Truth is important when engaging in a business. Truth always manifest in two ways; when one tells the truth to others and when one is told the truth by other people (Radoilska, 2018). Speaking the truth is always important because if not told, it will always come out later in future. Businessmen are encouraged to be truthful to their customer since it helps in retaining them. According to a study conducted by the University of Massachusetts, 60% of people lie at least once in the course of a ten-minute conversation (Radoilska, 2018). In addition, businessmen should be truthful to consumers on aspects such as, quality of goods sold, price, usage, durability, strengths and weaknesses of the products sold.
Much energy and time is wasted when people in business avoid the truth. Business people should be encouraged to remain truthful to customers, suppliers, society and the government in order to avoid blame and shame in the future days. In addition, telling the truth in businesses is vital since it always bring the right energy in operations. The second perspective of truth in business relationship is when others are speaking to businessmen. Customers, suppliers and government should also be truthful to businessmen in order for them to get an opportunity to grow. Business relationships should be among people who are aware of each other’s faults but are still willing to tell the truth. According to past research, truth is powerful because it is the only aspect that cannot be bought in business relationships. Past research outlines that ninety percent of things in the world can be bought such as education and experiences. However, truth cannot be bought despite the wealth of an individual. Truth involves accepting mistakes and it is inevitable when getting and implementing business ideas. Moreover, mistakes are a natural part of life and people in business must learn the aspect of forgiving others for them to grow and develop from faults committed in the past (Hicks & Sandra, 2016).
When business people are accountable to the truth in their ventures, there is a high likelihood that their operations will be successful. In addition, taking full responsibility and accountability for all operations in an individual’s business helps in having a complete control over one’s life. Therefore, business people should always strive to tell the truth and as well be willing to receive the truth. People in businesses should not be afraid of the truth, but should instead embrace it (Hicks & Sandra, 2016). Moreover, appreciating everything that happens in businesses helps in its growth and goes along with the pursuit of the truth.
Telling the truth forms the basis of business ethics. Truth telling is discussed by differentiating prudential and legal aspects from ethical actions. Telling the truth ensures that people in businesses do not steal from each other. In addition, telling the truth is hard work and people must learn to tell it to others before it can be told to them. Truth telling does not increase the profits in a business but it helps investors and entrepreneurs from living a life without ethical remorse (Radoilska, 2018). According to Ronald Howard, the truth is the most important aspect of business storytelling. Business is more about reciprocity and involves feeding and responding to each other to signals detected from all parties in a business. Business people are important in nurturing an environment based on honesty and are required to offer some degree of sensitive and critical information up-front. Omission of information is one of the most ways of distorting messages in business and therefore leading to untruthful relationships. In addition, omission allows people in businesses to give false information without any stigma of outright fabrication.
Engaging in truthful relationships with customers through honest sales and marketing processes helps in establishing realistic consumer expectations. When advertising a business, entrepreneurs should ensure that they are truthful in order to ensure that the right customers engage in business deals with the firm. In addition, truthful advertising of a business ensures that customer expectations are met. When engaging with potential clients, investors should be truthful about the products and services offered by the firm. Being truthful during the first meeting with consumers encourages customer loyalty and satisfaction. For example, when hitches and delays occur in the course of business engagement with customers, businessmen should be open and honest to explain the reason for the problem and the strategy to be adopted to rectify the situation. Speaking the truth to customers ensures positive experiences to consumers.
Owners of businesses should be truthful and honest with employees and internal systems in a firm. Internal operations and staff are the biggest assets in the business. Engaging in truthful relationships with the right people in business helps in attaining overwhelming success. Employees in a business feel valued and included in the business operations when management and owners remain truthful and honest to them. In addition, truthfulness in business relationships establishes a positive corporate culture in the firm. However, not all information can be shared between owners and employees of a business and it is therefore important to make sure that all facts which should be known by staff members are disclosed.
Business partners and suppliers are vital assets in the business and therefore it is important to be truthful to them in the course of business relationships. Transparency is a key aspect towards achieving loyalty and long term relationship with suppliers. Businessmen should always be clear when engaging with suppliers and partners to ensure that both parties are on the same page (Hicks & Sandra 2016). Truthful relationship with like-minded partners helps to avoid any conflicts of interest and also create a smooth relationship that has the ability to last for long period of times. When sharing sales revenue and profits with business partners, individuals should observe honesty to avoid mistrust.
The government acts as the regulator to all business and provides laws governing the operations of a firm or company. In addition, the government is responsible for collecting taxes from businesses. Owners of firms and companies should therefore engage in truthful relationships when dealing with the government. For example, while paying taxes, businesses should involve qualified accountants and auditors to help calculate profits made by the company as well as taxes owed to the government. Business owners should also comply with government regulations. For example, businesses should not engage in the sale of counterfeit, expired and harmful products to consumers. Businessmen should ensure that products sold pass the quality test in order to gain a great market share as well as customer satisfaction. In addition business owners should be truthful to the government when submitting certain information such as, location, daily operations, leadership and the number of employees in the company. Dishonesty in regulated business can lead to implications such as revocation of operating licenses or at times jail term (Radoilska, 2018).
Being truthful is more than being honest and involves owning up mistakes no matter how embarrassing they are. Truthful relationship in businesses last for a long period of time. Being truthful allows owners of businesses to know their customers. Many entrepreneurs describe operations of businesses with the phrase that a man is as good as his words. When an individual in a business is truthful to clients, they are considered credible. For example, when journalists are conducting a research, they can only quote credible sources. Therefore, being truthful has an advantage of publicity and being advertised on social and print media. Being truthful leads to credibility and trustworthiness from an individual (Levitt, 2013). Customers prefer business people who are trustworthy and when there is a gap, they move to competitors who have the virtue. In addition, being truthful results to accountability which means that customers can take your word and rely on it. In todays, society, most people are not willing to be accountable for their actions especially in businesses and white collar jobs. Being truthful and transparent means that an individual is ready to be held into account for their actions. Moreover, being accountable, credible and truthful helps in forecasting what clients of a business will expect upfront. When businesses are perceived to be true by its customers, the firm gets a good reputation leading to increased sales, profit and market share. Running a business based on truth and trust makes it simple to convince customers why they need to purchase from the firm.
Being truthful with potential clients is tremendously rewarding. Since most people in businesses lie without thinking about it, being honest and truthful stands out as something valuable and unique. In addition, being truthful builds loyalty in both customers and employees. However, being not truthful to clients and partners can be costly (Levitt, 2013). For example, being untruthful erodes the trust of employees in a firm. In addition, it affects the ability of a business person to woo clients and investors. Most investors look for business firms that are truthful in order to invest with them. Therefore, lack of honesty may lead to loss of an investment opportunity from clients. Moreover, being untruthful triggers a stress response in the body.
Truthfulness does not have an intrinsic value in businesses but is perceived to be instrumentally relevant since it leads to successful relationships. People and institutions that do are not true in their businesses claim they do so at a profit (Levitt, 2013). For example, withdrawing vital information in the stock markets would lead to more profits. Truthfulness is described as a virtue and not a skill that all people in businesses should have since it is essential in human interactions.
References
Hicks, D., & Waddock, S. (2016). Dignity, Wisdom, and Tomorrow's Ethical Business Leader. Business and Society Review, 121(3), 447-462.
Levitt, T. (2013). The globalization of markets. Readings in international business: a decision approach, 249.
Radoilska, L. (2018). Truthfulness and business. Journal of Business Ethics, 79(1-2), 21-28.
