Business and Karma – An Ethical Decision

By on June 26th, 2009

Karma, according to Wikipedia, is “…the concept of action or deed… which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect”. A closely linked topic is that of the Golden Rule, one variation of which states:“avoid doing what you would blame others for doing” Thales and is commonly quoted as “Do to others as you would have done to yourself”.

In recent months, we have watched as dozens of people and companies have been charged with unethical behaviour in their business practices. This is a clear demonstration of bad karma -  a company steals money from its shareholders will eventually pay the price (although the shareholders themselves will likely not get their full investments back). On the other hand, companies which have maintained good business practices, along with providing clear information to the public, find themselves able to weather the economic storm, and many of these will survive.

Good karma in a business is not just how you treat your employees, or your shareholders, or your clients and customers. You must treat all of your associates with respect, with consideration. In hard times, you will need to rely on all of these people to help you, even at a cost to themselves.

As an example, I read this morning in the National Post that 800 British Airways employees will be working without pay for up to a month, and thousands of others have agreed to  pay cuts. While it can be argued that this behavior is self-serving in that it ensures that these employees will retain their jobs, the fact that the cuts were voluntary speaks loudly of the good karma British Airways has with its employees.

As an example of the reverse behaviour, here in Toronto there is a strike of the unionized municipal workers, including garbage collectors and daycare workers. Part of the issue which demonstrates the bad karma is the fact that city councillors have the option of a pay freeze (but it is not mandatory), while trying to enforce a freeze or cut on other city workers. While I personally don’t agree with the requests of the striking unions, their argument of unfair discrimination is valid. (It should be noted that several councillors did take the voluntary pay freeze.)

When dealing with employees, clients, and shareholders, it is necessary to look to the future. While at the moment it may be costly to ensure a postive relationship, when the times are tough, it can become necessary to ask them to make sacrifices on your behalf. At this point, they will examine your past behaviour in great detail. If you, as a business owner or manager, were ethical and upfront with all interested parties in the past, you will find people willing to work with you in the hard times. On the other hand, if you were unethical in any manner in the past, you may be looking at spending some time in substandard federal housing.

The past can come back to bless you, or haunt you. Without a crystal ball to predict when the past will return, you’re better off erring on the side of caution and always being ethical and upfront with your actions.

Related posts:

  1. Decision Making Process
  2. Motivating Employees
  3. Business and Social Media – Part 1
  4. Business and Social Media – Part 3
  5. Slow Economy and Developing a New Business
Categorized under: Advice for Small Business Owners, Career, Motivation, work, Work at Home.
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  • Karma-geddon

    Karma is: “the past WILL come back to bless/haunt you in a manner appropriate and fitting (but WHO determines what is fitting?) to your own past behaviour”.
    Reality is: “MAYBE the past will come back, maybe NOT” – and whether or not it will is a matter of faith, not a fundamental function of existence.
    Mixing these differences up in business is probably not a good idea, especially when shareholders don’t believe the same things.

    On the other hand, if more businesses believed that karma could strongly affect corporations as well as individuals (assuming they even believe in that, as much as a corporate entity can “believe” in anything – unless you count corporate mission statements as the entity’s “belief”), maybe we’d see more corporations behaving in socially responsible ways. That would be nice…

  • Karma-geddon

    Karma is: “the past WILL come back to bless/haunt you in a manner appropriate and fitting (but WHO determines what is fitting?) to your own past behaviour”.
    Reality is: “MAYBE the past will come back, maybe NOT” – and whether or not it will is a matter of faith, not a fundamental function of existence.
    Mixing these differences up in business is probably not a good idea, especially when shareholders don’t believe the same things.

    On the other hand, if more businesses believed that karma could strongly affect corporations as well as individuals (assuming they even believe in that, as much as a corporate entity can “believe” in anything – unless you count corporate mission statements as the entity’s “belief”), maybe we’d see more corporations behaving in socially responsible ways. That would be nice…

  • ekochman

    In response to your first statement, appropriate and fitting is relative to your actions – not determined by anyone in particular, but is of a similar nature to your own actions. Reality is that karma does exist, but is often known under other names (ergo my reference to Thales). In business, this concept remains, but on a different scale, and affected by not only your own actions, but by the actions of all involved in the business (again, this can be referred to under other names).

