clog

An year back at a Mother Dairy in Gurgaon, I witnessed an incident. A kid was taking some fruit from the shop while he was leaving with his mother. The mother asked him to put it back telling him that if uncle spots him, he will get scolded. Well, the kid put it back and they left. Now, what happened was right, the kid didn't take something he shouldn't have. But was it for the right reason? Apparently if the kid can fix the "uncle spotting him" problem, her mother sees no problem in stealing the fruit. I am quite sure that this is not the case, but the messaging sure gave that impression. I would have let this incident pass as just an aberration had I not witnessed the same over and over at my workplaces and otherwise.

Is right deed right even if it is done for the wrong reason?

While talking about compliance or about "donts" in the workplace, most of the people talk about the monitoring systems and their ability to generate implicating statistics as the factor. I think, the systems should be in place as safety nets to handle aberrations. The norm should be that people should not do "donts" because they understand they are wrong. Now, relating the two incidents, I am wondering if our nurturing during our formative years actually led to this mindset.