Management and Business Ethics

through Indian Scriptures and Traditions

by Ankur Bhatnagar on Monday 13 February 2012

dryograjs@yahoo.co.in
Shriram Institute of Management & Technology, Kashipur, Uttarakhand

Ankur Bhatnagar,

ankurr.bhatnagar@gmail.com
Shriram Institute of Management & Technology, Kashipur, Uttarakhand

1. INTRODUCTION
As mentioned by management guru Peter Drucker, “More and more people in the workforce- and
mostly knowledge workers- will have to manage themselves.― The average working life is likely to be
fifty years for knowledge workers. But the average life expectancy of successful business is only about
thirty years. If they want to survive for long, they will have to change their structure, their work, their
knowledge and the kind of people they employ. While the knowledge workers need to identify
themselves, their strengths, the way they work, and their contribution. Today, the culture that facilitates
psychological and spiritual development of the individual and community besides creating a cohesive
community which coordinates the creativity, well-being, self realization, and inner and outer unity of a
person with himself and with the stakeholders, environment, society and the humanity as a whole.

2. BUSINESS ETHICS
Business ethics determines rightness and wrongness of actions of a businessman. The study of what is
ethically permissible and of what is positively virtuous; in regard to business activity is what we
call business ethics. “Management ethics― is that discipline which deals with what is good and
bad, or right and wrong or with moral duty and obligation. It governs the way bi=business carries its
operations.
Business ethics applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and
business organizations as whole. In the increasingly conscience-focused marketplaces of the 21st century,
the demand for more ethical business processes and actions (known as ethicism) is increasing.
Businesses can often attain short-term gains by acting in an unethical fashion; however, such behaviors
tend to undermine the economy over time. Today most major corporate websites lay emphasis on
commitment to promoting non-economic social values under variety of headings. In some cases,
corporations have redefined their core values in the light of business ethical considerations (e.g. Bharat
Petroleum's “beyond petroleum― environment tilt).
“A business that values nothing but money is poor kind of business.―
-Henry Ford, 1863-1947 American
Industrialists
 3. INDIAN CONTEXT
India is a country of high values and ethics. It is a land where people of all religion and cultures, with
difference in languages, beliefs, social background stay together. We see that the various scriptures
written by great men of ancient times, of all the religious backgrounds, speak more or less of the same
concepts. Also, all their teachings, preaching and writings can provide as a guide for “Effective and
Ethical Management.― In present world, where “making profit― at any cost is the main motive,
and where people opine that “either you can be ethical or do business―; these teachings from the
holy books and other scriptures are a good answer to them, guiding us how both – Ethical and
management – go together.
Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969), US General, 34th President of United States said “A people
that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both―
Now, let discuss how some of the golden words of the scriptures guide us even today's corporate
scenario

4. THE RAMAYANA
One can easily co-relate the modern-say management lessons with Lord Rama's teaching in
‘Ramayana'. Lord Rama presents the masterpiece example of “leading by Value―. How a
manager has to tackle the situations is well presented by him. When Vibhishana asks him how will defeat
this huge army with your limited resources? He explains using the example of chariot, whose four wheels
denote: character, courage, ethics and valor; the four horses denote: gusto, strength, energy and
passion; and their four reins denote: forgiveness, compassion, consistency and equanimity. Thus the
weaponry: knowledge, strategy, intelligence, skills, commitment and a restraint of ego- these are the
weapons which can help us win any kind of battle. “Emotional Intelligence an embodiment of all these
things mentioned above is what makes victory possible against any opposition. You need to be consistent
in your approach to different people, no meter whom they are and where they are coming from.
Ramayana gives us example of a “good manager― in Rama, Sugriva, Vibhishana and that of a
“bad manager― in Ravana. A good manager is one who can even get his work done from the rivals
as we can take for instance; Angad (whose father was killed by Rama) actually helped in battle. This
shows the excellent managerial skill of Rama and Sughriva while Ravana being a “bad― one,
continuously ignored the suggestions of his managers, including Vibhishana, and lost the battle and his
kingdom. Other aspects of the modern-day management can be seen by: the “High Motivation―
provided by Jamvant to Hanuman when he had forgotten his powers: “Swot analysis― is done by
Hanuman in analysis the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the Lankan army, when he
was asked to convey Rama's message to Goddess Sita; the “Strategic Alliance― formed by Lord
Rama and Sugriva in which the former helped in regaining his lost kingdom while the latter helped in
providing resources and help find Sita and win overt Ravana. Business are run on relations and Lord
Rama in Ramayana has proved that a manger who can nurture good relations with the employees,
clients, and anyone in whose contact the organization and the management comes in, can do wonders in
the company.

