Written by Elio Borgonovi, Mauro Meda, Mauro Montante, Vito Volpe
The ASFOR survey on "Ethics, public responsibility, entrepreneurship and management" set itself the objective of verifying the state of the art on this delicate topic of the current debate, through the collection of 429 questionnaires in 2015 and 632 in 2018 and 30 dialogues with entrepreneurs, public and private managers and exponents of the economic and social world.
Among the many indications that emerge, in the two parts, some appear particularly relevant. Ethics is an individual value, but it can be transferred to organisations, especially if top or middle managers behave consistently and recognise merit, professionalism and competence.
Healthy competition' is considered a positive factor in strengthening ethics, while 'unregulated competition' becomes an element that distorts behaviour.
Investing in young people and in managerial training is one, if not the most effective factor in reversing a trend towards a weakening of the sense of ethics that some consider to be dominant in today's society, which is too conditioned by economic criteria.
