BUSINESS PRACTICE FROM 4 MAJOR RELIGIONS PERSPECTIVE

1.0 Introduction

Business practices in the emerging global economy provide opportunities and challenges that require an ethical response. Frequently, this response is made within the setting where one or more religions have some influence on policy and practice. Recent developments in corporate and economic life for e.g. the case of Enron’s call for new policies and ethical responses. In response to said developments, novel academic and governance debates are emerging. These debates have local, regional and global dimensions and lack an appropriate forum (O’Brien, 2002). 

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate how the adherents of Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism and Hinduism holding management position perceive and apply the concept of ethics in their routine office and personal business dealings.

1.1 Background of the Study

The role that religiosity plays in affecting ethical attitudes is well documented. Both in areas specific to studies, including student cheating (Allmon et al., 2000; Barnett et al., 1996), insider trading (Terpstra et al., 1993), environmentalism (Wolkomir et al., 1997), and in broader studies (Siu et al., 2000; Smith and Oakley, 1996; and Miesing and Preble, 1985), the degree of religiosity is generally associated with higher ethical attitudes.

Modern research in the context of business ethics points to the fact that major monotheistic religions contain universal moral tenets, such as the Ten Commandments as applied to Christianity, Judaism, and Islam (Ali et al., 2000). The religions that are being examined in this study have their separate moral beliefs with regard to how the followers of those religions function when conducting business or even when dealing with people. Further, the pluralistic nature of the present day society and business means that there is the need for the government and society to extend the use of religious values in businesses. For example the case of Enron has been one of the fundamental reasons why government, society and the stakeholders are paying attention to ethics.

In addition to that, Lewis (2006) in his book “Excellence without soul” highlighted the importance of teaching and emphasizing on ethical principles to students as against the then practice of responding only to the demand of students and the business world.  Before delving into the main theme of the study, it is paramount to briefly introduce the various religions that we intend to study.

1.2 Islam and Business Ethics

Islam is a monotheistic religion articulated by the Qur’an, a text considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of God (Allah), and by the teachings and normative example (called the Sunnah and composed of Hadith) of Muhammad (SAW), considered by them to be the last prophet of God. An adherent of Islam is called a Muslim.

Islam means peace and works at all aspects of life which is based on human rights and justice. Islam encourages and recognizes profit motive and private ownership motive and the market. But pursuit of wealth is subject to ethical and moral principles under guardianship of halal and haram concepts according to Shariah law (Quran and Sunnah).

Business ethics recognizes profit as a motive for production and profit is not the end but means to achieve Islamic Law. Shariah aims at Maslaha (Public interest) by producing and preserving 5 things- religion, life, reason, descendents and property. Distinction of ends and means: Invisible hand of market economy founded by objectives of Shariah, hence goal is profit but reject all means that are not in line with public interest. Bottom goals and ends/means should be in public interest for them to be permissible. Business decision making should be considered under Truthfulness, Trust, and Justice (Zakaullah, 2005).

The Tauhidic View

The Tauhidic concept is on three important principles. The unity of God includes things like the hereafter, its implications, core values such as justice and trust.  The second aspect is man which centers on how human beings conduct themselves in relation to the environment and amongst themselves. The third one is the environment which includes the resources etc.

1.3 Sikhism and Business Ethics

Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded during the 15th century in the Punjab region, by Siri Guru Nanak Dev Ji and continued to progress with ten successive Sikh Gurus (the last teaching being the holy scripture of Guru Granth Sahib Ji). It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world and one of the fastest-growing. This system of religious philosophy and expression has been traditionally known as the Gurmat (literally 'of the gurus'). Punjab of India is the only region in the world with a majority Sikh population.

Sikh Scriptures – Guru Granth Sahib is the character building ground of a Sikh in which are firmly rooted his/her ethical values to run the daily affairs. It emphasizes the importance of gun (virtues), and obviously disengaging from any known vices in the society. Therefore a follower of Sikh religion should as a matter of principle deal with other people irrespective of their religion with virtue and shy away from doing things that will harm people and the society at large. Further it is also mentioned in the scripture that “All the vices that we have are like chains around our neck. Virtues, however, are our real friends as they are the ones, which help us to cut the chains of all our vices”.

Let your mind be the farmer, and good deeds the farming; and let your body be the farm your hard work be the water; Let the sweet remembrance of God Almighty be the seed and contentment the furrowing and let humility be the fence. And by the Grace of God the seed will sprout and will give birth to devotional Love. Fortunate are those homes, where such a situation exists (Mahla, 2011).

