Integrity As A Governing Moral Value
[Relevant for Public Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude]
Integrity As A Governing Moral Value
Whenever such terms comes, it is important to first clarify the term used. So, here the term is Integrity.
It would thus be important to know what this term actually means.
So, what is actually Integrity.
The word integrity evolved from the Latin adjective integer, meaning whole or complete. It is defined as ‘an undivided or unbroken completeness’, or ‘a state of being complete or whole’. Thus, integrity for a Civil Servant (CS) as a governing ethic means a self-regulatory mechanism where the personal value system of the CS provides him with that wholeness (akhandata) of rhythm between his internal-call of duty and his administrative mandate to function.
Though, in the present context it is like circling a square and very difficult.
Most often CS finds his own value system in conflict with the professional values i.e. mandate at his disposal. Increasing polarization in society, increased awareness of questionable quality (fake news), increasing expectation from the State and many a times the stakeholders involved with each having their demand which is self-limiting vis-à-vis the demands made by other stakeholders one finds very difficult to attain that rhythm between personal values and professional conduct as per ethical demands of the organization. But, even in such situation one can see the broader horizon, the broader picture and the convergence between those mutually contending demands of different stakeholders and this in itself requires an open to learn value system.
Jain’s philosophy of Syatvada and Anekantvada could be used here as the lynchpin here.
There can be personal integrity, societal integrity, institutional integrity etc and each one of them basically means the same thing if one draws a broader horizon to look at things.
Like Institutional Integrity would mean that the institution is wholesome with unbroken completeness and its actions portray what its objectives are. Eg: In India Tata business house is looked at with respect as it has always maintained its institutional integrity whether that be towards its customers, stakeholders, government or employees. There is some underlying unison of messaging – implicit or explicit – by the Tatas as far as what they stand for, their actions and other corporate issues.
JRD Tata considered even tax-management as tax theft but only with a good name.
A strategy based on integrity holds organizations to a more robust standard. Integrity is more than mere compliance and following the ‘rule-based’ parameter.
While compliance is rooted in avoiding legal sanctions, organizational integrity is based on the concept of self-governance in accordance with a set of guiding principles.
Why integrity is never easy?
All of us know cheating is a bad thing. This is one lesson that the students start learning from a young impressionable age and the principle continues to hold in one form or other, throughout our lives. Yet, a case study on the subject suggests that as many as 95% of such students admit to having engaged in some form of cheating. In hindsight, the students justify the choice as “not really cheating,” “no big deal,” or something that “everyone else does.”
When you’ll browse through the mission, vision, or value statements that corporations post on their websites, you’ll notice that almost every company includes a statement about integrity.
Integrity, it is said, should be the basic building block for doing business. Nobody wants to get involved with a company that lies, cheats, and misleads its customers; nor do people want to work for a company (or an administrator) that is dishonest, corrupt and unethical.
Yet it’s not that simple, for two reasons:
- First is the innate human ability to rationalize behavior.
- And that leads to the second reason why integrity is so difficult:Everyone defines integrity differently.
The power of rationalization and the difficulties of definition reveal integrity as a subject that is neither easy nor simple. That’s why solely relying on compliance, functions, policies, rules, and audits — the integrity police — is usually inadequate. These mechanisms guard against gross and clearly illegal violations of integrity standards, but they do not deal with the integrity choices that we face every day. These choices require personal judgment. Personal Integrity – the core of all integrities – requires an autonomous morality.
One can also say that integrity is the internal mechanism of character and is never about mere externalities. Like other qualities eg: honesty, objectivity which are externalities depend upon the principle of individual’s integrity to ‘nourish’ and come out as steel.
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