Business Corruption

Since my life is really ordinary and boring, unlike my frequently cosplaying classmates, I have no choice but to write about topics unrelated to creativity. Today, I will write about another soft skill competency program I attended (I have accumulated 95 points thus far). Perhaps I should have studied in the Faculty of Business and Finance instead of the Faculty of Creative Industries. ( Programmes organised by the DSSC that I have attended so far includes: Business Corruption, Offences & Prevention, The Effective Leader, Intercultural Business Etiquette, Innovative Marketing Tools from Blue Ocean Strategy, and Advanced Negotiation Skills).

Anyway, corruption is an illegal act that is unethical and often involves monetary exchange. The longer definition in relation to an employee of a company is this: the employee seeks or receives any benefit other than lawful salary and allowances from any other person in order to refrain from doing anything in the course of their duties. Corruption occurs through several forms, including bribery, conflicts of interest, illegal gratuities, and even extortion.

Examples of corruption include: a lack of impartiality in performance of duties, unlawful coercion, failure to declare any conflicts of interest, taking improper advantage of one's position, and unauthorised disclosure of official information. Obviously, corruption is a plague not just in business, but also in society as a whole. Corruption undermines democracy, erodes the quality of life of citizens, and poses a serious threat to sustained and stable economic progress.

There has been quite a few treaties to combat corruption. Some of the more prominent ones are the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, the Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption, and the South East Asia Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption. Outlines of the UN Convention Against Corruption covers the following: effective and coordinated anti-corruption policies, setting up of anti-corruption bodies, competitive public procurement, and ensuring the existence of an independent judiciary.

On a more micro level, steps can be taken when one suspects that corruption is practiced in the company. It is important that one do not confront the suspect directly. Rather, discretion should be practiced and evidence collected. The evidence may be documents, recordings of conversations, emails, and more. These evidences are important since if one accuses somebody else of corruption without any proof, it is considered as libel and the accuser may get sued in return, even if the accused is indeed corrupt. After gathering evidence, one should report the case to a higher authority in the company or an anti-corruption body.

There are some steps a company may take to integrate ethics and proper business conduct into their employees' mindsets. These steps are as follows:

1. Setting up an ethics code within the company.
2. Putting in place a formal program to implement the code.
3. Enforce the ethics code strictly and without bias.
4. Employees should undergo a training session in building good ethics.

That's all from me this week.