I will begin today’s discourse with a common statement made in an affidavit attesting to the loss of an item, which goes:

“I have conducted a diligent search for (the item) and same has proved futile.”

What really is the deponent saying here? In my view, the deponent would be swearing that they did their best to look for the item but to no avail.

The above is used as an analogy to the discussion in relation to organisational behavior in the discharge of functions by actors.

The expectation of the organization is that the actors will exercise due diligence in executing their work on behalf of the organization. As corporate actors, it is incumbent upon us as individuals to pay attention to the quality of our work and ensure that we meet the expected standard in doing so.

A typical example would be in presentation of work for the consideration of your supervisor. Whereas the gist of the content may be plausible, a presentation riddled with spelling, grammatical and general formatting errors and issues may reflect negatively on the author. This is especially so in the advent of technology where such corrections can easily be made before release for consideration. Generally, there is little patience for such omissions.

Diligence is one of the principles of ethical behavior. Therefore it can be argued that failure to exercise due diligence is unethical. I must hasten to point out that the preceding statement must not be confused with an insistence on perfection or exclusion of human error. Far from that!

The expectation is for actors to always strive to do their best and consciously incorporate and demonstrate due diligence with every activity they undertake in the interest of the organization.

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