Experiences with Truth

Truth being the most essential virtue which has been deliberated for times immemorial, needs no clarification, but requires emphasis and practice. This is mandatory in order to build it into one’s nature.

In a chaotic world of today, that it is, employers show serious concern and look for integrity and truthfulness in their staff. While it is essential for them to do so, introspection of the policies and strategies of the company to ensure compliance is of greater importance.

Experience has been that companies had policies, that were simple and clear but always left scope for subjectivity and deviation. More a rule than exception, many of these look deliberate attempts, just to cater to an exceptional situation. Worse is the case when even strategies are applied in many ways far from being truthful. The virtues in such cases are scrapped and compromised. Shamefully these biases are termed as tact.

Many fail to understand that human intelligence can easily decipher the falsehood and true intentions in between the lines of such policies fall out almost immediately. Then, lost is the respect for the document, its philosopher and the entity which subscribes to it. Obviously, then the preaching of truth in such a scenario becomes a mockery on self. It is very difficult to practice truth unless one is true to oneself. Thus, it always begins with individual selves.

The seed of truthfulness is in self. So is it to the company as well. Ethics that a company follows form the basis of any company’s brand image. In every decision taken and implemented irrespective of its intensity impacts the company’s ethics. Basis to ethics is the social responsibility to any company to include the society in its growth. While providing for employment, upgrading the quality of living and earning profits to the investors, companies also build an environment of well-being of the community and society. Ethics come to play, when decisions of the company impact the society, environment, community, culture, consumers, staff, or any sub-group. Justice needs to be done to all of them.

In order to combat with biases prevalent all over, now Relativism has become an integral part in Ethics taught in B schools. Relativism essentially means that decisions cannot be fully right or fully wrong. So is the intention to be truthful. The objective is somewhere in between. Based on the varying degrees of benefits that a decision can cater to, in terms of the different beneficiaries involved, this can be classified to Naive, Role, Social Group or Culture relativism. Besides Relativism, other ethical practices are Universalism, Utilitarianism, and Natural Law.

Truth forms the basis of ethics. In any organization, truthful intentions are not of any worth as intention alone; they need to be transformed to action through (a) proper framework of policies, (b) sincere execution and (c) review their effectiveness through proper systems in place. Not missing out the very vital process in this exercise is the clear communication to the stake holders.

Truthfulness must be maintained in communication and sugarcoating must be avoided, as this would earn distrust from the stakeholders. Presentation of facts without masking the truth does not mean being blunt and rude. It involves a great amount of artful and tactful presentation facts on the positive approach and right perspective and still being truthful in doing so.

As abstract as it sounds, it is true that truth cannot be hidden but at the same time without right perspective, one may lose sight of the obvious truth and fall prey to illusions. It is always a clear Win – when we practice truthfulness to the fullest extent in life, from self, family members, friends, colleagues, superiors, neighbors, to anybody and everybody that we come across in whatever form.

Lets preach and practice truth.

 

[published in ‘The Chanakya’, Journal of Kirloskar Institute of Advanced Management Studies (KIAMS) Pune : Jan 2010]