The Influence of Belief Systems in Business Practices

Week 6 Notes

In the field of business, belief systems supply core values and provide directions for
organizational operations. Many parts of the world are heavily influenced by religious belief
systems and religious institutions.

BELIEF SYSTEMS
It is a set of principles or tenets (beliefs) which together form the basis of a religion,
philosophy, or moral code.

Examples of Belief Systems

1. Animism (earliest belief system)
 Belief in animistic communities or spirit world (spititual beings– benevolent,
mischievous or evil)

2. Faith communities
 Organized systems of belief in early societies
 Priests and priestesses who communicated with gods and goddesses
 Temples and alters were crated as place of worship
 Pantheons: Collection/ group of gods and goddesses
 Supreme Deity: One main god or goddess

3. People have blended many of these belief systems throughout history in a process called
syncretism (combining of belief systems).

RELIGION
 A set of beliefs and practices that is often focused on one or more deities, or gods.
 Portable and universal systems of beliefs and ideas.
 Beliefs and rituals which inspired a change in behavior.
 Monotheistic– believes in one deity or god
 Polytheistic– believes in many deities or gods

SIX MAJOR RELIGIONS

BUDDHISM
• Founded by Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha
• Basic Belief: People reach enlightenment, or wisdom, by following the Eightfold Path and
understanding the Four Noble Truths.
• Buddhists believe that human life is a cycle of suffering and rebirth, but that if one
achieves a state of enlightenment (nirvana), it is possible to escape this cycle forever
• Dharma Wheel (Dharmachakra)
•
• Eightfold Path
1. Right View,
2. Right Resolve,
3. Right Speech,
4. Right Actions,
5. Right Occupation/ livelihood,
6. Right Effort,
7. Right Mindfulness, and
8. Right Concentration
  Four Nobles Truths
1. DUKKHA– Suffering
2. SAMUDAYA– “Origin of suffering” -- that all suffering comes from desire (tanhā).
3. NIRODHA-- “Cessation of suffering” -- it is possible to stop suffering and achieve
enlightenment.
4. MAGGA-- “Path to the cessation of suffering” is about the Middle Way, which is the
steps to achieve enlightenment.

HINDUISM
• Three Gods rule the world. Brahma: the creator; Vishnu: the preserver and Shiva: the
destroyer.
• Belief in the divinity of the Vedas
• Belief in enlightened masters or gurus
• Belief in non-aggression and non-injury
• Belief that the living being is first and foremost a spiritual entity
• Belief in one, all-pervasive Supreme Reality
• Belief in the cyclical nature of time
• Belief in karma
• Belief in reincarnation

• AUM is considered an original (primal) sound that rang out in the created universe.
• Represents the three aspects of God: the Brahma (A), the Vishnu (U) and the Shiva (M).

CHRISTIANITY
• Founded by Jesus of Nazareth
• Basic Belief: There is one God, and Jesus is the only Son of God. Jesus was crucified but
was resurrected. Followers reach salvation by following the teachings of Jesus.

• The fish is
Christ, God's Son, Saviour" spell “ICHTHUS”, which means fish.

ISLAM
• Founded by the Prophet Muhammad
• Basic Belief: There is one God (ALLAH). Followers must follow the Five Pillars of Islam in
order to achieve salvation.
• PILLARS OF ISLAM (Arkan al-Islām)
1. shahādah, the Muslim profession of faith;
2. ṣalāt, or prayer, performed in a prescribed manner five times each day;
3. zakāt, the alms tax levied to benefit the poor and the needy;
4. ṣawm, fasting during the month of Ramadan; and
5. hajj, the major pilgrimage to Mecca, if financial and physical conditions permit.
 • Crescent and Star-- The Crescent is the early phase of the moon and represents progress.
The star signifies illumination with the light of knowledge.

JUDAISM
• Founded by Abraham
• Basic Belief: Characterized as a religion of deed, a ‘Way’ of action by which people
attempt to respond to God’s teachings and principles
• MENORAH: The 7 branches represents the 7 wisdoms: The knowledge of..
1. NATURE
2. THE SOUL
3. BIOLOGY
4. MUSIC
5. TEVUNAH, or the ability to form conclusions based on
understanding
6. METAPHYSICS
7. TORAH (central lamp- “light of God”)

SIKHISM
• Founded by Guru Nanak
• Basic Belief: Believe in the oneness of all beings and the equality of everyone.
• Three Core Pillars
1. Vaṇḍ Chakkō: A spirit of giving, sharing, and caring for one another is central to
Sikhism.
2. Kirat Karō: Earning/making a living honestly, and speaking the truth at all times.
3. Naam Japna: Meditating on God’s name to live a life of decency and humility.

• The Khanda (a double edged sword) -- represents the belief in one God.
• The Chakkar-- a
remain within the rule of God.
• Two crossed kirpans representing spiritual authority and political power.