5. THE HOLY QURAN

The holy Quran also sets out the institutional framework for achieving promised results. Various ayats in
the holy Quran guides us, how ethical concepts are implied in modern-day management. Obedience and
respect for authority is the basic fundamental requisite. It is necessary for those people who are given
the job to complete a task to obey all legal and reasonable orders and perform it reasonably, as Holy
Quran instructs in this ayat: [4:59] ‘Obey Allah and his Messenger and those in position of authority
among you. ‘The importance of “joint-consultation” and “team work” is also revealed by
the Quran. As in the following ayat: [3:159] ‘pass over (their faults), and ask for (God's) forgiveness
for them: and consult them in affairs (of moment). Then, when you have taken a decision put your trust
in God, for God loves those who put their trust (in Him). ‘The holy Quran also puts forth the principle
of “equal opportunities― which relates to the modern management as all members of an
organization shall have equal and fair to the modern management as all members of an organization shall
have equal and fair chances to grow, contribute, and be rewarded accordingly. This is presented in the
ayat: {49:13] ‘O people we created you from a single male and female couple and then divided you in
nations and tribes so that you may recognize one another. Verily the most honorable among you in the
sight of Allah is he who is most “righteous― of you. Also, speaking about the “Elimination of
wastage―, the ayat: [17:26] of the Quran: ‘And render to the kindred their due rights, as (also) to
those in want, and to the wayfarer. But waste not (your wealth, time, health, talents, opportunities etc)
in the manner of a spendthrift

6. THE HOLY BIBLE

As mentioned earlier, the corporate definition of ethics lies in knowing about actions that are good and
bad and also, treating the stakeholders with respect. The teachings of Jesus Christ and the Ten
Commandants as given in the Bible, has significant impact on business Ethics. These can be illustrated in
the following verses of the Bible: “Do into others as you would have them do to you― has the
underlying lessons for the businesses that they should treat their stakeholders; by the business operation
with the respect and honestly that they would like those people to show to them. “Love the
neighbor―; neighbor, in terms of business, are those who work in the organization itself (they are the
closest “neighbors” of the business). The term ‘love' in this verse refers to form the basis of
the family type of cultural environment that many businesses strive to achieve in the workplace. Good
businesses succeed because of the ethical bond they form with employees. “Thou shalt not bear false
witness”, “thou shalt not steal”; these verses present the ethical value of ‘honesty and
trust'. All researchers promote the values of the honesty and trust as being critical to the building of
business relationships. Honesty in terms of advertising, marketing, financial issues and the like are of
sheer importance. In addition to the above, the influence that the Bible has upon ethical business
practices is also dependent upon the individuals who lead the organization. It is not the fact that the
ethical values might be incorporated within the business code of practice, but also they will have to see
these values reinforced in practice.

7. THE BHAGAVAD GITA

The guidelines, teachings and values taught by Lord Krishna to Arjuna during the battle of the
Mahabharata, are so contained in the Bhagvad Gita. The modern management concepts like vision,
leadership, motivation, excellence in work, achieving goals, meaning of work, attitude towards work,
nature of individual, decision making, planning etc., are all discussed in the Bhagavad Gita with a sharp
insight. When Duryodhana and Arjuna were asked to choose among Lord Krishna's army or his
knowledge; Duryodhana went for his large army while Arjuna went for his wisdom. This shows that in
terms of “resources―, a manager must choose wisely and utilize optimally just as Arjuna did. Gita
also tells us about the “commitment towards work― through the law of detachment. By titling the
performance towards the anticipated benefits, the quality of performance of the present duty suffers on
account of the mental agitations caused by the anxieties of the future. The very popular Shloka 47 of
chapter 2 in the Bhagvad Gita, (“Karmanya Vadhikaraste ma phleshu kadaachan, /
ma Kampala heturbhrma te sango astav akamani―). Your right is only to do your duty, and not to its
fruit or result. Neither the result of your action should be your motive, nor should you become
inactive―. In Chapter 16 of the Gita Sri Krishna elaborates on two types of Work Ethic viz. daivi
sampat or divine work culture means fearlessness, purity, self-control, sacrifice, straightforwardness, self-
denial, calmless, absence of fault-finding, absence of greed, gentleness, modesty, absence of envy and
pride; and asuri sampat or demonic work culture means egonism, delusion, desire-centric, improper
performance, work which is not oriented towards service. This principle explains that mere “work
ethic― is not enough in as much as a hardened criminal has also a very good work culture. What is
needed is a “work ethic” conditioned by “ethics in work”. Henry Fayol, mentioned among
his principles, “subordination of individual interest to general interest― is well depicted in Shlokas
31-38 of Chapter 2 in which Lord Krishna guides Arjuna to fight “not for his own benefits, not for
satisfying his own greed or desire, but for the good of many―.

