On Sunday, December 26, 2004, the largest earthquake to strike the globe since 1964 rocked the ocean floor off the coast of Indonesia. At the time of writing this column, the death toll stands at more than 175,000 and appeals for help are flooding the news waves and Internet. The response has been and continues to be overwhelming. Companies are bending over backward to assist, with many challenging their competitors to equal or better, their donations. Amazon.com, for example, is reputed to have donated over five millions US $. Throughout the world, commentators have observed that never before have organisations and the public at large responded with such intensity and generosity to the various tsunami relief funds being set up in virtually every country in the world – Mauritius included.

This unprecedented generosity from the business community is mind-boggling and there must be many out there who, like me, must be asking why. In a world reputed for its dog-eat-dog mentality, egocentrism, ruthlessness and war-like tactics, why are there so many organisations that are responding with such great concern, compassion and generosity to these appeals throughout the world? After all, most of the owners or executives running these businesses, don’t even know those affected by the devastation and will probably never meet them.

Research indicates that we, humans, are the only living species to show kindness to complete strangers – animals do show altruism but only to their kin. Why do we do so? Many theories have been put forward:

• Evolutionary theorists argue that we help others to ensure the survival of the human species. In essence, we don’t like to see our own kind dying.

• Economists believe that we do so because we hope that one day, others will do the same for us – the “I scratch your back and you scratch mine” mentality.

• Religious people believe that we are all marred by sin and by doing good, we redeem ourselves in the eyes of God.

• Philosophers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that we all have inborn penchant towards the good, true and beautiful – and therefore good and kind behaviour is natural and unavoidable.

• Finally, the cynics amongst us would point out that the reasons business people donate so generously is because it’s all tax deductible – and does a world of good to their own image.

If the current altruism indicates positively that we, humans, are indeed capable of kindness, generosity and tolerance, hasn’t the time arrived for us to teach compassion, selflessness and generosity in the workplace? Isn’t it time for us to raise our heads from our obsession with the bottom line and take concrete steps in this direction? After all there is a growing body of scientific research which shows that when organizations put people first, their performance on almost all indicators is better. And here I am not thinking only of spectacular, large-scale traumas such as tsunamis or the September 11 attack, but of every-day events such as an employee being diagnosed with cancer, losing a family member or facing a divorce.

The people in this country, probably because of its small size and religious heritage, have an enviable reputation throughout the world for their ability to care for each other. Contrary to large and impersonal centres like New York or London, we tend to show much concern in the presence of suffering. We need to preserve and further strengthen this reputation because if we don’t, we’ll find people around us crashing and burning out – the very same people we take so much care in recruiting, developing and promoting.

<B>Prof E Charoux

[email protected]</B>