business and professional ethics: principles and practices (prof. dennis p. mccann, crrs lecturer)...
TRANSCRIPT
Business and Professional Ethics:Principles and Practices(Prof. Dennis P. McCann, CRRS Lecturer)
Outline of Topic
• The Problem of “Market Morality”: Profit (Li) and Righteousness (Yi)
• A Little Hint from the West
• A Foreigner’s Suggestion for modernizing Confucian Moral Philosophy
• Practical Consequences: Rethinking “Guanxixue”
The problem of “Market Morality”: Profit (Li) and Righteousness (Yi)
Market Morality: A Contradiction in Terms?
• Everywhere you look today, it’s “Money, Money, Money….”
• Does Market Reform decrease or increase Corruption?
• Is going into Business still like “Going out to Sea?”
The problem of “Market Morality”: Profit (Li) and Righteousness (Yi)
Profit and Righteousness: Does more Li mean less Yi?
• A Struggle over the meaning of Modernization
• A Struggle over the meaning of Confucian Tradition
• What are the resources for bringing Li and Yi into Harmonious Relationship?
The problem of “Market Morality”: Profit (Li) and Righteousness (Yi)
Business & Professions: Like Li & Yi?
Business and Profit Maximization: ONE Moral Duty of “Fiduciary Responsibility”
• The Business Manager’s only Moral Duty is to Maximize Li for the Owners/Investors)
• Professions and the Ethic of Service: MANY Moral Duties of “The Superior Person,” all converging on Ren
• Are Business and Professional Ethics in Conflict?
Western Resources for Overcoming the Disharmony of Li and Yi
What We can Learn from “Applied Moral Philosophy”:
• Moral Rights and Moral Goods are to be found in Business, as in any other human Activity.
• Wealth Maximization (Good) is Moral, so long as Justice (Right) is always done in the way we do Business.
• Good Business Ethics IS Good Business.
• Credibility Problem for Applied Moral Philosophy
Western Resources for Overcoming the Disharmony of Li and Yi
What we can Learn from Management Theory (Peter Drucker)
• What is the Purpose of a Business?
• Profit IS NOT the Purpose of a business
• Profit IS the measure of Success in fulfilling the purpose of a business
• “The Purpose of a Business is to Create a Customer”
• A Focus on Customers Means a Focus on Forming Ethical Relationships: Customers are People whom you have given Good Reasons for Coming Back for More. Customers are People who TRUST you.
A Foreigner’s Suggestion for modernizing
Confucian Moral Philosophy
Cross-Cultural Studies: The World’s Debt to Confucius and Aristotle
• Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics: Moral Virtues and a Theory of Justice in the Marketplace
• Confucius’s Lun Yu: The Manager’s and the Professional’s (The Superior Man’s) Moral Virtues and the Way to Cultivate them
A Foreigner’s Suggestion for modernizing
Confucian Moral Philosophy Confucian Ethics as a “Rectification of
Names”
• Harmony is Achieved when Each Person lives up to the Ethics implicit in Human Relationships
• The Five Traditional Relationships:» Emperor---Subjects» Parents-----Children» Husband---Wife» Older Brother---Younger Brother» Older Friend-----Younger Friend
• Moral Duties understood within the Relationship
• Moral Duties as “Asymmetrical Reciprocities”
• Moral Leadership by Moral Example
A Foreigner’s Suggestion for modernizing
Confucian Moral Philosophy Limits of Traditional Confucian Ethics:
• The Centrality of the Traditional Chinese Family
• The State (Empire): the Family in “Big Characters”
• Modernization means Social Responsibility outside the Family
• Economic Globalization means Doing Business with Strangers
• The Scarcity of TRUST and the Expansion of Guanxixue
A Foreigner’s Suggestion for modernizing
Confucian Moral Philosophy Expanding the “Rectification of
Names”: A Confucian Approach to Business & Professional Ethics
I propose Two New Categories of Relationships:
Merchant------Customer
Professional--Client
Both carry all Ethical Assumptions of Confucian Moral Relationships
A Foreigner’s Suggestion for modernizing
Confucian Moral Philosophy Merchant----Customer: Business Men and Women act
in ways that effectively Create Customers:
Turn Strangers into Good Guanxi who want to Exchange “Gifts” with you
Professional---Client Professionals act in ways that
effectively Create Clients: Serving one another through
the Application of Knowledge Professionals do NOT exploit
Clients
Practical Consequences: Rethinking “Guanxixue”
How did “Guanxi” come to mean the same thing as “Corruption”?
What is Corruption? What is Gift-Giving and Receiving? What is Bribery and Extortion? When does Gift-Giving become Bribery?
Does Modernization Change the Meaning of Guanxi? (Modernity as a World without Yi)
• The Need for Guanxi in a Modernizing Society: The Problem of Trust in a World of Strangers
Practical Consequences: Rethinking “Guanxixue”
Confucian Ethics and Guanxi:
• Mencius: “The Superior Man Never Allows Himself to be Bought.” (Book 2, Part B, Number 3: Universal Condemnation of Bribery)
• Confucius: Good Guanxixue and Bad Guanxixue distinguished on the basis of Yi. If the ritual dimension is ignored, Guanxixue is likely to be Bad.
• Good Guanxixue and Bad Guanxixue are distinguishable on the basis of the Relationship that is cultivated, and the Reciprocities appropriate to it.
Practical Consequences: Rethinking “Guanxixue”
Confucian Ethics and Guanxi:
• Bribes are distinguishable from Gifts not on the basis of the amount of money involved (US Legal Standard).
• Bribes are distinguishable from Gifts on the basis of Ren, one’s moral intention. (Confucian Moral Standard)
• If the intent is to cultivate a Relationship, and not to purchase a favor, this can be regarded as Good Guanxixue.