XLRI- Xavier School of Management recently hosted the ‘27^th Annual JRD Tata Oration on Business Ethics’ on November 29^th, 2018 at XLRI Campus in Jamshedpur.

 

This year, Dr. Jennifer J Griffin – Raymond C Baumhart, S.J., Professor of Business Ethics and Professor of Strategy, Loyola University Chicago, USA delivered the oration on the topic – ‘Ethics in Action: Corporate Social Responsibility in the 21st Century’.

  

Dr. Jennifer Griffin’s oration speech stressed on various steps towards effecting ethics into action – in particular emphasizing on ethical leadership. She talked about Corporate Social Responsibility and its role in creating a sustainable future. Dr. Griffin pointed out how ethical actions and true CSR can guide a leader to do the ‘right thing’ and work towards creating a future for his/her employees and society by leveraging various entities like corporations, Market, Government.

Dr. Griffin elaborated how an organization can function and make a positive difference through ethical actions and adopting the right mindset towards Corporate Social Responsibility. Talking about role of corporations, she said, “Businesses can, and do, multiply positive spillover effects within local communities by transferring skills and expertise, incubating new businesses, and encouraging other businesses to co-locate.  Clusters of small and large businesses in urban and rural areas support artisans, farmers, and skilled trades.  Together they build soft and hard infrastructure: roads, telecom, information services, education creating shared prosperity.”

Defining the role of Ethical Leadership, she advised the future business leaders at XLRI to be creative and make wise choices in selecting business partners, as their actions can help create an inclusive and prosperous future for the community and world at large.

The session was attended by Mr. T. V. Narendran (Chairman, Board of Governors, XLRI & MD, Tata Steel Limited), Fr. E Abraham, S. J. (Director, XLRI), Dr. Ashis K. Pani (Dean [Academics], XLRI) and Fr. Oswald Mascarenhas, S.J. (JRD Tata Chair Professor of Business Ethics at XLRI).

In his welcome address, Fr. E Abraham, S. J. Director of XLRI said, “Globalization has further enhanced the importance of ethical moral compass in business. Globalization means that business strategy and business ethics cannot be separated from each other. Corporations have entered a new era, the “prove-to-me” era. Unethical practices and organizations are not being shrugged off anymore and even reputed organizations and some outstanding CEOs are being named, shamed and fined or imprisoned for their ethical lapses world over. The culture of an organization is established by the tone set at the top. Chief executives must lead by example.”

“XLRI has always emphasized on the importance of adopting an ethical code of conduct within the corporate world. We believe that no management education curriculum is entirely complete, unless and until the students are instilled with a set of values that are necessary decision-making ingredients for the corporate manager today. In 1991, XLRI, in association with a few select Tata Group Companies, established the XLRI-JRD Tata Foundation for Business Ethics to mark their long-standing commitment and contribution to business ethics in India. The Foundation seeks to address itself by publicly affirming the imperative need for adopting ethics in business and striving to shape an enabling eco-system to foster ethical practices in business. Mr. JRD Tata, himself a role model extraordinary, as the first orator, set the bar high for the successive Ethics orations for over two decades. We are extremely happy to have Dr. Jennifer J. Griffin to deliver the 27th ‘Annual JRD Tata Oration on Business Ethics’ this year,” Fr. Abraham further said in his address. 

 

In his address, Fr. Oswald Mascarenhas, S.J. JRD Tata Chair Professor of Business Ethics at XLRI shared report of the recent scholarly activities of Tata XLRI Ethics Research Center (TXLERC). He said, “XLRI is perhaps the only B-School in India that has a sponsored chair for Business Ethics. This Chair has enabled XLRI to make Business Ethics a ‘core course’ taught for all students in the HRM, BM, GMP, BM Weekend and VIL programs, and also design and conduct several MDP Programs at XLRI, and in-company Ethics Programs.  Throughout the year, we have conducted various training programs not only at XLRI, but at different institutes and companies across the country. It is heartening to see many companies are partnering with TXLERC to provide training in business ethics to their employees.”