17-03-2014, 04:58 PM
Indian Philosophy and Business Ethics
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“Ethics” was once considered irrelevant by corporate loyalists, but now discussion of it is increasingly seen as not only important but also as critical to a company’ssuccess.
. The purpose and objective of the paperis to explore and understand the meaning of business ethics in the context of Indian philosophical thought. The study focuses mainly on the contribution of Hindu philosophical thought though makes reference to other philosophicalthoughts namely Buddhism, Jainism and Arthashastra. The discussion is divided into four sub-sections.
In the first section an attempt has been made to understand the broad characteristics of Indian philosophy and ethics. In the second section a brief outline of management ethos in Indian philosophy has been given. In the third part an attempt has been made to fi nd the relevance of Ph ilosophical ethics to
modern corporate governance.
And finally the last section deals with individual ethics in Indian philosophy. The entire discussion revolves around the axis of establishing link and relevance between Indian ethics, as found in Indian
philosophy and modern business ethics.
Indian Philosophy and Business Ethics: A Review
Introduction
Different meaning is given to business ethics by variouspeople. Business ethics are rules of business conduct, by which the propriety of business activities may be judged. Ethical principles are dictated by the society and underlie broad social policies. These principles when known, understood and accepted, determine generally the propriety or impropriety of business activities.
Business ethics also relates to the be havior of manager. It can be defined as an attempt to
ascertain the responsibilities and ethical obligations of business professionals.
Here the focus is in people, how individuals should conduct themselves in fulfilling the ethical requirements of business? Carter McNamara has defined:
“Business ethics is generally coming to know what is right or wrong in the work place and doing what is right- this is in regard to effects of products/services andin relationship with stakeholders.”
There are three key reasonswhy ethics plays a key role in business.
First, it is crucial that ethics have a considerable influence if we want an efficient, smoothly operating economy. Ethics helps the market to its best.Second, the government, laws and lawyers cannot resolve certain key problems of business and protect the society: ethics can. Ethics can only resolve futuristic issues such as technology races ahead much faster than the government.
Regulations almost always lag behind.That company’s social responsibility extends beyond what the law strictly requires.
Third, ethical activity is valuable in itself, for its own sake, because it enhances the quality of lives and the work we do-business has an ethical responsibility for fairness for humanity, e.g. employee.
Thomas Donaldson sumps up that “there is a growing realization all over the world that ethics is vitally important for any business and for the progress of any society.
Characteristics of Indian Business Ethics:
True, ethical behavior and ethics as a science do not necessarily presuppose a religious-philosophical creed.
However, not only does every activity presuppose some knowledge of pragmatic matters, it al
so involves ideas or beliefs regarding the nature of the objective world and the subject.
In ethical behavior man has to be conscious of himself as a moral agent, and this presupposes some definite concepts of the human self,as also of the goal(s) or value(s) which man has to
realize through his conduct.
Indian philosophy ethical behavior may be both social and personal. Ethics as an institution of life has been recognized here from the very early age of the Vedas.
Rather it has been recognized as the most basic element in human life. But then it has not necessarily been
recognized as a social enterprise in the sense of being an instrument of the society to help guide the people living in the society.
It is rather engrained in the very being of the universe. Ethics has a divine origin. Man has simply to adopt it from there.
The institution of ethics has for its basic concern the regulation of man’s lower inclinations and promotion of the higher ones in realization of his aspirations as a man.
It is in such a concern that the transition from ‘is’ to ‘ought’ is involved.
The natural inclinations of man go in favor of his own egoistic interest and therefore it is the concern of ethics to instruct him to feel, think and do for others also.
The scarifies of one’s egoistic interests does not always mean giving up one’s egoistic interests for
the sake of others, but also for the sake of the higher ones.