St. Gallen > Ethics and success – does that go together? “It has to”, says Claudia Koehler Emmert, and decided – because there are no easy answers – to write a dissertation on the topic. St.Gall University (Switzerland) has graded it m.c.l. It was recently published by the Haupt Verlag, Berne, titled “Unternehmensethiker – Schrittmacher zum legitimen Erfolg.”

Ethics and success seem to be two orientations that often appear to contradict each other. In many business schools – especially in Europe – they are as such not part of the curriculum yet. However, a growing number of people are starting to question the consequences of economic success. Also, there are enterprises that – in spite of ever growing competition – take their responsibility towards society serious, but often don´t know how. That means a go-between is needed, a competent person who is able to give support and to stand in both worlds: in the world of business strategy and in the world of employees, customers, neighbors and society. That is the business ethics specialist.

So far, the term „business ethics specialist“ has mainly been used for representatives of the academic field; in german-speaking countries for example, it is not yet used for specialists that deal with ethics issues in everyday business practice.

To get in touch with this profession, the author of the book first participated in a seminar for business ethics specialists in the United States. There and in other anglosaxon countries the Ethics Officer is already well established, but the function cannot simply be transferred into other cultures. Ms. Koehler Emmert has led numerous interviews and evaluated hundreds of pages of written materials.

With her work she wanted to get to the root of that frequent distrust that many business decisions are facing today. And she got there. Only when the goals and the means to reach these goals are considered legitimate also by the stakeholders, they validate success as ethically sound and reasonable. That means that companies first have to take up dialogue with their stakeholders if they want to work ethically and successfully. “Each and every industry has its own issues”, says Claudia Koehler Emmert. For some it is child labor, for some corruption, illegal employment, unfair salary structures, polluting, animal experiments etc. The author, however, is not interested in criticizing capitalism in general or taking right or left positions. “Ethics is applied philosophy.”

But also applied philosophy is philosophy and therefore needs a theoretical foundation. Ms. Koehler Emmert has based her work on the St.Galler Ansatz der Integrativen Wirtschaftsethik. From this point of reference it is possible to take a good look at the US-American Ethics Officer standard and at the role model of a business ethics specialist in a European corporation. The results are practical recommendations for the job profile of the suggested new function of the ethics specialist and the CSR program of enterprises in general.

With her work, Claudia Koehler Emmert represents an approach that is still little known in Germany. She points out that ethically reflected decision-making in business will only have a chance if top-management is serious about it, is taking a conscious effort to act as example and doesn´t only look for just another type of “window-dressing”. According to her, business ethics needs to be on the curriculum of every business school today, so that tomorrows entrepreneurs will then already know the importance of ethical considerations from their education.

After her academic work with these questions, the author will now return into business practice.

Claudia Koehler Emmert
Unternehmensethiker – Schrittmacher zum legitimen Erfolg
Profil einer neuen Managementfunktion
„St.Galler Beitraege zur Wirtschaftsethik“ Band 38
317 Seiten
EUR 45,-/CHF 68,- (plus mailing)
ISBN-10 3-258-07068-7

Other voices:

“The topic is of strategic relevance because it touches on the future ability of businesses to compete and because through the discussion of values a cultural renewal of a company can be introduced.”

MAO, Management-Andragogik und Organisationsentwicklung; 28. Jg., Nr.3/2006 S. 63