Ethics in Organisation – A comparison with

Mahabharatha
August 14, 2010

in General / Interesting,Human Resource Management

WE talk about ethics and practicing ethics in organization, but are we seriously doing that or we
practice unevenness and we all suffer from its many vices namely greed, envy, pride, anger and
hatred subconsciously waiting to come out somewhere or the other.

Its just not happening today, the same question is still hanging in the Olden times of Ramayana
and Mahabharata – Let’s take few examples from Mahabharata.

Mahabharata – one of the greatest epic to study, Dharma, Karma (Geeta) and unevenness. We
worship Lord Krishna who himself taught his friends and disciples – the Pandavas to win the war
through deceit, lies and treachery.

Why is that?? Why did Krishna choose to do that, the simplest explanation to it would be that
because Duryodhana and shakuni planned the evil tricks of defeat for Pandavas in the Game of
Dices.

But even Mahabharatha does not give an explanation that Shakuni did cheat to win the game
where Yudhishthra lost everything, including himself, his brothers and their shared wife and
Queen Draupadi. Although it is mentioned that Shakuni and Duryodhana did talk about cheating
but there is no clear evidence of the same anywhere in the epic, but it is evident that Lord
Krishna did make the Pandavas win the war by trickery and deceit and not by Skills.

Being one of the major epics of Dharma and Karma- don’t we expect some ethical behaviour
from the Pandavas and Lord Krishna, or may be some explanation for their behaviour.

Dharamraj Yudhishthara the eldest of the Pandavas, had also faltered, otherwise the one who
practiced ethics would not agree to stake his beloved wife in the game of dices.

Ultimately after winning the war, troubled by the hollowness of the victory he decides to retire to
the forest. Lord Krishna dies a prosaic death got killed by the arrow of a hunter who killed him
by mistake.

Is it all because that we human beings have somewhere in our subconscious mind the so called
unevenness present in some or the other forms. True it is.

No I’m no one to question the greatest epic of the History, but these are some of the things which
trouble my mind as well.
What goes around up ultimately comes back down! Life is cyclic in nature and intent. Checking
in on ethics-related beliefs and behaviours can be enriching to an organisation.

For Instance- Few examples from Present

What happened suddenly with Satyam’s B.Ramalinga Raju, why he committed the biggest fraud
in the Indian Corporate History by swindling Rs. 7000 crores approximately? What made him do
that when everything was going so smooth, Satyam has the best clients, best human resources,
technologies and everything else. For his own greed he did not think of the loss of Investors who
lost approximately Rs.23000 crores in the value of shares.
Also more than 50,000 employees faced an uncertain future.

Greed is too easy an answer for this, As Gurucharan Das – The writer of “The difficulty of being
good” says.

It’s like cigarette smoking – to say you’re ‘only smoking half a pack instead of two a day’ is
good, but it’s better to say that ‘I have finally stopped smoking’, and stop.

Another example: The Chief of HP was accused of Sexual harassment and has to leave the
company, not only because he was proven guilty but also that he could not live up to the
reputation of the Organization.

Why can not we ward of the evil of unevenness and try to be ethical.

These are some of the ways to be ethical found in the Mahabharata:

• Teach by example: not by ethical prophecy

• Societies are held together by Laws, customs and moral Habits and it is these adapting which
we can be ethical.
• Win the trust of the people by your deeds not misdeeds
• As Bhishma adviced his prince “A man who wishes to profess goodness at all times will come
to ruin among so many who are not so good. Hence it is necessary for a prince who wishes to
maintain his position to learn how not to be good, and to use this knowledge according to the
necessity”
• Be true to oneself
• Have tolerance and patience in handling the teams and different work groups