From the Universities to the Marketplace: The Business Ethics Journey

Transcription

1 From the Universities to the Marketplace: The Business Ethics Journey David M. O'Connell ABSTRACT. Connecting influence and leadership, the professor of business ethics assumes a sacred moral vocation. Directed towards the student's role in the marketplace, the business ethics course enjoins consideration of the values of social responsibility for the human community in its political, economic, and familial manifestations. Influence has recently been defined as a vision that inspires people to shed their doubts and follow someone's lead, an ability to connect with people and shape the way they look at the world.' The context in which this description appeared was discussion of the leadership that should characterize a President of the United States. It is my firm behef that this definition should also apply to the responsibility exercised by those engaged in the teaching profession at a university. We who have assumed the awesome responsibility, not of power, but of influence must recognize our obligation to evidence a vision, to provide inspiration, to remove doubt and ignorance, and to help shape the way our students look at the world. This is no small task. In fact, it should be considered a sacred, moral trust. The world in which we engage our profes- David M. O'Connell currently Associate VP at St. John's University and Dean of its Liberal Arts and Sciences College, Father O'Connell is a member of the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians) which sponsors St. John's, Niagara and DePaul Universities. With degrees in Canon Law, Theology and Philosophy, he has served in a number of academic and ecclesiastical positions since his ordination in 1982 and is canonical consultant for several dioceses and religious orders throughout the United States. sion and our students has been transformed before our very eyes. The manner in which we teach and communicate our "vision" is being transformed every day, often by the very students who sit before us either in the classroom or at the computer screen at home. Not only does higher education speak a new language with new methods of instruction but the content of our teaching has also been translated by a new context, shaped by rapid developments in science and technology. The "old questions" still hnger but they have been posed along with "new questions" that demand our scrutiny and attempts at resolution. Students cannot nor should they be satisfied with appeals to rank, tenure, position or even experience. This approach "grows tired" quickly and what we say as well as who we are loses not only vitality but relevance as well. The same holds true for the curricula we present. If we are true to our profession, to our "vocation" as teachers, we must exercise influence by giving our students tools that will liberate them. Our influence as teachers is measured by our ability - in the words of ethicist Richard McCormick - to move our students "from self-distrust to self-esteem, from anxiety to peace, from emptiness and alienation to joyful hope," from the slavery of value-less judgments to the assimilation of fearless value-filled judgments.^ This "inspiration," this "liberation" is as much a moral responsibility for those who teach business and economics and finance and law and medicine as it is for those who teach theology and philosophy. Ethics and the teaching of ethics is the inherent responsibility of anyone who dares to exercise "influence" upon the present as well future generations. Journal of Business Ethics 17: , Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.

