The rising `business wars' and `market demands' emanating from the changed socio-economic scenario need to be regulated and fashioned in a no-harm pattern with the help of `value based strategies'. To balance organizational demands, employee esteem and consumer behavior, new strategies have to be evolved to mitigate the evils of corporate fraud/politics. No doubt, it's difficult to establish `ethical practices' in the realm of management, but it deserves immediate attention as it forms the DNA of corporate growth.
"Every business transaction is a moral challenge to see that both parties come out fairly. The spirit of the Golden Rule or of win-win, is a spirit of morality, of mutual benefit, of fairness, for all concerned."
The string of highly published corporate scams such as Enron, Worldcom, etc., have brought to the fore the need for evolving an atmosphere in the corporate sector which emphasis the importance of preserving and protecting the values and virtues pertaining to its area of activity. Whether we call it `corporate governance' or something else is besides the point, our main focus will be on maintaining the `business tempo', which in turn depends on the integrity levels of various departments in the organization. This becomes inevitable in view of the growing size and complexity of corporate undertakings across the globe. It is not an exaggeration to say that some of the companies are becoming increasingly larger than the `State' in terms of the resources at their command and the impact they deliver on people's lives. As such, the `value consciousness' hidden in various forms across the spectrum, needs to be translated into programmable action for meeting the emerging scenario characterized by `mergers' and `acquisitions', by most of the concerns. This growing thrust for business consolidation necessarily points in the direction towards a new scenario wherein the potential interests of shareholders and stakeholders are protected on equal footing. Questioning the stereotypic notions, i.e., business means fraud and manipulation; many modern approaches that have been created for business development in recent times bring into light the new awareness on the `value based strategies'. Even the so-called `corporate governance' philosophy that is catching the imagination of industrial circles in third world countries like India relies heavily on the impetus drawn from a value based approach to business interests. Though the concept of `value' is unexplainable in concrete terms, the focus is found to be more on the element of `justice' in various realms of organizational growth. Overcoming hurdles like state control, business monopoly and market forces, the management strategies have gone to the extent of incorporating the societal interests while promoting the business values. In the name of `business ethics' many attempts are being made by the strategists to balance the `commercial values' with that of `human values' so as to evolve a dynamic organizational structure in tune with the fast-changing dynamics. A time has come to measure the credibility of an enterprise in terms of its ability to implement value chart in a given span of time. Even the `brand image' of the products is being determined by the extent of resources spent on `social agenda' chalked out by the management. The Microsoft experiences in this regard stand as a valid point. Gone are the days when a business promotion used to be a one-way affair, unmindful of employee interests and consumer welfare, leading to a poor profile of the business world in the eyes of the public. The globalized business environment puts enormous pressure on the enterprises to take into account many issues that affect the vital interests of cross-sections, both within and outside the organization. The proclaimed `core values' by the companies are also being put under public scanner, and so there emerged a competitive atmosphere between the rival companies to implement them.
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