    If business owners and managers paid attention to karma as a way of looking at cause and effect, they would be more careful to behave responsibly and ethically, and as you conclude, maybe we would see more businesses behaving in socially responsible ways.

  • Jason T

    Great article once again. Karma does exist and it will not wait for you to believe in it just like time, good and evil, GOD, etc. No followers needed for them to exist, they just do.

    I wonder if the basis of what we all learn and are taught was “treating others the way you wanted to be treated” how far would the human race be?

  • Jason T

    Great article once again. Karma does exist and it will not wait for you to believe in it just like time, good and evil, GOD, etc. No followers needed for them to exist, they just do.

    I wonder if the basis of what we all learn and are taught was “treating others the way you wanted to be treated” how far would the human race be?

  • http://lichtman.ca/ Jeremy

    I’m thinking that those won’t be very happy employees working on the planes though. Not sure if I’d like it if the pilot on a flight I was on was an “enforced volunteer”. :)

  • http://lichtman.ca Jeremy

    I’m thinking that those won’t be very happy employees working on the planes though. Not sure if I’d like it if the pilot on a flight I was on was an “enforced volunteer”. :)

  • sol

    We could get into a debate over your definition of Karma (and how it looks like you just copied the first line from the Wikipedia entry) – because it’s really important to the rest of what you wrote and I don’t feel you defined your terms clearly enough, but I suspect neither of us are experts in Vedic philosphoy, so before a serious discussion takes place, maybe some (clearer) definitions are in order, but that’s not for me to do.

    I guess what the point of your writing was: CAN karma apply to a corporate entity rather than an individual (and the question presuposes the existence of karma, something that cannot be proven or disproven and it really DOES depend pretty much entirely on faith… but that’s a debate for another day…maybe)?

    Some interesting links (if you really want to read more) to get started on:
    http://www.religionfacts.com/hinduism/beliefs/karma.htm
    http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/karma.htm
    http://veda.harekrsna.cz/encyclopedia/dharma.htm
    http://hinduism.iskcon.com/concepts/103.htm

  • sol

    We could get into a debate over your definition of Karma (and how it looks like you just copied the first line from the Wikipedia entry) – because it’s really important to the rest of what you wrote and I don’t feel you defined your terms clearly enough, but I suspect neither of us are experts in Vedic philosphoy, so before a serious discussion takes place, maybe some (clearer) definitions are in order, but that’s not for me to do.

    I guess what the point of your writing was: CAN karma apply to a corporate entity rather than an individual (and the question presuposes the existence of karma, something that cannot be proven or disproven and it really DOES depend pretty much entirely on faith… but that’s a debate for another day…maybe)?

    Some interesting links (if you really want to read more) to get started on:
    http://www.religionfacts.com/hinduism/beliefs/karma.htm
    http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/karma.htm
    http://veda.harekrsna.cz/encyclopedia/dharma.htm
    http://hinduism.iskcon.com/concepts/103.htm

  • ekochman

    My impression when hearing about the unpaid work at British Airways was that the employees were on board with the company, and that it was not an “enforced volunteering opportunity”. However, you’re quite correct that flying with British Airways during this time might see a significant drop in the quality of the service.

    Sol, as I started off the article, I said I took my definition from Wikipedia (did you miss the link to the article?), but I had actually read the entire article before copying that quote. We can, and have, argued about the definition of karma, but that was not the point of this article. Your rephrasing of the question: “CAN karma apply to a corporate entity rather than an individual” is pretty accurate, based on the premise that karma does, in fact, exist, although it may be referred to under other names.

  • ekochman

    My impression when hearing about the unpaid work at British Airways was that the employees were on board with the company, and that it was not an “enforced volunteering opportunity”. However, you’re quite correct that flying with British Airways during this time might see a significant drop in the quality of the service.

    Sol, as I started off the article, I said I took my definition from Wikipedia (did you miss the link to the article?), but I had actually read the entire article before copying that quote. We can, and have, argued about the definition of karma, but that was not the point of this article. Your rephrasing of the question: “CAN karma apply to a corporate entity rather than an individual” is pretty accurate, based on the premise that karma does, in fact, exist, although it may be referred to under other names.

  • sol

    I still think a clearer definition of Karma is in order because the traditional definition applies to individuals. A coporation is an entity that is made up of individuals. What I still am not clear on is how does the behaviour of the individuals affect the net Karma of the corporation? I don’t the the traditional definition can apply here.

