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TERM PAPER

OF

MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

AND

ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

TOPIC:-COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ETHICS AND

VALUES IN VARIOUS ASIAN COUNTRIES

SUBMITTED TO:-

MISS.MARYLYN KAUL

SUBMITTED BY:-

ATUL MUKHIJA

RR1904B43

10905627


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COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF VALUES AND ETHICS

INTRODUCTION:-

Values:

Values are termed as rule by which we make decisions about right, wrong, bad, good

what we have to do, what we do not have to do. It also tells us about which things are more of

importance and which are of less importance. Values can also be defined as what peoples

beliefs are, or there reaction towards good or bad thing. Beliefs of a person or social group

in which they have an emotional attachment.

Ethics:

Ethics are the set of rules which are explicitly adopted by the people. Ethics are

internally defined or adopted.

Ethics are also defined as rules or standards governing the conduct of a person.

Ethics of principle conviction:-It asserts that intent is the most important factor. If we are

having good principles than only we can act ethically.

Ethic of Responsibility: - It tells us that we must understand the results of our decisions and we

should have the ability to answer about our decisions, not all about high minded


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Principle and values.

HERE WE WILL DO THE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF VALUES AND ETHICS

IN VARIOUS ASIAN COUNTRIES.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF VARIOUS ASIAN COUNTRIES IS AS:-

People indifferent Asian countries have different values and ethics. It is because of

there cultures, beliefs, religion or anything .

Values and ethics in India:-

Ethics is concerned with the norms of human social behavior. "It is that study of human

behavior which propounds the supreme good of human life and which formulates the

judgments of right and wrong and good and evil." It is also called moral philosophy. The word

'ethic,' itself is derived from the Greek 'ethos' meaning customs, usages or habits, or more

comprehensively 'character'. The word 'right' has a Latin origin which means 'straight' or

'according to rule'. Ethics is thus specifically concerned with the principles or rules which

make our conduct right or straight. The Latin word 'mores' from which is derived the English

'moral' is not much different from the Greek 'ethos' which means habits or customs stated.

Ethics as a science or body of knowledge is not so much concerned with what an individualconsiders as good for himself as with the ultimate good of the society as a whole. It is a science

of values as distinguished from a science of facts such as physics or chemistry. It is by

applying these values that judgments of human conduct are formed. According to ethics, good

conduct is an intrinsic value. The two great concepts, which have a bearing on Indian ethics,

contained in the Vedas, are the Rta, the law of good or the Eternal Law, and Satya truth.


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Dr. Radhakrishnan sums up the Vedic idea of moral life thus: "Prayers are to be offered to the

Gods. Rites are to be performed... The life of man has to be led under the very eye of God.

Apart from the duties owed to Gods there are also duties to man. Kindness to all is enjoined;hospitality is reckoned a great virtue. 'The riches of one who gives do not diminish. He who

possessed of food hardens his heart against the feeble man craving nourishment, against the

sufferer coming to him (for help), and pursues (his own enjoyment even) before him, that man

finds no consoler.' Sorcery, witchraft, seduction and adultery are condemned as vicious.

Gambling is denounced. Virtue is conformity to the law of God, which includes love of man.

Vice is disobedience to this law."

The Upanishads presuppose ethical excellence on the part of the student set on a study of

spiritual knowledge. They do not, therefore, discuss elaborately the principles of ethics though,

here and there, they do contain teachings about morals.

The Brthadaranyaka Upanishad sums up a whole ethical philosophy in three words:

Daammyat, datta and dayadhvam - self-control, charity and compassion. (These are the three

D's which T.S. Eliot uses in his poem 'The Wasteland' as the message from the ancient world to

the conflict-ridden modern world.)

In the Taittiriya Upanishad the teacher exhorts the pupil to speak the truth, practise virtue, not

to be negligent of virtue, welfare and prosperity, to honour the parents and the teacher and so

on. The Chhandogya instructs the spiritual aspirant not to cause injury to any living creature. It

stresses austerities, charity, truth-speaking, straight forwardness among others.

The Maitrayani Upanishad, one of the minor Upanishads, speaks of anger, jealousy, meanness,

cruelty and rashness, among others, as vices to be avoided. The Upanishads also stress virtues

such as chastity, austerity and silence.


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Manu and Yajnavalkya, among the Hindu law-givers, stress the importance of Achara' or

conduct. Dharma, which is traceable to the Vedic Rta, is exalted. Manusmriti proclaims: "Self-

possession, patience, self-control, integrity, purity, restraint, intelligence, truthfulness, absence

of anger -- these ten are the marks of Dharma." Manu points out that non-injury to other beings

and truthfulness, among others, represent the essence of Dharma.

