Respect through Effort and Attention

Kant states that all people deserve a minimum of dignity and respect. He continues to say that it is our duty as people to do whatever we would consistently wish everyone else in a similar situation to do. To act in a way alternate of this would be immoral.

I find it extremely hard to accept that it is possible for a person not to deserve some form of respect. Therefore I am inclined to agree with Kant. All people, regardless of what they have done or from where they have come, deserve a minimum of respect simply because they are people. The reality of the matter is that we cannot know the motivations of people the backgrounds of nurturing that make them act the way they do. We cannot place labels on people and count them as immoral or undeserving of respect simply because of past decisions or actions.

Beyond this the idea of owed respect requires more definition. It is not to say that we should turn bands of burglars loose, regarding their misdeeds as a consequence of their past. We still need rules and standards to keep society functioning. Rather, respect simply means an attempt to understand. We owe our fellows the respect of not judging or stereotyping or making rash decisions. We must give to others of our time so that we may know their backgrounds and motivations, searching beyond consequences and results. If an employee stole from a company because his family was struggling, the employee would need to be reprimanded for the good of the company. But also, his problems with his family also deserve to be addressed. We cannot solve problems without addressing them at the source. To do this, we must have the ability to recognize that the problem stats elsewhere than the fact that the employee is a thief. A manager would owe the employee enough respect to sit down and try to understand his situation and find the best solution.

Leaders are thus challenged with the task of complete awareness of their followers so that they can facilitate this form of respect and care for people and cultivate it through every aspect of their organizations. It is true that it may not be successful with all people – we all fall short in some respects – but it would be more of a failure if we did not recognize our duty and try to fulfill it.