Reason For Integrity

1. Lack of Discipline

Honesty is the best virtue and we should start with ourselves. That is why early parental guidance in the development of a child is essential to nurture him to be a disciplined person who will grow up to be responsible in his dealings with his friends, colleagues or superior in the corporate world. Learning to set priorities is an important part of dealing with integrity. If not, we will find ourselves becoming a ‘people pleaser’ and constantly shying away from making a stand for our beliefs. " You don’t have to remember a truth, but you always have to work doubly hard to remember a lie in case you are found out later - whom you lied to, what you lied about, when you created the lie - and this will always affect your integrity."

2.Power & Control

Gossiping in the office is an art that you either love to master or hate to indulge in. In a way, gossiping is a way of avoiding confrontation with the person or issue at hand and most of the time, it has no benefit to the company or the gossiper. It only breaks the integrity of the gossiper. If gossiping about others makes you feel powerful, perhaps you should look at yourself and ask why you are still powerless. Be impeccable with your words. Speak with integrity and you will be respected for it.

3.Greed

Infringement of corporate governance in the name of creating a flourishing picture of earnings and questionable accounting practices, to name a few, would perhaps have been instigated by greed and lack of judgment in exercising integrity. When the interest of shareholders and the public at large is being compromised, the trust factor will be affected. The loss of investors’ confidence, unfortunately, cannot be reversed instantly once it is damaged. Always go back to the benchmarks that you have set before yourself when making decisions that question your integrity personally and seek a way to share your thoughts with your close associates. Let your conscience be the guiding force to your action. We may have rules and regulations pasted on the notice boards or circulated within the office, but how can we make it workable?

4.Job Orientation

Awareness of the work culture of an organisation is a good starting point to orientate a new staff from the start of his career with the company on the values and working standards that are expected from him. The superior has the role to talk to his new staff about the work culture, job expectation etc. Creating a rapport with the new staff would help to reduce any sense of suspicion between both parties in terms of work expectation and the ‘dos and don’ts’.

5.Transparency

The codes of conduct of the Board of Directors, for example, help the directors to be aware of their responsibilities to the company as a whole. Shareholders should take the opportunity to read the Annual Report of the company and take an interest in the management of the company. So, honestly, do the right thing. If I tell you that I have not lied before in my life, I would be the biggest liar of all. Do nothing that needs a cover-up. Seek the truth and the truth shall set you free.

Integrity At Work

Integrity. We deal with this underlying moral issue in our everyday life. Most of our parents would have taught us during our growing up years that we must inculcate this virtue because it is the right thing to do. What is integrity? It means honesty - keeping to one’s word even if it costs us dearly to do so. If you pledge to ‘love, honour and cherish your spouse until death do you part’, you must honour that promise. If you agree to do a task, you must do it.

Sadly, there are just too many news to exemplify our compromises on the issue of integrity in the corporate world and it has somehow, become a norm and an ‘acceptable’ fashion at work. A deceitful lie may start out as something trivial, like lying to your mother that you did not eat the chocolate but you did or you call in your office for sick leave when you are actually not sick. Though a white lie is small and relatively harmless, it can become a bigger issue in life, for example, in the scandal of the Enron Corp case which has indeed eroded investors’ confidence to a low due to dishonest representation of corporate earnings. The end result is always not promising - you may get scolded by your mother, your boss may find you unreliable and a broken confidence of the investors which will take some time to build up again.

Why do we compromise our integrity? Every once in a while, we lie to our parents, friends, boss or clients as a form of denial of the facts or as a protection to ourselves from confrontation - so what is the big deal, you may ask? Well, lack of integrity only compounds a problem.

Tips to Help You Avoid Becoming a VIictim

I want to give you tips to help you avoid becoming a victim of downsizing and increase your career advancement potential.

1.Survival is to realise it can happen to you.

It is amazing how many people just sit back and wait for the ax to fall. They didn’t see it coming and did not have time to prepare for change. Many people assume it’s never going to happen to them because of their long service and value to the company. Make sure you don’t fall into the trap of thinking it could never happen to you or you could end up being unprepared to survive economically or professionally. Remember, no matter how much your boss may like your, ultimately what matters is the bottom line.

2.Keep your eyes and ears open.
Be aware of what’s happening in your company. Hiring freezes, early retirements and other signs of what is called managed attrition are indications that your company is extremely serious about head count. Look for other warning signs. How are the company shares doing? Remember, while downsizing may be a bad word for workers, investors like it as it show the management is cutting costs. Also keep up with possible mergers involving your company. Look for when a merger is going to happen. When a merger happens, it is good news for the company and bad news for half the employees.

3. Should always be looking for new opportunities.
Never just sit still. You are in charge of your own career. Regardless of how secure you maybe in your job, you always need to be prepared to look for work in a volatile business climate. Even when you are working, you should stay abreast of the job market. Now is the perfect time to do some research. Keep reading the wanted ads in your field. Look for jobs in your field and see if the requirements listed are skills you possess. Take time to network and take on some informational interviews, if you hear of any. Make contacts with headhunters. Better still, sign up for online services that will keep you informed of new job opportunities, at no cost at all.

4. Always to keep your resume ready and fresh.
Always document your work and achievements because you’ll forget how significant most of your work is. Have them both in hard and soft-copy. Many online job sites, in fact, will allow you to store, edit and forward your resume to prospective employers.

5. To keep on learning and updating your skills.
L. Thurow, a well-known professor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), says only three things matter in the New Economy: Skills, Skills and Skills! The skills you have today may not be needed in a few years-or even a few months-so start now to learn new ones. Take advantage of your company’s training programs or the many programmes funded by government agencies. For example, in Malaysia, the Ministry of Human Resource has a career centre called CareerLink@MOHR that can help you choose the right skills. The most popular programme right now is Graduate Training Scheme.

Work Today, Gone Tomorrow?

Some 30,000 workers are expected to lose their jobs in Malaysia this year. So far, 30,000 are on shorter workweeks. Companies are freezing wages and stopping recruitment. All signs point to an increasingly bleak economic outlook in the coming months. The fact is that, slowdown or not, companies have to keep on shedding lower-skilled staff as they restructure up the value chain to be competitive. Facing a layoff is fast becoming more and more a real prospect for many Malaysians. In this new and unpredictable job market, job security has gone the way of the dodo. To keep your job, you need to work smart. Do whatever it takes to make sure you're crucial to your company. But also have a plan, in case somebody thinks you're not so crucial.

If the worse happens, and you do lose your job in a retrenchment exercise, one of the first things you need to do is to examine your financial situation. Look at your resources and expenses. Check your contract to make sure you get your benefits. To know more about what your rights of employment or termination are, you can refer Human Resource Department (Jabatan Tenaga Kerja Malaysia) will answer your questions on workplace problems.

Then remember, life goes on. There are still many jobs out there, and more jobs being created everyday. Believe it or not, losing a job can actually offer an opportunity, as there is always a better one out there for you.