Professional Documents
Culture Documents
GROUP 4
(LIGHT BLUE)
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CONTENT PAGE
ABSTRACT iv
REFERENCES 13
ABSTRACT
Integrity is one of the core values in Sime Darby working culture that is being
practiced in order to enhance organization success and achievement. Nowadays, we are
living in a very competitive business environment. It is inevitable that unethical action
will be taken in order to achieve desired results. Nonetheless, business environments that
emphasize integrity in their work culture will always attain recognition and awards.
Despite the principle of business integrity is ambiguous in nature, many big organizations
have a clear understanding of it and this includes Sime Darby itself which had
successfully engaged integrity in their work culture. As a result, Sime Darby continuously
contributes value to customer and well being of communities in which it operates.
Similarly, through the Management Apprenticeship Programme (MAP) organized by
Sime Darby which cultivates the working culture of integrity that is much focused in their
syllabus. Part of the program focused to instil integrity values in the participants.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
It has been drilled in our mindset the importance of integrity whereby without it,
an organization will eventually collapse. For instance, history has shown us that despite
once being an established organization like ENRON could collapse instantly due to lack
of integrity among their leaders and shareholders. This United States' seventh largest
corporation issued a statement drastically revising its stated profits over the past three
years. Within a month, the company was forced to declare bankruptcy where it is the
largest bankruptcy in business history and numerous charges surfaced that the company
had engaged in a repeated pattern of un-ethical and perhaps illegal practices. As a result
of the massive fraud at ENRON, shareholders lost tens of billions of dollars and many
ENRON executives, Arthur Anderson an auditing firm (that was once a BIG FIVE) for
ENRON and certain bank officials were charged. Hence, it is obvious the integrity
practiced in ENRON is questionable. Additionally, this unethical act has created domino
effect phenomena whereby a number of innocent party have to pay a hefty price namely
organization such as Arthur Anderson has to be declared bankruptcy. When the truth
reveals itself, it is difficult to ignore business ethics as an issue. Hence, the significance
of practicing integrity in an organization at all levels are justified if we wish to prevent a
history like ENRON to repeat itself again especially in our nation.
Consequently, we come out with the importance of why we need integrity in,
Sime Darby. It is necessary to implement integrity in order to achieve a stable yet
successful organization. We will also explain the value of integrity which upholds the
good qualities that Sime Darby posses.
There are 7 principles of business ethics that can implemented by Sime Darby
which would be recognizing the customers, getting opinions and feedback for
improvement, gaining customer trust, well-organized marketing, be a responsible
community contributor, maintain record keeping and respect others.
Example that can be shown from the above 7 principles, Sime Darby has already
implemented to be a responsible community contributor. Throughout the talent
management practices, Sime Darby strives to promote a performance culture and
accountability. This is also true in rewarding practices. Sime Darby believes in the
importance of adequately rewarding high performers and achievers.
In business, the organization should have a commitment on the integrity and high
ethical standards and to compliance with applicable governmental laws, rules and
regulations. The success depends on maintaining the trust and confidence of the
individuals and groups of people who rely on the organization and with whom they do
business. The organization can accomplish this objective by conducting their self
honestly, with consideration for others, with respect for professional obligations, and with
regard for legal and regulatory requirements.
Conducting the business and the employees with integrity enables the
organization to create a supportive work environment, helps the organization attract and
retain customers and employees, and promotes the financial success. When the
organization acts with integrity, they protect their individual reputations as well as the
reputation of their company. Acting with integrity demonstrates the organization respect
for their investors and shareholders and will help them avoid or reduce penalties, fines
and liabilities.
Integrity is the same at the corporate level. Corporate reports, filings, and
stakeholder communications state one thing when in reality the corporation is doing
something else. This inconsistency comes as a result of ignorance, market/management
pressure, or an outright willingness to deceive. Within corporations it may be the result of
one individual or a campaign of several seeking to violate an organization's governance
principles, risk posture, compliance obligations, culture, and ethical practices.
Integrity is violated when corporate policies and procedures are thrown out the
window in the quest for personal or corporate gain. From an organization's perspective,
personal and corporate integrity are two sides of the same coin. In order for a corporation
to have integrity, it must have an ethical environment with employees and business
partners willing to follow and enforce corporate culture, policies, and procedures. From
an individual's perspective, an employee or partner wants to make sure they are working
with a corporation aimed at doing the right thing and in sync with their personal values
and beliefs.
According to Alan K. Simpson once believe the following saying that “If you
have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters”.
Without integrity at the helm of a company, a business is usually short-lived. In fact,
when business integrity is present throughout the deepest layers of a company and not
just at its surface, it becomes the heart and soul of the company’s culture and can mean
the difference between a company that succeeds and a company that falters.
