Philosophical and religious principles derived from various traditions can exert a positive impact on corporate conduct and culture
Written by Theodore Roosevelt Malloch
In ancient Greece, Meno asked Socrates, “Can virtue be taught?” At around the same time, Confucius was teaching the key ethical virtues for leadership. Today, more than 3,500 years later, in the field of management development, we ask a similar question: “Can managers learn to be wise?” In the Greek Aristotelian tradition, practical wisdom (phronesis) is the mother of all virtues; but this view is not unique to this tradition and is, indeed, central to all traditions.
Looking at the practical (ethical) virtues inherent in managerial decision making, which lead to wise decisions in strategic management, leadership, finance, and human resource management across spiritual and philosophical traditions, makes infinite sense in an era where we have seemingly lost our way and institutions from corporations to governments to not-for-profits are plagued by scandal after scandal. Re-examining practical wisdom across traditions helps avoid the constraints imposed on debate and reflection by an externally conceived, normative, arbitrary list of virtues and ethical or religious principles.
Such an approach takes into account the consequences of globalization and the belief that a global market economy needs an ethical framing and a moral compass to be viable, sustainable, and equitable. The emergence of a world ethic has been called for to make this happen, but has proven to be difficult, particularly in the realm of business.
Projects on secular or world business ethics often encounter difficulties because they are disconnected from the deep-rooted spiritual and philosophical traditions and their cultural contexts. Such secular projects often do not start from these roots and, therefore, are at risk of remaining superficial and, too often, ultimately meaningless. That is not to say that humanism does not provide a viable philosophical context for business, but rather, to state what has become ever more evident: namely, that spiritual traditions involve about 85 percent of the world’s population and, contrary to opinions about secularization or modernization prevalent in recent decades, especially in Europe, they are not waning.
Starting with the upheavals in the 1980s, theologian Hans Kung analyzed the role of religions in modern society. In his early book, Global Responsibility in Search of a New World Ethic, published in German in 1990, Kung elaborated the idea that the world’s great religions should reflect on what they have in common and enter into a real dialogue to contribute to global peace and well-being. He was convinced that “shared ethical values” would not only solve world problems, including those related to business, but also enable a free and just living together in times of globalization. Such a global framework had wide significance for global business as well, as he and his colleagues have suggested.
Concentrating on commonalities instead of differences, Kung argued that a global ethic could emphasize those values integral to all of the world’s religions. Besides the principle of humanity and the Golden Rule of reciprocity, he found four irrevocable principles: commitment to non-violence; commitment to justice and a just economic order; commitment to tolerance and life in truthfulness; and commitment to a culture of equal rights and a partnership between men and women.
These directives appear in all religious and ethical traditions, and Kung detached them from any purely religious or sectarian background. He found these to be a minimal set of values, criteria, and attitudes that are common to all human beings. As such, they embody a Global Ethic. This ethic for Kung is a set of principles grounded on the two values and four principles—enabling life in our globalized society. They are highly relevant for conducting business in an increasingly globalized and interdependent and connected world economy.
It is precisely practical wisdom, as derived from these spiritual traditions and as described by Kung and, over time, others, which serves as a platform for discovering the common ground between the various traditions. Practical needs make the traditions speak to each other in a global society and the integrated global economy. But importantly, the conversation starts with an intimate discovery of the various traditions in their own and different cultural contexts, including the way various companies have used the ethical virtues in their respective traditions to form companies and provide the vision, mission, and execution of such wise and durable entities.
Any practical wisdom on the morality of business ethics should, in the first instance, then embrace modernity (critically), view business and management as potential forces for the common good, and hold firmly to the belief that commerce and freedom of trade can make essential contributions to world peace and stability. Such a business ethic should seek to construct a bridge between the worlds of management and the spiritual and philosophical traditions on a basis of mutual appreciation instead of mutual suspicion.
Business ethics divorced from the long human traditions of spirituality are devoid of both transcendence and contextuality. Increasingly, as modernity or post-modernity faces multiple crises, it finds itself turning back to religious thought and practice from all traditions and searching for larger definitions of meaning, purpose, and hope. There has been, in the last decade and a half, a resurgence of both virtue ethics in business and a movement known generally as spirituality in the workplace. As a megatrend, this phenomenon is likely to continue affecting both specific firms and the global economy.
