As I wrote yesterday’s blog about Sarbanes-Oxley, it seemed to me that the real issue is a loss of the ability to trust companies and to be loyal to them. Both companies and employees have lost the ability to trust each other. They behave in unexpected ways, ways that others do not understand.

Connectedness

Two sources of connectedness that one may think of immediately are family and religion.

Large employers have replaced families as the source that provides connectedness and worth for many people. The pressure to do more with less has prevented relationships from developing and the emphasis on bottom line results to the exclusion of all else has led to many employees being tossed away like yesterday’s trash. This has resulted in a loss of worth and loyalty for many individuals. (Remember this earlier blog about the “downward spiral of distrust”?)

Regardless of one’s views on religion, one must conclude that religion fills a void that its followers would otherwise feel. Someone once said, “if God doesn’t exist, we’d have created Him,” or words to that effect. In fact, hadn’t this already been done?

Hypothetical

Let’s suppose for a moment that one had no connection to anything except himself or herself. How could that person judge his or her behavior and know what he or she should do? There would be no standard other than the one that the person chose to follow. If the standard was arbitrary, the behavior would be unpredictable. Is this what we are seeing in the corporate world today? And, perhaps, does this account for much of the criminal behavior we see today?

Speculation

Is the root cause of the corporate fraud and malfeasance a loss of connectedness? If so, it seems like providing the connectedness would restore integrity to the corporate world. Beyond that though, providing connectedness could reduce criminal behavior in all its forms.

Io Needle area, Maui, Hawaii 2005

Filed by Coleen Davis at 8:17 am under Corporate Citizenship, Leadership