The Need for Integrity and Credibility for A Better, Smart Partnership
In order for a partnership to be considered smart, all parties involved have to be sincere in the participation. They must be committed that their involvements are to complement and to bring benefits to both parties. Both parties are also convinced that this is the strategy that can lead to success and it can also contributes to society’s prosperity. The partners are committed that they can continuously be better-off if all members of society are also well-off. Indeed they can maintain and sustain their momenta when everybody is economically better-off. This is the law of societal human nature.
By adopting this line of thought, the practice of smart partnership in all human relationships will become a requirement rather than a fashion. This approach to human relationship will ultimately lead to the adoption of the principle of “together we develop and together we share the prosperity.” This principle if adopted fully can maintain social equilibrium and sustain economic development for all parties. The religious requirement of “Prosper thy neighbour” is very much in consonant with this principle.
In order to enhance the smart partnership, all parties involved must practice high integrity and credibility. Adherence to high moral and ethical principles can foster the feeling of genuine partnership. The feeling of trust among all parties must be very high and even a slight suspicious of each other can hinder the success of the partnership.
In order to develop high trust between all parties, they must subsribe to the soundness of their moral characters. They must be honest and have the willingness to be truthful in the conducts of their relationships. This can only be realised if all parties are truthful to themselves and ultimately to God.
Muslims for example, are requested to possess and maintain both inward purity and outward dependable image. Inwardly, they must acquire and practice all the noble qualities of ethical values such as honesty, sincerity, benevolence, etc. Outwardly they must project an appropriate image in terms of their attitudes, manners or behaviours, etc. Possessing these qualities can contribute towards a better individual personality and responsibility.
This moral personality can be attained through the enrichment of the individual soul by conducting spiritual exercises. In the religious term the purification and the cleanliness of the soul is known as taharah. The spiritualisation of man aims to realise a development of character that is purposive, courageous, just and benevolent.
At the same time all parties to the partnership must have the eagerness to seek for truth in all kinds of activities that they are involved with. Truth should be the guideline in all their conducts. Those who are seeking for truth will only attain it through submission to the religious principles revealed by God. Those who disobey God reject the truth and at the same time are doing injustice to themselves. Thus in order to guide all parties to seek for truth, they have to have right knowledge. The true knowledge recognises the supremacy of God and every discipline of knowledge thus will have to relate to God. There should not be any dichotomy between religion and worldly knowledge. This dichotomy that develops declining morality among present society.
In the process of adopting right moral conduct in the relationship, all parties in the partnership should also adopt the ethics of generosity, tolerance and forgiving in dealings among themselves. These ethical values can develop the attitude of give and take. They are essential for all individuals to possess in order to maintain the strong co-operation between all parties in the partnership. It will not be possible to enhance the partnership without these ethical values.
The above ethical foundations if are practiced by all parties in their relationships can contribute towards the achievement of justice in human partnership. Smart partnership demands that all parties have to be just and fair in their relationships. In the absence of this ethical values of justice, the partnership cannot be considered smart because it cannot lead to a sustainable mutual co-operation and relationship. The partnership then will crumble and ending in a failure.
The absence of these attributes of integrity and credibility among partners, can lead to a situation where greed and jealousy among partners will take place. This unhealthy condition can contribute negatively to good relationship between partners and will eventually cause problem to the partnership. Thus the parties are no longer practicing smart principles in their partnerships. This failure contribute to the end of smart partnership.
In the present era in order for all to prosper in the economic activities, the path of smart partnership is a very logical and dynamic in approach. The global prosperity and benefits should be sharing by all. Nobody or country should be left out in the global development. Everybody should be mobilised to contribute to this global prosperity. Thus the next millennium should be an era for the prosperity for all – the developed and less developed societies. This can contribute to a harmonious and stable world community.
In our move towards that ideal situation, the world society should give great emphasis in developing an integrity and credible society. This can enhance the way we conduct our relationships in all sphere of human activities based on smart partnership. Partnership cannot be continuously smart if each party in the partnership is only concern about her interest at the expense of the others. Mutual co-operation of smart partnership works better when all parties have a strong ethical and moral conviction that each party is oblige to share the responsibilities and benefits.
