The debate is still raging about how to improve the ethical climate in American business. Now that the shock of Enron, etc., etc., has passed the debate is still framed as one of two choices. Choice one, let the markets regulate ethics as honesty will pay off in the long run. Choice two, only government can force ethical behaviors on the market. A recent article in Entrepreneur magazine captures this age old debate. However, there is a third force that seems to get put further and further onto the back-burner: culture.
Culture is based in large part on religious and moral foundations. These foundations are what should guide our ethical decisions in any context including our work. Rather than examine what is morally right and wrong, good and bad, we fall back on the simplistic trade-off of government regulation versus free-markets.
I will argue for free-markets with my last breath, but only if leaders make the commitment to address decisions based on more than profit-maximization. We must first and foremost examine the morality of what we do at work. Even beyond that, we must address the ultimate purpose for our work and the gifts we have been given that allow us to succeed at what we do.
Jeff,
Are free markets and federal oversight mutually exclusive options with regard to corporate governance. I agree that culture should be a guide for ethical decisions however when the inverse negatively affects thousands of hard working honest employees, shouldnt we have more oversight to protect the interest of the employees?
Just curious as to your perspective.
Thanks for turning up this site…good ‘stuff’.
No. They are not mutually exclusive. Rather, the debate has created a false choice. Unions, government regulation, and so forth are often reactions to the practices of management in an environment where free-markets have run wild. If business owners took more time to examine how their values could shape their company culture, we might see more businesses like the one I link in my 9/24/03 entry dealing with the meaning of success (Reell Precision Manufacturing).
Culture should be the third force, and I would argue the dominant force shaping business ethics. Markets should be relatively free and government would only have to regulate private businesses at the margins if the “core” of theses businesses had practices that were truly “good”.
Sadly, I have little hope for true ethical reform for public companies, at least in the short run. Government may need to be the active counter balance for these entities until investors start to hold management in public companies accountable for more than just profits. But, these companies and their practices are beyond the focus of this writer’s blog….
jc