Synergistic Ignatian and Business Values for Efficacious Business Ethics

Many organizations are struggling to be run in an ethical fashion that consider all stakeholders and contribute comprehensively to society. As is true in much cross-discipline research, concepts and values can inform and enhance one another to produce broader contributions to society. This paper suggests this is the case when cross-pollinating Ignatian and business values for teaching business ethics that results in more ethical organizations. However, teaching Ignatian values as an ethical view in business schools is fraught with several practical issues including its place within the broader ethics literature. Our paper addresses a way that Ignatian values can be taught within a discipline-specific framework – namely by cross sectioning the values with “innovation” and “efficiency”. The practical utility of this framework is illustrated through several real-life examples. This framework is pragmatic and useful in guiding the personal and professional lives of students and organizations who seek to acquire business knowledge and intertwines the fields of management, ethics, and spirituality in a practical manner. The framework proposed in this paper provides moral and spiritual guidance for teaching, living, and running ethical organizations.