Compliance in controversial situations
As a bullfighting fan, “how good they look behind the barrier”. The truth is that facing a magnificent specimen, weighing approximately 600 kg, must be no easy undertaking; rather, it must involve a very high risk, even risking one's own life. In fact, unfortunately, an outcome like this sometimes occurs.
But we're not going to talk about the world of bullfighting, which is undoubtedly fascinating; it's not the subject of this post. We're going to talk about compliance at times when we may be facing a controversial situation, even impossible Understanding from our corporate culture, and even from our personal culture. I'm referring to situations in which we have to deploy controls, measures, and protocols that we're used to in our daily lives but aren't in other places or societies where we have to carry out our professional activities.
Whether due to culture, customs, rules of coexistence, religion, or other reasons, in the global business world we sometimes face unusual situations with our ways of being and acting. What is normal and logical from our perspective may be, and in fact is, contrary to what is considered normal in other cultures.
That child labor is a scourge that must be eradicated is no surprise to Westerners. We are clear that minors cannot perform work until they reach the legal age to do so. Obviously. Respect for safety and health conditions at work is also something we confront daily, ensuring that this is the case, without allowing circumstances that put workers at risk or undermine their physical integrity. Or, giving something in exchange for a performance may be viewed favorably in other societies, which is completely opposite to ours.
Business ethics and compliance can be right or wrong, appropriate or inappropriate, depending on how those who practice them interpret them. We are faced with two ethical perspectives linked to two ways of thinking and viewing actions based on their postulates: ethical relativism and ethical absolutism.
While relativism considers that an act can be good for one society and bad for another, absolutism proposes unique ethical principles that establish whether actions are good or bad.
If we keep this in mind, we may find ourselves in a situation where, in one country, an action that was initially incorrect is, on the contrary, accepted for having produced a good result, and where the same action would have been questioned and even reviled in another country for being inappropriate, even though the result satisfied the person who took it.
The debate is always there: morality and what is right through compliance with laws and regulations. Doubt arises when, for business reasons, we face scenarios where what is "abnormal" seems normal, and our principles collide with what is "supposedly correct" in another culture. And that's when questions arise that make us doubt ourselves: What do we do in this situation? Do we blend in with what we consider incorrect? Do we identify with what's "not correct"? Do we convince ourselves that we're acting in accordance with the customs of the place where we're conducting business? If it's normal here, what do I have to say about whether it's right or wrong?
Being tied hand and foot to the economic returns of a business is equally a personal and professional dilemma. No one doubts that an entrepreneur takes more risks than a non-entrepreneur, but he or she must also balance that risk with compliance with the law and respect for the customs and culture of each location where he or she operates.
It is quite possible that by itself <the businessman>> do not go to change that society different from what you are used to, but you must at least try to contribute something different that makes "better"that controversial environment he faces, balancing all the positions, which is undoubtedly a mission that is little less than difficult, if not impossible.
This is always the debate we face as Compliance specialists, which impacts not only whether the law is complied with or not. We also have to consider cultures and weigh the potential consequences if we ultimately implement our business practices. And this is not easy.
The absolute is the enemy of the relative, and vice versa. Achieving balance between the two is the virtue we must pursue. Because what we are is one thing, and what we want to be is another. I believe this is the epicenter of a person's internal debate.
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