The home is the pathway to ethics at the workplace, which is an important part of practical spirituality, says RAMESH RAJARAMAN
Ethics or a code of conduct is very important in all areas of our life ― personal, family, social and work. Since we spend a substantial amount of our time and life doing a job, ethics at the workplace assumes great significance. Transparency and confidentiality are the two key drivers of an ethical approach in any organisation, along with a strict adherence to the rules and regulations applicable to the workplace.
But ethics is not a one-sided affair expected only from the employee. In fact, it is the employer, represented by the company management that needs to play the lead role in ethics at the workplace. Indeed, when there is a commitment from the management to run the organisation with an ethical approach, the implementation of work codes is not a difficult task or else it becomes a challenge. In progressive companies there is an ethics committee, which acts as an impartial body that monitors if ethical processes are in reality being followed in the organisation.
The committee’s responsibility is to ensure that the ethics policy defined within the framework of an ethical approach is adhered to by all the departments and the employees. The committee reviews whether there is any variation between what is defined and what is executed. If there are any gaps or lacuna, a Root Cause Analysis is done to plug them.
The gaps are highlighted and brought to the management’s notice without hiding any information, even if the findings are unpleasant. The committee members ought to enjoy the confidence of the employees and, of course, the management. In such an environment, it will be conducive for the concerned person or party to seek redressal or relief from the committee by escalating an issue. A comfort level with the committee is the key to success of an ethics policy.
Any organisation’s functioning is based on combination of three important components and they are Human Resources (Employees), Materials and Time. With an ethical way of working, effective balancing of these three resources can be achieved, without wastage of any one of these resources.
There must be clarity to all the employees on their roles and responsibilities and on deliverables expected from them. Respective supervisors should facilitate and monitor deliverables. The employees should take responsibility and be fully aware of the impact of failure, if the task is not executed by them on time. This impact awareness should include, impact on self, the team, the organisation and its credibility in the eyes of the stake holders.
Lack of adequate materials and not adhering to the timeline without any reasons is tantamount to working in an “Unethical Way” as it reflects unpreparedness to honour the commitment to the stakeholders. Necessary backup resources should be available for business continuity to ensure that commitments are honoured.
Loyalty and ethics are interpreted wrongly in some organisations. The number of years an employee has spent in an organisation is not a parameter for measuring loyalty. In fact, the yardstick for loyalty should be an employee executing his role in an ethical manner as per the operational process, rather than the duration of his/her employment.
In this age of gender equality, a very important part of a company’s ethical framework is a strict “No Gender Biasing.” Ethics at the workplace will be incomplete if gender bias continues and the tolerance level for this must be zero.
In terms of growth within the organisation for employees, performance alone should be considered as the criteria. If the performance of any employee is not up to expectation or standards laid down by the organisation, this should be communicated well in advance to give the employee room and time for correction.
It has been said that charity begins at home. The same adage can be applied to ethics. When ethics is taught and begins at home from childhood, carrying forward this culture to the workplace will be a cakewalk. The home is thus the pathway to ethics at the workplace. And ethics at the workplace is an important part of practical spirituality.
Ramesh Rajaraman with 40 years’ experience in Information Technology worked in leadership roles in top IT companies, and as CIO in a multi-speciality hospital in Chennai. A blogger and trainer, he loves music, trekking, travel and reading.
More Stories by Ramesh Rajaraman
“The home is thus the pathway to ethics at the workplace.
And ethics at the workplace is an important part of practical spirituality.”
Truly Rajaraman Ji, these two sentences back to back define the crux of Spirituality and it’s application on the matrix of workplace to arrive at a friction free life.
People Self-actualised this way can only foster a holistic way of life & living inside & outside every possible way.
Yes, I am in agreement with the contents expressed herein above. In the house, perhaps ethics in my view can cover – relationship, responsibility and resources. The crisp presentation shows the author’s experience and maturity. As said by theauthor, most of the issues we face in the workplace can be resolved. Good article on the current situation.
Great blog sir. Indeed, home is the pathway to ethics at workplace and other outside world. We carry sanskaar of our elders wherever we go.
Thank you so much for the blog based on man making for the younger generation of Indians, it’s most important to make India a better country.
Regards