The Hindu Business Line : Ethics and business

What could have been the origin of ideals such as `morality' and `ethics' in the tortuous course of the evolution of mankind? When would have man started thinking in terms of what was right and wrong? At some stage, there must have been a realisation that some acts of his fellow beings were patently wrong. At a later stage, elders and people more experienced in worldly affairs would have started enlightening others on what is good and bad. Further on, in order to make these principles broadly acceptable, there must have been conscious moves by priests and tribal leaders to integrate them into religious preachings.

The Origins

The origin of religious doctrines was, inter alia, a felt need in human beings to act and behave properly, that is, to do only right things and desist from doing the wrong. A natural upshot is either approbation or opprobrium of behaviour. As society became better organised, thoughts of reward for good acts and punishment for the bad ones must have taken shape. Man, being endowed with intelligence, would go farther in his thinking and start imagining that consequences of one's actions in this birth might follow one even after one's death — maybe in Heaven or Hell or in the next birth. Such notions should have matured into organised tenets, leading to religious `commandments.' Historically, this would have been the period of the Buddha, Socrates, and Confucius.

As civilisation advanced, rulers and men engaged in public service came to be judged by their being upright even in private lives. It is remarkable that this notion persists to this day the world over. (We often hear of men in government quitting their positions for lapses in private affairs.)

Now, it is interesting that until recent times, people were not seriously concerned with `ethics' in commercial and trading activities although illegal and dishonest business practices by businessmen should have been prevalent since early times. Writers like John Ruskin and savants like Leo Tolstoy were some of the early thinkers to stress that `honesty' and integrity' should be as much a part of the merchants' activities as of other professions. A logical sequence of this thinking is Gandhiji's concept of `Trusteeship,' according to which the property of wealthy people is to be managed by the owners, mainly in the larger interests of society as a whole.

Key area of study

No wonder that in recent times `ethics in business' has come to be a prominent area in management studies as also `social responsibility of business.' There is realisation that corporate functioning does have an ethical basis on which corporates should conduct their business, that is, companies are no longer entities accountable only to public authorities and shareholders. Of course, a corollary of this principle is the interest of the business captains in a healthy environment and a contented society for the long-term stability of their business concerns. Manifestation of this trend can be observed in impressive social service activities of big business houses — in the spheres of education, public health, employee welfare, cultural growth... Crowning all this is the concern shown by business leaders for protecting the ecological balance of planet earth. Such evolution of the ideal of ethics is as it should be.

(The author is a Bangalore-based freelance writer.)

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