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BUSINESS ETHICS IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR

WHAT IS ETHICS?

Ethics relates to:- doing things right- doing things at the right time- doing what one can justify- fair treatment- avoiding the immoral- discharging responsibility with undoubted integrity

Can doing things right reflect ethics?

Without going to details, we can agree that doing things right is one of the good reflections of ethics. Baby feeding is followed by teaching the baby on how to feed himself. The baby is madeto learn on the right way of feeding himself. When things go wrong in this teaching/learning process the baby is repeatedly followed up until it is made sure that he is up to the standard of self feeding. It can then be said that he can do it right. But what is wrong in as long as he cansomehow put the food in his mouth? It is wrong because of the moral and social values attachedthereto. We can proceed on this line including other activities the baby is thought includingdressing, greetings, etc. all concentrating on enabling the baby appreciate the moral values.

Doing things right OK, but why at the right time?

Time taken should as of necessity be attached to evaluate if the activity is performed withinethical standards. One can be given an assignment to perform. If the assignment could be performed within hours, but has unreasonably taken a week, there should be clear reason tosuspect ethical problems. If a surgery scheduled to take place tomorrow is unreasonably postponed to the next day, the likelihood of its being cancelled due to death of the patient will behigh. Even though we advocate lateness to absence, we must ensure that the cause of lateness isnot ethical problem. HENCE TIMELINESS.

Doing what you can justify.

There is observable confusion between justification and excuse. This must be made clear. Wherewe cannot justify our deeds, we revert to listing of excuses. That gives the symptom of ethical problems. We are either lazy, incompetent, not genuine, immoral or other unethical problem iswithin us if we fail to do what we should do or if we fail to justify what we did. There is human problem of not accepting failures and reverting to excuses. Can this forum find a way out where

we are at all times ready to accept our failures and ready for corrections? If we succeed in that,then we are many steps forward towards ethics.Fair treatment as indicative of prevalence of business ethicsAll those to be served by an institution deserve fair treatment. There is a clear conflict in the proper interpretation of the old Amharic saying, ‘YEBAID MOGNE KELIJIH IKUL ARGEGN’(meaning to say, unwise stranger claims equal treatment like own son). Though the saying is notmeant to promote unfair treatment, it is frequently misused to the extent that it is better unlearned. Institutional service should not discriminate. If it does, then that is another signal of ethical problems.

Can we avoid the immoral?

Appreciating what is immoral is prerequisite to avoid it. The capacity to judge between what ismorally good and the immoral paves the way to ethical handling of things and tasks. What is feltto be too immoral by one can be considered as immaterial by the other. Where then is the socialnorm to differentiate between the two. For instance, the policy of a bank could read that acustomer who issues an insufficient fund cheque should be penalized Birr 50 on the first instance. Whileimplementing this, a clerk took the discretion to waive the penalty for a client and applied it onthe other. Asked to explain, the clerk tried to justify and said, “Client A threatened that he wouldshift his business to another bank, whereas, client B accepted the penalty with regrets for hisdeeds.” Can anything appeal to the moral of the clerk? Did the clerk avoid anything immoral?Did he operate within acceptable social norms? Was he loyal to his company policy? Was hewrong? Should we appreciate that he has saved a client for his bank? We can discuss that latter.

Integrity?

Can’t we do without it?Integrity is just a word but encompasses various concepts.Credibility, Stability, Respect, Character, Responsibility, Self-discipline, Perseverance,Emotional maturity and Moral courage are all in one reflections of integrity. Encompassing allthese multi-facet concepts, how simple could it be to say somebody is a man of integrity? Howeffective can an employer be in measuring integrity? Do we recommend its inclusion in performance evaluation of employees? No matter how complex it is there can be no dream,leave aside reality to do away with integrity. At the minimum the symptoms of absence of integrity should not be manifested on the individual, company or customer.

IS BUSNESS ETHICS IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR OF ANY EMPHASIS ASDISTINCT FROM OTHER SECTORS?

Whether we speak of institutions in our financial sector or otherwise, we cannot escape thefrequently asked question; "How is the leadership of the institution in promotion of Ethics”.For ethics to have significance in any given institution, the leaders need to be principlecentered. Is it that easy to have principle centered leaders in all organizations? What do wemean when we say a leader is principle centered?Stephen covey has this to say;

Principles are not invented by us or by society; they are the laws of the universe that pertain tohuman relationships and human organizations. They are part of the human condition,consciousness, and conscience. To the degree people recognize and live in harmony with suchbasic principles as fairness, equity, justice, integrity, honesty and trust, they move toward either survival and stability on the one hand or disintegration and destruction on the other.

To assess how easy or difficult to have principle centered leadership in all institutions, it isimportant, I believe, to consider the following list of characteristics of such leaders as set out byStephen is important.

They are continuously learning 2.

They are service oriented 3.

They radiate positive energy4.

They believe in other people5.

They lead balanced lives6.

They see life as an adventure

They are synergistic

It is to be noted that it does not mean possessing one of the above characteristics would makesomebody a principle centered leader but only the mix of all the above. Even though theleadership of a given institution is at least very near to possess all the above qualities, it is not100% proof that business ethics in that organization is at perfection due to personal leveldifferences among people. We can however agree that it has a significant role.