Column by David Schmidt, Ph.D.
The Moral Imagination of Entrepreneurs
To deal effectively and responsibly with both ongoing and emerging ethics issues, business needs to shift its perspective from reactive compliance to proactive moral imagination.
Recent business ethics scandals have created a moral minefield of shifting expectations and growing uncertainty about the responsibilities of business. These scandals have triggered a backlash of stringent laws and standards, most notably the Sarbanes Oxley Act. While we should not minimize the importance of a fair and consistent regulatory framework, the solution to our most important, emerging ethics issues in 2008 will not come from laws alone. What we need from business is a renewed moral imagination that helps us frame the issues in innovative, more helpful ways.
For the entire article go to inc.com
Corra finds sometimes the term morals or ethics and business is too often an oxymoron. While most business people are pretty ethical, there are more than a few who practice their own brand of business, or should we say the type of business that has long been practiced by the more unsavory creatures around the globe.
But, today, the unsavory business practices of the bottom feeder types has migrated to upper echelons of business. There is everything from white collar crime to outright theft taking place at the loftier levels of the business community as well as at the bottom.
If you are a business person trying to make a buck, you could be taken in by one of the more unsavory types. There are plenty out there, on any given day. With the downturn of the economy, there are even more predators looking to scam you with their various fraud schemes. Desperate people, experiencing a loss of business, may enter into precarious partnerships or joint venture endeavors.
This is why it is so important to conduct corporate research. Run the business credit report as well as the comprehensive partner search. You may also wish to run criminal reports as well as county civil searches.
Check them out before you do business.
