Certainly, many Rupp Report readers experienced this situation when they were kids: You didn't behave in the way it was expected and something, whatever, happened. You were expecting some kind of punishment, for example, no TV tomorrow or even the whole week, and so on. Many parents would say after this circumstance: "You are responsible for your own doings. Now change your attitude and do better."

Old-fashioned Values
In modern times, this discipline may seem old-fashioned to many people, and a good education promoting personal responsibility seems to have vanished. Today, there seems to be more of a "who cares" attitude. Almost every day, one may read of another situation in which — sometimes — a barely credible lack of responsibility is seen. And in most of the cases, it seems the impetus is money or power.

The Rupp Report is far from being a political observer. However, everyone should take his/her own share of responsibility for the sake of the whole community. And today the world is more than just countries — it's a global community.

In industry in general, and in the textile and chemical industries in particular, a trend that has been observed in the past few years has been to take over another company, often the major competitor, to "create synergies" or be stronger in the market. And in many cases, this has been done with borrowed money; and the acquirer has not been able to pay the money back. Result: big losses and jobless people. Is it modern management to claim that whatever you do, it's not your responsibility, and you are a victim of circumstances? Fortunately, there are still some true patrons of family-owned businesses, who take pride in taking care not only of their own pocketbooks, but also their employees.

In a nutshell, the financial crisis starting in 2008 was thought by some to illustrate a considerable lack of responsibility by the major financial players, who would privatize the benefit but see the losses socialized, without concern for people living on Main Street.

Increased Salary, No Dividends
In Switzerland, people are currently shaking their heads. At the annual general assembly of UBS Switzerland, the management declared that the bank is not able to pay a dividend. However, it was possible for the management to increase its own salaries and benefits quite heftily.

Soaring Energy Consumption
One year ago, the Gulf of Mexico was flooded with oil — a major disaster. One year later, some companies are already asking for permission for new drillings. Some wonder whether they care about the people living and working in the neighborhood of the Gulf of Mexico. The world's hunger for oil must be satisfied, and the profits of the companies as well.

An even more devastating catastrophe happened a few weeks ago in Japan: First the tsunami and then the breakdown of the nuclear power plants. For weeks and weeks, the operator of the plant wasn't honest in his reporting, and the impact of this disaster appeared to be trivialized. Even before the accident happened, the government was aware of the problems at this plant. And the responsibility went from one place to the other. Yes, of course, the increasing population around the world needs more energy, and at the moment there may not be a better alternative to nuclear power plants to produce enough energy, but there's the issue of getting rid of nuclear waste in a safe way. One has to care for the environment and not leave the world to the children as a garbage dump. The Chinese understand the need to care for the environment (See " The Rupp Report: The Chinese Way To Economy And Ecology," www. TextileWorld.com, April 19, 2011).

By the way, last Monday, the Japanese Physicist Toshiso Kosako retired from his job as a special consultant for the Japanese government concerning the recent Fukushima event. The reason he gave for his retirement was that he "couldn't take the responsibility as a scientist to accept a higher radiation dosage for children," as the government intended to do so.

Information Is Motivation
The first lesson of managing people is that information means motivation. Today, with all the electronic information technology tools, most of the global citizens are well aware of all these problems, and they expect honesty from their own governments and, of course, from industry as well. And after all, a bad spirit full of mistrust in the population leads to a bad situation. And a bad situation leads to a bad economic environment with the well-known results as noted above. By searching for solutions and intermingling economy and ecology, responsible people are able to solve the problems and to get the right answers. Everyone has to assume responsibility.

If you have a story to tell about what the word "responsibility" means to you or your company, write to the Rupp Report jrupp@textileworld.com.

May 3, 2011