Fighting Corruption in and by Churches

"[...] Responsible leadership must include transparent leadership. Transparency is the opposite of corruption which conducts financial transactions in darkness, ‘under the table’ and not on the table. To become corruption-free, churches have to ensure they have corruption-free church leaders. The Mutirão (panel discussion) on ‘How to become a corruption- free church?’ at the 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Porto Alegre in February 2006 proposed as first step to elaborate a Code of Leadership which should be signed by church leaders as their personal commitment and underlining their credibility." (Taken from "Fighting Corruption in and by Churches [...].", p. 180

Responsible Leadership Handbook

"Responsible leadership is a key factor for performance, success, credibility, reputation and sustainability of each leader and organisation. Responsible leadership in this book means the values-driven use of power in order to define and reach ethical goals for all human beings and the whole creation and to implement the defined values. This book is based on Christian values and can be easily adapted for other religious or nonreligious leadership trainings. This handbook offers ethical and spiritual reflections and practical checklists, an ethics code of leadership and five modules for training of staff and board members.

Diakonie und christliche Unternehmer – Europa früher und China heute

Christoph Stückelberger zeichnet in seinem Beitrag «Diakonie und christliche Unternehmer – Europa früher und China heute» nach, wie im christlichen Unternehmertum seit der Zeit der Industrialisierung in Europa «Glaube und Arbeit sowie Glaube und soziale Verantwortung» verbunden wurden. Er unterscheidet ab dem Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts vier Entwicklungsschritte und beschreibt diese wie folgt: Die Phase einer ersten Generation um die Jahrhundertwende bis zur Jahrhundertmitte bestand in der Gründung von regionalen oder nationalen Unternehmerverbänden, wobei die Enzyklika «Rerum Novarum» von 1891 vermutlich entscheidende Impulse hierfür lieferte. Die Phase der unmittelbaren Nachkriegszeit war geprägt vom Beitrag der gegründeten Verbände zum Wiederaufbau Europas und zur Entwicklung der Sozialen Marktwirtschaft. In einer dritten Phase expandierten die Unternehmerorganisationen angesichts des zunehmenden Welthandels in die ehemaligen Kolonien und gründeten dort Zweigniederlassungen. In der vierten, bis heute andauernden Phase stellt Stückelberger auf Seiten der Unternehmer eine Vervielfältigung von ethisch orientierten Initiativen fest, die sich in den Betriebskulturen oder in ihrer Verbandsarbeit manifestieren.Stückelberger vergleicht diesen Werdegang mit der von ihm beobachteten Situation der christlichen Unternehmerinnen und Unternehmer in China. Er stellt eine stark steigende Zahl dieser Unternehmerinnen und Unternehmer fest (wobei genaue Statistiken fehlen), die sich in vielfältiger Weise sozial engagieren und in verschiedenen «fellowships» verbunden sind, wo sie sich zum Zweck des Austausches, der Pflege des Glaubenslebens und der Vernetzung treffen. Ihr Engagement ist nicht so sehr auf die Advocacy-Rolle ausgerichtet, sondern dient vielemehr der «gemeinsame[n] Anstrengung der christlichen Gemeinschaft, der Gesellschaft zu dienen»

Dialogue Ethics: Ethical Criteria and Conditions for a Successful Dialogue Between Companies and Societal Actors

Dialogues between companies and actors of society often start as a result of a public scandal or in a situation of crisis. They can lead to short-term public relations activism or to long-term reputation gains. On the basis of cases and of a typology of forms of dialogues, the author develops ethical criteria and conditions for a successful dialogue - the ethical basis for such criteria being values such as equality, freedom and participation. A special focus is put on challenges that often result from dialogues such as the ethical judgment of compromises. This article proposes ethical criteria to evaluate compromises. This leads to a model of ethical dialogu

Stewards and 'Careholders'

"To be a master? A king? A global player? A CEO? A guide? A pathfinder? A steward? A shareholder? A ‘careholder’? What is the vision of responsible leadership which guides us and should guide us? Let us look at the biblical vision and Jesus’ practice of stewardship. It is not an outdated concept, but highly relevant and feasible for the leaders of today and tomorrow. [...]." (p.3, Introduction)

Climate Justice

Who dies first as a result of climate change? This question is no more theoretical as it seemed to be twenty years ago. It is a reality of life and death every day for millions of victims of droughts or storms

Appendices : codes, statements, action plans

Contents: A1) India 2001: Code of Transparency for Churches. - A2) India 2004: NCCI Plan of Action, Code of Leadership and Campaigning. - A3) India 2010: Appeal to Concerned Church Leaders.This code was worked out at an ecumenical consultation on the Programme for Ecumenical Rethinking and Leadership, in Hyderabad, India, 29 November-1 December 200

Code of Responsible Leadership

The goal of the module is to understand in detail the content of the code of responsible leadership and to prepare participants to sign the code of responsible leadership

MyLeadership IV

Codes of conduct are voluntary agreements with the aim of committing a person or an organisation to respect certain values and rules. They can be developed and implemented by a person or an organisation or existing codes can be signed by people and organisations. Therefore, they have the advantage of being developed and implemented in a fast way. They have the disadvantage of not being as binding as laws with their sanction mechanisms. Therefore, the credibility of each code of conduct depends on serious monitoring by the signing parties. Without it, it remains a nice piece of paper, for superficial window dressing. In this case it does not increase credibility but rather suspicion against those who sign a code

Ethics in higher education : international and African challenges and opportunities

Higher education globally and also in Africa faces manifold challenges in governance, funding, students' and staff recruitment, exam monitoring, plagiarism, bullying, cybercrime etc. But many opportunities arise for universities which position themselves as values-driven educational institutions. Ethics increase credibility, credibility builds trust, trust brings reputation, reputation increases number of students, improves teachers’ teaching and brings more funding. Education in Higher education means forming future leaders. Ethics in Higher education therefore is leadership ethics. The contribution shows the crisis of trust, reasons for the ethical challenges in higher education, which values and virtues need to be benchmarks and which concrete steps lead to solutions on personal, institutional, political, economic and spiritual level