At its core, integrity begins with a company leader who understands the qualities
of integrity which then filters down throughout the company into every department and
every member’s approach and attitude.
The following 7 Principles of Business Integrity are the basics of integrity and a
good starting off place to consider. By integrating each of these principles within a
company environment, the result will be nothing short of a major rebirth of the enterprise.
• Principle 1: Recognize that customers/clients want to do business with a company
they can trust; when trust is at the core of a company, it is easy to recognize. Trust
defined is assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of a business.
While it is most certainly an integral and positive step for a small business to
recognize the significance of integrity as a tool for achieving its desired outcomes, that is
only the beginning. What must truly be recognized for true success is that while certain
precise universal principles lead to business integrity, it is in the overall mindset of the
company and the unfailing implementation of these key elements that an enterprise is
truly defined. A small business that instils a deep-seated theme of integrity within its
strategies and policies will not only be evident among customers, associates and partners,
but its overall influence cannot help but to result in a profitable, successful company. By
recognizing the value of integrity, and following each of the aforementioned 7 principles
for achieving integrity, your success cannot be far off.
Knowledge and Skill--- two competencies, through the years, were given much
emphasis by the corporate world. As long as the job is done, the sales target is met;
attitude, character and habits of employees became secondary in importance.
Likewise, in Sime Darby itself, to uphold the core value of integrity the Key
Performance Indicator (KPI) is actually being used to evaluate employees. Hence,
employees that practiced integrity in their routine work culture shall be evaluated and the
end result that shows satisfactory performance he or she shall be handsomely rewarded.
Moreover, one of the practice of integrity in Sime Darby work culture that usually
been carried out would be, the leaders of Sime Darby often enough tells the story of
Mahatma Gandhi to coach their employees in order to stay transparent and honest all
time. One of an interesting story that we stumbled upon and wish to share would be the
"Leadership by example" as an approach in leading the human capital. The story below
often used to coach can best illustrate this point.
This is a story of Mahatma Gandhi counseling a child for removing a bad habit.
A lady reached Mahatma Gandhi with her 10 year old son. She told Gandhi, “Sir, my son
has a bad habit of eating a lot of jaggery (a special kind of Indian sweets). I have been
telling him to reduce eating jaggery but he does not listen to me. Mahatma ji, the whole
nation listens to you and you are a revered personality. I am sure my son too will heed to
your advice. Please tell him not to eat too much of jaggery."
Mahatma Gandhi thought for a while and asked the lady to bring her son again after a
week.
After a week, the lady again took her son to Mahatma. Mahatma Gandhi put his hand on
the head of the boy and told him, "My dear child, don't eat jaggery too much. It can be
harmful".
The bewildered lady asked the Mahatma, "Sir, this was simple. You could have told him
the same thing last week itself!! Why you made us come again after a week?”
Mahatma told the lady," I myself used to take jaggery till last week. I needed a weeks'
time to quit eating jaggery so that I could counsel your son with conviction".
The lady bowed in reverence to Mahatma Gandhi and took leave of him.
When our means to live is at stake, our tendency is to keep silent--either to cover
for our own mistake or tolerate the deviations and misdeeds of peers in the workplace.
Personal survival is more important than the truth, silence is misconstrued as innocence.
In most cases, people remained silent for fear that his/her own "skeletons" will be
revealed, or because of "peer pressure". In some cases, the reason for silence is
"situational ethics".
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS
As a summary to sum up all the points discussed above, according to Alan K.
Simpsons once again he mentioned “If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you
don’t have integrity, nothing else matters”. Therefore it is justified and essential from this
report for an established conglomerate like Sime Darby to continuously educating their
employees on the significance of practicing integrity. Nevertheless, an analogy that we
would like to highlight would be an organization is only as good as the foundation it is
built upon, an organization must have a foundation that is as steady as a rock. Likewise, it
is significant to practice integrity in the organization in order to develop a solid
foundation. And with this foundation of integrity, an organization like SIME DARBY is a
step nearer in “developing a sustainable future”. Nevertheless, we hereby would like to
emphasize that by addressing Integrity as a work culture in Sime Darby, we sincerely
hope that this project is able to give a new perspective to younger generation as a guide
so that they are able to incorporate integrity value into their action in future.
REFERENCES
Mayo A. Shattuck II. (2009). Principles of Business Integrity. Constellation Energy.
Frank Vogal. (2006). Integrity and Culture: The Crucial and Most Difficult Challenge for
Boards of Directors. Directors monthly.
Dirk G.Baur. (2008). Corporate Integrity. The Business School, Dublin City University
Press.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrity