The place of integrity in business success

Warren Buffet said, “In looking for people to hire, look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don’t have the first one, the other two will kill you.” Integrity can be said to be the steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code. It is synonymous with honesty, truthfulness, uprightness, reliability, trustworthiness and incorruptibility. It is the precursor to the trust of man. One of the most valuable qualities any employee or business can have in life is integrity because it lives beyond the employee or business. It is what gives a business or man’s life value and positive reference. Integrity adds to the ‘goodwill’ of any man or organisation and it is invaluable! Integrity means doing the right thing at all times and in all circumstances, whether or not anyone is watching. It takes courage, selflessness and discipline in a highly corrupt environment, to do the right thing singularly, no matter what the consequences will be.

The integrity of employees and businesses is governed by codes of conduct and laws of the nation. It then means that when businesses and employees are not closely monitored and they operate in a country without rule of law and without general integrity, they tend to jettison integrity for financial and personal benefits. Integrity among workers and businesses means doing what is morally right as a principle even at a cost. Integrity in business organisation has a lot of business benefits. Germany is known for quality products and “Made in Germany” is synonymous to “made with quality in mind”. Taiwan, for example, is known for imitations. It is normal for any informed and rational buyer; say in a supermarket in Dubai, UAE, to buy a shoe made in Germany instead of a shoe made in Taiwan. Clark is a quality shoe manufacturer in England. When a rational consumer sees on two similar shoes “Made by Clark in England” and “Made by Clark in China, India, Turkey or Mexico”, he will gladly buy the shoe with “Made by Clark in England” before the one with “Made by Clark in China, India, Turkey or Mexico”.

Integrity is being true to one’s word or being known to stand for the truth at all times. When an individual says “I will be in office by 8.00 am” or a business says “this bag of rice contains 50 kg”, their words should be their bonds.  Customers or associates should be able to take the words of an employee or business to the bank. Lack of integrity may have financial benefits in the short run, like getting more profit than business with integrity, but the profit does not last as goodwill built from integrity. Consumers do not trust businesses that lack integrity and it may also affect businesses with quality products from the same nation because of stigma. Stigma is a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, product, nation, industry, business or person. Stigma kills a business more than its substandard products and mismanagement. When a business is known for poor quality products or succinctly put, lacks integrity, over time, consumers begin to be wary of its products. And this affects sales, turnover and profit, eventually.

For example, the businesses with incidence of counterfeiting or fraud do not survive for a long period because it takes some time to build integrity, but it only takes a few seconds to destroy it. For more than half a century, Arthur Andersen, which was cofounded as Andersen, DeLany & Co. in 1913 by Arthur E. Andersen, a young accounting firm, which had a reputation for acting with integrity, was in existence. By 2002, all of the trust and glory and reputation built by Arthur Andersen & Co. came tumbling down and ended its career as it was convicted of “obstruction of justice” for shredding documents related to its audit of Enron, resulting in what infamously became the ‘Enron scandal’. Since the U. S. Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) does not accept audits from convicted felons, Arthur Andersen & Co. agreed to surrender its Certified Public Accountants (CPA) licences and its right to practise before the SEC on August 31, 2002 – effectively putting an end to an enduring career of a successful auditing firm which was the world largest auditing firm at the time.

In the case of the Boeing 737 MAX stigma that led to consumer apathy, the flaws in the software design that took flight control away from the pilots without their knowledge based on data from a single sensor, ultimately led to two 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019, causing the deaths of 346 people. Ethiopian Airlines Group reconsidered its order for 25 additional 737 MAX jetliners from Boeing Co. in part because of the stigma surrounding the aircraft involved in the two fatal air disasters in five months – one of them an Ethiopian Airlines flight. Frontier Airlines, Avelo and Hawaiian Airlines were among the airlines that refused to fly Boeing 737 MAX. Boeing 737 MAX was stigmatised because according to the BBC (2000), Boeing “agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge after the US found the company violated a deal meant to reform it after two fatal crashes by its 737 MAX planes that killed 346 passengers and crew members”.

When a business adopts integrity as a principle, it must be ready to sacrifice part of its profit to uphold it. Toyota’s integrity was a huge asset and a key reason why today they are the most successful car company in the world. Toyota conducts its business following ‘the highest standards of integrity and fairness’ which are an essential part of Toyota’s philosophy and values. Toyota has been doing an ‘unforced’ official recall of its faulty vehicles to ensure safety and keep its integrity intact. IKEA Furniture claimed “Our corporate conscience comes alive through our approach to ‘ethics and integrity’, both of which stem from our strong culture and values”. Apple “conducts business ethically, honestly, and in full compliance with the law”. They believe that how they conduct themselves in business is critical to their success as making the best products in the world.

Integrity is the core of successful businesses. It is a corporate social responsibility (CSR) under ‘ethical responsibility’. Personal integrity and adoption of core values form the foundation of any successful business. At the heart of every thriving company lies integrity and standard principles that guide decision-making, mould company culture, and ultimately determine the organisation’s reputation which translates to sustainable profit more than any other factor.

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