Alan Joyce: “My priority is to do the right thing by Qantas.”

Qantas extraordinary grounding of its entire fleet on Saturday raises some meaty ethical issues that most commentators attempt to avoid (see Michael West for example). No-one seem to want to be seen talking about ethics. Perhaps it is preferable to talk about interests because that is the “bottom line” of what motivates people to do things, anything else smacks of hypocrisy. But so much of our conversations deal with ethical issues. Newspapers have been polling the public asking if they think Mr. Joyce did the right thing. However, avoiding talking explicitly about the ethics of the matter we are left with very partial arguments that often do not get past self-interested rationalisations and spin. So for fear of hypocrisy we embrace corrosive cynicism.

Example…. Claiming “to do the right thing”, Mr Joyce remains vague about what he means by “Qantas”. It very probably does NOT mean the workers, the pilots, the engineers, the people who handle the luggage and many other services. He most probably means the shareholders, maybe extending to the decision-making circles: upper management and the board. But in the ethical realm, “doing the right thing” must extend to others affected by what the actor does. For this reason, many businesses talk about “stakeholders” not just “stockholders”. Part of stakeholder capitalism is a recognition of the importance of a “social license to operate” that may be withdrawn if the society where the business operates comes to the opinion that the business is damaging that society. The common practice of a stakeholder responsible business is to consult those who are likely to be materially affected by decisions of the business. It seems that ‘Qantas’ did not do that about the grounding of the fleet. And that lack of consultation/warning caused a lot of discomfort, inconvenience, cost and possible harm to thousands of passengers, not only those going to business meetings and holidays but also to funerals and sick relatives or are sick themselves. It is also causing wide-spread social backlash for Qantas itself. One particular stakeholder is extremely angry: the Australian Federal Government; an anger, it seems compounded by Mr Joyce afterwards claiming that he did advise Minister Albanese. (more…)

Edmund Rice Business Ethics

30 August 2011

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am no expert on the philosophy of ethics and morals and I do not claim that what I say is in any way novel.

In reflecting on ethics in public life let me say what I mean by public life in this talk.

Danny Gilbert at work!

By public life I mean that vast collection of political, cultural, social and economic structures, organisations and institutions, including the workplace, which make up and which underpin cohesive societies. People who are engaged in leadership positions in those organisations and who actually influence the lives of others are to varying degrees engaged in public life.

Of course I would not just want to leave it there. Healthy societies depend on the widespread participation by citizens in public affairs and in the institutions that make up civil society. Each of us has the obligation to contribute to the building of social capital, that is to say, to the forces and influences which bind us in community spirit and concern for each other.

First I want to say that ethics in public life have to be grounded in ethics in private life.

Second, I will say something about some of the philosophical thinking on ethics and morals.

Third, I will make some very broad comments about the personal challenge of ethics.

Finally I will make some observations about our times and the challenges we face in promoting the values of truth, authenticity and value in public life.

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Watching British MPs grill Rupert and James Murdoch was an interesting example of attempts to find out the truth of what the phone hacking affair at “News of the World”. We could call the process “ethical pathology” because it represents attempts to find out what produced such a blatant and far reaching abuse of people, a clear ethical failure. As is often the case, finding out what went wrong is linked to apportioning responsibility and then sanctions, in other words a legal process. And, as is often the case, the uneasy relationship between ethics and law is being used to confuse the truth.

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Come and be in the conversation about leadership with values… The first in the series: Danny Gilbert…

The number of Australian people who smoke has declined steadily in the past 30 years. The decline is a specific goal of various governments in response to the clear harms to health, and the economy, of smoking. The latest government initiative is legislation mandating that all tobacco products be sold in plain packaging by July 2012. The Alliance of Australian Retailers is lobbying against this new legislation including a national advertising campaign. It is very likely that the funds are coming from Big Tobacco.

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