BUSINESS ETHICS IN CONGO
WEAVING A CULTURE OF INTEGRITY IN CENTRAL AFRICA
[1]Le GLA 2000
Scandalous abuses committed by some big American corporations, such as Enron and WorldCom have sparked diverse reflections among scholars in social sciences, law, economics, and in ethics. These abuses bring to mind other incidences involving multinational corporations in developing countries, for example in DR Congo and South Africa.
Evoking the case of Enron in his reflections on
The (Ir-)relevance of Integrity in Organizations, Peter Verhezen (2008) writes: “[…] the reality saw Enron executives flagrantly flouting the spirit of the culture they had created […]. Their lack of integrity led directly to the demise of Enron. Poor governance helped to destroy the reputation of Enron and Andersen and in addition demolished the personal reputations of board members and management”.
At the same time, as the Enron corporation was known to be committing systemic irregularities (Manuel Velasquez et al., 2002), other large business corporations indulged in unethical activities in Central Africa. These practices included systemic corruption, lack of transparency, fraud, and collusion with violent warlords. Corruption and the movement of warlords, and their consequences or impacts contribute to explaining the currently prevailing culture in the Congolese system of business, and in Congolese society. These two parameters strengthen and protect the development of the culture of amorality or immorality in African commercial transactions, and in the public services of some Central African countries...
[1] Published by Globethics.net, 2013, in
Focus series, No 11, 133 pages
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