Seventh IECO-RCC International Colloquium at Harvard University

Donna Hicks, PhD, Harvard University’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. She focused her presentation on the central idea that “there is no Ethics without Dignity” and that “we are all born with inherent Dignity, but we are not born knowing how to act upon it”. She maintained that after working in the corporate world, trying to apply a “Dignity Model” to create a culture of Ethics and Trust, it is clear to her that many leaders want to create a culture of dignity in their companies, but they don’t know how to achieve that. She argued that there is great ignorance about issues related to human dignity and therefore, the lecturer has insisted on the importance of further education in this field.

William Bowman, Harvard MBA Alumnus, CEO of Arete Consulting Group and professor of Leadership and Entrepreneurship at the Busch School of Business (Washington). He focused his speech on the importance of creating a work environment based on human virtues. He presented two approaches to build an ethical organization: To create procedures that seek to encourage the desired good behaviors, and to foster a culture of integrity that enhances the desired change for the organization. He also stated that companies that favor the development of human virtues in their members, benefit culturally from the contribution and personal growth of everyone, all the while generating better results.

Fidel García-Guzmán, CEO of Guzmán Global S.L, a family-run company specializing in the international distribution of raw materials for industry that is located in Valencia (Spain). He exposed that, contrary to large corporations, family businesses retain a long-term vision and seem to be more suitable models to follow when it comes to the matters of ethical practices. He also underlined the importance of having a clear purpose for every company. Such a purpose, when it embraces the ethical dimension, allows people to act with long-term vision, looking out for the common good of future generations, and considering the interests of all partakers.

James T. Hackett Harvard MBA Alumnus, CEO of Alta Mesa Resources, Inc. and Professor of Business Ethics at Rice University (Texas). He counts with broad experience in the management of large corporations. He stated that in order to act in an ethical manner in the face of certain situations, one must possess a “deep understanding of moral philosophy” and should have developed a strong “moral code”. He admitted that this is something that will often involve having to say “no” to popular opinion, to your employees and even to your directors. He also stressed the need for training in ethics, and in personal moral qualities that go beyond a behavioral approach to management, and the importance of teaching aspects such as emotional intelligence and moral thinking in a unified fashion.

Dawn-Marie Driscoll is an executive fellow and advisory board member of the W. Michael Hoffman Center for Business Ethics at Bentley University and has served on the faculty of the national Ethics and Compliance Officer Association. Her presentation focused on the need that the members of the governance bodies get involved, and place their hearts and minds into what really happens in organizations. Suggesting that they should not fear disagreement, or asking questions with a sound critical spirit, in order to unearth everything that has been done inappropriately within the company, and thus learn from the mistakes of the past.

Moderator Danilo Petranovich, PhD, the Director of the Abigail Adams Institute, opened the colloquium introducing the institutions organizing the event and the panelists. Manuel Guillén, PhD, IECO’s founding director and currently the University of Valencia Representative at the RCC at Harvard addressed some moving words in memory of his friend and colleague W. Michael Hoffman because it was thanks to him that this activity started seven years ago. Finally, Mr. Fernando Alvargonzález, General Consul of Spain in Boston underlined the importance of this annual event to promote timely interdisciplinary discussions of organizational ethics among academics and practitioners

On April 4, 2019, the Seventh Annual IECO-RCC International Colloquium at Harvard University addressed the topic of “Ethics and Trust Matter in Business: A Tribute to the Legacy of W. Michael Hoffman” and it was meant to be a tribute to W. Michael Hoffman, who was a world pioneer in Business Ethics issues. With his example and over 40 years of work, Michael leaves behind a legacy that entrusts new generations to embrace true ethicalleadership with its preservation, expansion and strengthening. The central question of the discussion was how to modify people’s motivation in order to contribute to ethics in business, and thus tackle the corruption that may be present in organizations. This colloquia series was conceived seven years ago by Prof. Manuel Guillén, IECO’s founding director and currently the University of Valencia Representative at the Real Colegio Complutense at Harvard. And, since 2016, the event has been co-organized and generously supported by the Abigail Adams Institute. T