Ethics for young managers

I teach Business Ethics at a Management School and students often ask me, why should ethics matter to me, a young manager? Is not ethics something to be bothered about by the CEOs and the like? Is it not “Get on, Get honour and Get Honest?”

Good questions. The answer is fairly simple. You cannot plant a neem sapling and expect mangoes. You can’t start off on an unethical path and then suddenly hope to become ethical once you are a CEO. If you think the answer is rather simplistic, remember, some of the greatest truths are the simplest! Maharashtra opposition leader Eknath Kadse visited the high security prison in November last year and asked Kasab as to how he felt in jail. “Jaisa Boya, Waisa Kata” (as we sow, so we reap) was the nugget of wisdom from Kasab. He would know better!

I believe that none of us want to be unethical. Everybody wants to be happy and be happy with a clear conscience. The pursuit of happiness is one of the purposes of life.  So, where is the difficulty?
Most of the time we know what is right and what is wrong, but knowing is different from doing. Not everyone has the fortitude, strength of character, or motivation to act in ways that one knows is good in the long run.

Ethical dilemmas abound in life. Finding and following the moral course is not easy for any of us, but the difficulty is even more acute for business people. The bottom line is necessarily unforgiving. The pressure for “results” is intense. Correspondingly, the temptation to cheat is greater in business. Perhaps, Ramalinga Raju would endorse this.

What does a young manager do when there is temptation to cheat the customer which allows him to win a big incentive? Should he/she be loyal to the customer, or to the organisation or to his/her profession? Do loyalty to organisation/profession and loyalty to the customer conflict in such cases?  
I see no conflict. Peter Drucker once said, “The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous”, implying that if marketers are able to identify and cater to unfulfilled needs of the customers, the products don’t need to be forced upon a customer. To be a successful manager, one cannot imagine being incompetent and ethical any more than one can imagine being competent but unethical.

Remember the imagery of a tree, one plants a mango sapling for the succulent fruits that it would give in good time.  The fruits are the output of the leaves and trunks in the presence of sunlight. The sustenance however, comes from the roots. If the character is akin to roots, and talent and skills akin to leaves and trunk, a tree bereft of roots will soon die. So, also a very competent young manager bereft of character will soon fade out. But roots alone aren’t helpful; young managers require to develop talents and skills to succeed and flourish. 

Ethical dilemma comes into play when two or more of our values conflict. For example, assume yourself as a manager who cherishes equally values of justice and mercy. Should you, as a manager, overlook a glaring mistake by a subordinate whose son has been hospitalised? Justice argues one side and mercy the other, and both are right.

You now face an ethical dilemma. You may resort to some form of decision making based on gut feeling or what one calls as instinct. But then, our gut is not always trained to make complicated ethical decisions. We need to train ourselves to analyse ethical dilemma at times when we are not actually faced by them. That way, our minds are unclouded and the process of learning is better.

This is where a good business school with an ethical background can help. You can then hope to be equipped to handle the situation when it actually occurs.

The logical question is, in countries like India, where criminals escape, how does one stand his foot? The strategy is to develop strength, financial and technical competence. As a young manager it helps to develop a protective ring around you.  After all, the world has and will always have its share of black sheep. Develop ethical customers, vendors and clients. You will soon realise that you will be attracting more of the like.  This is the law of the universe.

An important question is often raised, are professional and personal ethics related? Many believe that they are not but character does not stay at home when we go to work just as the shell of a turtle does not stay in water when the turtle decides to take a walk!

As a young manager, practice deferred gratification. May be deferring that pizza that you planned for tonight’s dinner to the next week is a good starter! One of my good friend once remarked, “It is easy to be ethical when the money (stake) involved is small.  What if the stake runs to billions”?

Point well taken, so get started with small things and go on to larger things and values! The story is said of a king of Mysore who used to carry a calf on his shoulders climbing up the Chamundi hills as a part of his physical training. Overtime, as the calf grew big, he was eventually carrying a full grown bull to the astonishment of the onlooker, but did he feel the pain of training?! Young managers, start now, lest it will be too late! “Dude, You know it Better, Go Ethical.”

(The writer is Chairperson, SDMIMD, Mysore.  He teaches “Ethics and Values in Management”)