Immorality is not what caused banks, giddy with their own cleverness, to squirm money out of the system; and morals will not prevent it in the future. It was trickery and scheming and the solution is plain, simple logic. Having it, being OK with simple logic, and insisting on logic in return.
Having people understand what they were doing, or having people be comfortable with the idea that they should understand – and then we would all keep asking questions. What do you mean? What are derivatives? No, really… that makes no sense; what are futures? How does the stock market value of a company relate to the company? Really? I can inflate the value with a good marketing campaign? Trickery.
If I am basing my stock market valuation on hope, like facebook or diamond prospecting, then our imaginations fuel the price, I think we know that. And I should be allowed to have that hope. But what if the company is tracked by a number of narrow parameters that become inviolable and impenetrable by simple logic; and what if those are then focussed on at the expense of the company, the customers, the long term, and the employees. What if the only conversation is about delivering value to shareholders?
While this could sound like whining, I am not saying that it is unfair or immoral. Just that people inside and outside the company should feel comfortable with asking questions until they understand what is going on.
I worked for a small multinational family-owned company that was acquired by a stock exchange listed company while I worked there. The new bosses instantly broke agreements that they had made about keeping on staff. But then there was something else amiss with the continuity of the company, something beyond simple change. It took me a while to work out that the disconnect between upper management and middle, technical management was that, effectively, it was now two companies in one. Upper management was running a financial business for the benefit of the shareholders, which needed quiet, and controlled information release. The middle managers and technical staff were running a technology company that relied on a small number of big, happy customers for repeat business, and this required a level of transparency in pricing and systems.
Secrecy and obfuscation only suits a small percentage of people. Most people find it easy to understand no or low bonuses if we have missed two big contracts in a year, and that we lost the contracts because of late delivery, poor quality. But massaging 3rd quarter results so that share prices go up, pretending to have contracts that are not in the bag or holding them back to a later date so that the 4th quarter looks good, so that the trends are ever upward. Staff stops understanding or feeling in control. People outside the company are unable to unpick the numbers because they have become felted together to leave a smooth surface.
And while the system makes money it is declared good and nobody is supported in a mission to understand more deeply.
It is understanding, and the transparency that allows understanding, that will make systems more seemingly moral.