Every MBA student in Ireland should be taught business ethics as part of their degree course, a leading US academic and specialist has said. For their part, Irish companies should adopt "ethics statements" and make these publicly available, he added.
Prof Patrick E. Murphy, chair of the department of marketing at the University of Notre Dame, said business practices in Ireland were not particularly corrupt on an international scale. But citing the Goodman International, National Irish Bank (NIB) and payments to politicians scandals, he said there was now clearly cause for concern.
Prof Murphy, who has written several books on ethical practices in the corporate world, said Ireland now lay in 14th place on the Transparency International list of least corrupt countries, ahead of France but behind Britain. There was now a need to heighten awareness of such matters in Irish business.
One way to achieve this was for Irish companies to draw up detailed ethics statements, similar to mission statements but focused entirely on ethical behaviour, he said in NUI Galway. These should be publicly available, placed in a prominent place in company buildings, and would serve as a daily reminder to executives and workers alike of their responsibilities.
He also suggested that every MBA course should teach students about business ethics, so that when these men and woman return to their companies they at least have a clear understanding of good corporate ethical practice.
"The Government also has a responsibility in ensuring there is a level playing pitch for business, close scrutiny by the authorities of questionable practices, accountability and transparency," he said during a college debate.
Addressing the same gathering, the Labour Party spokesman on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Pat Rabbitte TD, said the issue of ethics in business was complicated.
"A simplistic approach can lead us into what most people might consider nonsensical positions. How, for example, does one respond to the behaviour of companies such as Shell in the Nigerian delta? Do we throw them out of Ireland? Do we. . .what do we do?" he asked.
Mr Rabbitte argued that the issue of monitoring and regulating corporate behaviour was in essence a political one.
"My own vision is one based on a bargain between the State on behalf of the polity at large as to how best to pursue growth and accumulation and achieve a distribution of the fruits of progress that is in the interest of the common good," he said.
Mr Rabbitte said that this view was supported by the Constitution, which in Article 45 asserts: "The State shall endeavour to secure that private enterprise shall be so conducted as to ensure reasonable efficiency in the production of goods and to protect the public against unjust exploitation."
