IIM Indore Organizes Seminar on "Ethics"

IIM Indore Organizes Seminar on "Ethics"

Recent events in the corporate world have demonstrated the destructive effects that occur when the leadership of a company does not behave ethically. One might wonder why highly educated, successful, and business savvy corporate professionals at Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, and Satyam got themselves into such a big mess. The answer lies in a profound lack of ethics.

Recognizing this, Indian Institute of Management Indore organized a 2 day seminar on ethics to imbibe its importance in the budding managers. The seminar was conducted by Mr. Achal Raghavan, a strategy and business excellence consultant based in Bangalore and an alumnus of IIT Madras and IIM Ahmedabad. He brings with him 34 years of corporate experience, which includes over 10 years at the level of Board of Directors. He is also a regular contributor to The Hindu Business Line.

The seminar consisted of a series of lectures on "Ethical principles in business", "Ethics and the Environment" and "Ethics and the Entrepreneur". The methodology adopted by Mr. Raghavan was based on case studies and interaction with the participants. He discussed the source of ethical standards i.e. the approaches that one might follow in order to identify whether an act is ethical or not.

He quoted the "Defining Moments Theory" by Joseph Badaracco Jr. which identifies that the basic dilemmas arise when we have to choose between right and right and not while choosing between right and wrong. To illustrate the problems that arise while striking a balance between ethics and business, he put forth the case "Gas or Grouse" which is about a famous problem in America where the government has to weigh the importance of economic growth vs. saving wildlife and birds. The students participated with great enthusiasm and put forth various perspectives. A similar discussion was carried on in regard to the Satyam Case and Mr. Raghavan's work on the same.

The first day of the seminar concluded with the message that real life decisions are rarely black and white, they are generally shades of grey.

The second day of the Seminar on Business Ethics was a continuation of the first day with interesting and thought provoking case studies on Ford-Firestone and Microsoft's monopoly being discussed. The seminar was an immense learning experience as it emphasized on giving "practical applications" to an otherwise "abstract" topic like ethics.

Concluded.

Contributed by -
Media & PR Committee,
IIM, Indore.

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