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Can business ethics be taught?
P.K. DORAISWAMY
“Can you tell me, Socrates, whether virtue is acquired by teaching or by practice, or if neither, then whether it comes to man by nature, or in what other way?”
“I do not even know what virtue is, much less how it is acquired.” (Plato — Dialogues)
Questions like “how to link business power with responsibility? How to sustain a concern for public interest when it conflicts with the bottom-line requirements?” have arisen because there is a widespread doubt about the ability and willingness of business to voluntarily behave responsibly and ethically.
The public image of businesses’ behaviour is one of opportunism and not ethics. Business schools now include business ethics in their curriculum. The question is: can business ethics be formally taught?
Ethics is the science of morality. Morality is the grammar of one’s behaviour affecting others based on the universal fact about human nature that all human beings are vulnerable, can suffer harm from others and cause harm to others. It prohibits direct harm (death, disability, pain, deprivation of freedom or pleasure), as well as indirect harm to others (deceiving, cheating, breaking promise, violating the law, neglecting duty). Violations of these rules are immoral unless there is an overriding extenuation.
An ideal
Intentionally increasing the risk of harm to others attracts penalty but intentionally preventing harm to others is a moral ideal. Moral violation invites penalty, but absence of a moral ideal does not, though social progress rests on the latter. Violation of the first kind invariably harms someone immediately evoking protest. Violation of the second kind may not harm anyone or do so only in the long run. The temptation to violate the latter is, therefore, greater.
Humans being fallible, educating them cannot be a guaranteed success, particularly in areas like ethics. We could, however, attempt the following:
Business is normally perceived as a purely economic activity. Economics, unfortunately, is traditionally regarded as amoral and obsessed with the rational self-centred utility maximiser. (Ironically, Adam Smith was Professor of Moral Philosophy!) First of all, business management students should be helped to realise that economic life is part of a larger moral life and that every business decision has moral dimensions to be specifically considered without waiting for a public outcry or the government’s/courts’ intervention. This could be achieved through concrete examples, case studies and inspiring texts.
Students should also be taught the basic principles of accepted morality in any civilised society. Their personal views cannot be the sole basis of their conception of morality. Students should be helped to realise, notwithstanding the prevailing moral relativism, there is such a thing as moral decency and sensibility which makes one care what is right.
Needless heartache
Students should be sensitised to the fact that injustice causes needless heartache and needless heartache is intolerable in any decent society. Ethics should not, therefore, be an isolated, artificial module in the curriculum but should get reflected in all other modules like marketing, accounting, personnel management, etc., and all campus activities.
Students cannot learn general ethics and interpret and apply them to individual business situations on their own. We do not teach general mathematics to a student and leave him to apply it to accounting but teach them accounting. Similarly, we should teach specific business ethics — that is, how principles should be applied to each business situation. This is best done by practice with real life examples and face-to-face interactions with business executives.
Can defective early upbringing be overcome by adult stage education? Maybe partly. Can it make a ruthless person moral? Probably not. Such persons, once identified, are better eliminated. Will students understand the general principles of morality but still not practise them? Immoral behaviour is rarely due to ignorance of principles but often due to moral indifference, disregard for others, a weak will or self-indulgent habits. Orientation programmes, working conditions, policies, practices, incentive systems and leaders’ behaviour in corporations should all encourage active, instinctive practice of morality and discourage contrary behaviour.
Applying moral principles to business situations is not always a clear choice between two mutually exclusive decisions, one good and one bad. Often there are multiple options each with its pros and cons. Striking a balance is, therefore, the crucial skill. Unavoidable injustice to some should be explained honestly and compensated.
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