Entry # 11

The Parable of the Sadhu

     I remember this story being assigned to us based on our Service Learning group. After reading the story, we were then asked by Dr. Bonnet to answer some questions. Sadly, I have forgotten what the questions were. Going back, the story was about Bowen H. McCoy, a traveler who spent three months in Nepal and did some hiking at the Himalayas. There, he met Stephen, a fellow Westerner who is an anthropologist. As they went through their journey, they met other hikers and they all had one goal in mind: to leave before the ice started melting. However, they faced a dilemma when they found a Sadhu, a holy man, suffering from hypothermia.  They all decided to help but no one really wanted to take full responsibility. In the end, Stephen, who cared most about the Sadhu’s well-being, was forced to leave him behind as he could not support the Sadhu by his own. In the end, no one really knew whether the sadhu died or not.      

      Another issue that arises is that the hikers immediately thought that was what the sadhu needed? They already knew sadhus had easier alternative routes but haven’t they pondered on why this holy man took on the hard path? Have they ever thought that maybe the sadhu wanted to die there? How about the hikers? If the man was well-dressed and spoke in a language they understood, would they have treated him better? What if one of their group mates were in the same place as the sadhu, would they have left him/her the way they did to the sadhu? Everyone was so focused on their goal they forgot they took on a responsibility that they cannot completely commit to.

      You might think, “How does this apply to business ethics?” More often than not, the decisions we make affect other people. That’s why every single thing or factor is important in order to analyze better. The book mentioned that an organization made up by people that do not share the same values tend to bail for themselves when put on a stressful situation. And that was exactly what happened during the hike. Many of them were tired and all of them had limited supplies and the hikers all had differing cultures that hindered them from being able to set up ground rules. In a way, they failed to take into consideration the culture of the sadhu as they acted based upon what their culture would normally do in that situation. Business ethics, as defined by the book, “has something to do with the authenticity and integrity of the enterprise.” This means that in order for a business to be ethical, it must be able to follow the values of the business as well as the cultural goals of the corporation, its owners, employees and stakeholders. They shared a common value, which is to care for the sadhu, but their varying degrees of compassion and differences in culture has made their actions unethical. The end does not justify the means. Just because you helped doesn’t mean that your duty ends there. If your end is to help the man get back on his feet and you just expect him to survive with the material things you’ve given him, then you are completely blowing him out of the water.

       I think the reasons why many corporations fail is that its owners sometimes fail to share the same values. Things will never work out if two different people have no common shared values. I learned that it’s important to find a workplace that shares the same values that you have because values are the foundation for ethics and if you feel that the business ethics of the company you plan to work for violate the ones that you have, it will never work.