On April 25, 2017 the Business Ethics Center organized a faculty seminar with David W. Miller and Michael J. Thate (Princeton University Faith & Work Initiative) with the heading “Are Business Ethics Relevant?”
In their presentation, David W. Miller and Michael J. Thate suggested that the relevance of business ethics can be seen as a question of utility in terms of profits, cultural concerns, and social capital regarding organizational health. However, in corporate context, “ethics” often becomes the domain of compliance and risk management. This is not to disparage compliance officers or their departments. Rather, the point is that there are limits to assigning “ethics” and evaluating activities as “ethical” to places or offices within corporations. Such approaches will necessarily be reactive to and driven by law, code, and policy.