Every day we take decisions. Our actions have an impact on other people’s lives and determine how ethically we behave. Every day we stand in front of a crossroad and we are left with two choices: right or wrong?
by Claudia Giampietri
Article published on issue 30 of African Woman (http://www.africanwomanmagazine.net/)
Imagine the following scenario: the end of the last year of high school is approaching and the students are preparing for the final exams. One morning, the math teacher is doing some revision with his class when he receives an urgent call and exits the room. Among the students the silence falls and the atmosphere is tense. Everybody seems to be thinking the same thing but nobody dares to make a move. Until Jeff stands up and says: ”He has the final papers with him. We should have a look and copy the exercises. The teacher will never realize it if we do it quickly.” After a brief discussion on the risks involved, the classmates agree and they all hasten to copy the contents of the papers. All but one. Francesca refuses to follow them in what seems to be a blatant action of cheating. She says: ”I have been studying hard throughout the year and I want to demonstrate myself and my teacher what I can actually do. What you are doing is wrong!” Deaf to what sounds to be a call of conscience, the rest of the class puts aside any sense of guilt and starts enjoying the perspective of final outstanding marks. Now, should Francesca reveal the truth to the headmaster with the risk of punishment for her classmates?
I guess that many of us during school - and also at work – have been daunted by such questions. Should I take a shortcut? How about revealing the truth when others involved may be punished? These are all ethical questions. Ethics is, in fact, a philosophical concept which, in very simple terms, is about what makes actions right or wrong. When applied to real-life situations we are confronted with cases such as the one described above and our reactions determine the level of integrity that we have as individuals and societies. According to a famous American law professor, Stephen Carter, integrity requires three steps: (1) discerning what is right and what is wrong; (2) acting on what you have discerned, even at personal cost; and (3) saying openly that you are acting on your understanding of right from wrong. Eventually, it seems that all is down to our capability of recognizing what is right from what is wrong.
African Woman has interviewed Hon. Miria Matembe, the Ugandan former Minister of Ethics and Integrity from 1998 to 2003, who has been in charge of assessing and improving the level of ethics of the country during her term.
Miria Matembe explains that the Ministry of Ethics and Integrity was created in the late 1990s in response to a big public outcry on corruption coming both from Ugandans and development partners. ”I was the first Minister of Ethics and Integrity to be appointed. In the period after the war all value-systems broke down and the president initially assigned the responsibility of fighting corruption to the vice president who then founded an anti-corruption unit. They soon realised that the anti-corruption unit was actually dealing with the symptoms instead of tackling the cause, which was a generalised absence of ethical values. It was then the Ministry of Ethics and Integrity was created.”
Miria Matembe says that she was chosen as minister because she leads an ethical life. ”To my understanding ethics is meant to be a code of conduct, a code of rules that govern people’s behaviour.” Referring to ‘people’, Hon. Matembe has different categories in mind: those in public offices, professional bodies, and families too.
”The hardstick for judging whether your behaviour is right or wrong is not yourself – Miria Matembe continues – but it is the expectation of the society in which we live and that determines the common good.” Hon. Matembe adds that the rules established by the society apply to a certain time and space, therefore they are subjected to changes. The role of the Minister of Ethics, for instance, is to set guidelines that would help people in public offices to behave with integrity and for the benefit of the society they are serving.
”When it comes to professions, each one has established their own code of conducts. For instance lawyers, doctors, engineers, and media have certain rules that are set to prevent them from damaging others.” Clearly things do not always go the way they should, and the breaches of rules within professional bodies are common. When it comes to ethics in business, Matembe warns that the omnipresent risk that companies run is to choose profits at the expenses of ethics. Some experts would regard the system, that sees businesses having the only purpose of maximizing their profits, historically responsible for the collapse of big tycoons. ”Instead, a business company as much as the society – continues Miria Matembe – is an associations of human beings and it is essential that in setting their goals, companies take in considerations ethical issues.” New trends, in fact, show that in recent years there has been an increase in conscience-focused business. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), for instance, is a strategy ever more commonly adopted by companies around the world. CRS is a self-regulating mechanism to monitor and ensure that ethical standards and laws are respected within the business. It is a chance for the companies that embrace it to behave responsibly and act for the public interest, since their decisions have an impact on employees, consumers, communities and the environment.
