Ethics, values and creativity


A chapter on imagination and creativity may not seem the obvious place to include some comments on ethics, but ethics is playing an increasingly significant role in all our activities. In the future, alongside imagination and creativity, ethics will be recognised as a core business attribute. In a world where legislation cannot keep pace with the rate of change of its environment, individual and corporate ethics provide a mechanism for choice and decision making.

As an example, in the USA in the early part of 2000 there was a debate between the government and the oil producers regarding the allowed levels of sulfur in petroleum products. It is interesting to note that one of the producers seemingly broke ranks. This did not appear to be as a result of a marketing decision or a fortuitous choice of primary oil stock but an expressed ethical stance of the company (as articulated through its vision statement). Early in the 1990s, BP-Amoco adopted an in-company policy to voluntarily reduce the level of components in their petroleum products that contribute to greenhouse gases over the following decade . As a result, they developed new manufacturing processes that reduced the level of sulfur in their product. At the time of publication, the rest of the producers appear to be resisting, on financial grounds, efforts by the government to enforce reductions to the sulfur content.

BPs vision [ 9] provides an ethical framework, purpose and direction for its future, with statements that include:

  • Our goal is to play a leading role in meeting world energy without damaging the environment.

  • Our business success is possible only through the efforts, creativity, innovation and energy of all our employees .

This example highlights the requirement for consistency between the organisations vision and its actions. If ethical behaviour is an important component of how a company sees itself, then it becomes an important part of the way that employees see themselves as part of that organisation. This in turn affects the ways that people are allowed to be creative within the context of that organisation.

Without a clear link between creativity and ethics in this rapidly evolving environment, we risk the channelling of our imagination in directions that may have unethical consequences. Consider the debate that surrounds the use of genetic sequences established during the analysis of the human genome. Consider the issues that may arise from the development of single-use seeds, modified to produce high yielding, disease-resistant, characteristic- enhanced produce but which yield sterile seeds after maturation . Consider the way we compete in the marketplace and the way we respond to being good corporate citizens .

[ 9] www.bp.com




Innovation and Imagination at Work 2004
Innovation and Imagination at Work 2004
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2005
Pages: 116

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