Why This PBEI Inventory?

Why this Inventory?

A supervisor trusts that an employee in a remote location will represent the corporation effectively and ethically. An employee trusts that others in her work group are giving her accurate revenue figures. A customer trusts a salesperson's representation of a product. A CEO trusts the business and ethical judgment of a division vice president.

Each day millions of business people trust those with whom they work and serve without giving that trust a second thought. If those of us in the business world could not do this, it would become virtually impossible to do business. What allows us to trust is the assumption that others share roughly the same moral norms as we do, and accordingly, will make predictable, generally sound, ethical decisions.

Traditionally, this assumption developed in a business world that shared the same morality, the same religious heritage, and a strong system of moral development in the family, school, and community. In our time, these conditions are less prevalent.

While a number of factors have contributed to this situation (Nash,1990), several key ones have direct relevance to the purpose of the Praxis Business Ethics Inventory (PBEI):

The globalization and diversification of the business world causes firms to operate in a variety of cultures, many of which differ from one another in their moral codes. In addition, firms have opened their doors to people with different and sometimes divergent, ethnic and racial backgrounds, cultures, and life styles.

The seventies and eighties saw the growth of the me first attitude in American society, which sometimes leads individuals to disregard their own moral systems to advance their interests at the expense of others with whom they work or do business.

Takeovers, mergers, and downsizing have affected the traditional bond between the firm and the career lifelong employee. As employees see themselves increasingly as independent contractors they may have less motivation to protect the firm's ethical image. Conversely, firms sometimes show less ethical commitment to their work forces.

The pressures and opportunities for unethical action have correspondingly increased in the 90's. Growing pressures for unethical action would certainly include increased global competition, consistent demands for high level, short term return on investment and the propensity of "lean and mean" management downsizing.

Opportunities for getting away with unethical actions have also increased. New and complex business technologies and regulatory activities have created many ethical gray areas in the business world. These conditions have created openings to pursue legal, but unethical courses of action and hide others successfully from investors, customers, and regulators.

In this setting, it makes every sense for people working, or doing business together, to take what might be called an ethical inventory of their individual and collective moral approach to business. Such an inventory is extremely useful in determining the degree to which any group shares basic ethical values upon which to build a moral business community. Most importantly, such an audit could form the basis of a dialogue among those who work and deal with each other concerning the fundamental business morality they should share to trust and do business with one another.

The PBEI provides a valuable tool to conduct such an inventory. It allows both individuals and groups to determine two factors crucial to formation of a moral business community: ethical sensitivity and ethical judgment. Building on this information, individuals, administrative units or entire firms can begin to get a sense of their own business morality and the degree they share that morality with others in their work world.

Additionally, PBEI encourages people who take this inventory to think about their own ethical code and how it applies to typical business situations while also facilitating dialogue with their peers about ethical principles, ethical differences, and appropriate common moral rules which should guide their working relationships.

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