INTEGRITY AT THE WORKPLACE

 In many organizations there is a provision in the employee’s confidential report for his superior officers to rate the former’s integrity. Most often, it is required to just rate his/her integrity as ‘Above Board’ or ‘Questionable’. Needless to emphasize, rating as ‘Questionable’ would place a tremendous burden of responsibility on the evaluator to support this rating and call upon him to furnish proper justification and documentary evidence. Else, his integrity could be under a cloud!

The word ‘Integrity’ in the above context refers in the main to honesty and propriety in the employee’s official dealings and behavior vis-a-vis guidelines and procedures made by the company. Hence it follows that only such transactions which are tangible and offer themselves easily to scrutiny can be brought under the organization’s ‘integrity scanner’.

But does it really give the total picture of the integrity of a man at the work place? No, it doesn’t. There are many intangible but nevertheless clearly discernible qualities which go into the definition of a person’s integrity at work.

Integrity also implies:

·       Standing up for one’s subordinate when he is unwarrantedly harassed by one’s superior.

·       Not poaching a colleague’s or junior’s work to pass on as one’s own.

·       Acknowledging another’s merit and accepting one’s mistakes.

·       Protecting the dignity of a subordinate even while correcting him/her.

·       Praising in public and reprimanding- where required- in private.

·       Conveying disagreement or displeasure to the boss only in private.

·       Giving credit where due instead of ‘pilfering’ it.

·       Giving due respect- without being servile- to elders by age, superiors in rank and to all other colleagues in spite of differences and disagreements.

·       Being firm where required, though polite.

·        Never to compromise on, or sabotage one’s work in spite of real or perceived injustice to self.