2 1618 David M, O'Connell Our profession cannot, should not claim the right to be "value-less," "value-free," because of the specific nature of the institutions at which we teach or even because of the specific disciplines in which we are intellectually engaged. Values cannot be the dividing line between private and public universities anymore than they are the things that separate church from state. Similarly, the teaching of values cannot or should not be construed as a limit upon academic freedom. In its most authentic sense, academic freedom is freedom/or something, namely "the advancement of truth."'' It is truth that yields its own claim on what we teach. And truth is the ultimate value in what we do in the university. This is the liberation we enjoy as teachers as well as the liberation which our students seek - often without realizing it - and to which they are entitled in our institutions of higher learning. And we must never forget that the right of academic freedom for the truth that we so enjoy bears with it an academic responsibility to the truth. Anything less than responsibility to the truth is not freedom at all but slavery to the blindness, the doubt, the lack of leadership that motivated us to become teachers in the first place. Our "influence" is one determined by our commitment to the truth and our ability to communicate that commitment in a convincing, compelling way. Those who have prepared and invited us to this conference have chosen as a theme "From the Universities to the Marketplace: The Business Ethics Journey." Our conversations in the next few days, therefore, will have a focus that is decidedly clear and specific. The point of departure is the university and some will speak to that. The destination is the marketplace and others will speak to that. The map that guides us from one place to the other provides a route labeled "ethics" and for all of us - academic or business professional - who lead that journey, there is no other way. My comments will address our point of departure, conscious of the route we shall take, aware of the destination we have in mind. Almost three years ago, the 18th Assembly of the International Federation of Catholic Universities gathered at the University of Notre Dame, in a conference much like this one, to consider issues of relevance to the Catholic academy."* The theme chosen by the delegates was "The Catholic University in Shaping a More Humane Society." It was their desire to examine questions which confront Catholic institutions of higher learning in conversation with the contemporary environment and culture. The participants concluded that the Catholic university today should not concern itself solely with dimensions of "knowledge" and "knowing how" in the education of students, as important as these dimensions are. The Catholic university today must take as its agenda, rather, the dimensions of "knowing what to be" and "knowing who to become."^ This should be the agenda of every university. Catholic or otherwise. If the Catholic university possesses a distinctiveness, however, and if the Catholic university is to be successful, depending upon how one measures success, then the presentation of values within an ethical framework impacting every discipline must be the imperative that these institutions heed so that their students can confront, analyze and challenge the world in which they live. The values imparted, the ethical constructs handed on in the classroom will be living lessons that breathe life, excitement, vibrancy into their "knowing what to be" and "who to become" as well as their "knowing how." And so, here we are, mostly academicians representative of various disciplines - theology, philosophy, economics, marketing, finance, accounting and so forth - gathered to reflect upon our mission, our mandate as institutions of higher learning. If, indeed, we are called by our specific nature and purpose within higher education to help "shape a new, a more humane society" - an essential dimension of influence as we have defined it - then we must first accept the challenge to "shape a new, more humane university" poised to relate with ethical credibility and with value-centered determination to the world in which we live, increasingly influenced by the movements of the marketplace, some of which are neither rooted in values nor ethical. I congratulate the Vincentian institutions, -

3 From the Universities to the Marketplace 1619 DePaul, St. John's and Niagara Universities - who sponsor this annual conference, for accepting the challenge. Permit me as a Vincentian, an alumnus and past Academic Vice President of Niagara and a present Dean at St. John's to say something about our identity and our responsibility within the broader academic community. We are, first and foremost, universities or in the words of Jacques Barzun "houses of the intellect" where the complex functions of the human mind are at home and at work.^ It is our common mission to be the bridge that past and present learning, knowledge and experience cross into uncharted land. To that end, our activities must be analytical, critical in the best sense of the term, free, and unrelenting. We are at the same time Catholic, marked by a specific "mode of being 'university','" that seeks to serve the whole Truth and the One who has called us into being. We are the place where the Church reflects not only upon itself but also upon the world of which we are a part. It is our common mission to be the bridge that faith and Gospel cross into human society, embracing the believer and non-believer alike as we evangelize the richness of diverse human cultures from within. We are, finally, Vincentian, that is, patterned upon the life and work and influence of a man - separated from us in time by over three centuries yet very present - who labored with every ounce of energy at his disposal, to mobilize society against its less than noble characteristics: poverty; corruption; injustice; apathy; lack of values. It is our common mission to be the bridge that our constituencies cross with St. Vincent de Paul, bringing light where the darkness of ignorance abides, especially for the poor. Our identity has never been more relevant. Our responsibility has never been more compeuing. But we are not alone in either identity or responsibility. When Pope John Paul II issued his apostolic constitution on Catholic universities Ex Corde Ecclesiae (August 15, 1990),^ he addressed their responsibility, taking note of the contributions that Cathohc universities in particular make, not only to the mind but also to the spirit and conscience of society. The Pope reminded us that the experience of university life - Catholic or otherwise - is an ardent search for truth and its unselfish transmission to youth and to all those leaning to think rigorously so as to act rightly and to serve humanity better.'^ He stated that the present age is in urgent need of this kind of disinterested service, namely of proclaiming the meaning of truth, that fundamental value without which freedom, justice and human dignity are extinguished.'" The Pope observed that scientific and technological discoveries create an enormous economic and industrial growth but they also inescapably require the correspondingly necessary search for meaning in order to guarantee that the new discoveries be used for the authentic good of individuals and of human society as a whole. If it is the responsibility of every university - and it is - to search for such meaning, a Catholic university is called in a particular way to respond to this need," It was Pope John Paul II's conviction that a Catholic university, as any university, is immersed in human society. As such, it is called on to become an ever more effective instrument of cultural progress for individuals as well as for society. Included among its research activities, therefore, will be study of serious contemporary problems such as the dignity of human hfe, the promotion of justice for all, the quality of personal and family life, the protection of nature, the search for peace and political stability, a more just sharing in the world's resources and a new economic and political order that will better serve the human community at the national and international level. University research will seek to discover the roots and causes of the serious problems of our time, paying special attention to their ethical dimensions. If need be, a Catholic university must have the courage to speak uncomfortable truths which do not please public opinion but which are necessary to safeguard the authentic good of society.'^ Catholic universities not only have the responsibility to do these things, they have the opportunity, they have the privilege to do them as part

