ISB, Coffee and Experiments with Truth

This post is about an interesting experiment planed for our Section E.

If you were or are an ISBian you would be familiar with the shortage or the difficulty of finding five rupee coins to purchase your coffee(off the vending machine). A lot of students want to have coffee in the midst of class break but are unable to have it for the want of five rupee coins. Some of the students do carry a few extra coins but still the coins are not enough.

The experiment planed is to address this problem of five rupee coins. What we plan to do is to keep in each class/lecture (of our section to start with) around a hundred five rupee coins in a box from which the students can take the required number of five rupee coins. Please do not let your wily side go wild! The coins will not be distributed free but the amount taken from the box will have to be reimbursed by the student by putting back (in the box), a currency note (or coins of smaller denominations) equivalent to amount of the coins taken out – ten rupees note for two coins, twenty rupees note for four, fifty for ten and so on…

The catch is that there would be no one monitoring the process (of taking money out and then putting an equivalent amount back into the Coin-Box). Therefore, it is quite possible that a particular student might just take the coins without reimbursing the equivalent amount in the box. The question is will someone actually stoop to this level and betray the collective trust posed in whole group for an individual gain of just a few rupees? Or will the bindings of personal / collective morality and conscience prevent him/her from doing so?

This is the question our experiment is trying to find an answer for while trying to fulfill the collective need of five rupee coins for coffee.

My take is that we have no reason to worry. All humans, I believe, are basically honest and are many a times led to dishonesty because of the dishonesty around. However, if the surroundings, system or milieu is trustful, truthful and honest I don’t see much of a scope for the dishonest. In fact, the honesty in the milieu, I feel, will rub off on the dishonest and lead them towards honesty.

It could all sound like some philosophical mumbo-jumbo but it actually is pretty simple. It is just about sending a message to your group/community about the high level of trust you pose in them and about building up a kind of a moral binding to let this culture of trust and honesty prevail.

Will we be successful in setting such a precedent and in starting the desired culture of trust and honesty?

To find out we will have to wait till Monday, 18^th June 2007, the planned kick-off date for our coin-box experiment.

So, guys and gals of Section E from the Class of 2008, are you ready for the experiment?

Watch this space for more....