In this day
and age, more and more employees maintain they should be provided an
unqualified legal right to refuse work activities that violate their ethical,
moral, personal, or religious convictions or beliefs—in short, their
conscience. This assertion has become one of the more controversial issues
confronting the labour force. However, the Global economic crisis and weak
labour laws/policy has made the employers of labour to be so powerful that
casual workers abound in every countries of the world. As a matter of fact, how
does FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE propel the knack for a successful start-up business?
According
to Thesaurus, Freedom of thought is the right to hold unpopular ideas.
Also,
legally (law), any basic right or freedom to which all human beings are
entitled and in whose exercise a government may not interfere (including rights
to life and liberty as well as freedom of thought and expression and equality
before the law).
According
to Wikipedia it defines freedom of conscience as the freedom of an individual
to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of others'
viewpoints. It is different from and not to be confused with the concept of
freedom of speech or expression.
More
recently, efforts to ensure that people could not be forced to facilitate
practices or procedures to which they object for reasons of conscience have
expanded to the general workforce. Like religion in the workplace, the
conscience trend presents an extraordinary challenge to employers. The broad
definitions of conscience that are offered both in existing law and in pending
legislation, mean that employers will face an increasing challenge regarding
how they choose to conduct their business. A recent experience actually
triggered this write up, I actually had a client who need the service of a
website developer to build a user interface Dating Site, and for the little
knowledge I have acquired in Software Marketing I already knew what functionalities
the Dating site requires. I promptly called a guy whom I knew could do the
magic and he in return asks to speak with the client in question,
unfortunately, the deal couldn’t be brokered because the FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE
is at play. The guy who was supposed to develop the website declined the job
because it is in conflict with his belief as a Jehovah Witness member. This job
was easy to reject because the Website developer is the owner of his business
and could possibly dictate what kind of offer to accept and reject should a
case of conflict of interest arose.
There are
many factors responsible for the triggering of FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE, such
factors could be:-
1. Religious Inclinations
2. Cultural Beliefs
3. Societal Values
4. Government Legislations
5. Work Ethics and Rules
6. Personal Beliefs and convictions
7. Mental and Psychological Dispositions
8. Free Will
The
Overriding effect of FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE can be juxtaposed based on these two
approaches. The first is the “free market” method. In this approach people should
consider possible conflicts between their conscience and workplace demands
before taking a job. Accepting the job is accepting to do whatever the job
entails irrespective of one’s beliefs, and the employer owes no duty to try to
comply with those beliefs.
The Second
approach is to really find out why being an entrepreneur is much better than a j-o-b. When you’re an
entrepreneur, you get to set the goals, you get to choose the direction your
business takes and which projects will be the best fit for your endeavor.
Running your own business
allows you the freedom to change directions, work your own hours, and avoid the
frustrating commute and the knowledge that you never have to worry about being
laid off again due to your FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE.
I personally
belong to the group of people who believes this freedom of conscience phenomenon
can serve as a guide to starting a business of your own if painstakingly
managed. We are in a world where everyone has the right to freedom of thought,
conscience and religion. Therefore I strongly believed that if this freedom of
conscience is universally proclaimed, more and more people will venture into entrepreneurship
as a means of livelihood.
Olanite
Lekan
ideasandprospects@gmail.com
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