Tata companies are known for their unique way of doing business with a conscience. Is this approach relevant in the current global scenario?
Natural rights philosophers aver that the primary role of governments is to protect the rights of its people. However, throughout history, governments have deprived people of their rights more often than they have protected them. We are living in an age when governments believe that it is their duty to do what is politically expedient, even to the detriment of what is morally right.
There is ample evidence indicating that, even in civil society, the rich minority has been getting richer while the poor masses have slumped deeper into poverty. Probably the primary reason for this trend is that the rich have access to privileges that the poor do not. But public eruptions from New York to Cairo to Shanghai are a visible manifestation that we have reached the tipping point.
Against this global backdrop, it has been convenient for business leaders to follow the government’s lead and adopt an ‘every man for himself’ approach to doing business. And look at the ramifications: Corporate bullying prevails, with small firms being at the mercy of larger ones. The blatant disregard of consequences has led to Mother Earth being ravished for fleeting gratification. With economic activity playing an increasingly significant role in our social fabric, such an attitude in business threatens the orderly existence - nay, the value system itself - of the society that we live in. The pursuit of wealth has become the raison d'être, outpacing the pursuit of happiness by a wide margin.
There is a compelling need for an alternate paradigm: business with a conscience – always doing what is morally right despite the obvious temptation of what is financially lucrative.
Which business organization would steadfastly stand by its stakeholders when they gain nothing monetarily by doing so? Which company would choose to do the right thing, when doing otherwise would make it twice as large? Nowadays, which company goes beyond mere adherence to law on matters of environmental conservation and labour rights? Wait, those were not rhetorical questions. That’s how the TATAs do business - with a conscience!
Don’t get me wrong. Profits are as important to the TATAs as nourishment is to a human being. But just as food is not the primary reason for living, profits are not the be-all and end-all of business.
What exactly do we mean by business with a conscience? It actually extends well beyond the spectrum of moral dilemmas that ethical organizations are frequently faced with nowadays. It means treating employees as humans, and not mere resources; it involves nurturing your employees for their own sakes. It includes giving back tangible and intangible wealth to the communities that we serve. It encompasses helping the underprivileged. It means giving fair consideration to all your stakeholders. It is in evidence when you give your small supplier a fair deal when a less conscious buyer could have squeezed him dry. It includes addressing the needs of those at the bottom of pyramid. It necessitates reducing your ecological footprint. The TATA way means doing the right thing, come what may.
In short, it is a way of doing business while simultaneously playing your part (as Ralph Waldo Emerson put it) “to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition”. And isn’t that approach more relevant today than ever before?
(This essay was one of five prize-winning entries in the essay writing competition of TATA Quotient.)
