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The challenge of business ethicsin the West & in China

Robert ShawGraduate School of BusinessGuangdong University of Foreign Studies

2nd International Symposium on Corporate Responsibility & Sustainable Development 第二届国际企业责任和可持续发展研讨会

Agenda

1. The challenge

2. The development of business ethics in the West

3. The development of business ethics in China

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1 The challenge

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The challenge –public expectations

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Politicians and the public expect business practitioners to be honest, to obey the law, to be concerned about the environment and the national interest

There are spectacular examples of failure in the West and in China

The challenge –illegality

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The challenge – new responsibilities

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Their first democratic labour union elections 2012

All-China Federation of Trade Unions 中華全國總工會

The challenge for legislators & educators

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Some people blame the Business Schools for commercial dishonesty, the harsh effects of capitalism and inequality within society

How should nations respond to the global economic strife?

How should businesses respond?

What is it realistic to expect from business ethics courses?

The purpose of Business Schools

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About half the Business Schools in the West emphasise ethics

Who decides the curriculum?

Produce employable graduates,honest workers

Business ethics is the battle ground

Example: Entrepreneurship

The challenge – misunderstandings about business ethics

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Ethics is about what people ought to do

Contrast with science

Contrast with the law

If you want to know how to get people to obey the law, ask the police, criminologists, psychologists, sociologists

Business ethics courses will not make people more honest, nor should they try to do this

2 Business ethics in the West

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We confront new topics

We are becoming clearer on our aims in courses

Research is becoming more profound

Topics in business ethics

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The subject business ethics appeared in the 1960s

Topics:Employee dishonestyCodes of conductFair working conditions - health and safetyRespect for other culturesThe horrors when corporations are caught lyingMonitoring emailTaking and giving bribesChild labour in foreign countriesWhistle blowingWorkplace rights - drug testing, surveillanceThe joys of corporate social responsibility

Topics in business ethics

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New problematics:

Social justice –distribution of wealthEconomic theory – neoliberalismCapitalism & socialismDemocracy & other systemsCorporations & moralityThe effect of technology on societyEthics of cyberspace Eco-phenomenologyHuman rightsIndigenous rights – land rights, cultural harvestAnimal rightsOpen access to data/science/government information

The aims of business ethics

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The goal – coursesTo discuss what people ought to doMoral dilemmasScholarship

The goal – studentsDevelop decision-making skillsTo make better decisions [& act differently]Scholarship

The aims of business ethics

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The goal – intellectual disciplineThe intellectual aspects of leadership (Scholar-Practitioner)Thought in the philosophy of management, ethics, political philosophy, jurisprudence

The aims of business ethics

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Courses and research draw upon the Western tradition

Parmenides & Kant – rationalityAristotle – flourishing & codes of ethicsKant –moral autonomy & deontologyBentham & Mill –utilitarianism

The aims of business ethics courses

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Moral autonomy

The moral person / leader / manager is

EITHER Heteronomous – follows rules

OR Autonomous – independent in

thought and action

Kant: If you are morally autonomous, youMake your own decisionsDo so rationallyHave strength-of-will sufficient to act as you

decide

The aims of business ethics

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The Scholar-Practitioner concept

The aims of business ethics

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The Scholar-Practitioner concept

3 Business ethics in China

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Theorists contrasts with the West

What I see in China

The example of corporate social responsibility

The way ahead

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What I see in China

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80% of businesses small or medium

NationalismValuesPrideConfidenceUnity

Localisation = National self-determination

IdentityOpenness to ideasThe Chinese way

Role of leadership

The example of corporate social responsibility

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Western concerns in business decision-making

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Chinese concerns in business decision-making

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Overall, CSR in China research closely mirrors, albeit in a lagging fashion, the findings of wider CSR in management research. These findings are notwithstanding the very distinctive context of CSR in China.

After all in this country there are strong legacies of Marxism–Leninism, a dominant state and the role of the Communist Party, whose traces abide in the continuing prominence of regulation for CSR. Although CSR, as a subject for academic analysis, is regarded as originally an American phenomenon with more recent European and global ‘translations’, we have seen how CSR in China research represents a further facet of this translation.

Jeremy Moon & Xi Shen (2010) CSR in China Research, Salience, Focus and Nature, JBE

The way ahead

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Distinctive topicsAccess to informationIndigenous peoples –TibetRights in the international arena & at

homeSocialism with Chinese characteristicsDemocracyChinese business practicesThe foundational values of China (the example of Chinese medicine)

Chinese scholarship

New pedagogy

The way ahead

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The way ahead

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Thank you

2nd International Symposium on Corporate Responsibility & Sustainable Development 第二届国际企业责任和可持续发展研讨会