Reading:- John Ruskin, as early as in the mid-nineteenth century, went to the core of the issue of what makes for a honorable business man. To Quote:

1) “He has to understand to the very root the qualities of the thing he deals in, and the means of obtaining it or producing it; and he has to apply all his sagacity and energy to the producing or obtaining of it in pure state.” i.e responsibility for delivering promised value to the customer
2) “And because the function of producing or obtaining any commodity involves necessarily the agency of many lives and hands the merchant becomes in the course of his business the master and governor of large masses of men ; so that on him falls the duty of how to make various employments in the production or transference of it, most beneficial to the men so employed”.

Reflections:- Seen in the context of the his essay, there is no doubt that Ruskin uses the word ‘beneficial’, not in the sense of pampering the employee but in its widest sense; i.e. responsibility for enrichment and empowerment of his men thro’ ensuring requisite expertise resulting in the needed levels of excellence to fulfill the responsibility to the customers.

Clearly top executives are agents of shareholders and as such are honor bound to answer for the share holder’s interests; And to honor the contracts they enter into with the creditors and the suppliers. It goes without saying that customer satisfaction is the very life line of an economic activity. These however, are the results that need to be achieved. Any reasonable man would agree that one of the most important inputs for achieving this result is through the fitness of the employees for the purpose. It therefore follows that if the employees are well trained and motivated – which implies that the work they turn out has become ‘beneficial’ to them in the widest sense - then all other constituencies get their due.

But of course, creating such conditions requires investments which comes only from a successful business; successful business comes out of such conditions - so we have a chicken and Egg situation here. It would seem clear that in start ups and those facing tough market situations businessman's focus would tend to be first be on the nuts and bolts of economic results and the men employed are expected to put up with much hardship. Nothing wrong there - we could even say that it is as things should be. When all this hard ship bears fruit and the business reaches steady state in an economical sense, we could say that the 'entrepreneurial' stage is complete and 'Managerial' phase starts. The business man may choose to manage the steady business himself or entrust it to a 'Manager' and look out for different business opportunities. Whatever be the case, the point to note is that 'Harvesting' stage has been reached.It is at this stage that the scramble for cornering the shares of success begins. It is entirely proper that the businessman as the 'risk' taker gets the largest monetary share. The test of honorableness does not lie in sacrificing his rightful share - it lies in the methods employed to improve the 'efficiency' to sustain and improve the economic returns. Some methods are compatible with the 'welfare' of the rank and file. Other measures are 'dehumanizing'- for example the much documented 'drudgery' of the assembly line. Employing these methods too can be justified if that is the only way to sustain the market. But it is always possible to devise palliative measures to reduce the 'drudgery'. The so called 'continuous improvements' should have a ceaseless component bearing on this aspect. Alas! I have rarely seen much evidence of this. To perceive, empathize and persevere but be defeated by the circumstances in alleviating the men's condition does not detract from the honor - the men can perceive the intent and that in itself alleviates. Taking the trouble to 'explain' why some realities are insurmountable in the short term further tempers the hardship. Giving the men every opportunity and encouragement to improve their own conditions - developing the trait of 'taking responsibility' for their own fate in a creative fashion - is positively a 'honorable' course; But what is inexcusable and detracts from the honor is the 'indifference' and/or 'apathy' to the prevailing conditions, the 'scramble' for an unjust share of the success - all arising out of a preoccupation with self interest. To restore the honor the only thing required is the unwavering 'inclination' towards justice as exhorted forcefully by Ruskin:

"Absolute justice is no more attainable than absolute truth. But the righteous man is distinguished from the unrighteous by his desire and hope of justice, as the true man from the false by his desire and hope for truth. Though absolute justice is unattainable, as much justice as we need for all practical use is attainable by all those who make it their aim”

The regrettable thing is that even such aspiration for just actions is generally missing - leave alone realising the desired results.