Krishna also advices, in regard to temporary failures, “No doer of good ever ends in misery―.
Every action should produce results: good action produces good results and evil begets nothing but evil.
So, one should always act well and be rewarded. Apart from helping humans in self-discovery, Gita
eulogizes Karma i.e. human endeavor of action (Karma Yoga) is better than renunciation of action
(Karma Sanyasa).

8. OTHER SCRIPTURES
Various Upanishads, Vedas, Smrutis, and other ancient Indian scriptures also contain teachings which can
be directly or indirectly applied to management ethics. The Kathopanishad is one of the most popular of
all Upanishads. The “ability to take decisions― is the real test of a manager's caliber. The mantra in
this Upanishads mentions, at every stage in a man's life he is confirmed by the necessity to choose
between two courses of action. One is sreyas which seems painful in the beginning but painful in the
end. In managerial terms, sreyas may be regarded as the hard option while preyas is the soft option. The
Taittiriya Upanishads lays down the qualifications of those who are worthy of being looked up to as
precedents. In the Yaksha Prashana episode, Yaksha asks “which path to choose?― and
Dhramputra answers: The path that great men of yore had traversed in the past is the path we should
follow. This is also mentioned by Jesus Christ in the holy Bible and also in ayat [43:32] in the holy Quran.
The Vedas contain various concepts such as knowledge management, relationship marketing, quality
system, change management, time management, etc. in terms of Social responsibility; the Vedas specify
that the poor and the needy shall be duly protected. They call upon one not to cause injury to others or
covet the wealth of others. And in terms of the Value system through transparent ethical practices in the
best interest of the society at large. The Vedas stress upon moral and ethical conduct and appeal to
every one to be guiltless and blemishless. They give the clarion call for value-centric business practices.
The individual value system of the various employees together shape up and determine the value system
of an organization to which they identify themselves with. Vedas also stress that “work itself does not
cause frustration, but something else causes frustration, it's the expectation of result―. A short story
reveals the “attitude towards work― in which: a lady asks three workers, who were cutting stones
for the construction of the temple. First says,― I am doing this horrible job of cutting stones―,
Second says,' I am working to get money for my family” while the third says, “I am building the
temple”. All the three men are doing the same work but for the first one, it is “hell”; for the
second, it is a “duty” while for the third one, it is a “blessing”. This shows attitude towards
work.

9. CONCLUSION
We cam see how relevant and important aspects of Management and Business Ethics we can discover
from our scriptures. We have seen many people advocating the concept that one can do either business
or ethics. But this is not the fact. Good actions always yield good results. One may say that Jesus Christ
was crucified even after being righteous but the real fact is, his teachings and lessons are being followed
even today and he is worshipped by so many people. At the end of the millennium, we are back to
basics.Even as society appears to be getting increasingly corrupt and criminal; many are beginning to
realize that you cannot aspire to create value without deeply cherishing a sense of values. For instance,
chairman of Wipro systems and Wipro InfoTech, Azim Premji, once called for a meeting. A senior general
manager of the company was leaving, because he had inflated a travel bill. The amount involved was not
huge. Nor was the general manager's contribution to the organization insignificant. And yet, he was
leaving because of one act of misdemeanor. It was a question of principles, of values. To add a lot of
interest to your principal, you need to stick to your principles. To sustain your competitive advantage in
an increasingly corporate world, you need character. Morals are more important than money, materials,
marketing and management.
“The winner of any corporate competition is the company whose moral purpose best fits the
prevailing environment.―- Nikos Mourkogianis, management consultant in strategy and business,
Issue 41, winter 2005. Thus, Ethical issues which are a big challenge being faced by management, need
to be paid heed at and let go unnoticed. Through core values and principles, we can reach the zenith and
we students being the prospective entrants in the corporate world, must inculcate these values from the
very beginning. This lines of Achille Silvestre, Cardinal of Roman Curia, are worth noticing which he
mentioned at a congress of the Union of Industrialists of Rome , organized under the theme
“Business Ethics and Legality―-
“Ethics and religion must not stay at home when we go to work.―

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