Google told me that ethics developed from the word ethos which means to inhabit the world. Going deeper, I realized it means to have the knowledge of how to behave in this world and inhabit it. Now the next challenge which I faced was to link ethics to anthropology. People from different cultural background will look into the ethics through different lenses. For me, killing a cow is unethical. My culture prohibits it. It need not be the same for someone from a different ethnicity. So, how can I explain ethics, when its definition is itself subjective?
I recently read an article by sociologist Emilie Durkheim, who said that there are several social changes brought out by modernization and the changes are so rapid that there is bound to be unprecedented dislocation and the potential for discord and disorder. Durkheim in his Elementary Forms of the Religious Life provided the basis for the design of a religion for modernity. He explained the analysis of the religious foundations of social order in what he supposed to be the earliest and most primitive societies. These religious guidelines gave the foundation of ethics in the lives of people. People started aligning themselves to the ultimate good and started fearing the wrath of god.
With time, the purview of ethics broadened in several walks of life. As a bschool student I have always wondered, can business be ethical. If they are ethical, then why do they try to market their virtues by hiding their flaws. Is that ethical? Why do companies try for profit maximization? Why do they try to capture markets of others? What is actually meant by workplace and business ethics? Is it doing the a bit of CSR; however, harming the environment in another way? Is this ethics?
Going by the bookish explanations, business ethics can be considered as norms and values that have been clearly translated throughout any organization, and work as backbone of collective work. They are not simply a set of codes of conduct, but are about how these codes are accepted, followed, utilized or avoided by the members of the organization. When I read similar sentences like this, one question pops out in my mind— every company has its own code of ethics. Codifying ethics would mean there is an obligation to follow them, which defeats the whole purpose of being ethical. Is it ethical to persuade someone to believe in my mission, agree to my terms and follow my code of conduct. Is it ethical to make someone follow the code of ethics?
Ethics defines what is fair and good, and the business ethics must be followed without discussions. Ethics is an intellectual exercise in philosophy, whereas, in business, it is a managerial tool which is pre-conceived. Can business ethics be an extension of the corporate culture? May be yes. I do believe that they form the supporting structure to corporate culture, and an answer to how organization functions. I recently saw the movie- Hotel Mumbai. It brought in tears in my eyes. On 26/11/2008, one of the most iconic hotel of India, the Taj Group of Hotels were under terrorist attack. The staff in the pantry could have easily escaped from the pantry door when they heard the gun shots. But they stayed. For them, Guest was like God. The employees strived to protect the diners even at the cost of their own lives. They went in rounds offering water to the terrified guests as they heard gunshots and grenades. The hotel is known for its high-quality services, whose employees are always ready to go an extra mile to delight their customers.
Taj group also owns a hotel in Indonesia. During the 2004 crisis, when the island was under water, Taj group employees helped all their visitors to reach a higher altitude. The chef carried the cooking equipment and served the meals to the customers at the terrace of a high raised building. This was their corporate culture.
At the time of crisis, the customer centric culture, together with the business ethics, reflected a certain behavior among the employees where they chose to save the lives of the guests when they could have saved themselves. As an HR, I thought of probing deeper into what motivated the employees to do so? I studied their hiring policies. Taj group always hires its staff from tier 2 and tier 3 cities as they believe there is low ethical fading in the minds of youngsters over there. They have lived in joint family and has imbibed the culture of ‘family’ in them. They have greater loyalty quotient and stick to one organization for long. Taj focuses on this. Even their training program is based on ethical behavior. These youngsters are freshly passed out school graduates. They are entailed in a eighteen month long behavioral training program where they are taught to imbibe the values of the organization.
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