Christian Ethics and Corporate Culture: A Critical View on Corporate Responsibilities PDF
Preview Christian Ethics and Corporate Culture: A Critical View on Corporate Responsibilities
CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance Series Editors: Samuel O. Idowu · René Schmidpeter Bartholomew Okonkwo Editor Christian Ethics and Corporate Culture A Critical View on Corporate Responsibilities CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance SeriesEditors SamuelO.Idowu,London,UnitedKingdom Rene´ Schmidpeter,Ingolstadt,Germany For furthervolumes: http://www.springer.com/series/11565 ThiSisaFMBlankPage Bartholomew Okonkwo Editor Christian Ethics and Corporate Culture A Critical View on Corporate Responsibilities Editor BartholomewOkonkwo St.Bonaventure’sCenterforCatholicStudies Onitsha-ana Nigeria ISBN978-3-319-00938-4 ISBN978-3-319-00939-1(eBook) DOI10.1007/978-3-319-00939-1 SpringerChamHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2013944659 ©SpringerInternationalPublishingSwitzerland2014 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpart of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation,broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmsorinanyotherphysicalway,andtransmissionor informationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilar methodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped.Exemptedfromthislegalreservationarebriefexcerpts inconnectionwithreviewsorscholarlyanalysisormaterialsuppliedspecificallyforthepurposeofbeing enteredandexecutedonacomputersystem,forexclusiveusebythepurchaserofthework.Duplication ofthispublicationorpartsthereofispermittedonlyundertheprovisionsoftheCopyrightLawofthe Publisher’s location, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer.PermissionsforusemaybeobtainedthroughRightsLinkattheCopyrightClearanceCenter. ViolationsareliabletoprosecutionundertherespectiveCopyrightLaw. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexempt fromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication,neithertheauthorsnortheeditorsnorthepublishercanacceptanylegalresponsibilityfor anyerrorsoromissionsthatmaybemade.Thepublishermakesnowarranty,expressorimplied,with respecttothematerialcontainedherein. Printedonacid-freepaper SpringerispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com) The business of business should not be aboutmoney,itshouldbeaboutresponsibility. It should be about public good, not private greed. —Dame Anita Roddick ThiSisaFMBlankPage Preface We live in a troubled world besieged with numerous social and environmental problems.Someoftheseproblemsarelocalinthattheyaffectpeopleinaparticular location or community while others are global in scale. Does the belief in an automatic link between economic development and the general interests of a globalisingworldnotnowfallwithinnaivetyorblindness? The internationalisation of business has added further to these problems. Today’s heightened interest in the proper role of businesses in society has been promoted by increased sensitivity to environmental and ethical issues. Issues like environmental damage, improper treatment of workers, and faulty production leadingtocustomer’sinconvenienceordangerarehighlightedinthemedia. We often refer to the economic or commercial sector in society as the sector that “provides goods and services.” Yet business behaviour in recent years has caused us to question whether the goods are truly good (hazardous consumer products, violent and sexually explicit video games, unhealthy foods, and fuel- inefficient automobiles) and whether we are really being well served (scandals in accounting, deceptive credit card practices, Ponzi schemes in investments, and greedinmortgagefinance). Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, through the globalisation of the 1990s, the scandals of Enron, Arthur Andersen, and WorldCom, and most recently in the financialmarkets,drivenbythemortgagecrisis,thechallengesofcapitalismhave been substantial. They have even called into question the credentials of the free market economic system—especially in relation to the need for authentic human development(materialandspiritual).Thesehavebeenthedecadeswherein,withan almost monotonous regularity, instances of high-profile misdemeanour have littered the corporate stage. These, it will be recollected, include Lockheed’s bribery of key officials in certain nation states to ensure the successful debut of its civil aircraft, Nestle’s mis-selling of its baby food formula in third world markets, Exxon’s environmental catastrophe in Alaska’s Prince Albert Sound, Shell Oil’s conduct in Nigeria, and, still under investigation, Apple Computers’ grantingof executive share options below market valueindirect contraventionof prevailingUSlegislation. vii viii Preface Theseexamplesillustrateacorporateorganisation’spotentialtoexhibitcertain characteristicsofanunjuststructure.Insuchanenvironment,employees,suppliers, andothersinassociatedconstituentgroupsmaydisapprovebutbecomecomplicitif only to survive and even blind to the behavioural contradiction between “is” and “ought.”Suchfactorsdemonstratewhymanyinsocietyconsiderthatbusinesshas aninherenttendencytobepredatoryandthat,forthisreason,businessmanagement motivationsareunworthyoftrust. Sofarsodepressing,butisthisafairrepresentationofthecorporateworld? As in other fields of endeavour, business enterprise must operate in an era of unprecedentedparadigmaticchange.Theexplosivecombinationofmoderneduca- tion, the