In an increasingly globalized world of big businesses, multinational corporations, and scandal, some have argued that there is a need to reassess the function of ethical principles within the corporate culture. Rev. William J. Byron, S.J., addressed this issue in his book, The Power of Principles: Ethics for the New Corporate Culture, which he discussed in a lecture on Monday night.
Byron said the book evolved in part as a reaction to an article in The Economist that questioned the sincerity and effectiveness of corporate social responsibility activities by big businesses, as well as an article in The New York Times, which criticized business schools' alleged inability to sufficiently prepare students to deal with ethical dilemmas.
In researching his book, Byron interviewed business veterans and asked them what advice they would give their children who will be entering the business world to avoid the "ethical quicksand" in which companies such as Enron have become embroiled. Ultimately, he described 10 guiding principles of corporate responsibility and business ethics for current and upcoming generations of business decision-makers.
"I would describe the book as an exercise in expository prose intended to engage the mind and consciousness of those who are now or will be decision-makers in the business world," Byron said.
Byron said that these principles guide corporate social responsibility through four levels. At its foundation, a corporation must function on an economic level and be economically viable. As a result, corporations must be profit-seeking, but not profit-maximizing, enterprises in order to survive, Byron said.
"Profit is not a dirty word," Byron said. "It's an essential element of social responsibility."
Corporations must also act within the limits of the law, but cannot depend on the law as the only guideline for their ethical decisions, Byron said. Business leaders must also draw upon their own reason and experiences, the experiences of others, common sense, and religious and revelatory sources, to be implemented at the top, voluntary, and discretionary level. At this level, Byron said, corporations engage in activities that are for the common good but are not necessarily profit-inducing, such as volunteering on and off company time. Byron countered arguments that such companies only act superficially and that ethical capitalism is out of reach.
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