Corruption has always existed and is still around us. We dislike being confronted with our own unethical behaviour and actions. However, we shouldn’t think in exclusive categories: that only leads to the conviction that if we do something wrong, we are not good people.
Take things as they are
Ethics is a grey zone. All of us are both good and bad because nobody is perfect.
Once we accept that in some cases we are not perfect and do tend towards being corrupted, we will start to navigate better the grey zone of our own ethics. Finding our own moral compass is also a matter of overcoming and resisting our imperfections. This is the view of an article at managementissues.com, originally published by the INSEAD business school.
Zero tolerance towards corruption?
A policy of zero tolerance is not necessarily desirable but nor is it about being morally nihilistic. We should rather keep in mind that people are not perfect. We all have our flaws and blind spots. Unrealistic standards make it difficult to choose our moral battles appropriately and wisely.
Our thinking is influenced by a number of factors:
- Education
- Culture
- Social norms
- Habits
All these elements form our identity. For example, some of our commonly held attitudes might be perceived in other parts of the world as discriminatory or even racist.
We also have our ethical vulnerabilities and we should be curious about them in order to understand our limitations better. By accepting our fallibility as human beings, we can bring more to our conscious thinking and carry out a more honest assessment.
-jk-