convergence of information technologies, and the oft-rehearsed remembrances of two world wars have served to accelerate the onset of a post- modern liberalism wherein the mid-twentieth-century prophetic conceptions of a globalvillagehavelongsincebeensurpassed.Metaphysicalandtheologicalbeliefs havebeenmarginalised.Rivalversionsofmoralcriterianowdefinecontemporary life. Diverse, even apocalyptic, ideologies up to an including certain forms of terrorism compete for allegiance or, at least, for understanding. Most specifically affectingbusiness,moneyhasbecomenomadicand,givencurrentdata,appearsto beinprocessofexodusfromtheWesttotheEast.Eitherway,takeovers,mergers, cross-licensing agreements, and other forms of alliance on a global scale are now thenorm. Aradicalchangeincorporatecultureisneededtohelptransformoureconomic system and to make it socially legitimate. Yet a question arises with ever greater acuity:Howcanthecorporationsdevelopintoresponsiblemoralagentsandwhatis the social responsibility of business? This question is crucial for Christian ethics today.AndtheChristianinbusinessisconfrontedwiththequestion:HowcanIdo businessandactethicallyinasystemthatisnot?TheessayscollectedinChristian EthicsandCorporateCultureareanattempttooffersomeanswerstothisquestion andtoencouragethedebateonmodernbusinessethicsfromadistinctlyChristian perspective. In this volume, a select group of management theorists, theologians, legal scholars,economists,andethicistsjointlystrivetogivebacktothemarketeconomy its ethical and political dimensions. To deal with this topic, the contributors first developtheargumentthatinbusinessethics,thenormsofpersonaland(especially) corporateresponsibilityarethenaturalcorrelatesto“thecriteriathatgovernmoral action.”Usingthisasapointofdeparture,theyproposetobreaknewgroundinthe study of corporate social policy—especially the confining effects of neoliberal one-dimensionalthinking—andofferinoppositionarecoveryofsocial,emotional, andevenspiritualcapitalandareliableformofsociallearningthathelpstodefine and respect the emergent forms of global cooperation and the characteristics required to build an enduring trust in economic relationships, with the suggestion that the business leaders and the executives can accelerate this transformation by foundingthepurposeofthecompany,notonprofitalone,butonitscreativityand itsabilitytoensuresustainableeconomicandtechnicalprogress. Preface ix Expandingonthismuch-appreciatedapproach,thecontributorsassessthequal- ityofcontemporarycorporatesocialpolicybyapplyingtheChristianprinciplesof the unity of knowledge and pursuit of truth tothe traditional principles of justice, thecommongood,andsubsidiarity,allindirectcontrasttotheutilitarian,secular- ist,materialist,andrelativistapproachesthatdominatebusinessmanagementtoday. In doing so, the contributors convey encouragement to meet the needs of the worldwithgoodsthataretrulygoodandtrulybeneficialwhiletakingresponsibility for the social and environmental costs of production, of the supply chain and distributionchain.Theargumentsadvocatetheprincipleoforganisingworkwithin enterprisesinamannerthatisrespectfulofhumandignityofemployees,structur- ing workplaces with subsidiarity that designs, equips, and trusts employees to do theirbestwork,and,finally,usingresourceswiselytocreatebothprofitandwell- being, to produce sustainable wealth and to distribute it justly (a just wage for employees, just prices for customers and suppliers, just taxes for the community, andjustreturnsforowners). The volume proposes an integral vision and understanding in the reduction of social principles into practice that is clearly structured in three parts: First, one exploresandcritiquesCSRgoals;secondly,oneformsajudgmentonitinthelight of these same principles; thirdly, one decides what in the circumstances can and should be done to implement these principles. These are the three stages that are usuallyexpressedinthethreeterms:understand,evaluate,andact.Thepurposeis toprovideethicalnormsthatcanbeusedinthemoderncorporationinitseffortto become a responsible moral agent and to assign a purpose to the company that notablyconsistsofconsideringandansweringthefollowingquestions: (cid:129) AmIcreatingwealthoramIengaginginrent-seekingbehaviour?(That’sjargon for trying to get rich by manipulating the political and economic environment, for example, by lobbying for tax breaks, rather than by actually creating something.) (cid:129) Do I regularly assess the degree to which my company provides products or services which address genuine human needs and which foster responsible consumption? (cid:129) Is my company making every reasonable effort to take responsibility for externalitiesandunintendedconsequencesofitsactivities(suchasenvironmen- tal damage orothernegative effects on suppliers,localcommunities, and even competitors)? (cid:129) Am I making sure that the company provides safe working conditions, living wages,training,andtheopportunityforemployeestoorganisethemselves? (cid:129) Am I seeking ways to deliver fair returns to providers of capital, fair wages to employees, fair prices to customers and suppliers, and fair taxes to local communities? (cid:129) Doesmycompanyhonouritsfiduciaryobligations...withregularandtruthful financialreporting? (cid:129) When economic conditions demand lay-offs, is my company giving adequate notifications,employeetransitionassistance,andseverancepay?
The list of books you might like