4 1620 David M. O'Connell of their reason for being. In this, we are not alone. As I look at the roster of universities and colleges participating in this conference, I see many sister institutions which - for legitimate reasons of their own origin and nature within the academic community - may not have that privilege as easily. For you, our privilege becomes your challenge. You who share this responsibility must determine the ways and means in which the presentation of values can be part of your mission and activity. For you, too, are in the position to exercise the "influence" to which I referred in the beginning of my comments. You, too, have assumed the awesome responsibility to evidence a vision, to provide inspiration, to remove doubt and ignorance, and to help shape the way that our students look at the world. This is no small task. And this is for you, a sacred, moral trust. All of us together who will reflect upon "the business ethics journey: from the universities to the marketplace" in the next few days must recognize that "the marketplace" to which our students journey will be shaped to a significant extent by what we do as "universities." If we are true to our profession, to our calling, then we will, indeed, teach our students "who and what to become" in the lives they will lead and in the work they will do in - what is often presented in contrast to the university - the "real world." As an Academic Dean, I frequently have the opportunity to meet with people, leaders in the business arena, who themselves are not only the products of higher education but also the recipients of the fruits of our labors: the students we send on their journey. In a very real sense, these leaders of the marketplace have become our "customers", our "clients." They take from our hands the young women and men whom we have influenced, whom we have formed, to whom we have imparted our "vision" and "way of looking at the world." It is to such an audience that I often raise the question "how did we do?" recognizing that we have a moral responsibility to them as well. Are we prepared for the answer? On the level of "knowledge" or "knowing how," we have failed that moral responsibility if we have not given them students who understand the essential dynamics of business - not necessarily everything there is to know but certainly what they need to know. We have failed if the students we teach cannot do the job when they leave us. We have failed if our curricula has not equipped them for the real world: if our research is not current; if our methods are not constantly developing and keeping pace with the movements of the marketplace; if we are merely handing on to young, fresh minds, old, stale approaches to the issues they will face in the marketplace. On the level of "knowing what to be and what to become," we have failed our moral responsibility if we have not imparted to our students a commitment to values that they can demonstrate through sharpened critical thinking skills; values that they can articulate in verbal and written expression; values that they can realize with a sense of purpose, drive, motivation and commitment to hard work that maximizes human potential; values that they can translate into relationships respectful of others who have different religious backgrounds, different cultural traditions, different colors of skin, different languages, different points of view. Our task in universities is not only to teach ethics and values for the marketplace but to model these values ourselves as we fulfill our own moral responsibility as educators in the universities where our students begin the "business ethics journey" in the first place. No one sets out on a journey without a sense of purpose or without some destination in mind. To do otherwise is not to embark upon a journey at all but, rather, to wander aimlessly, running the risk of becoming last along the way. Although we as teachers or our students themselves may not know now exactly where the journey will end at the moment of graduation, the goal for all of us should clearly be to become productive, responsible citizens in the marketplace, contributing concretely to the progress of human society.'^ It will be impossible to realize that goal without defined criteria for judgment, points of interest, hnes of thought, sources of inspiration and models of life that are characterized by values''* that are stronger than the forces which

