It would be naive to think that large organizations can, or should, do away with policies and metrics altogether. But they should be seen as complements to, rather than replacements for, the greater task of building the right kind of moral character in the organization.
Modern comforts that exploit others
Accepting we’re all sinners is no reason not to try to sin less. That’s not always easy. But when the only thing we have to do is stop snorting cocaine, there really is no excuse.
Article for the Guardian
Compliance, character and Confucius
If the Home Office and Starbucks yield to the temptation to address their failings only by introducing yet more policies or protocols, they will have failed to learn a more than two-millennia old lesson that remains just as important today.
What philosophy can teach us about tackling abuse
Inadequate processes are not the source of the problem, although they are part of it. The word that has been used most frequently to describe the source of Oxfam’s malaise is its “culture”, the corporate equivalent of “character”.
Blog for Prospect
Five years on from the horsemeat scandal
Little of significance has changed since the scandal because the truth is that it was the almost inevitable consequence of a flawed food system, not just a failing of one small part of it. The nub of the problem is that farm produce is now more often a commodity sold on price than it is a product bought for its distinctive value.
Blog for Prospect