International Symposium on 'Applied Ethics in Management' ( Febrary 19-21,1998 )

An International Symposium on Applied Ethics in Management was held at MCHV, IIMC during February 19-21, 1998. The collaborators in the endeavour were (i) Curtin University Business School, Perth, Australia; (ii) Copenhagen Business School, Denmark; (iii) Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia, (iv) Confederation of Indian Industry, New Delhi. The Convener, MCHV and Prof. S. R.Chatterjee of Curtin Business School jointly coordinated the symposium.

The symposium stimulated honest encounter with some major issues concerning the ethical vitality of the organisations in an atmosphere of soaring aspirations and competitive economic prosperity across the globe. It attempted to answer the question: What kind of society, informed with what sort of values, are we consciously or unconsciously going to hand over to our children and theirs and through our business enterprises and organisations?

In finding answer to the above question the symposium fostered an intimate process whereby sincere views were aired, genuine concerns shared and enduring solutions proposed amongst a group of about thirtyfive academics and practitioners under three broad segments: (i) Business Forums; (ii) Research Presentations and Discussions; (iii) Panel Dialogues.

The symposium was started on February; 19, 1998 with a welcome address by Dr. Amitava Bose, Director, IIMC. Dr. S. Ganguly, Chairman, Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd., Vice Chairman, ACC Ltd., and Chairman, Board of Governors, IIMC, addressed the august gathering under Business Forum. He aired his views on the subject and also shared his encounters with ethical issues during his long career in; various organisations. Dr Ganguly's rich and varied experience enriched his presentation and  varied experience enriched his presentation and also set the tone of the symposium.

The Business Forum was followed by Research Presentations. The first presentation was on `Ethics in International Technology Transfer' by Prof. David Kimber of RMIT, Prof. Jophn Milton Smith, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Curtin University made the second presentation on `Ethical Code as an Instrument of Strategic Management'. `Ethics in Corporate Strategy' was the third presentation made by Prof Ranjan Das of IIMC. In the afternoon three presentations were made : `Ethics in International Business Negotiations' by Prof. S. R. Chatterjee; `Ethics in Information Technology; and System Usage' by Prof John Palmer of Curtin University; `Ethics in Reengineering Downsizing etc.' By Prof. R. Jeurissen, Amsterdam.

The Panel Discussion on the first day was on `Ethics in Strategy-Environment interface – Responsibilities of Leaders'. Prof. Anup Sinha of IIMC chaired the discussion and the participants were Prof. B. Lloyd, South Bank University; Prof. (Mrs) Chhanda Chakraborty, BITS, Pilani; Prof. R. Ganguly, IIMC and Mr. P. K. Mandal of Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority.

Mr. Rajendra S. Power, Founder, National Institute of Information Technology, New Delhi addressed the august gathering on `Ethical Issues related to Information Technology' under Business Forum on the second day. He said: `Technology per se is good and it is value-neutral. If the user has any malafide intentions he can indulge in unethical practices. Using information technology he could do faster and cheaper.' Briefly toughing upon the ten commandments for computer ethics he concluded by saying that these codes will not be foolproof and effective unless the individual changes himself for the better the starting point for ethical actions is with the individual irrespective of his field of operations.

Research Presentations followed the Business Forum. Prof. P. Curwen of Sheffield presented his paper on `Ethics in Market Economy and Competition", Followed by Prof. Pradeep Rau of Washington on `Market Research; Ethics'. Prof. S. K. Chakraborty presented his paper on Ethics in Marketing with Special Reference to Advertising'. In the post lunch session presentations were made by Prof. Siemensma of Melbourne on `Ethics in Managerial Evaluation and Reward Systems', Prof. John Allert of Curtin University on `Communication and Counselling Ethics' and Fr. K. Curiac of XLRI, Jamshedpur on `Ethics for Teamwork'. The Panel Discussion for the second day was on `21 Century Ethics: Knowledge or Wisdom?' The discussion was chaired by Fr. Cyriac. The other participants were Prof. N. R. Seth, former Director, IIM Ahmedabad, Prof. P. Das and Dr. C. P. Bhatta of  IIMC, Prof. Vittortio A. van Bijlert of The Netherlands and Dr. Anantagiri of Madras Institute of Development Studies.

On the third day; Mr. Abhijit Majumdar, Chairman, Tractors India Ltd., Calcutta and Member, Board of Governors, IIMC spoke on the need for ethics in globalized economy under Business Forum. Primarily he concentrated on the role of India and said that he is confident of the country emerging as a major player in the global scenario in the next two or three decades.

Under Research Presentations, Prof. G. Floisted of Oslo, Norway; started off with his presentation on `Ethics in Visioning and Modelling by Leaders'. The other presentations of the day were `Stock Market Ethics' by Prof. P. Koslowski of Germany; `Ethics in Tax Planning and Published Financial Statements' by Prof. R. C. Sekhar of T. A. Pai Institute of Management, Manipal; `Ethics in Management Control System' by Prof. Peter Pruzan of Copenhagen. `Ethics in International Finance  and Banking' by Prof. T. K. Ghosh; of Hong Kong. The Panel Discussion of the day was on `Ethics in Industry-Government Interface Responsibilities of Politicians and Bureaucrats'. Mr. S. J. Ghandy, Executive Director, TELCO, Chaired the discussion. He shared his group's experience related to ethical issues and narrated how they uphold ethicality in their operations taking the cue from the founder. The other participants were Prof. S. Munshi of IIMC, Prof. D. Reed, Visiting Fellow, MCHV, IIMC; Mr. P. Bhattacharya, Secretary, Govt. of W. Bengal and Member, Board of Governors, IIMC land Prof. A. N. M. Waheeduzzaman of Bangladesh.

The symposium ended with an appeal to strive continuously for upholding values and ethics in all spheres of activities and to hand over a better world to live in for the generations to come. Dr. Subir Choudhury, immediate past Director, IIMC graced the occasion and presented mementoes to all the participants. The Convenor, MCHV and Prof. S. R. Chatterjee of Curtin University, the joint coordinators of the symposium have edited the proceedings. Springer-Verlag of Germany brought out the publication entitled `Applied Ethics in Management: Towards New Perspectives' (1999, 298p.)

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