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DHARMA AND THE WORK CULTURE AND ETHICS OF INDIA.A few years back I had an excellent experience, when I was in Kolkata to get myMasters degree certificate from Kolkata University. Actually I as an Indian also a partof the same system and am no saint when I say that I had lost my Masters Degreecertificate and that necessitated me to go to Kolkata to get the duplicate copy of the original certificate. I went to the University office at sharp 0900hrs only to findthe chairs are empty and desks are strewn with heaps of what looked like officialdocuments everywhere. When I enquired about the gentlemen that I was supposedto meet the janitor told me that the gentleman will only occupy his seat at 1030hrs.Fine, I had one and a half hour to browse through various books store that line upcollege street. College street was the seat of Indian intelligent elite and the seat of Indian independence revolution during the early 1900s. Raja Ram Mohan Roy,Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Michael Madhusudhan Dutt were the luminaries of thattime and era and all were stalwarts of Kolkata University. Standing in front of thesame University 100years later, I was about to enter the office building and the timewas just 1030hrs when I came in front of the same desk and I saw a gentlemanoccupying the chair, looking at some photographs of a wedding ceremony and washaving a very animated discussion with another gentleman who was sitting besidehim.“Excuse me sir,” I said but he refused to look at me. “excuse me sir,” I said thesecond time and little loudly and this time he looked at me and said “don’t you see Iam busy” I was angry at him but I had to get my work done so I was polite enoughto tell him that I have come all the way from Mumbai to get this work done. Hesmirked at me and as though he is doing a great favor to me he took my applicationand without even reading it told me to come tomorrow. I told him that I would behighly obliged if he can give me the certificate by the same evening and to this hesaid that he is too busy to get it done in one day. To cut the story short I got mywork done through my brother’s contact on the same day, BUT this whole episodeexemplifies the dilapidating work culture and ethics in India. There are examplesgalore but we are yet to look into ourselves and question why we as Indians havesuch poor work ethics and culture in our country. Whereas when we Indians goabroad to earn our living we excel in all fields and we are termed as the most hardworking groups. In USA Indians are working as scientists in NASA, as engineers andsoftware experts and doctors of reputation. In fact Indians are among the mostprosperous communities in USA. Indians are very diligent, reliable, loyal andperseverant workers outside Indian soil but inside India the story is somewhatdifferent.Once when swami Vivekananda was in Dakshineshwar with Sri RamakrishnaParamhansa an interesting incident happened. A young boy of about eleven yearsold came to dakshineshwar Kali temple and met Swami Vivekananda. He wanted toserve the Master,( Ramkrishna paramhansa ) and be a devout disciple. Swamiji wasvery angry at him and told him that his temple and devotion lay in the football field,
 
by which he meant that his job at his age was to play and that is the only way toshow once devotion and allegiance to God. He said to the young boy that playing inthe field with full concentration and honesty and positivity is the dharma. Thisincident also exemplifies the work ethics as mentioned in the scriptures. Thephilosophy and culture of India is one of Ananda or Bliss. "From Bliss-Absolute wehave come; in Bliss-Absolute we are rooted; and to Bliss-Absolute are we destined,"says the Taittiriya Upanishad. It is not a message of pain, agony and distress.Pessimism is unknown to India's culture. It is a culture of exuberant positivity of approach, an approximation to God in the end, who is the greatest of positivity. Lifeis held to be a movement from joy to joy, and it is this that we call the evolutionaryprocess of the soul. It is movement from a lesser truth to a higher truth, which is abetter way of putting things than to repeat the hackneyed tradition that we movefrom error to truth.Historically Indians were definitely very diligent, perseverant, intelligent and sincereworkers as is evident from the epics Ramayana and The Mahabharata. In Ramayanathe entire epic teaches values, ethics and morality and the importance of selflesswork. In Mahabharata the same values and ethics and morality concerning workculture is taken to another plane where Lord Krishna says one must work with all hislove, passion, intelligence and not think of rewards. He says, “act withoutexpectation” The moment we start thinking of how my actions will reward me I tendto loose the value ,the passion, the ethics of the work. With these values all Indiansgrow up but somewhere down the line these values were lost completely. The onlyguiding principal in doing once job seems to be the monetary compensation. Thesevalues and ethics in work culture during those times provided with a perfect worklife balances. I have been writing about values here and I need to elaborate onvalues as to what do we mean by values. These values ultimately lead to Dharma.Values are ideals that guide or qualify your personal conduct, interaction withothers, and involvement in your career. Like morals, they help you to distinguishwhat is right from what is wrong and inform you on how you can conduct your life ina meaningful way. Values can be classified into four categories: Personal Values,Cultural Values, Social Values, Work Values.Personal values are principles that define you as an individual. Personal values, suchas honesty, reliability, and trust, determine how you will face the world and relatewith people. This is very important attribute of a person as this becomes one of theguiding principal in work culture and ethicsCultural values, like the practice of your faith and customs, are principles thatsustain connections with your cultural roots. They help you feel connected to alarger community of people with similar backgrounds. In a work environment thisattribute has some bearing but it is not a hindrance in maintaining a positive workculture and ethic.
 
Social values are principles that indicate how you relate meaningfully to others insocial situations, including those involving family, friends, and co-workers.Work values are the most important of the four. What do we understand by workvalue or what constitutes the work value. Strong Work Ethic , Employers valueemployees who understand and possess a willingness to work hard. In addition toworking hard it is also important to work smart. This means learning the mostefficient way to complete tasks and finding ways to save time while completingdaily assignments. It’s also important to care about your job and complete allprojects while maintaining a positive attitude. Dependable and Responsible,Employers value employees who come to work on time, are there when they aresuppose to be, and are responsible for their actions and behavior. It’s important tokeep supervisors abreast of changes in your schedule or if you are going to be latefor any reason. This also means keeping your supervisor informed on where you areon all projects you have been assigned. Being dependable and responsible as anemployee shows your employer that you value your job and that you areresponsible in keeping up with projects and keeping them informed of the thingsthat they should know about. Possessing a Positive Attitude , Employers seekemployees who take the initiative and have the motivation to get the job done in areasonable period of time. A positive attitude gets the work done and motivatesothers to do the same without dwelling on the challenges that inevitably come up inany job. It is the enthusiastic employee who creates an environment of good willand who provides a positive role model for others. A positive attitude is somethingthat is most valued by supervisors and co-workers and that also makes the job morepleasant and fun to go to each day. Adaptability, Employers seek employees whoare adaptable and maintain flexibility in completing tasks in an ever changingworkplace. Being open to change and improvements provides an opportunity tocomplete work assignments in a more efficient manner while offering additionalbenefits to the corporation, the customer, and even the employee. Adaptability alsomeans adapting to the personality and work habits of co-workers and supervisors.Each person possesses their own set or strengths and adapting personal behaviorsto accommodate others is part of what it takes to work effectively as a team.Honesty and Integrity, Employers value employees who maintain a sense of honestyand integrity above everything. Good relationships are built on trust. When workingfor an employer they want to know that they can trust what you say and what youdo. Successful businesses work to gain the trust of customers and maintain theattitude that “the customer is always right”. It is the responsibility of each person touse their own individual sense of moral and ethical behavior when working with andserving others within the scope of their job. These values are the dharma and thespirituality of one’s self. Values and spirituality are central to the moral philosophyof human civilization and its legal institutions. Traditionally, values and spiritualityare considered to be the prerogatives of the religions and they are viewed as beingembodied in the family unit. Every religion in this world has preached these valuesirrespective of their geographical location. If this is true that these values are been
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