07 March 2005	Monday	25 Muharram 1426

Before factoring in 'ethics retreats,' all emphasis was on the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to nab and eradicate corruption.

This emphasis is feasible only to the extent of treating the symptoms of and possibly some sources of corruption. That is, this emphasis is about addressing corruption as it surfaces and gets attention.

The assumption is that a nabbing authority will be powerful enough to deter corruption. If crime is not deterred by even elaborate law-enforcement paraphernalia, how might corruption be deterred by an agency that enters only at the end-of-the-line? To take this view is to be really very sanguine about the state of corrupt affairs.

There is now an attempt to rise above the NAB-dependent sanguine approach to dealing with corruption. "Ethics retreats' are now being promoted to sensitize people to ethical requirements so that they may not succumb to the temptations of corrupt practices.

It is assumed that such retreats will serve to pre-empt corruption. In this context, it is said that such retreats are popular in the corporate world elsewhere. This is, however, only a fraction of a leaf out of the corporate world's experiences in developed countries.

Organizations develop codes of ethics not in an isolated senior corporate office. Rather, these are developed with consensus and sold within the organization. Seminars are held to sensitize people to it through an intense internal marketing effort.

Even after the code is adopted, the danger remains that some might still deviate. If the risk of deviation is still high, an ethics organization is set up with VP (ethics), Managers (ethics), and so on. Rank and file of this ethics department are created.

The ethics department serves as a watchdog and brings deviant practices to the notice of concerned authorities for remedial action. Whistle blowing too is encouraged in these organizations as a part of effective execution of ethics strategy. Ethical aspects are incorporated in company strategy.

Strategy is then evaluated on this score as well and the company conducts an ethical audit to give itself a score on this crucial dimension of competitiveness. No one is allowed to deviate merely because he or she might consider it to be in the interest of the organization. Through the above exercise, ethical requirements are made congruent with organizational goals.

When organizational effectiveness is viewed as synonymous with ethical behaviour and good ethics considered to be good business organization-wide, the ethics department is ready to be declared redundant and disbanded. Now ethical behaviour is established as modal behaviour and each one serves as a check and balance on another. This means that a value system has been established and ethical premise ingrained in employee behaviour. It goes without saying that the organization has been led by example all along.

The above development, however, does not mean that no deviation is likely to occur. The difference now is that deviants, if any, will be outliers and will not represent the norm as the norm has been overturned.

Previously, ethical people were outliers as the norm was to be corrupt. So, we cannot seek comfort in the fact that there is corruption even in developed countries. For, if there is corruption there, they are made a dirty example of like Enron, WorldCom, and Arthur Andersen were.

The level of corruption in our country is, therefore, significantly different from that in developed countries where corruption is not the modal behaviour whereas that is what it is in our country. So, a different outlook and approach is required from the tools used in developed countries for the purpose. While the tools used by them are retreats and regulatory mechanisms, we need to build beyond these to suit our requirements while dealing with high-level corruption.

First, we have to shed the mindset of being pleased with our below average and mediocre performance. Unless there is dissatisfaction with the state of existing affairs, there can be no progress at an acceptable enough pace. A part of our 'satisfied' state of mind is cultural that emanates from a false notion of some religious teachings without realizing that religions have been some of the most powerful revolutionary forces in human history. That divine messages kept coming one after other shows how dissatisfied the Creator Himself has been with the state of affairs on earth. So, dissatisfaction propels change for the better which needs to be understood by all.

Second, on earth itself, there are some parts that are better geared to serve their people and these are called the more developed countries. The fact that we are less so cannot be addressed by citing the deviant outliers in developed countries. So, the gravity of the situation must be seen as it is on the home ground.

The organizations that are corruption infested must be identified for the purpose of cleaning on the lines discussed above which attempt should be in parallel with the new strategic direction being given to many of them.

Depending upon the extent of corruption prevailing in an organization, ethics policy may need to grow beyond a simple code of ethics into a full-fledged 'ethics department' with a sunset clause which can be reached only if the organization is managed on sound principles of strategic management wherein management of ethics goes by default.

Third, the question that organizations operate in a corrupt environment which is why they find it very difficult to insulate themselves is a germane enough question that needs to be addressed. This question can, however, be addressed at two levels: it is entirely possible for organizations to insulate themselves as has been the case in some well-managed private sector organizations and some educational institutions even though they are in the public sector.

These organizations have promoted sound values even though the societal norm was to the contrary, for example, absence of student-to-student cheating, punctuality, concern for all business stakeholders and due returns to each, integrity, and honesty in all business dealings. The local offices of MNCs also insulate themselves from the external environment and create an internal environment that attracts the talents.

So, if the above organizations have been able to do this in the same country, why not others? If some other poorly performing organizations too steeped in corruption find it difficult to emerge from the morass and are also resource poor, inter alia, for reasons of corruption, then two-pronged approach is necessitated for sure. That is, an attempt to turn the organization around should be combined with effort towards a change in the broader environment as well that should be undertaken regardless anyways. Otherwise, questions will abound. That is, why is it that only we have to tread a certain path and not others? This calls for distributive justice and equity and we are nowhere near it yet.

For, this requires a 'national code of conduct or ethics' that must be developed with the concurrence of all. And, in order to do this we will need to be on the same wave length vis-à-vis corrupt acts. For, what looks corrupt to some does not appear so to others. So, what all entails corruption is the first question on which consensus will need to be developed?

The questions would then range from disproportionate ownership and income share from agricultural land handed down from ancestors who, in turn, acquired the same for some specific service not found legitimate now or even then; absence of horizontal equity in income taxation when the agricultural sector equals do not pay equally; permanent 'contract' labour; profiteering; commissions and kickbacks viewed as a normal part of income; living above means from illegal incomes but viewed respectably by the society; voting higher and higher salaries for own selves in the legislature when prices of essentials such as wheat and sugar are spiralling upwards; pelf and privileges for own selves including state-financed umra trips; and absence of the concept of 'halal' incomes and 'halal' benefits which is paradoxical in a country concerned only about 'halal' foods.

There is call for an end to corruption when a vast segment of the society has difficulty differentiating legitimate from illegitimate. What the society permits or sanctions, however illegitimate it may be, becomes permissible and, therefore, legitimate.

For as long as 'permissible' is 'legitimate' and, therefore, considered not corrupt; we will keep going in circles chasing corruption to little or no avail until such time we first agree on what all is corrupt. So, "corruption" first requires national definition, consensus, and assimilation of the concept without which the intrinsically corrupt will be viewed as legitimate if allowed by the society. It is the societal value system that needs to be turned on the head if the modal behaviour is to be changed from that of deviant to what is called intrinsically legitimate and, therefore, corruption-free.