1. Corporate Social Responsibility and Virtue Ethics in Workforce Education and Development
Chris Provis
School of Management, University of South Australia
Deputy Director, Ethics Centre of South Australia

2. Aim: to relate three things
corporate
social
responsibility
workforce education and development
virtue
ethics

3. Corporate Social Responsibility
corporations have responsibilities beyond returns to shareholders
responsibilities to other stakeholders
consumers, employees, suppliers, etc
this seems clear (despite some theorists)
if I buy something, I have responsibility to think of its effects on other people
if I buy a share in a company, I have responsibility to think of its effects on other people
and so, the company has responsibilities beyond financial returns to me and other shareholders

4. Corporate Social Responsibility: An Issue
corporations have responsibilities
… but what does that imply for the individuals in the corporations?

5. ‘The Many Hands Problem’
Dennis Thompson, 1980, about officials in government
‘The Many Hands Problem’
corporate actions result from acts by many individuals
e.g. environmental pollution may involve
production manager
design engineer
purchasing officers (equipment, materials)
accountants
many others
CSR implies some obligations for individuals
But what, specifically?

6. Individuals in Organisations
different challenges than in everyday life
in everyday life, individuals often
decide on their own actions
accept responsibility for the nature of the action
accept responsibility for the outcome of the action
in organisations, individuals work together to decide on actions
So, how do individuals’ acts achieve CSR?

7. Solution A: Conform to Rules
organisation has rules for individuals
designed to lead to overall CSR
e.g. standards on types of raw materials, rules for waste disposal, systems for health and safety, HR procedures
classical bureaucracy, analysed by Weber
solution A is a rule-based approach

8. Solution B: Outcome Measures
use key performance indicators (KPIs)
first, set organisation goals
by reference to agreed indicators (e.g. GRI)
then, align individual targets with those goals
e.g. plant manager targets include low emissions
or HR manager targets include good survey responses
solution B is an outcome-oriented approach

9. Analogies with Ethical Decision-Making
Immanuel Kant
1. a rule-based approach is like Kantian deontology in ethical decision-making
what makes acts right or wrong is whether they follow certain rules
e.g. ‘do not steal’, ‘tell no lies’

10. Analogies with Ethical Decision-Making (ctd)
2. an outcome-oriented approach is like consequentialism in ethical decision-making
what makes acts right or wrong is whether they have the best consequences
pleasure or happiness, perhaps, or ‘utility’ …
Jeremy Bentham
Peter Singer
J.S. Mill

11. The analogies managing individual action to achieve CSR
general approaches to
ethical decision-making
Solution A: Conform to Rules
Approach 1: Kantian deontology
Solution B: Outcome Measures
Approach 2: consequentialism
… and then that these have analogous difficulties
I will suggest that these have some difficulties

12. Ethical Decision-Making: Difficulties
1. Rule-based approach
‘rule-worship’
sometimes seems wrong to follow a rule blindly
for example, it seems right to lie to a murderer who is pursuing a victim, even though it breaks the rule ‘do not lie’

13. Managing individual action to achieve CSR: analogous difficulties
for Solution A: Conform to Rules
rule-worship
inflexibility
e.g. individuals may say ‘It’s not my job’

14. ‘It’s Not My Job’

15. Managing individual action to achieve CSR: analogous difficulties
for Solution A: Conform to Rules
rule-worship
inflexibility
e.g. rules about ways to help disabled people
may be good
but may not suit people with other forms of disability

16. Ethical Decision-Making: Difficulties (ctd)
2. Outcome-oriented approach
sometimes, things seem wrong regardless of consequences
my act may not make any difference, where many people are involved
but it might still be wrong
for example, to pad tax returns or take bribes even if ‘everyone does it’

17. outcomes result from many people
Managing individual action to achieve CSR: analogous difficulties (ctd.)
for Solution B: Outcome Measures
outcomes result from many people
‘many hands problem’
e.g. performance evaluation:
- problem separating individual outcomes from group outcomes
- either individuals demoralised or outcomes not linked to corporate outcomes

18. Another Approach to Ethical Decisions
1. rule-oriented
good character
having good judgment
2. outcome-oriented
3. virtue ethics
– what is right or wrong is what a virtuous person would do
– much developing literature
e.g. MacIntyre, After Virtue (1981)
Solomon, Ethics and Excellence (1992)
Koehn, ‘A Role for Virtue Ethics in the Analysis of Business Practice’, Business Ethics Quarterly (1995)

19. Virtue Ethics and Ethical Decision-making
Key Feature of virtue ethics
ethical decision-making is not step-by-step calculation
neither step-by-step application of rules
nor measuring and calculating outcomes
ethical decision-making is pattern recognition
it uses ‘prototypes’ and ‘exemplars’
typical examples compared with present case

20. Pattern-based Reasoning in Ethics
Examples:
legal reasoning
considering past cases
Confucius: stories, sayings
Jesus: parables
all about patterns of resemblance

21. guidelines and principles may be useful
Implication for CSR
managing individual action to achieve CSR may need to get individuals to recognise patterns
not just to follow rules
not just achieve specified, measurable outcomes
guidelines and principles may be useful
but these are not rules
KPIs may be useful
but only for assistance
in making comparisons

22. Pattern recognition and CSR
For corporations to show social responsibility
individuals have to make the right decisions
therefore, individuals have to understand what CSR requires, and see how their own acts affect it
e.g. understand sustainability, environmental impacts, human resource principles, types of disability, etc
as well as how their actions fit into the whole
a task for workforce education and development

23. Can Virtue Be Taught? Ryle, Plato
Gilbert Ryle
Plato
Can Virtue Be Taught?
Ryle, Plato
virtue does not seem just like knowledge that we learn from lectures and memorisation
more like a skill, to be learned through practice
and an inclination, to do the right thing
two requirements:
models from senior people
education and development
implications for
curriculum development
and teaching methods
experiential learning
case studies
discussion

24. Conclusion
‘To ensure a sustainable future, it is necessary that TVET also ensures that all workers are able to play appropriate roles, both in the workplace and the wider community, in contributing to social, economic and environmental sustainability.’
(UNESCO, Orienting Technical and Vocational Education and Training for Sustainable Development: A Discussion Paper, 2006)
this requires development of virtue
including ability to see patterns and understand principles