INTEGRITY IS BANKABLE! :D

The Claims Manager said “Because xxxxxxx , we believe that the claims are genuine we will be approving them.” Oh? His words alerted me that from his view there might have been an attempt to defraud. In fact, very probably a large part of his job is to guard his company from fraudulent claims! And this would subsequently have to translate into expensive protective measures at the cost of the honest. Huh! So, what’s new, Sherlock?

That mental jolt to reality had my head spinning towards the surrounding circumstances. If insurance companies have to contend with realizing that the workshops on their panel just might be colluding with unscrupulous owners to make unnecessary gains, then they would naturally have to act with suspicion and not trust. Aha! This is very useful to being more insightful when giving responses in my work as a Management Consultant. Gives Risk Management a greater dimension than is obvious, doesn’t it? And this simply raises the cost of doing business as - is true of all unfair practices. Incidentally, the damage to my car looked worse than it was, and cost the insurance company only a small sum by any standards, thank God!

Remember when part of my documentation to make the claims had been withheld from me, and I was told that I had to “get that particular report only from the one officer”? Why? When they could have been released by any authorized officer and not just one? The proverbial penny was beginning to drop as to why it was more expensive to have the workshop collect the documents. Hmmmm.

Yes indeed. My recent car accident was roughly shaking me up into the realities of what doing business means for many people. By God’s Grace, I have not had much experience with sordid transactions, but He obviously thinks that it is time for me to be educated in life at this level and to stop being naïve if I want to be a constructive participant of communal living, and to continue to campaign actively but realistically for accountability at all levels.

“Supply and Demand’ kept ringing in my ears - no supply unless there is a demand eh? In Utopia, costs would only be fair and not ‘loaded’ by risk management. But Utopia seems to keep drifting further into galaxies beyond reach. The cost of refusing demands can be destructive to one’s ambitions, after all. I’m also beginning to understand why some people refer to ‘inflexibility’ as a barrier to getting things done peaceably. Sweetening the lips of the Kitchen God is a more common practice, finding favor with Expediency. But WHO pays the eventual price?

But, But, But, this form of expediency gives rise to higher $ costs, higher levels of suspicion, and will consequently result in higher levels of stress, costing heath related expenditure! Isn’t it so much simpler, cheaper – and joyous too - to be able to take someone at their word? What an easy life to be able to bet $ on someone to because of their integrity! Due to the global exposure of corporate misconduct in recent years, integrity has become a very timely form of economic management, with formal courses on it being conducted e.g. the Integrity Pacts between public and private sectors in jointly managing projects.

‘Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive’ wrote Robert Burns (1759 – 1796); especially if it is ourselves whom we are kidding.