Teaching business ethics in China
Robert Shaw
Graduate School of Business
Guangdong 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
2
Agenda
1. Business ethics in the West
2. Business ethics in China
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1 Business ethics education in the
West
New topics
New aims
Research is becoming more profound
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The purpose of Business Schools
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
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Misunderstandings about business
ethics
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
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Is this book about business ethics?
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Is moral development theory about
ethics?
How children become
mature moral adults
Stage theories
of moral development
Cognitive development
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How does the law relate to
business ethics?
Is business ethics not just a matter of obeying the law?
Most of the cases of dishonesty in the news are not of much
interest to those with a serious interest in ethics
If you want to know how to get people to obey the law, ask the
police, criminologists, psychologists, sociologists
Ethics appears in two places in relation to the law
Policy and the formulation of laws
The use of discretion
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Discretionary justice
Kenneth Culp Davis
Professor in Administrative Law
University of Chicago
Discretion is a tool, indispensable for the individualization
of justice … Rules alone, untempered by discretion, cannot
cope with the complexities of modern government and
modern justice
The mechanical application of a rule means injustice … what
is needed is individualised justice
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Discretionary justice
There is always a gap between a rule and
its application – discretion
This theory is not just about the law
Applying rules = implementing policy
A course for chief executives
Research on rules involves
The philosophy of language
Universals / particulars
Free will / determinism
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Traditional topics in business ethics
The subject business ethics appeared in the 1960s
Topics:
Employee dishonesty
Codes of conduct
Fair working conditions - health and safety
Respect for other cultures
The horrors when corporations are caught lying
Monitoring email
Taking and giving bribes
Child labour in foreign countries
Whistle blowing
Workplace rights - drug testing, surveillance
The joys of corporate social responsibility
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Topics in business ethics
New problematics:
Social justice –distribution of wealth
Economic theory – neoliberalism
Capitalism & socialism
Democracy & other systems
Corporations & morality
The effect of technology on society
Ethics of cyberspace
Eco-phenomenology
Human rights
Indigenous rights – land rights, cultural harvest
Animal rights
Open access to data/science/government information
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The new business ethics
Ethics in as it appears in
Public policy
Economics
Social theory
Political theory
Methods of critical analysis
Draws upon the discipline
of philosophy
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The aims of business ethics
The goal – courses
To discuss what people ought to do
Moral dilemmas
Scholarship
The goal – students
Develop decision-making skills
To make better decisions
[& act differently]
Scholarship
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Business ethics courses – a tradition
of 2,500 years
Parmenides & Kant – rationality
Aristotle – flourishing & codes of ethics
Kant –moral autonomy & deontology
Bentham & Mill –utilitarianism
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The aims of business ethics courses
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, you
Make your own decisions
Do so rationally
Have strength-of-will, act as you decide
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Influences on business ethics
courses
University teachers teach what they research
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The scholar practitioner
What is the basis of policy?
The British Treasury in the early 1900s
SP applies to
government
business
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2 Business ethics education in
China
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2 Business ethics education in
China
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2 Business ethics education in
China
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2 Business ethics education in
China
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2 Business ethics education in
China
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2 Business ethics education in
China
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2 Business ethics education in
China
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2 Business ethics education in
China
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Ethics advances in China
2006
Rothlin B (2004)
Becoming a Top-Notch Player: 18 rules of
international business ethics (In Chinese)
Rules and critical thinking
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What I see in China
80% of businesses small or medium
Nationalism
Values
Pride
Confidence
Unity
Localisation
=
Role of leadership
National self-determination
Identity
Openness to ideas
The Chinese way
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Approaches to business
C0mpetitition
Capitalism Stakeholders Community
Truth/Virtue
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The way ahead
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My personal suggestions for China
Throw away the Western textbooks
Bring Chinese and Western philosophers into critique
Build on existing ethics courses
Understand about case studies
Relate business ethics to Chinese theories of management
Support Chinese scholarship / research
Address the evil of examinations
Thank you ww.gdufs.biz
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