


He wrote the piece below in March 2006 and given both the world financial crisis and - more locally - my recent posting about ethics and morality in business I wanted to share this with you. JK is clearly ahead of the game!


Business Ethics & Practice

“Management is doing things right.
Leadership is doing right things”
- Peter F Drucker

Many a business people talk on the subject and have clear cut concept and views on the subject, but when they were to put these good ethics and practice into reality, they just forget about the positive effects and good results of the business ethics and its good practice and dump the whole thing into waste bin- an alarming situation needs to be alerted and averted.

I have never heard and seen of Man eating money but heard and seen of Money eating Man and I am quite confident that many of you will agree with me. Man needs a palatable breakfast, a square meal for lunch and a digestible supper at night followed by an undisturbed slumber, so that next day begins with vibrant motion and excellent notion. To make things work beyond the required and expected standard, he succumbs to the situation of” Money eating Man”. This is due to bad cause and its resultant effects invited by man by not adhering to good business ethics, conducive and congenial business practice. It is better to have ethical savings of money rather than unethical amassing of wealth and spending sleepless nights.

An ideal business ethics and practice will comprise of straight forward business deal, across the table direct negotiation, transparent monitory gives and takes, honouring of commitments made, with integrity and loyalty, proper and honest disclosure of financial statements, tax planning inter-alia with savings plan and last but not least prompt payment of taxes due to government followed by charity to recognized institutions towards creating education and employment opportunities to the innumerable young lads waiting in urge, and do away with your surplus money towards good causes and thereby legally and ethically gain tax benefits.

Hardly a day goes without the news in print/visual media that business people are caught by the enforcement and other appropriate authorities for breaking & violating the Acts and norms to amass money in unethical manner and following bad practice and in turn end up in acute problems and even land up at times in spending more than what they have made good by following unethical business practice. Please bear in mind- Ill gotten money will vanish leaving a scar in the heart & mind through out the life’s existence which ultimately brings ill reputation & bad name not only to self but to the entire family.

The root cause of each and every problem the man faces today is due to unethical conduct and bad practice being adopted and the only solution to this is to reverse the trend & follow ethical conduct and good business practice at all times without any compromise whatsoever.

To conclude this short write-up I would urge all involved in business to follow the principles contained in the quote on the top by THE GREAT Peter F Drucker in deed and action

J.K


8 comments:

J.KANNAN said...

Dear trevor,
Thank you very much for displaying my thoughts on "Simplicity blog". I only wish "Simpicity" readers" do enjoy reading this brief writing.

Best Regards

J.K

Trevor Gay said...

No problem JK - your words are both powerful and straightforward - a wider audience is needed for such wisdom.

Anonymous said...

Trevor/J.K.

Very well said.

Basic integrity is essential if one is to enjoy the benefits of a long lasting, sucessful career which is both personally satisfying and rewarding and makes a positive contribution toward society.

Being a relatively young man myself, I may be a little ignorant on this issue, but I simply can't understand why basic, simple integrity is so difficult. I would have thought that out of the multitude of challenges confronting business leaders in today's corporate environment, applying some simple principles of ethics would have been a relatively straightforward task.


Cheers

Andrew

Trevor Gay said...

Andrew – you may be a young man but you have a wise brain. Stick to what you believe in and you will not go far wrong in business. The current financial crisis in the world is more about greed than anything in my opinion. Integrity and ethical behaviours are essential as foundations in the mind of anyone in a management or leadership position – indeed for anyone in any aspect of life!

Thank you for visiting Simplicity Blog – I hope you will visit again – it is always great to hear from young people …. And of course from older people! :- )

Anonymous said...

Thanks Trevor,

I will follow your advice.

Trevor Gay said...

I hope you keep us updated with your progress Andrew

Best

Trevor

Marilyn Jess said...

Dear J.K.,

You have, in just a few words, crystallized how a business leader should conduct himself, and his life. In business, and in the wider world.

The Peter Drucker quote says it all--and I think of it when I assess anyone in business, not just those with titles. There are many who don't have an ounce of leadership in them, as I say, yet hold the title of manager.

Integrity isn't situational. Since it's all to easy to be dishonest, and escape consequences, people do it. Yet if one believes in karma, and I do, they don't escape consequences for long.

Thank you for writing this!

J.KANNAN said...

Dear Marilyn,
Thank you very much for your appreciation and encouragement. You have rightly and boldly mentioned the present scenario, lacking desired qualities with regard to Manageement and Leadership.

Let's earnestly believe and hope that atleast from now on those Managers and Leaders who do not possess the required and desired qualities for their respective positions and role mend their thinking with positive and tranparent outlook and crystal clear disposition.

I get lots of inspiration and encouragement from "Simplicity" readers more so from TREVOR to whom I am indebted a lot and immensely thank all the "Simplicity" readers for their continued support.

Best Regards.

J.K