.

Manu lists the virtues expected of the student, the house-holder, the renunciand, the priestly

class and the ruling class. Respect for elders as one of the cardinal virtues is held up by him.

Women, he says, must be honoured and mutual fidelity between husband and wife must

continue till death (of both)

ETHICAL VALUES IN SRI LANKA:-

Ideas of Freedom of Thought and Expression in Buddhism and the Politics of Human

Rights


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Buddhism, perhaps more than any other major contemporary religion, places a high emphasis

on freedom of thought and freedom of expression in terms of its doctrinal ethics clearly

articulated in the discourses of the Buddha. The fundamental Buddhist doctrinal positions onfreedom of thought, freedom of expression and intellectual debate are clearly represented in the

Kalama Sutta in the form of a question by the representative of a community of people called

the Kalamas and a rather long answer by the Buddha. Kalama Sutta formulates the question

posed to the Buddha by the Kalamas in the following manner:

"There are some monks and brahmins, venerable sir, who visit Kesputta. They explain and

expound only their doctrines, the doctrines of others they despise, revile and pull to pieces ---

Venerable Sir, there is doubt, there is uncertainty in us concerning them, which of these

reverend monks and brahmins spoke the truth and which falsehood

Buddhas thoughts About It:-

"It is proper for you, Kalamas, to doubt, to be uncertain; uncertainty has arisen in you about

what is doubtful. Come, Kalamas. Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated

hearing; nor upon tradition; nor upon rumour; nor upon what is in a scripture; nor upon

surmise; nor upon an axiom; nor upon specious reasoning; nor upon a bias towards a notion

that has been pondered over; nor upon another's seeming ability; nor upon the consideration,

"the monk is our teacher." Kalamas when you yourself know: These things are bad; these

things are blamable; these things are censured by the wise; undertaken and observed, these

things lead to harm and ill, abandon them

Thus it would be clear that what is considered freedom of expression, freedom of thought and

debate in contemporary human rights discourse would be clearly entertained and could be

absorbed within the ideas so profoundly and clearly presented inKalama Sutta. At least, such a

possibility seems achievable when the essence ofKalama Sutta is considered as a whole. But

beyond this obvious fact, what does all this mean in terms of the reality of the human rights

status in Sri Lanka and propagating of human rights values in that country? Has the Buddha's


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discourse on freedom of expression and thought made a significant impact in the nature of

intellectual discourse and debate in Sri Lanka by virtue of Sri Lankan having a Buddhist

religious majority? Moreover, in multi-cultural Sri Lanka, what is the particular use in

reiterating Buddhistness of a particular set of values as a means of justifying or propagating

such values as useful and meaningful as these values may be?

Framed or perceived differently. I believe that this state of confusion would be clearly seen as

this discussion progresses.

In fact, a human rights activist as well as an academic interested in these issues could quote

from the Kalama Sutta and attempt to argue quite successfully the need to create a society

where such ideals would be realized. To discuss and attempting to safeguard these ideals in Sri

Lanka should be considered as a matter of priority because there has been a serious erosion of

these ideals over the last twenty years or so during which many democratic traditions and

practices in Sri Lanka have been dismantled or subverted. In such a context, the activists who

argue for the reinstatement of such values because they are also based on Buddhist ethics may

have some success. On the other hand, they may not.

One of the fundamental questions we need to raise here is, at what point in such a discourse do

we decide to emphasize the Buddhistness or apparent Buddhistness of a particular value or set

of norms, and at what point do we elect to de-emphasize the Buddhist affiliation precisely

because the Buddhist position may not be helpful in supporting the arguments we have in mind

-- as in the case of Buddha's perception on the equal treatment of women? On the other hand, it

may be difficult to refer to a possible Buddhist affiliation to a human rights principle, if the

Buddhist values associated with such principles have already been subverted. For instance, as

far as I can see despite Buddhism's adherence to freedom of thought and expression by all

political regimes in contemporary Buddhist majority societies, from Sri Lanka to Cambodia

and from Thailand to Burma, such rights are considered a hindrance to governance.