Therefore, on the basis of the above-mentioned short discussion on virtues, it is a duty for a Sikh businessperson to make sure that business ethics do not conflict with the value system of the religion. ‘Truthfulness’ comes first in a long list of business ethics one should follow. 

1.4 Christianity and Business Ethics

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings. Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah prophesied in the Hebrew Bible, referred to as the "Old Testament" in Christianity. The foundation of Christian theology is expressed in the early Christian ecumenical creeds which contain claims predominantly accepted by followers of the Christian faith. These professions state that Jesus suffered, died, was buried, and was resurrected from the dead to open heaven to those who believe in him and trust him for the remission of their sins (salvation).

The pluralistic nature of the society brought about the need to review the role of spirituality in business as that would lead to establishing an egalitarian university. Business ethics in Christianity is based on three important concepts; “who we are”, “how we should treat other people” and “our responsibility stewards of the resources entrusted to us”. In the New Testament an underlying factor that emphasizes on “double bottom line” i.e. having value for satisfactory financial return and treating people not merely as a means to an end but as an end in their own right (Miller, 2005).

1.5 Hinduism and Business Ethics

Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as Sanātana Dharma (a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal law", "the eternal law that sustains/upholds/surely preserves"), amongst many other expressions. Generic "types" of Hinduism that attempt to accommodate a variety of complex views span folk and Vedic Hinduism to bhakti tradition, as in Vaishnavism. Among other practices and philosophies, Hinduism includes a wide spectrum of laws and prescriptions of "daily morality" based on the notion of karma, dharma, and societal norms.

The Hindu religion has a strong belief in Karma. To clarify, the belief is in Karma itself and not the rewards one may receive by doing good deeds. If one is striving to perform good deeds on a daily basis it would govern their actions significantly and would increase their level of ethics. If someone chooses to do good in all instances this will have an impact on business negotiations in the fact that one would be compelled to be honest and forthright even if that would be a disadvantage to the company they own or work for. Apparently, the rationale behind the idea here is that honesty and forthrightness are two important things that followers of the religion should always strive to exercise (Berry, 2011).

1.6 Buddhism and Business Ethics

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha (“the awakened one"). The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE. He is recognized by Buddhists as an awakened or enlightened teacher who shared his insights to help sentient beings end ignorance (avidyā) of dependent origination, thus escaping what is seen as a cycle of suffering and rebirth.

Buddhism does consider ethical dealings in business. Apparently, business dealings in ethics are based on three important themes;

Benevolence: an achievement of becoming a Samurai- a master and owner of destiny it is important that one should not be calculative when running businesses or managing people.

Concept of Junzi:  which means ‘gentleman’. You may not always win and in some instances one may lose out, but could still earn respect and in turn gain leverage in the long term.

Compassions: having sympathy and concerns for others. To be more ethical one need to have intrinsic beliefs rather than force just complying with the la, and law against each other must be observed as the last resort as compared to be the first in organization. To achieve order and peace people should return to traditionist values, any one in business or government perhaps be more listening and understanding faster than greedy egoistic (Phan, 2005).

Part Two

2.0 Findings

In this section, the interviews conducted on managers that are adherents to different religions are discussed. A questionnaire was used in collecting the information. The questionnaire comprises five sections; section 1 personal belief on religion, section 2 perception of ethics in business, section 3 nature of products, section 4 type of strategy and section 5 consideration of business decision making based on trust, truthfulness, justice, profit motive, faith and customer satisfaction.   

Before going deep into the findings of the interview it will be of utmost importance to state that the survey tries to measure the respondent’s knowledge about their religions before asking follow-up questions about their personal opinions and ethics. By doing that the survey would be easier to comprehend while the remaining questions could also be easier for respondent to answer.

2.1 Muslim Respondent

The first respondent is a Malaysian, female, age 35, holds a bachelor’s degree and is currently an assistant director at the IIUM press. She was interviewed on the above mentioned questions. With regard to the questions on personal belief in religion, the respondent’s answers were found to be synonymous with the laid down teachings of the Islamic Law.

On the questions of perception of ethics in business, the respondent is found to have high ethical beliefs with regard to business and dealings with fellow staff and people. On the questions of charging interest and separation of work from religion the respondent believes that such things are not in line with her own beliefs in that charging interest is not always necessary while she also believes that there is no demarcation between religion and business.

