Is there a ‘right time’ to be ethical? (Sabong News)
Author
Sonny Coloma
Date
MARCH 11 2022
So there: we are now told that there is a better time to be ethical. Tasks with ‘a moral component’ such as, balancing the company books, or closing high-value transactions, are better performed in the morning. Evidently, the ‘flesh is weaker’ even if the “spirit is willing” whenever managers and employees are more likely to be physically tired.
This hypothesis is based on an experiment on dishonest behavior, disguised as a decision-making scenario, in which the participants were offered more money if they lied. Sixty five percent lied in the afternoon compared to 43 per cent who lied in the morning.
Is there really a ‘right time’ to be ethical?
I think it is time to go past academic or clinical studies and get real: leaders of organizations need to be more proactive and decisive in fostering ethical behavior. This becomes more imperative at a time when morality has been ‘relativized’ by unique concepts such as “post-truth” and “alternative facts.”
“Post-truth,” chosen by Oxford Dictionary as the 2016 word of the year, means “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion that appeals to emotion and personal belief’.”
Post-truth’s ascendancy has been accompanied by a surge in populism, a situation in which the ‘broad masses’ have found salvation in messiahs who have declared themselves defenders of the disenfranchised against the elites. Their anger has been stoked, their prejudices have been reinforced, and an “us versus them” mindset has been foisted. The Economist observes that the term post-truth “picks out the heart of what is new: that truth is not falsified, or contested, but of secondary importance.”
Enter social media and understand the emergent scenario: “Lies, rumor and gossip spread with alarming speed. Lies that are widely shared online within a network, whose members trust each other more than they trust any mainstream-media source, can quickly take on the appearance of truth.”
It is imperative then that those who value the truth stand up and be counted.
Among the time-tested guides that continue to thrive is the Rotary’s Four-Way Test of “what we think, say and do.” As a college student several decades ago — along my 40-plus kilometer daily bus and jeepney commute from Makati to Diliman — I became aware of the ubiquitous Rotary posters proclaiming the four way test:
1 Is it the truth?
2 Is it fair to all concerned?
3 Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
4 Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
Having been a Rotarian for nearly 35 years, I have found the Four Way Test to be a simple, straightforward and practical guide to daily living and interaction with people. It calls attention to the need to follow one’s conscience and do what is right, while respecting others. Being tired or worn down, being pressured or stressed are situations that must be managed, not states of mind or health that could be used to justify lying and other acts of wrongdoing.
There would be no need for hairsplitting definitions of what behaving ethically means, or rationalizations for less than ethical behavior if those engaged in business and the professions will live by this tenet —
“I shall value success in my vocation as a worthy ambition only when achieved as a result of service to society and as it helps others to be successful. I shall accept no profit nor distinction which arises from unfair advantage, abuse of privilege or betrayal of trust…”
