ethics I would not like to see introduced into Zimbabwe

One of the things I wouldn't like to see happening as part of future change in Zimbabwe is the adoptiong of a Western cultural value system. I think this would be for the worse.

There is something about Western ethics that smells of an extreme right anti-ethical system. This is linked to the public-private split, which is so entrenched within Western culture.

So it is that Western culture is a very punitive culture. The reason for that pertains to a very systematic kind of cultural reasoning. For it is thought that to communicate to someone as one human to another is to seek to influence them in a way that is unethical. The force of personality is meant to be kept for private means and purposes -- for family, sex, and romance (possibly in that order). Personality is only ever unfairly used in the public realm -- unless it can be argued that one's personality is only expressed for entertainment purposes as well as a matter of public service. To use personality in a role of management is therefore implicitly verboten. (This statement may surprise Western people who see themselves as the ultimate model of individualism -- but think about it, and you will see that what I say is true!)

Because of the compelling social force of the implicit principle against expressing one's personality in the workplace (unless you are doing so in a service capacity or are an Alpha male), managers are not able to express what it is they expect from an employee. Instead, it is considered much more ethical to wait to see what the employee does wrong (the degree to which they fail to read your mind) -- and then, mechanistically punish. This is considered the approach that is most fair and just and good, because it does not involve the role of the personality. It is mechanistic -- and therefore presumed to be Objective.

Thus do the ethics of Western society maintain that it is fair to punish and castigate -- or "discipline" -- an employee. But it is rarely seen as fair to "influence" an employee by showing a human touch.

So: It is these particular, systematised ethics, that I would not like to see introduced in Zimbabwe.