In addition to that, the respondent believes that no matter what the rules and regulations of her place of work are, if there is a clash, she will first consider her religious beliefs before taking any other law into consideration. She further believes that the profit motive set out by Islam is always right and that wealth is created in order to generate profits.

On the question of the nature of products, the respondent believes highly that products must be trustworthy, fulfill the needs and give back value for money for consumers. In addition to that the respondent also believes that respect for the business comes first before money. The respondent had average ratings for the remaining questions which signify that importance is paid to only those questions which will have significant effect on the consumer. While on the question of the strategy the respondent believes short term strategy is always the best for business. Similarly, the respondent believes that a business must have convincing and hardworking top management and labor rather than having powerful top management that will use power and intimidation to control others.

Finally, the respondent believes that business decision making should have sense of trustworthiness, trustfulness, and justice, profit motive, faith and customer satisfaction in that all decisions taken must conform with the teachings of Islamic shari’a.

2.2 Sikh Respondent

The second respondent in our survey happens to be another woman from Malaysia, age 59 and currently the manager of The English Connection Sdn Bhd; an organization that is working with IIUM in student training. The respondent follows the Sikh scripture and her belief towards God is very much consistent with their scripture (i.e. God is not one but many). The respondent shows high moral and ethical values as related to questions regarding kindness/moral responsibility, intention to do good or bad, the concern for public interest amongst other things.

Further regarding the question on the perception of ethics, the respondent believes that religion should prevail where there is clash with business. Interestingly she also believes that one can be very ethical and could at the same time be earning high profit. Further she was not in support of the idea of selling defective products to the customer and that wealth should be created to satisfy family and customers amongst other things.

Regarding the nature of the product the respondent believes in high ethical and moral values in that she agrees with the fact no matter the type product that product must deliver some value monetary or otherwise to the customers. She completely disagrees with the idea of generating profits irrespective of its means and that earning respect was more important to her than making more profit.

On the strategy section the respondent believes long term is always preferable over short term. This highlighted the fact that the respondent’s high beliefs on ethics and moral values are so much in agreement with her religious beliefs. On the question regarding the kind of management that an organization should have the respondent believes that for an organization to function there is the need to have powerful management who will be able to control to control and handle others like employee, government and society.

Finally, the respondent believes that business decision making should based on truthfulness, trust and justice. In addition to that business decisions should be made with profit motive, faith and customer satisfaction at mind.

2.3 Christian Respondent

The third respondent, a Nigerian, is also a female, age 35. She is currently pursuing her Masters degree in Business Administration and she manages student activities at the embassy of the federal republic of Nigeria (Kuala Lumpur). Following is her opinion on all the questions: On the question of personal beliefs, participant has strong belief in God (as mentioned in the Bible). In the same vein the respondent’s perception on ethics in business is not encouraging as she supports the motive of making profit more than good ethical values. Furthermore in the event of clash between business and religion, the respondent prefers to stick with the business rather than allowing religion to prevail. The respondent also believed that religion and business should be entirely two separate entities with each not crossing the way of the other.

The section that pertains to the nature of product the respondent believed that products should be made and design with customers in mind and that earning respect for the business is more important than earning more profit. Consequentially, her response suggested that the respondent has some little concern towards the way products are designed and sold to the customer.

On the question that relates to strategy the respondent believes that long term strategy is always better. This tries to justify the respondent response regarding ethics in business that profit is always better in that she would rather have more money so that in the longer future her plans would not in any way suffer.  

Similarly, the respondent feels that having hardworking top level management and labor workforce is more important than having management that doesn’t respect all the stakeholders. Lastly, the respondent believes business decision making should follow truthfulness, trust, justice, profit motive and customer satisfaction but not faith. This further justifies the reason the respondent supported the idea of separating the church from the business.

2.4 Hindu Respondent

The fourth respondent a 30 year old lady is an Indian by nationality. She holds a Master’s degree and currently working as a bank officer. On the questions on personal belief in religion, the respondent’s answer at one question was found to be little different than principles of Hinduism. For instance, respondent didn’t believe in the concept of hell and heaven but believes in the process of reincarnation and life after death. We noticed an interesting answer by our respondent to question on concept of god. As concept of God is complex in Hinduism, in the fact that it is polytheist in nature having a wide variety of gods. It depends upon each individual and the tradition and philosophy followed as to which God is followed. Our respondent believes in the concept of one God. We assumed that she might be a henotheistic believer (belief and worship of a single god while accepting the existence or possible existence of other deities).  All other general questions where in track and found to be synonymous with the laid down teachings of the Hinduism.

