How do we weigh the daily decisions of life, how do we put meaning to the actions we take and how do we justify them? Morality! To choose between right or wrong, to do or not to do, to act or not to act. Morality places on us a responsibility, to weigh judgment in thought, in act and in consequence.
What is Business? Not the theoretical, academic strain of thought but business from the view point of the game players; it is growth, profitability and sustaining both. That is the game plan that is the reality; a battlefield of dog headed men itching and fighting for the same goal. But in my naïve way of thinking, I believe business is all about value. The sole essence of business is the creation and sustenance of value. It is what creates profit, your ability to create value and your ability to market it. It is what gives business continued and sustained relevance.
Morality! Your first thought is self, people not systems not businesses. There is a deep seated belief that morality applies to people. So when people tread under the cover of institutions, their thought is necessity (doing what’s necessary) not morality. It becomes clear that the line between human desire and morality is blurred and so the thought is how do you sustain business if it is not founded on morality? Business minded people would probably say we have our own rules and it’s not about right or wrong but rather ensuring the efficiency and stability of the system we operate in so that nearly everyone can smile home or to the bank. Business is as such not a stand point of morality but necessity, the end justifying the means.
Morality is a question of judgment and business is about the object, achievement. The bridging line is ethics. The principles people are expected to exhibit in the light of their moral compasses or the expected moral compasses in line with their profession. People do what’s necessary, so a man will always do what’s right not because he accepts it but because it is expected and socially acceptable and so also he would in like manner act in business ensuring the sustenance of the business. It’s an interesting game! So the question is would anything thrive without morality?
The blunt reality is that people hold high the notion that businesses are cash cows and people are the instruments of achievement. It is not a question of whether it’s right or wrong but rather what makes the money, what achieves the goal, what sustains the business. It is not the emotional sentiments of reason, the ethical delusions of principle or the equity of law. It is about the creation and sustenance of the object, profit. Men would put morality as a question of perception, social and cultural acceptance. What is acceptable to a man or a people or culture may not be acceptable to the next; the ethnic and ethic diversities. Its people choosing to weigh morality against the bigger picture and the ultimate objective. For or against? What is right or wrong is thus a question of circumstance not morality. So I wonder what is Business?
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