Having integrity means being congruent
In his article Why business integrity is so important, Peter Morgan raises two important point about integrity.
Congruency
Having integrity means acting congruently with your values - regardless of what those values are. A business that has integrity does not necessarily mean a business that does “good”. Congruence is the key.
A low-fare airline that expects customers to do everything themselves with no hand-holding does have integrity; because they are not pretending to provide customer service when they dont intend to (in order to keep prices low).
A bank whose primary goal is to maximise shareholder return has integrity if their advertising and business processes are aligned clearly to their goal. They DON’T have integrity if their advertising lies about caring for low-value customers - because servicing low-value customers will eat into their profits.
Values change
“Gauging whether we are have business integrity is not always easy. Our values may change over time and what was once congruent with who we were, perhaps no longer is.”
This is another important point. We all grow and change as we go through life. And some, or all (for those of us who are younger), of our values may change. Sometimes the change can be quite dramatic.
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I am glad you said “grow and change as we go through life”. Business is made up of people and the values of those people change daily. The last time I heard congruent was earlier this week when a met a girlfriend I hadn’t seen in a few years and found again on facebook. When we met up again I was dressed down in runners, little make up and without an agenda. My friend said “Wow, this is incongruent with how I always picture you.” We do change and grow. We do trade one thing for another, materialism for family, stillettos for comfort, ect. but what is clear is that the values of friendship, companionship, love and hope for what is possible… are ongoing and thanks to facebook and others like it, allow people to pick up where they left off and continue to be friends, even after the values have shifted.