With respect to the questions that pertain to the perception of ethics in business the respondent seems to have a strong belief in them all except that she believes religion should be separated from business. In the event of a clash the respondent agrees that her religion should come first before profit motives.

On the questions regarding the nature of products the respondent showed some consistent ethical behavior synonymous with her responses with the answers in section one and two (values and perception of ethics in business). Furthermore, she believes that business/people should not always pay attention to generating money in dubious ways. In the same vein the respondent favors long term strategy over short term. Preference of long term is always synonymous with people trying to do what is right and leave that which is always bad.

The respondent believes that it is always preferable for an organization to have convincing and hardworking managers who in turn will have some ethical responsibilities toward its stakeholders. Businesses make decisions and sometime some decisions tend only to favor the businesses without having any recourse to the stakeholders. Therefore in relation to that the respondent feels that despite the fact that businesses are created to make profit they (businesses) should only do so on the basis of truthfulness, profit making motive and customer satisfaction. 

2.5 Buddhist Respondent

The fifth respondent, a 36 year old Malaysian was interviewed regarding the conduct of business within the purview of religious values and ethics. The respondent, who holds a bachelor’s degree, is currently holding the position of director at Aspiring Global Solutions Sdn Bhd. The participant has strong beliefs in his religion and has strong beliefs towards kindness and morality. Similarly, the respondent’s attitudes towards the remaining questions are very much consistent with the laid down rule of Buddhism. Benevolence and compassion comes first before any other thing.    

Regarding the perception of ethics in business the respondent is found to have more concern toward ethics than profit motive. Furthermore, the respondent believes that in the event of any deadlock, religious values should come first rather than business and profit motives. In the same vein the participant response regarding new product was consistent with the answers in the section two (i.e. benevolence and compassion comes first then the business).   

On the section that relates to strategy the respondent prefers long term strategy over the short term. He further believes that for any business to grow the management should be powerful and influential in such a way that they can have influence over the stakeholders.

The respondent feels that business decision making should be made with respect to truthfulness, trust, customer satisfaction and justice. He agrees that since the main purpose of business is to make profit then profit motive must always be considered whenever business decisions are made.

Part Three

3.0 Results

Although the results in this study are too small to form any view or opinion regarding the perception and practice of religious and ethical values amongst managers in business, it will nevertheless provide an insight (from managers view) on how businesses should be conducted in relation to ethics.

The survey from the followers of the five different religions have shown that there are universal values that cut across all religions which people irrespective of their religious affiliations believe are very important for both managers and businesses to posses. Justice, truthfulness, trust, customer satisfaction and profit motive are found to be very much synonymous across all religions. In other words people believe that business decision making should satisfy those factors before any other thing. Furthermore, an important finding here is worth mentioning that Muslims will always prefer short term strategy because Islam has always told us to be prepared as death can always come without notice.

Interestingly, the results show some similarities of opinion between the Muslim and the Buddhist followers as they all believe that religion should not be separated from business. Similarly, all the respondents have unanimously agreed that charging interest is not always in the best interest of the general public. It is important to clarify the difference of strategy

Although there were equally important questions that were not asked in our questionnaire, it is nevertheless noteworthy to declare that sometimes managers are forced to meet their target by board of directors which in turn forces them to indulge in some unethical activities. Socio-economic problems are also some other factors that encourage managers and subordinates to indulge in unethical activities.   

3.1 Conclusion

Thus far, it is worthy of mentioning that despite the fact that the struggle to earn a living has taken hold of our lives, religion is playing an important role in how we conduct our day to day activities.  It is important to note that religious ethics provides a set of consistent and reasonable contribution to business ethics. It is a different approach that provides a new horizon for incorporating religious beliefs with that of business.

Ethics is becoming part and parcel of business because in our world business means dealing with people from different countries, ethnicity, religious and cultural backgrounds, which if misinterpreted could cause serious havoc to our dealings. As such, a deeper knowledge of Business ethics might bring about an understanding which will be based on mutual respect between people of different religions and cultures to engage in a business.

In conclusion this project paper studied different types of religion and their relation with business and in part three the paper summarized and presented the findings derived from the questionnaires.