THE IMPACT OF BELIEF SYSTEMS and RELIGION TO

BUSINESS PRACTICES

Islamic Business Ethics

Some principles of business ethics according to Al-Qur’an:
1. Prohibits business conducted by the evil (Surah 4:29)
2. The business must not contain elements of usury (charging of unreasonably high-interest
rates) (Surah 2:275).
3. Business activities also have a social function either through Zakat and alms (Surah 9:34).
4. Upholding the values of both economic and social balance, safety and kindness and do not
approve of damage, injustice, and cheating. (Surah 7:85, QS.2 : 205)

The Islamic ethical system has its own distinctive guidelines which are derived from two
fundamental notions: halal (lawful and permitted), and haram (unlawful and prohibited).
Halal designates any object or action that is permitted/ allowed to use or engage in; haram
designates any object or action that is prohibited to use or engage in. Since the Islamic ethical
system permeates every aspect of a Muslim’s life, including business and commerce,
 classifications of things as halal and haram also apply to the economic aspect of a Muslim’s
life:
Islamic Tenets of Business Transactions
HALAL Business Transactions HARAM Business Transactions
Earning Legitimate (Halal) Interest (Riba)
Fulfilling Obligations Dealing in Prohibited (Haram) Items
(Alcohol, Pork, Drug, Gambling, Prostitution)
Profit-Loss Sharing Partnerships Cheating and Fraud
Fair Treatment of Workers Hoarding of Food

Haram and Halal categorizations draw a framework in the mind of a Muslim

businessperson, and act as a filter through which the Muslim interprets things and makes
strategic decisions in his business life.

Christianity Business Ethic

For Christians, business ethics should be an outpouring of living out their faith.
1. The Bible is the guidelines of business ethicWork is God’s gift to humans as well as being
God’s call to them (Gen 1:28).
2. The Old Testament contains laws and injunctions about the fair treatment of employees,
e.g. Leviticus 19:13; Deuteronomy 25:13-15.
3. Honesty in business. (Prov. 3:32).
4. Being ethical in business as a Christian means reflecting the character of God. There are
three divine characteristics of God repeatedly mentioned in the Bible that have direct
bearing on ethical decision-making. They are: Holiness, Justice and Love
Holiness helps to promote purity in business, justice promotes fairness and support an
approach that is balanced, and love provides the framework on which business
relationships exist.

Hinduism Business Ethics

There are three key reasons why ethics plays a key role in business in Hinduism:
1. It is crucial that ethics have a considerable influence if we want an efficient, smoothly
operating economy. Ethics helps the market to function properly.
2. The government, laws and lawyers cannot resolve certain key problems of business and
protect the society: ethics can.
3. Ethical activity is valuable, for its own sake, because it enhances the quality of lives and the
work we do. Business has an ethical responsibility for fairness for humanity.

Virtues in the Bhagavad Gita (a religious text/ book in Hinduism which means “Song of God”)
(Paramitha 2014)- Krishna (a Hindu deity/god) mentions qualities in business, which are:
a. To be peaceful
b. Charitable
c. Simple
d. Clean
e. Mild-mannered
f. Magnanimous
g. Saintly
h. Equitable
i. Truthful
j. Obedient and
k. Merciful
“One should surrender the fruits of one’s actions to God and avoid greediness.”

Buddhism Business Ethics

The justification for adhering to Buddhist psychology in business will be the following four
perspectives:
 1. Accepting personal responsibility for actions.
Buddhism strongly emphasizes the concept of cause and effect. It says the what is
happening now is just the result of our prior decisions and actions. The Buddhist mindset
will discourage mean-spirited and predatory actions.
2. Understanding the importance of healthy detachment
Detachment is yet another strong virtue in Buddhist practice. It says that those business
practitioners will have less control issues, power hunger, or profit insatiability. Those people
will refrain from greedily reach for positions, titles or possessions, to think that these are
impermanent.
3. Nurturing the will to collaborate with others These encourage the Buddhist practitioners
to open themselves to others, to have a greater collaboration and less selfishness. It says
that the ego is a hindrance toward interconnectivity. At any rate, today’s business
environments call for heightened levels of collaboration.
4. Practicing right livelihood
Right livelihood is one of the elements of the “Noble Eightfold Path,” in Buddhism.

Judaism Business Ethics

The following are the important guiding principles of classical Jewish business ethics:
1. The legitimacy of business activity and profit;
2. The divine origin and ordination of wealth (and hence the limits and obligations of human
ownership);
3. The preeminent position in decision making given to the protection and preservation
(sanctity) of human life;
4. The protection of consumers from commercial harm;
5. The avoidance of fraud and misrepresentation in sales transactions; and
6. The moral requirement to go beyond the letter of the law (the ethical seller who speaks the
truth in his heart and resolves to demonstrate a high level of ethical behavior).

Sikhism Business Ethics

Sikhism encourages enterprise, workforce participation and economic progress:
1. One of the three pillars of Sikh religion is to work hard and earn an honest living while the
other is to share with others the fruit of such labor.
2. As the emphasis is on family life, Sikhism encourages participation in economic and social
activities. As Sikh religion does not discriminate between castes, gender or religion, it
encourages high work force participation.
3. Role of medicine, charity, and social welfare is considered paramount in Sikh value system.
4. Finally, for a Sikh, human life in itself is a business, with every breath being a business
period and the highest priority of life being Truthful Living.

Example of How Belief Systems Affect Business Practices

A Catholic businessman obliges himself to struggle to succeed in business while serving
the community and trying to live the life of a good Catholic in a world of temptations and
contradicting realities. Catholic men and women, leaving the halls of learning ready to fight good
fight – to pay taxes properly, to not bribe, to speak against corruption, to create jobs and pay living
wages, to provide quality goods and services, to not steal nor cheat, men and women whose
hearts and minds are oriented toward the alleviation of poverty and to being good Catholic
business people.

In the Philippines, a good number of Filipino Catholics/Christians have given ground to the
demand that religion resonate with the needs and desires of ordinary believers, especially the poor
and marginalized (Sison and Palma- Angeles, 1997). Two successful Philippine cases of socially
oriented enterprises created by prominent Catholic or Christian businessmen are: (1) Gawad
Kalinga and (2) Bangko Kabayan, an economy of Communion based bank.

---SUMMATIVE TEST #4---