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8th International Conference on Catholic Social Thought and Management Education

          The 8th International Conference on Catholic Social Thought & Management Education was held at the University of Dayton (Ohio, USA) on 18-20 June 2012. These Catholic business education conferences are organized by the John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought at the Center for Catholic Studies, University of St. Thomas (Minnesota, USA). The theme for 2012 is “Renewing Mission and Identity in Catholic Business Education”.

          The paper I [Aliza Racelis] read at the conference is entitled "Operationalizing Virtue Ethics Teaching". 

I.    Introduction

The tendency of financial-economic theory toward an exclusively materialistic corporate culture —“shareholder wealth maximization”— can obfuscate lofty ideals that those studying and teaching business ought to hold.  Schools and universities have to be encouraged to debate the moral, legal and governance issues that envelop business and economics.  Universities’ curriculums seem to need revising to incorporate teaching strategies that can imbue students with a greater “ethical sensitivity”.  Given the long list of prominent business scandals just around the turn of the twenty-first century, there is no escaping the fact that ethical reasoning is vital to the practice of business and finance.  In addition, certain institutions lack an emphasis on the nurturing of human resources, as human capital has been shown to be the engine for economic growth. Thus, a shift in pedagogical practices in leadership and management education is required (Villegas, 2011; James and Schmitz, 2011; Racelis, 2008).

In the first few years of the twenty-first century, the corporate world has come under increasing pressure to behave in an ethically responsible manner. In particular, accountability failures have led to bankruptcies and restatements of financial statements that have harmed countless shareholders, employees, pensioners, and other stakeholders. These failures have created a crisis of investor confidence and caused stock markets around the world to decline by billions of dollars.  Standards for what constitutes ethical behavior lie in a hazy area where clear-cut right-versus-wrong answers may not always exist (Racelis, 2010; Walker, 2005).

As practitioners, regulators and researchers study the matter and consequences of unethical business behavior, there is the need to study its antecedents, dynamics and impacts (Reidenbach and Robin, 1990).  In the normative ethical literature, various ethical paradigms are available: deontological (duty-based) ethics, consequentialism, and teleological (end-oriented) ethics.  To the latter belong Aristotelian virtue ethics and discussions of the character of persons.  While there has been a resurgence in virtue ethics, teaching it both at the theoretical and the practical levels has remained an educational challenge.

          I wish to likewise highlight the presentation by Dr. Jeanette Loanzon [University of Santo Tomas] [former Dean, College of Commerce]. Dr. Loanzon was instrumental in setting up and launching the Entrepreneurship Program which was a response of the College of Commerce, UST, to poverty and inequity in the Philippines. Started in 2004–2005, the entrepreneurship course is known as the Triple E program: Entrepreneurship and Ethics education toward Equity. The course unites knowing and doing through opportunities for students to know the poor more as producers and consumers. The vision is for graduates to provide affordable goods, services, and paid work especially to low-income women and out-of-school youth. As a guide, students are oriented to the Triple L model of working with grassroots women—Listening, Leadership, and Livelihood. 

            In her conference paper entitled "Generating Social Capital Through Fieldwork in Economics Education", Jeanette spoke of the practice of Catholic social teaching through attending to poor communities via the field work that she and her post-grad classes carry out.  "For those of us in Catholic universities, how could economics education sharpen the analysis and give priority to the “excluded”?" she asked.  "Fieldwork in economics education in a Catholic university could generate social capital in the Philippines. Adults learn by doing; the more relevant their learning is to real life, the more easily they learn.  It is not after reading many treatises in economics but rather after seeing the misery of the slums of London that one is moved into action (A. C. Pigou in Meier, 1984).  Fieldwork will help economists fulfill their twin roles: to be a trustee of the poor (K. Arrow in Meier, 1984) and guardian of rationality (G. Meier, 1984, 4)", she said.  

          She presented the work of 3 groups of students, viz.:  

     1. Barangay Bagsakan ( Village Trading Center), Bongabon, Nueva Ecija, Central Luzon -  

     2. Barangay Waso Elementary School,  Llorente, Eastern Visayas – 

     3. Barangay San Juan Culinary Tourism, Baliuag, Bulacan,  Central Luzon – 

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Reflections:

Because of this conference, my attention was brought to the publication, in March 2011, of a special supplement of the Journal of Business Ethics that focuses on Pope Benedict’s Caritas in Veritate and its implications and challenges for those in business and economics (professors and practitioners).  The introductory article is authored by Dr. Michael Naughton, Director of the John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought, and Fr. Domènec Melé, professor and Chair of the Department of Business Ethics at Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa or IESE.

I find the JBE article by Prof. Kenneth Goodpaster particularly interesting, in which he reflects on Caritas in Veritate and asks us to consider businesses’ role of producing or rendering “Goods that are truly good and services that truly serve.” “In business ethics, the norms of personal and (especially) corporate responsibility are the natural correlates to ‘the criteria that govern moral action’,” he says.

I invite everyone reading this to think about our own moral responsibilities toward the persons around us, toward the groups to which we belong, and towards society as a whole… 

  You might also be interested in perusing a slide presentation on Ethics: here I make reference to this special Caritas in Veritate issue of Journal of Business Ethics on slide 14.

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Reception, afternoon of June 18/19, Kennedy Memorial Union (Torch Lounge)

Lunch at Kennedy Memorial Union (Ballroom), closing comments by Dr. Michael Naughton

Session 5 of Concurrent Section V 'Socializing the Curriculum', June 20, 2012

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Look at what we found in our Conference kit! :-)

Set of 3 DVDs "Christians in Society: Keys to Catholic Social Teaching"

Here's one of several webpages on this DVD set:

http://www.encristiano.com/documentales/cristianos_en_la_sociedad.html

This series illustrates, with images of striking impact, the essence of Christian responses to the conflicts posed within our global society.  Beyond mere entrepreneurial ethics, all aspects of a person's life are addressed, from politics and family contexts to workplace and business environments.

1. Catholic Social Ethics

2. Family and Society

3. Law and Justice

4. Public Authorities

5. Taxes

6. The International Order

7. Labor Relations

8. The Company

9. The Market

Watch a Trailer, here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2FZxSvei_M&feature=plcp

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More photos:

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