Ethical leadership, real empowerment of employees and treating them with due respect are crucial to business success, said Latifur Rahman, chairman and CEO of Transcom Group.
“Every individual has a need to perform and be recognised. Therefore, empowerment should be real and meaningful and not at a cosmetic level.”
The award-winning entrepreneur made the comments while speaking in front of 150 senior managers of Standard Chartered Bank Bangladesh as part of its country leadership team event at Radisson Blu hotel in Dhaka recently.
The theme of the event was “Winning with empathy”, the bank said in a statement yesterday.
Rahman is the first Bangladeshi to win the prestigious Oslo Business for Peace Award. He won the award in 2012 for maintaining commitment to social responsibility and ethical values.
The award is considered the most celebrated recognition in the business world and an independent committee of Nobel Prize winners in peace and economics chooses the award’s recipients.
On July 28, Rahman was honoured with the prestigious “Saarc Outstanding Leader” award for setting a “rare example” of doing business by upholding moral values while also fulfilling the organisation’s social responsibilities. The CEO Awards gave away the recognition.
Transcom Group’s business has been in operation in Bangladesh since 1885 and is one of the leading local conglomerates in the country. The group has won multiple global accolades for its excellence and ethically strong business practices.
In response to a question on how Transcom Group enjoyed very low level of employee attrition in its senior management team and how the team remains sustainably committed and motivated, Rahman said Transcom Group believes in providing employees with appropriate compensation, training, position, and more importantly required “empowerment”.
“Respect for the individual is of utmost importance. People may make mistakes, and of course they need to be taken to task for that, if required, but upholding an employee’s self-esteem is vital. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect.”
He said ethical leadership is critical as it gives the top talent in an organisation the requisite comfort and confidence to work without being worried about any negative fallout from unethical business practices.
Abrar A Anwar, CEO of Standard Chartered Bangladesh, complemented Rahman, saying: “Business aspirations will be futile unless it is blended with the right culture. As the senior leaders of the bank, it is our responsibility to ensure that our ways of doing business are aligned to the values of a humane organisation.”
Rahman thanked the bank for its continued commitment to Bangladesh and said from his various interactions he has realised that the bank’s management holds the Bangladesh market in high regard.
Standard Chartered Bank has been operating in Bangladesh for the last 112 years, and currently it has about 2,200 staff in the country.
Source: The Daily Star