”I strongly believe that people with power, and money gives power, have a big responsibility. Business people have resources that should be used for the benefit of the community at large,” Matembe comments.
When it comes to the difficulties that the developing world faces in defining and respecting ethical standards, Mira Matembe advocates that poor countries have much bigger challenges. ”When you are poor you don’t have much choices, and you end up doing what you would not have done,” she admits. ”That is why there is a pressing need for positive role models that encourage society to do better. The first inputs that human beings receive come from the family. If families fail in instilling ethical values, then it is predictable that society as a whole will collapse.” The temptation to behave in an unethical fashion may be grater for poor people, but that does not mean poverty exempts people from living according to the rules that govern and ensure civilised society.
Matembe tells how her father taught her not to crave for something that he was unable to give her. Through the teachings of her father she learned to nurture a sense of contentment with what she had and avoid becoming dissatisfied with what she could not get. ”This does not mean that you should not have a vision or dreams for you future. Set your self a goal and make sure that the means through which you reach that goal are ethical.”
Matembe talks with a certain pride of the family model she grew up with, suggesting that the fear of shame was enough to encourage her to do the right thing. While fear of discovery is often sufficient motivation for children to act in the right way, by the time they are adults, people should have made the value of integrity their own, and should do the right thing even of no one will know. Integrity is not a value that can be saved for times when others are around to see. Taking the right decision and making choices which are consistent with one’s values is not easy at any stage in life or status in society. Nevertheless, it remains the only viable option if we are to maintain a society that can meet the needs of all its citizens.
FACT BOX
Worldwide corruption’s index: where does Uganda stand?
Corruption is a plight for each and every country around the world. Some countries are highly affected while others seem to manage in keeping it under control. According to the Transparency International 2008 Corruption Index, Uganda is not at the very bottom but could certainly do better. The scores used indicate the degree of public sector corruption as perceived by business people and country analysts, and ranges between 10 (highly clean) and 0 (highly corrupt).
Uganda places itself at the 126th position with a score of 2.6, between the two East African neighbouring countries: Kenya fills place 147 with a meagre 2.1, while Tanzania – which seems to be doing better – stands at position 102 with a score of 3.0.
And… the checklist to be always on track.
The following list has been developed by Darring Clement, a student of marketing at a Canadian university. The ‘10-Point Ethics Checklist’ is proved to be a very useful tool to verify whether we are going in the right direction, something that is good to have within reach in case we are suddenly overwhelmed by doubts on what to do.
Here is Darring’s 10-Point Ethics Checklist.
The Golden Rule: Would I want people to do this to me?
The Fairness Test: Who might be affected and how? Is this fair to everyone?
The ‘What if everybody did this?’ Test: Would I want everyone to do this? Would I want to live in that kind of world?
The Truth Test: Does this action represent the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
The Parents Test: How would my parents feel if they found out about this? What advice would they give me?
The Children Test: Would I be willing to explain everything about this to my kids and expect them to act in the same way?
The Religion Test: Does this go against my religion?
The Conscience Test: Does this go against my conscience? Will I feel guilty?
The Consequences Test: Are there possible consequences of this action that would be bad? Would I regret doing this?
The Front Page Test: How would I feel if my action were reported on the front page of my hometown paper?
1 Comment
July 21, 2009 at 12:59 pm
…the “golden rule” may be called respect …and it is the one aspect shared in the main religions …and it should be the main rule for human societies …in pubblic and private relationships! …but cause of the fact that people cares more about what they look like then about what they are …the leading rule becomes the “front page test” …kind of threat that works for a better behaviour in human relationships! …about what is right and what is wrong …I mean Albert Einstein gave a nice point of view to whom it may concern …