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Moreover, it is also possible that the Buddhist conscience associated with these values may be

already lost. Two years ago, I asked a class of about three hundred Sri Lankan undergraduates,

most of whom were Sinhala Buddhists, whether they knew what Kalama Sutta was. The group

also included about twenty Buddhist monks. Only three people raised their hands, including

one monk. They had however, only heard about the sutta, but could not explain what its

contents were or its basic positions. That experience has repeated itself in a similar manner a

number of times since the first encounter. It seems to me that the kinds of values that were

presented inKalama Sutta have disappeared from the Buddhist conscience in Sri Lanka. In

such a context, is there any particular utility in promoting a set of values on the basis of their

affinity to Buddhist ethics when those ethics themselves have already disappeared from the

popular conscience and public imagination. I would argue that it is not necessary to tell the

average Sinhala Buddhist that freedom of expression and freedom of thought are good things

for modern democratic existence because they have resonance with forgotten Buddhist ethics.

It is far easier and intellectually less cumbersome to argue that such values are good for

modern living in a democratic society. That way, one also does not give a hegemonic position

to Buddhism, which is already legally entrenched in the constitution, at the expense of

alienating members of other religions. This last point also needs further elaboration which I

would do in the conclusion of this essay. That is, the problems and polemics of privileging the

position of one religion or way of life in the propagation of human rights in a multi-cultural

and multi-ethnic society which may lead to the creation of new problems rather than

harmonizing existing cultural values and notions of human rights

ETHICAL VALUES IN CHINA:-

The economic prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region in the 90s has created no less attention to

Confucianism for it was regarded as the cultural background conducive for entrepreneurs of


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this region to excel. Some scholars even believe that a "Confucian Revival" is at hand and

propose the 21st Century to be the "Confucian Century".

Although the causes of economic growth and success are complex and likely to vary from one

country to another, the significance of culture has been emphasized. Hicks and Redding

commented, "As there are well over a hundred developing countries, the almost perfect

correlation between Chinese heritage and economic success could hardly be due to chance."

Another study by Gordon Redding on the spirit of Chinese capitalism suggested a strong link

between Confucian values and modern overseas Chinese business enterprises.

However, when the same region triggered a globally felt economic crisis two years ago, fingers

were also pointed at Confucianism, naming it as the culprit behind the downfall of Chinese

entrepreneurship. Further, people often loosely refer to "Confuciamsm" or "Asian Values"

when analyzing factors relevant to the economy and social matters. They do so without first

synthesizing the system of thought upon which they base their claims, thereby weakening their

arguments. Moreover, studies on Chinese values are certainly insufficient if not misconstrued

by scholars with no Chinese background, how then does Confucianism influence Asian

countries? Do traditional Chinese values still exist in modem Chinese societies? Based on thepublications by scholars in the past few years, the approach to these questions varies between

"institutionalism" and "culturalism". Yet, as Yang Kuo-shu points out, in this age of rapid

global development, we can no longer be over-concerned with nebulous and abstract issues;

rather, we should discuss modernization directly at the level of the real world, basing ourselves

on actual observable phenomena. Using quantificational methodology of study, this paper

attempts to investigate whether Confucianism or traditional Chinese values still played a role in

shaping the mind and behaviour of modern Chinese in Singapore and China.

Confucianism and the East Asian Miracle

Much research has been done on this topic, mostly substantiating the claim that Chinese

society has the distinct character of Chinese values. In this section, we present a few of the


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more influential and substantial projects and their findings in this area, including those of

Michael Bond, Geert Hofstede and Gordon Redding.

Among these works, the largest-scaled would be that led by Hofstede. This international survey

was based on the principles of corporate management and took a period of 13 years, divided

into two stages. More than 100, 000 questionnaires written in 20 different languages were

distributed to IBM employees in 50 countries around the world. Results showed that there was

covariance in the responses between the employees of different countries along the following

four different cultural dimensions.

(i) Big/Small Power Distance

Refers to power distribution in the corporation. Big power distance means power is unevenly

distributed and small power distance means power is relatively evenly distributed.

(ii) Individualism/Collectivism

Refers to how deep an individual is committed to his group, how well he merges into the

group, and also the cohesiveness of that group.

(iii) Masculinity/Femininity

Differentiated by gender characteristics such as aggressiveness versus gentleness, confidence

and competition versus humility and care.

(iv) High/Low Uncertainty Avoidance

Refers to the individuals emotional reaction, such as tranquility or anxiety, to an uncertain

environment.

ROLE OF VALUES AND ETHICS IN CHINA:-

Now China is in a process of social transformation preoccupied with the theme of

modernization. During the process, profound changes are bound to happen to peoples values,


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i.e. the disintegration of the former value system and the formation of a new one. The

reconstruction of the new value system demands the integration of the various dispersing and

conflicting values that come into being due to the changing society. Here, integration means to

unite the various existing values into a dynamically and functionally structural whole.

