Integrity key to long-term success of a business

 It encompasses ethics, morality, trust, honesty and fairness. Although the importance of integrity can vary from person to person, promoting integrity in the workplace has recently begun receiving a great deal of attention as a key attribute for the sustained reputation of a business.

It has been proven that running businesses ethically, as socially responsible organisations, pays off in financial returns and also makes positive contributions to the society. For instance, lower transaction costs, increased opportunity for foreign direct investment and improved standard of living are direct results of ethical business choices.

Business networks often involve stakeholders of different cultures, capabilities and a diverse range of objectives. This can create obstacles for companies wishing to be perceived as having "integrity". Despite maintaining high ethical standards, many people may still believe that businesses are driven only by profit that comes at the expense of all other stakeholders, including customers, employees and communities. This makes acting with integrity essential for every organisation.

Normally, business transactions require individual interactions. Therefore, we cannot separate business integrity from personal integrity. Leaders can improve workforce integrity by implementing more transparent monitoring processes and maintaining self-discipline with high standards of honesty and ethics, which serve as role models. The organisational culture must also reward ethical behaviour.

The global competition is now making the expression of integrity extremely important. Stakeholders will simply not consider a business that shows any less than the highest level of integrity.

At its core, integrity begins with a company leader, who promotes corporate ethical best practices, which then cascade down throughout the company. When business integrity is present throughout an organisation, it becomes the focal point of the company's core values.

Nutavoot Pongsiri is human-resources manager of Chevron Thailand Exploration and Production. Follow his article the second Friday of each month.