Religious morality - work and wealth: The relevance of religiously based moral principles to commercial activities in Australia

Abstract

The corporate collapses that have occurred in Australia and elsewhere in recent years are of major importance not only to investors and creditors, but to all of those who are interested in and concerned with the conduct of commercial activities. It was inevitable that attention would focus on causes, questions being asked as to the conduct and behaviour of those responsible for the control of the corporate activities. It is to the latter that the discussion yet to follow in this thesis is directed. It is maintained that if the relevant executives had been guided by and had applied ethical conduct religiously based, that is, religiously derived norms of behaviour, in their commercial decision-making process that the errors of judgement that led, at least in part, to the financial failures might not have occurred. The discussion raises issues of morality, of business morality, and the extent to which recognition of the relevance of the tenets of religious morality can play a part in influencing good corporate governance. The question is asked, can a company's Code of Conduct be structured in such a way that it provides assistance to the executive, management personnel and other employees on moral issues at a time when they are called upon to make difficult ethical decisions? Moral and ethical considerations can be identified, but unless the individual has confidence in their relevance to a particular situation, they may well be put aside or disregarded when a decision is being made. A process needs to be found for incorporating in them material which becomes part and parcel of a corporate ethos or mentality, something that is a point of reference for good governance. If there is to be an expressed morality which impinges on commercial behaviour, it should be a morality of belief and of persuasion. It should be sufficient to motivate an individual in the conduct of the affairs over which that person has control or influence, to pass it on and communicate it to others in a convincing way. For this is the lesson of history. The ideas of a vocation and the infinite worth of each and every person, have seeped into and been absorbed by 'Western' consciousness. The source of the beliefs, deeply held and demonstrated, is Judaism and Christianity. The thesis seeks to obtain insight into the concept of morality and ethical standards in order to ascertain how best they can be aligned with economic activity.