"Historical advancement is always accompanied by a dynamic interaction between integration

and disintegration. But at certain particular stage of the process, one of them always has the

advantage over its counterpart." At the initial stage of the opening up and reform in the 1980s,

the disintegration of the former value system was the major trend while in the 1990s, with the

establishment of the market economy and the pursuit of a rule-by-law society, value integration

has taken the place of its counterpart. Consequently, it is also an unavoidable factor in our

purposeful construction of the value system of the socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Necessity of value integration

The integration of the existing values requires a full acknowledgement of the contemporary

value trends in China. As a whole, Chinese society is involved in a course of transformation


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from a traditional agricultural civilization to a modern industrial civilization. Analysis of the

value factors and the relations among them shows that China is confronting with a complex

and dispersing value system. The system itself features the interweaving of the old and the

new, the coexistence of the domestic and the alien, the overlapping of the common and the

peculiar in addition to the conflict between the majority and the minority.

1. Coexistence of Synchonical values

Having long experienced the agrarian civilization, China is one of the lagging-behind countries

where the movement towards the industrial civilization was stimulated and oppressed by the

Western civilization. This historical factor has caused the coexistence of agricultural, industrial

and informational economies that would take place in a synchronically form. In response to

this is the coexistence of three main trends in the mind of Chinese people: the traditional values

saturated with ethic-based connotations, the modern values marked by science, and the

postmodern cultural values characterized with the reduced subject and transcendental reason.

Besides conflicting with each other, they are drawn into opposite directions in the process of

performing their social functions.

2. The interweaving of heterogeneous values

There are 3 main types of origins for the values existing in modern China: first, the long native

history and the deep sedimentation of our traditional culture; second, the Western culture

flowing into China since mid-19th century; third, the Marxist culture introduced to China since

May 4th Movement in 1919. The values originated from Chinese traditional culture, though

having been criticized repeatedly since the May 4th Movement, are still casting important

influence on the Chinese people and playing a distinct role. Originated from the Western

culture, the second set of values are interpreted by the Chinese people in their own way of

thinking and their own value consciousness in modem times, still maintaining quite many of its

own characters while being assimilated into the spiritual world of the Chinese people.


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Cultivated in the Marxist culture and integrated with the Chinese reality mainly through the

efforts of Mao Zedong and other politicians and theorists, the third set of values have been

developed and transformed creatively, and acquired outstanding Chinese characteristics. They

still have their own distinct qualities in contrast with its other two counterparts. The

coexistence and interweaving, fusion and segregation of the three main types of values in

modern China make the value system extraordinarily colorful and complicated.

3. Conflicts among Different Value Orientations

Marxism, Mao Zedong thought and Deng Xiaoping theory are deployed as the guidance for the

socialism with Chinese characteristics. They occupy the core position in Chinas ideology

structure today. Apart from the socialist ideology guided by Marxism, there exist some non-

socialist ones including those of the bourgeoisie, the petty bourgeoisie and the dregs of the

traditional feudal ideology. The values and their orientations wrapped up in these ideologies

are different from one another. While the socialist ideology taking a leading position in the

general structure, the non-socialist ones are still playing a very important part. Hence there

arise the contradictions and conflicts among the heterogeneous values. In addition, with the

various components and aspects of value system, not all of the existing values belong to theideology even though they are controlled and restricted by the latter. Therefore, there are

conflicts between them and their ideological counterparts.

4. The Contradiction between Common and Particular Values

Concerning the value identification, some common values are accepted by the majority, and

many other particular values are held by only a group or even some individuals. The former

includes the universal values based on the common interests of mankind, the national values


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originated from the Chinese cultural heritage, and the socialist values reflecting the primary

interests of the Chinese citizens in general. The latter contains those having their origins in

cultures of different regions and nations apart from those based on the interests of certain

groups of people or of some individuals. The distinction between commonality and

particularity is not absolute because the two sets of values can in certain case be transformed

into each other, therefore, some common values can change into particular ones when viewed

from another perspective. For instance, the values originated from Chinese cultural tradition

are common to the Chinese people. But they tend to be particular with regard to the human

beings as a whole. The difference between commonality and particularity, though being

relative, leads to the contradiction between them .

SO, this is all about the comparative analysis values and ethics of three Asian countries. Here

we can say that, every countrys values and ethics depend on the ethical behavior of people.

It means how people of particular country think about various situations Actions, and there

decision making process

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