References

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Orientation, Personality and Demographics’, Journal of Business Ethics 23, 411–422.

                                   

Barnett, T., K. Bass and G. Brown: 1996, ‘Religiosity, Ethical Ideology and Intentions to Report a Peer’s

Wrongdoing’, Journal of Business Ethics 15, 1161–1174.

Harry R. Lewis (2006) Excellence without a soul:  how a great university forgot education       

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Personal Religiousness’, Teaching Business Ethics 4, 239–256

Sorath Mahla Pehla (1999)  S.G.G.S. Page: 595

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism#Concept_of_God

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Variables on Ethical Decisions Related to Insider Trading’, Journal of Psychology 127(4), 375–390.

Wolkomir, M., M. Futreal, E. Woodrum and T. Hoban: 1997, ‘Substantive Religious Belief and

Environmentalism’, Social Science Quarterly 78(1), 96–10

Thomas W. O'Brien, (2011) Journal of Business and Religious Ethics. DePaul University

Terri L. Berry (2011) Indias’ Major Religions Affects Business Ethics – TLB

David, W. Miller (2005) Religion and Business: A Christian Perspective.

Seamus Phan (2005) Religion and Business: A Buddhist Perspective.

Mohd A. Zakaullah (2005) Religion and Business: A Muslim Perspective.

Appendix

Questionnaire

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA

MGT 6370 Comparative Business Ethics

Religious Perspectives on Business

This survey is conducted to examine the perception of managers of various religious affiliations to the conduct of business according to the provisions of their various religious teachings and doctrines.

This survey will take approximately 5-10 minutes to complete. Your cooperation is kindly sought to respond or answer the statements or questions SINCERELY regarding the conduct of business within the principles of various religions such as Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism, Christianity and Hinduism. Your responses will only be used for academic purpose, and will be kept strictly confidential.

Section I: Respondent background:

Please tick (√) your answer in the corresponding boxes:

Male

Female

1.     Gender  

2.     Age: _________

3.    Nationality:

Indian

__________________

4.   What is your Religion?

Please choose an answer by putting         sign
Section I - Values in Religion	Yes	No	Neutral
Believe in One God
Believe in More than one God
Believe in Hell and Heaven
Kindness /moral responsibility
Importance of Public Interest (as Whole)
Importance of Self Interest (as Whole)
Importance of Intention (Good and Bad)/(permissible/Restricted)
Believe in Reincarnation (Embodiment in a new form (especially the reappearance or a person in another form based on once karma/deeds)
Believe in Life after Death (Your Soul will be made alive forever without need of existence body)
You believe in differentiation in Caste Norms (Higher/ Lower)
Section II: Perception of ethics in Business	Yes	No
As an Seller You Will Disclose Available Defects to customer(s) before selling
You'll Choose Your Religion Teachings Over Business Rules (if clashed)
Profit is most Imp. NOT its mean
It is not possible to be Highly Ethical and Profitable at the same time
One must NOT involve religion in Business (Work is Work  & Church is Church)
Charging Interest on Loans is necessary in order to cover-up time value of Money
Earning Respect/blessing is more Important than Money
Creating Wealth is all about Satisfying Customers like family Members
Creating Wealth is all about generating Higher profits.
Section III - Nature of Product (Please Rate - 1 as Highly Important & 5 as Least Important)
Must be trustworthy, give value for money & fulfill Needs.
Must able to generate income irrespective of its means
A product must be produced with intention of risk that it might not be accepted by consumer and may incur losses.
Presence of new innovation in product is most important
Earn more respect for business than money
Section IV - Please Choose One Answer For Following Given Questions
Question: What type of Strategy is most important in Business?
a) Short- Term
b) Long- Term
Question: Successful Organization need…
Convincing and hardworking  Top Level Management and Labor for its stakeholders
Power and able to control/Handle others (Government, Customer, Society etc)
Section – V Multiple Choice Question (Please put      for your choices)
Business Decision Making Should be Considered under
a) Truthfulness
b) Trust
c) Justice
d) Profit motive
e) Faith
f) Customer Satisfaction

5. Which Holy Book do you follow?

1

Quran

2

Bible

√

Veda

4

Sri Guru Granth Sahib

5. Other (Please Mention)

6. What is the highest level of education you have completed?

1

College

2

Bachelor

√

Masters

4

PHD

5	Others (please specify)……………………

6. What is your position at the place of work?