Moral Decay
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I recently went out to dinner with a business friend who owns a medium sized
manufacturing company with just over 50 employees. Over a couple of cocktails he
started to express to me his frustration with his people. He claimed to pay them
well, provides a comfortable work environment, and offers a respectable benefits
package. Regardless, he wished his people were more dedicated and professional
in their attitude. He yearned for the old days when there was more pride in
workmanship (and you thought I was the last of the whiners). I've known my
friend for a long time and know his management style; he works well with people
and although he insists on organization and structure, he tends to empower his
workers to assume responsibility as opposed to micromanaging them to death.
Frankly, I know a lot of people who would love to work in his environment, yet
he still had this problem of employee attitudes and asked me for my thoughts on
it.
I told him what he was experiencing was a simple matter of moral decay.
Regardless of the work environment he provided and his interpersonal relations
with his employees, there are other forces at work, namely our eroding system of
values. I explained the following to illustrate the point:
* It used to be a person's word was his bond. If he made a verbal commitment,
you could count on it. Today, lying and deceit are commonplace in just about
every corner of our society. Consequently, our expectations to honor a
commitment have been lowered and, even worse, we have lost faith and trust in
our fellow man.
* We used to have dedicated workers who cared about their work and doggedly
saw a task through to completion. Now, we no longer associate our reputations
with our work products. This may be because we have laws today making it
difficult to reprimand or fire anyone regardless of their performance. Further,
we now suffer from the "99% complete" syndrome whereby we never seem to finish
anything with the excuse that, "We'll get around to it." In other words,
determination and pride have been replaced by indifference which erodes
production and opens the door for competition.
* We used to respect our bosses and were loyal to our companies. As long as
you were employed by someone, you bit your tongue and endeavored to help the
company succeed. For example, I knew a loyal Boeing employee who steadfastly
refused to fly on anything but Boeing aircraft. Today, concepts such as
corporate loyalty and respect are a thing of the past as employees no longer
trust management, and management doesn't trust its workers, all of which leads
to an inordinate amount of back stabbing and political maneuvering. It's no
small wonder that today's employees are regarded more as free agents as opposed
to team players.
To me, morality means giving of one's self, putting aside our self interests
for the common good of all. However, if in fact such things as honor, courtesy,
pride, respect, sacrifice, courage, dedication, commitment, loyalty, honesty,
perseverance, integrity, and professionalism, are adjectives of the past, then
we are indeed witnessing the moral decay of our society. Actually, it's rather
remarkable we have progressed as far as we have as a species, but it makes you
wonder how much farther we would be if we had the moral fortitude to overcome
greed, corruption, and other vices. As Samuel Clemens correctly observed, "Man
is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to."
Interestingly, American morality seems to change whenever we change
presidents from one political party to another. I can think of no other single
event which benchmarks a change in our culture than the passing of the
presidential torch. Consider for example, the social changes incurred in the
transition from Eisenhower to Kennedy, from Carter to Reagan, and Bush to
Clinton. A change in Presidential party signals a change in social norms and
moral priorities.
So what can be done about deteriorating moral values? You would think that
our religious institutions would have a significant role to play here. Not
necessarily. There are those who go to church simply to absolve themselves of
their sins from the preceding week, not to correct any character flaw. After
being "cleansed" they revert back to their indiscretions. No, we need to lead by
example, reward accomplishments and truly penalize violations as opposed to
looking the other way. There will always be those who are morally handicapped
and persist in attempting to undermine our system of values, but we owe it to
ourselves and our posterity to persevere. Our ability to surmount moral
corruption defines who we are as a civilization.
Years ago, Arnold Toynbee said succinctly, "Civilizations die from
suicide, not by murder," meaning our social problems are actually self
inflicted. If we can cause the problems, I would like to believe we are strong
enough to solve them, regardless of the price to be paid. Going back to my
friend's problem, what is needed is a little inspiration, hope, belief in
ourselves, a little brother/sisterhood, and a legal system that doesn't stifle
morality, but rather promotes it. Regardless of the magnitude of the job, from
major to menial, workers must believe they are leading an honorable and
worthwhile life. There is nothing wrong with ambition, as long as it doesn't
lead to incessant politics. There is nothing wrong with personal
achievement/recognition, as long as teamwork doesn't suffer. There is nothing
wrong with criticism, as long as it's constructive, not destructive. Basically,
we just need some common sense and respect for the human spirit.
So, the question comes down to this; Do we still possess the fortitude to do
what is morally right? That is a question for each of us to answer and for our
heirs to judge.
About the Author
Tim Bryce is a writer and management consultant located in Palm Harbor,
Florida.
http://www.phmainstreet.com/timbryce.htm
He can be contacted at:
timb001@phmainstreet.com
Copyright © 2008 Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.
