here - Institute of Business Ethics

Sir Cyril Chantler
Chairman, University College London
Partners Academic Health Sciences
System
“
In his book Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth
Century, published in 1999, Jonathan Glover wrote:
“In Europe at the start of the twentieth century most
people accepted the authority of morality... At the end of
the century, it is hard to be confident either about the moral
law or about moral progress”.
In our post-modern world, organisational values
seem to be too rarely developed or applied. The
common law is an inadequate substitute for an
ethical framework which should be part of corporate
governance; we need conscience as well as contract.
Indeed Adam Smith pointed out in A Theory of Moral
Sentiments, which is the companion book to The
Wealth of Nations, that conscience or a sense of duty
was an important part of regulation. So where are
we today? I would suggest that at least in the UK
we have made little progress over the last decade.
Politicians’ expenses, police entertaining, press
hacking and bankers greed provide a bleak picture.
Someone has just coined the term ‘trickle down
morality’.
But times change, pendulums swing and we can
learn. None of us are perfect and we all, including
myself, could do better. We now need to try again to
ensure that all organisations take ethics seriously and
work on their values. The bigger the organisation,
both public and private, the more important this
is. This is why the Institute of Business Ethics
deserves our wholehearted support. It is a matter of
enlightened self-interest!
“
“One of the major social evolutions of recent
years has been the emergence of non-commercial
concerns, such as the safety of personnel or the
protection of the environment, at the forefront of
companies’ operational strategies. Other ethical
issues, such as the prevention of fraud and corruption
have recently made similar progress.
More difficult to measure is the link between
business and human rights which has recently
become more visible. The important work carried
out by the UN special rapporteur on this question,
validated by the Human Rights Council in 2011,
clearly contributed towards clarifying the situation
by forcing the UN member states and companies to
meet their respective responsibilities.
Bernard Claude
Chairman, Ethics Committee, Total
In order for these main ethical principles to be
implemented on the ground, we need to move past
the ‘name and shame’ approach, and to count on the
active collaboration of all the involved parties. The
concepts of integrity and human rights should also
be considered as ethical values, and not just as risks
to manage.
“
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