Culture and Ethics In The Workplace

Dr Bharati Singh, Senior Lecturer at Staffordshire Business School

I knew when I was joining Staffs last year that I was going to be part of a connected University. During the various inductions and trainings that I had, it was obvious that being active on social media was expected. So, I opened an official FB page and a Twitter account. I already had a profile on LinkedIn and other academic research sites.

However, almost a year down, one of the things that I have procrastinated on is writing a blog. I did not know what to do and where to start from. I am struggling to write articles out of my own thesis so a ‘blog’ about something that interests me was hard coming by.

I googled on ‘how to write a blog?’ and there were suggestions galore. The list of dos and don’ts was long. I pondered and contemplated and deliberated on what interests me and what could I write to draw the attention of readers.

I had worked for many years in the corporate world which included traveling and working with various multinationals and different nationalities before changing directions towards a full-time academic role.

In this role, having just attended the Business Staffs graduation ceremony, an idea for a blog started to take form in my mind. This emanated from the general conversations I had with the graduands and the pride for some to have already secured a job and the primary aim of others to secure a job as quickly as possible.

I knew then that I had to share my experiences of having worked with large multinational companies and banks and to provide some insight about work culture and ethics to my students and anyone in general.

One can face both success and failure at work. It is part of life as much as is birth and death. I am not trying to be macabre here but just dishing out some hard facts. You will not like some people at work and some people may not like you. So where is it that you can make a difference?

Integrity, honesty and being true to your job are first and foremost. Sometimes job descriptions can be misleading but never despair. Give it your all because you will need that recommendation letter when you do move on to your dream job.

The other important fact to remember is: what goes around comes around; so maintaining relationships is very important with people you like or don’t like. You never know who you will meet at any given point of life: the world is round.

Words can never be retracted so be careful what you say, to whom you say and when you say. Be mindful of the external environment (and I don’t mean the weather here).

Finally, never be afraid to own up to your mistakes. A very important lesson that I had learnt at a very young age (courtesy Reader’s Digest): the least important one word is ‘I’ and the most important six words are ‘I admit I made a mistake.’

Dr Bharati Singh, Senior Lecturer at Staffordshire Business School