25/01/2019
Integrity and Honesty
According to the definition of integrity and honesty, I have realized that these are one of
most critical factors in the workplace and that makes a person assume the perception of being
regarded as a reliable employee. I decided to continue with that virtue to the first organization
that I worked for after finishing high school. Integrity and honesty are those values and qualities
that direct people towards doing the right thing, especially when faced with a dilemma or
problem and whenever they do wrong.
I remember my parents always insisted on us being honest and not to act dishonestly. My
parents always told us that the reward for being honest was respect and honor, I never thought
that was true since I never knew the importance of honesty and respect until I came off age and
started to work with this organization. On a particular Tuesday morning while I was reporting to
work at my station within the organization, a group of my colleagues and I shared amongst
ourselves. We came to realization that most people who were working within especially the top
managers never trusted their employees following the fact that most of them had never been
honest with the company. This actualization found it is basis on established rumors that they had
been subject to experiencing difficulty as the organization failed to provide them with
allowances and the benefits that other employees from their competitors were receiving. Instead
of discussing the issue with the top managers they instead decided to whistle-blow about the
matter to the organization’s competitors.
By midday, the head of the department reached out to the members of our team with an
allegation that there has been severe misappropriation of financial resources both allocated
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accomplishing existing tasks along with those collected from the clientele. Now, I had been an
employee of this organization since when I had completed my high school course. It was dealing
with the supply of goods within the local area. I got the job after I was connected by an uncle
who had a personal relationship with the CEO of the firm. When I joined the workforce of the
establishment, I was put under the supervision of some young employee who was a bit older than
me but longer tenure with the firm. The guy was sales representative, and on most occasions, I
would travel with him and most of the delivery and sales to regular customers. If I could recall
vividly, it never hit my mind concerning the reason why he always insisted that I do the loading
while he collected the cash from the customers. I thought maybe he did so following the fact that
I was still inexperienced in the business thus there were chances that I could make mistakes that
would be costly to the firm, so ignorantly, I had let him deal with the cash and the customers
while I concentrated on the loading. Upon revealing such statements, the head of department
delved to conduct more investigation with the permission of the CEO to aid clearing the issue.
By two in the afternoon, our head of department came to us as per the authorization of the
top management and convened a meeting which was to enlighten the department on the aspect of
integrity along with honesty. To ensure that we the subordinates understood the bone of
contention, he did provide illustration on an incident which had actualized itself the previous
month. If I could remember clearly concerning the issue, most of the employees who were
working in the firm always complained of the poor conditions to the extent that they decided to
organize boycotts to air their grievances. The funny thing was that instead of one individual
among these employees to work together with his co-workers, he chose to report the
masterminds of the boycotts to win the CEO’s trust. The Head of our department continued to
explain that such was not a bad idea though, but from what he gather, concerning the facets of
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integrity and honesty, this employee had some hidden agenda in his report. The intention was to
set the other employees to appear as troublesome to the business. At the point when some
employees realized that the organization plus some of their colleagues were against them, they
decided to sell their stories and secrets concerning the organization to the competitors.
According to our head of department, it turned out the reason as to why this employee
decided to report the others was that rumors had it that one of the guys complaining about the
benefits and the harsh treatment was about to be promoted to be the new head of all sales
operations and this would mean that perpetrator had to report him. Upon realizing this, he piled
significant allegations against him, and the CEO decided to retrench the culprit, and his position
of the head of sales and marketing was given to the informant. The head of the department
continued to disclose that some of the colleagues decided to confront him about the decision he
made that led to another person losing his job. The answer that he gave me was a big shock. He
retorted arrogantly by stating that in every organization everyone must thrive to last long and
grab the available opportunities even if it means betraying a colleague or also if it would cost the
firm, however, the end is worthwhile provided the action will lead to salary increment and a
better life. The head of the department concluded by pointing out that all such showed that this
individual employee was never honest with the information that he gave the CEO, it was never
his intent to help the organization, but the report he provided was based on selfless and out of
jealousy.
Being that my raising was a family responsibility, in the evening when I had left my
place of work, my uncle decided to bring the matter in front of the all family on how there had
been an allegation of financial embezzlement within our department and how my partner and I
had been suspected of misappropriating the money. The whole family was disappointed at me
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given that one of the core things that my parents always taught us their kids was honesty. To set
myself free from the accusations I had to tell the truth that I was only dealing with the loading
and offloading of the supplies. But I promised my uncle that in futuristic occasions, I would do
anything within my powers to report the matter to the relevant department or individuals within
the organization provided that such stances could reoccur.
I would say that God works mysteriously, by Wednesday morning, I got an early call
from the office requesting me to report to work earlier than the regular hours. Moreover, to my
surprise, my partner, the sales representative, with whom I used to perform delivery duties with
was absent due to family issues. Therefore, it was only the driver and I who had to complete all
the activities ranging from loading as well as offloading along with transacting with the
customers. In the process, I came to notice that the absent colleague had all along been pocketing
a lot of money as he had hiked the prices of the items we supplied, and he had two receipt books
to help him in embezzling the money without being noticed by anyone. There were two things
involved in this situation but first I had to make the right decision; the first one was that I had to
inform the managers on the issue and come up with the right approach to give to our customers
without losing their trust on us. The second thing was that the problem I was about to report
would lead to my partner’s arrest.
I was confused about the right decision to make, but I realized the true meaning of
integrity and honesty. Integrity and honesty as mentioned before are the value that guide people
towards doing the right thing and being truthful especially if one is faced with a different
situation where one had to make the right choice like this one. Will my actions be termed to be
selfish and out of selfless like the one that my partner did? After a long thought, I decided to do
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the right thing I did not care what people would think of me. The only thing I was thinking about
then was saving the organization and my family’s images and reputation.
With full enthusiasm, excited about the task ahead what was ringing through my mind
was that the other workers in our department plus I lost the boss’s trust. My family’s reputation
was also at risk just because of one person’s selfishness who decided to steal a lot of the
organization’s cash at the expense of others. The head of our department who had offered
informed us the previous day on the topic of integrity and honesty was devastated by the news,
and the trust the firm had towards the employees wavered. That morning it was relatively clear
that because of the unfathomable reputation of that worker, there was doom ahead for us.
Nonetheless, we all resolved out of team spirit to work hard and recover the damaged goodwill.
The issue became an eye opener and made me realize that integrity and honesty are essential
things which must be practiced at the whole cost.
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