Professional Value in Ethics and Islam

BUS240: Professional Work Values in Islam

Instructor: Dr. Hisham Adam

Group Names: Yousef Al Khamis Khalid Al Dabbous Hamad Al Sayegh Mohammad Jamal

Professional Work Values
Introduction
Religion plays an important role in the development of work and professional ethics the world over. All religions, Christianity, Islam, and Hindu among others all inform on work, work values and work ethics in an effort to promote harmony, togetherness, tolerance and hard work. They also advocate for such good practices to ensure cooperation in employer employee relations at the work place. Such religious teachings are entrenched and supported by most constitutions around the world. The Quran and its teachings play an important role in the development of a Muslim. The Quran guides the way of life, it gives insight into relations between brothers, kin, employees and their employers, the individual and the state, and the Muslim and non-Muslims. This holy book above all gives insight into life as Allah wished. Discussion The Quran gives life lessons on employees and employers. It gives teachings on values required at the work place; some of these values include trust, humility, loyalty, hard work, fairness, justice, kindness, and charity among others. Trust refers to the belief in the strength of truth coming from a person other than yourself. The workplace is akin to a second home for most people in adulthood. Relations form that either strengthen or destroy this environment. Relations built on trust have a positive impact on the work environment and result in success while relations formed with distrust merely lead to frustration and losses. Trust comes alongside truth. With truth, employees and employers have an easier time working together. The Quran puts truthfulness and honesty as some of the best traits that a professional Muslim should possess. They imply that a true Muslim should be fearful of the almighty and true through his actions and words. It goes ahead to say that faithfulness is directly related to righteousness. In addition to this, all Muslims will be judged and held accountable for their actions whilst on earth. Concerning work and business, it indicates that a good businessperson is one who is honest; hence, he is put in the same category as the prophets. Honesty supersedes respect. An honest boss is one that communicates effectively with his employees and lets them know of the goings in the company. Such an action begets an equivalent reaction from employees hence creating a cordial work relationship between them. All Muslims are supposed to be charitable. Charity here refers to spending what Allah has given an individual usually in the form of resources, monies, energy, talents and possessions for the good of other people. Charity fosters a relationship between man and other men. It also promotes a relationship with the almighty. In modern day, the most common include helping the needy through corporate social relations; avoiding hurting people and helping strangers find their way. Many companies in the world today engage in philanthropic activities, helping the needy, children, the elderly and the poor in fulfillment of their obligation as human beings to Allah. The Quran also advocates for hard work. Hard work for any Muslim is a mandatory exercise. In one of Prophet Mohammed’s quotations, he refers to hard work as an obligation. He goes ahead and explains that it is better for an individual to carry his own firewood than have a friend do it for him. Hard work is linked directly to honesty in which the Quran indicates that it is not moral for one to beg. It directs the Muslims to work and creates a belief that one would receive a better reward for working hard. It asks them to desist from deceiving others, hoarding goods and begging and instead work hard. Dignity and honor are attached to income acquired in a rightful manner whereas sources of unearned monies are revered against; such as betting and playing chance games. Forgiveness is a highly cherished trait for professional Muslims. A Muslim is bound to accept an apology from a fellow Muslim not unless such an apology has been given dishonestly by the one offering it. More often than not, relations are destroyed within the workplace. It is often best to seek forgiveness from a fellow employee than engage in constant battle. Forgiveness ensures cooperation is maintained whereas hatred brings forth inconsistency and outright bias leading to losses. Good conduct to others. This trait requires that an individual wish for the best for his Muslim brother. This is a two-way concept where an individual wishes good tidings for his friends just as he would wish to have done to him. In an employee-employer working environment, many employees do not have a desire to see their friends excel. As a result, many of them work to ensure their friends fail and are fired. Maintaining good conduct towards others ensures cooperation and in turn ensures mutual success. Organisational culture refers to the behavior of human beings as being part of an organisation as well as the meaning that they attach to different actions in that environment. Culture is a combination of several things including norms, values, symbols, beliefs and habits among other things that are shared by a people. Organisational culture is also a pattern of behavioral traits and behavior that is taught to members of an organisation to promote co-existence and harmonious living. Such cultures define the appropriate behavior for different situations and environment. An organisational culture affects the way individuals interact with each other in the organisation, how they interact with the customers and stakeholders and have a role in creating a good or bad image for the organisation. Such Muslim professional values revolve around oneness. They represent a constant need to create a good employee-employee and employee employer working relation that ultimately bring success. The Quran is particular in creating equity among individuals working together. Contemporary organisations are composed of individuals from a wide range of religious backgrounds. Professional ethics as stipulated in the Quran do not only apply to the Muslims but may be used by any other person regardless of his religious inclination. Entrenching such traits into the organisational culture will go forth to create a lasting bond (Mats 2002) among employees characterized by cooperation and trust. In addition, it will withdraw elements of doubt and foster trust among employees for the mutual benefit of the company. Conclusion The Quran gives a huge list of ethical traits that a Muslim ought to possess in his day-to-day life. These traits form the basis of any Muslim life. These traits are universal in that, people regardless of their religious inclination may use them. Their use in modern day organisations to inform on organisational culture is widely acknowledged, and appreciated. Modern day organisations are multicultural and such traits would be great to bridge this cultural gap and bring harmony to the organisation.