    Also, you never really proved that Karma (assuming that it exists in some sense) applies to corporations, you just state that it does. It seems like you try to prove it through anecdotes and stories, but that is not really strong enough, I think. If I had time I’d look for other anecdotes that are counter examples and then ask for an explanation…

  • sol

    I still think a clearer definition of Karma is in order because the traditional definition applies to individuals. A coporation is an entity that is made up of individuals. What I still am not clear on is how does the behaviour of the individuals affect the net Karma of the corporation? I don’t the the traditional definition can apply here.

    Also, you never really proved that Karma (assuming that it exists in some sense) applies to corporations, you just state that it does. It seems like you try to prove it through anecdotes and stories, but that is not really strong enough, I think. If I had time I’d look for other anecdotes that are counter examples and then ask for an explanation…

  • ekochman

    Perhaps I’ll write another article about the application of the non-religious version of karma as it applies to groups of people (and to corporations or businesses by extension). You raised a good point that simply saying the karma of a group is the sum of the karma of its individual members would be difficult to accept, although it may be true.

    The article was written from the assumption that karma exists, and so did not need to prove its existence. I would be interested in seeing counter-anecdotes, though.

  • ekochman

    Perhaps I’ll write another article about the application of the non-religious version of karma as it applies to groups of people (and to corporations or businesses by extension). You raised a good point that simply saying the karma of a group is the sum of the karma of its individual members would be difficult to accept, although it may be true.

    The article was written from the assumption that karma exists, and so did not need to prove its existence. I would be interested in seeing counter-anecdotes, though.

  • sol

    “non-religious karma”…. maybe you need to use a term other than “karma”? Is there a way for the concept to exist in a purely secular context, considering that the idea is inherently religious (or spiritual, at the very least)?

    Hehe If you were REALLY serious about your thesis, you’d find your own counter-examples, and then systematically explain why they do not invalidate your point. But I don’t think you’re really interested in serious essay writing here. It’s just bloggin’ after all! ;)

  • sol

    “non-religious karma”…. maybe you need to use a term other than “karma”? Is there a way for the concept to exist in a purely secular context, considering that the idea is inherently religious (or spiritual, at the very least)?

    Hehe If you were REALLY serious about your thesis, you’d find your own counter-examples, and then systematically explain why they do not invalidate your point. But I don’t think you’re really interested in serious essay writing here. It’s just bloggin’ after all! ;)

  • Jason T

    Elie,

    Hello again, unfortunately I had some internet issues and lost the link for your site but after some investigating I found it again, yay! But I’m a little sour that I missed the discussion on a topic that I inspired. So I will make an effort to “bring up the past”.

    Sol, the initial question called for the comparison between business ethics and karma because it was interesting. The idea of karma can be argued all day and night but the word means “action” and my question derived from just that, whether the idea of karma can be applied to the idea of business ethnics and Elie gave us two good examples. You can not hide behind the world of business ethnics to avoid performing moral actions whether driven by karma, religion, political view, etc.

    Also note that a business entity can not perform an action without the individuals behind the entity. But I hope this reply finds everyone in good health and I urgently await a response.

    Later All.

  • Jason T

    Elie,

    Hello again, unfortunately I had some internet issues and lost the link for your site but after some investigating I found it again, yay! But I’m a little sour that I missed the discussion on a topic that I inspired. So I will make an effort to “bring up the past”.

    Sol, the initial question called for the comparison between business ethics and karma because it was interesting. The idea of karma can be argued all day and night but the word means “action” and my question derived from just that, whether the idea of karma can be applied to the idea of business ethnics and Elie gave us two good examples. You can not hide behind the world of business ethnics to avoid performing moral actions whether driven by karma, religion, political view, etc.

    Also note that a business entity can not perform an action without the individuals behind the entity. But I hope this reply finds everyone in good health and I urgently await a response.

    Later All.

  • ekochman

    In response to your first statement, appropriate and fitting is relative to your actions – not determined by anyone in particular, but is of a similar nature to your own actions. Reality is that karma does exist, but is often known under other names (ergo my reference to Thales). In business, this concept remains, but on a different scale, and affected by not only your own actions, but by the actions of all involved in the business (again, this can be referred to under other names).

    If business owners and managers paid attention to karma as a way of looking at cause and effect, they would be more careful to behave responsibly and ethically, and as you conclude, maybe we would see more businesses behaving in socially responsible ways.