5 From the Universities to the Marketplace 1621 impede human progress and which enslave those on their way with only self-interest or the unbridled quest for material gain. This is the influence that we bring to bear. This is the goal of our profession. This is the possibility we must place before our students. Aristotle wrote that all human actions and choices are directed at some good. "If," he stated, "there is some end of the things we do... this must be the good and the chief good. Will not the knowledge of it, then, have a great influence on life?"'' The values that our students bring to the marketplace must enable them, in whatever occupation they engage, to seek and to find that good, not only as an end but also as the means to that end. The task is ours to teach present and future generations that they cannot hope to do well unless they also choose do good. This is the influence that we bring to bear. This is the goal of our profession. This, too, is the possibility we must place before our students. The destination of students as they leave our universities is not merely ahead of them as some place "out there." Their destination is part of their point of departure and will continue to be shaped to a certain extent by them and what they bring into the marketplace: our influence, our vision and the way they have come to look at the world because of us. To the same degree that we may say that university teaching is more than just a job, our students must enter the workforce with that some conviction about the marketplace. American theologian and economist Michael Novak recently wrote that "a career in business is not only a morally serious vacation but a morally noble one."'^ To him, business is a profession worthy of a person's highest ideals and aspirations, filled with moral possibilities for good or for evil. Aristotle reminded us that the most noble thing in the world is that which is most just.'' Conversely, human experience continues to bear witness to the fact that the greatest triumph of evil in our world has been its ability to convince us it does not exist. What we do in the universities, what we do for the marketplace is to influence our students in such a way that they can distinguish for themselves between the two once they arrive at their destination. Part of the satisfaction that one can realize within the marketplace is derived from a sense that the activities which constitute business as a profession are highly beneficial to the human race, morally sound and among the greatest social achievements of all time.'^ The other part of the satisfaction that one can recognize within the marketplace is that when business beneflts humankind by being morally sound and advancing the good of human society, the marketplace becomes the context in which one finds purpose and meaning in what one does, by what one does and how one does it. Human beings will never be completely the masters of their own destiny. At the same time, however, humanity must never seek or, worse, be the victim of a destiny that is devoid of values. To know and to do the right thing to the extent that we are able will prevent that from happening. And, so, our journey ends where it began, here with us who bear the responsibility - an awesome one, indeed - to exercise influence. If our influence is characterized by an unrelenting adherence to principles of justice and by a passionate appeal to all that is noble within and good for humanity, then the "business ethics journey from universities to the marketplace" will have been w^orth the trip. Notes ' Ricard Lacayo: 1996 Qune 17), 'But Who Has the Power?', Time 147(25), 81. ^ Richard A. McCormick: 1996 (July 20), 'Authority and Leadership: The Moral Challenge', America 175(2), 15. ' American Association of University Professors: 1970, '1940 Statement of Principles', AAUP Bulletin 56, 324. * The International Federation of Catholic Universities, 18th General Assembly, University of Notre Dame, August 2-6, ^ Vincent Hanssens: 1995, 'Foreword', Proceedings of the 18th General Assembly of the International Federation of Catholic Universities, 9. ' Jacques Barzun: 1959, The House of the Intellect (Harper and Row, New York). ^ John Paul II: 1979, 'Address at The Catholic

6 1622 David M, O'Connell University of America', 6 October 1979, Acta Apostolicae Sedis (AAS) 71, * John Paul II: 1990, apostolic constitution Ex corde Ecclesiae, 15 August 1990, AAS 82, The English translation of this document is taken from: Alice Galhn, O.S.U., ed., 'Ex corde Ecclesiae', in American Catholic Higher Education: Essential Documents, (University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, 1992), pp Hereinafter, it will be referred to as "Ex corde!' ' Ex corde, art, 2, p ' Ibid., art. 4, p " Ibid., art. 7, p '^ Ibid., art. 32, p '^ Ibid., art. 34, p '" Ibid., art. 48, p '' Aristotle: 1941, Nichomachean Ethics in Richard McKeon, ed.. The Basic Works of Aristotle (Random House, New York), p "^ Michael Novak: 1996, Business As A Calling (The Free Press, New York), p. 13. " Aristotle, p '^ Novak, p. 15. St, John's University, 8000 Utopia Parkway, NY Jamaica 400, US,A.

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