BUSINESS INTEGRITY
The Problem
No one likes to be told they are doing the wrong thing. That is not the purpose of this discussion, but rather to get us to aim higher in our business dealings. As Graphic Designers and Web Developers there is always the temptation to do the wrong thing. It normally does not originate with us, but with those around us or the culture. Not to say we are perfect, we all fail from time to time. What temptations are common for Designers? It is not so much outright theft or crime, but the little things breaking copyright, not respecting licensing, or poaching other peoples clients. What should be our stance on these things?
Proverbs 6:30-31 says, “Men do not despise a thief, if he steal To satisfy himself when he is hungry: But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold”;
If we have not learned what it is to have integrity we may fall into this type of thinking. We will justify ourselves by saying, “I can't afford to buy the latest version of Adobe software, so I will take an illegal copy”, every one around us will say “I understand”, however if we are found out we will have to pay in full. Or it may be contacting an old employers clients, when we know full well they are not ours to have. Again we justify it with the thought, “I am starving here, I need the work". These are wrong ways of thinking.
Often times the temptation comes in the form of a client, who may not hold the same values as us, they may want us to act in a way that is con-try to our faith. Saying, “Could you install my pirated version of Microsoft Word on my machine”? or could you do this job, or that one. We feel really uncomfortable, but do it any way to keep the client happy. Or a staff member may install a Wordpress plug-in, and not pay the license fees, again we feel uncomfortable, but do nothing. Some times it is hard to have a backbone, but we need one, we need to say no to piracy, no to breaching copyright, and other small moral crimes.
The Solution
In my opinion the solution to these problems is to build a culture in your business that abides by every ordinance set forward by men. As the bible says: 1 Peter 2:13-15 “Be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether to the king, as supreme; or unto governors ... For so is the will of God”.
Let staff know that you expect them to abide by the law, to respect copyright, to not pirate software. We may think “It is all too hard, I can't afford it”, but the reality is it is not going to kill us to buy a license for $30 for a $1000 project. I also suggest to gently let people know that you feel uncomfortable with breaching copyrights if they ask you to. As Proverbs 22:1 says, “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold.”
Secondly as a Christian we need to be consistently and constantly praying that we would not be led into situations that are compromising. As the LORD's prayer states “lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from evil”. Prayer can change a many situations around.
God Works @ work I remember being at church last week and chatting to a friend about how I got into Website design. All the praise goes to Jesus. I used to work many hard manual labor jobs, not that there is anything wrong with that. But I hated the work, I would find myself out in the hot sun, wanting to curse and swear. One day I was driving past Griffith University Campus and saw all the students walking past, and wished I could go there. So I prayed and said to God, "Why do I have all the rotten luck, could you not get me there".
Time went by and I forgot about the prayer. Then some years latter I did a TAFE preparation course to go to university. I applied for many universities, but was accepted by Griffith University to do a Teaching Degree, the very uni I had past as I prayed. God was good to me, I swapped to a Degree in Computer Programming, and have not looked back. The work is great, and I now have a praise to God for my work rather than a curse in my heart. No matter where we are in life, God can promote us, and take us to places we never expected.
Guardian Online Development