新世紀的挑戰

A Challenge

for the New Century

職業道德
Working Ethics

重點－職業道德

In Focus — Working Ethics

新世紀的挑戰

A Challenge for the New Century

本文作者Anthony G. Graine「英文扶輪月刊」的資深編輯

(THE ROTARIAN-Jan. 2004 扶輪月刊2004/3 )

在社會價值觀不斷變更的時代，扶輪社員身先士卒，建立是非觀念。

In a time of ever-changing societal values,

Rotarians take the lead in establishing right from wrong.

回顧一下過去幾年報紙的重大新聞標題，會讓人相信大型企業已經全然放棄維持任何實質的道德標準。如果有商業新聞成為頭條，往往又是指出有做假帳、內線交易、或挪用資金等舞弊情事發生。

A review of the major newspaper headlines of the past few years might lead one to believe that big business has abandoned any attempt to maintain a meaningful code of ethics. If business news makes the front page, it tends to focus on some new allegation of accounting fraud, insider trading, or misuse of funds.

*「能夠呈現我們真實自我的不是看大事，而是我們經常做的小事。」"It's not the big things. It's the little things that we do on a regular basis that tell the story of what we're all about."－艾思悌士Estess

*美國散文作家梭羅談到做正確的事曾說過：「善是唯一不會失敗的投資。」

好幾個世代以來，許多大型企業的名稱－如AT&T、通用汽車、和IBM等－都傳達出穩定正正直的形象。然而近年來，最影響人的公司往往都是涉及非法活動或醜事的企業－美國能源產業龍頭Enron、美國醫療保險公司HealthSouth、美國知名電企業Tyco、美國通訊公司World Com等等。

For generations, the names of many large firms — AT&T, General Motors, and IBM, for example — have conveyed an image of stability and integrity. In recent years, however, the corporate names imbued with the most meaning have been the ones associated with illegal activity or failure — Enron, HealthSouth, Tyco, World Com, and others.

有些人可能會說這些高知名度的醜聞扭曲了大眾的觀點，少數幾個壞蘋果－無論有多大或腐爛得多厲害－並不一定會弄壞了一整鍋粥。可是也有些人會不同意，認為儘管標準已經大幅降低，一般人還是覺得現代的企業文化到了道德淪喪的地步。

Some would argue that the high-profile nature of the scandals has skewed public opinion disproportionately, that a few bad apples, no matter how large or how rotten, do not necessarily spoil the whole bunch. But few would dispute that, regardless of the extent of the decline in standards, the common perception is that modern corporate culture is ethically bankrupt.

美國的哥倫比亞電視公司(CBS)在2002年做的一項意見調查顯示，69%的受訪者說他們相信大型公司的高階主管涉及不法活動的情形十分普遍。這個調查也發現79%的人認為近來幾樁企業醜聞都涉及的會計舞弊現象，也十分常見。

In a 2002 poll conducted by the U.S. television network CBS, 69 percent of respondents said that they believed illegal activity among chief executive officers of large companies is widespread. The same poll found that 79 percent thought the questionable accounting practices that characterized many of the most recent corporate scandals are also widespread.

在重新獲得大眾的信任以前，現代企業領袖的形象將持續惡化。這便是扶輪社員可以加以改變之處。扶輪社員身為社區與職場的領導人物，乃是主導改變的最佳人選。

The image of the modern-day business leader will continue to deteriorate until the trust of the general public is regained. This is where Rotarians can make a difference. As leaders in their communities and their professions, Rotarians are among the best candidates to act as agents of change.

前國際扶輪社長陶德曼(Clifford Dochterman)向來熱中研究扶輪，他曾長時間思考本組織的歷史，包括其長期投入職業服務以及在職場推動高道德標準。

Past RI President Clifford Dochterman is a student of Rotary who has devoted considerable thought to the organization's history, including its long-standing commitment to vocational service and the promotion of high ethical standards within the professions.

陶德曼說：「當然扶輪社員可以在某方面主導在企業與職業公會裡建立誠實、合宜、和個人責任的新氣氛。可是這很不容易做到，和扶輪早期相比，在今日的世界要做到這點更屬不易。」

"Certainly, Rotarians can be leaders in some ways to create a new atmosphere of honesty, decency, and personal responsibility in the business and professional society," Dochterman says. "But it will not be as easy, nor will it be as simple a process in today's world as it may have been in the early days of Rotary."

陶德曼表示，在扶輪開始成長的20世紀前半葉，西方社會往往認同絕對的標準，但今日的世界已經不復當初。在當時，有些事情是對的，有些是錯的，黑白分明，沒有模糊的「灰色地帶」。扶輪社員是這項哲學的有力支持者。可是後來這些定義明白的標準已經淪落為模稜兩可、視情況而定的境地，成為今日重視道德之扶輪社員挑戰。

The world has changed, Dochterman says, since Rotary began to grow in the first half of the 20th century, when Western society tended to subscribe to absolutes. Some things were right and some things were wrong, period. There were no "in-betweens." Rotarians were influential proponents of that philosophy. But the subsequent erosion of those well-defined standards into something much more vague and conditional creates a challenge for today's ethically minded Rotarians.

陶德曼說：「社會或大眾普遍都接受與瞭解真實、誠實、合宜、道德、公平、善良等基本觀念，便能給予扶輪社員支持的力量，但這種力量今日已不復在。道德哲學似乎已經變成：『看情況而定。』」

"Rotarians do not have as their support the societal or universally accepted and understood beliefs in the basic tenets of truth, honesty, decency, morality, fairness, and goodness," Dochterman says. "The ethical philosophy seems to be, 'It all depends.'"

儘管社會道德觀念的轉變，國際扶輪社長當選人艾思悌士(Glenn Estess)仍然認為扶輪社員可以每日提升崇高的道德標準：正直行事，以身作則。

Despite that shift in society's mores, RI President-elect Glenn Estess sees a way Rotarians can promote high ethical standards every day: by acting with integrity and leading by example.

艾思悌士說：「當我們做了踰越我們基本原則的事，不僅會影響我們基本原則的事，不僅會影響我們自身，還會影響所有和我們有關連的人。那就是我們扶輪社員必須更加自我惕礪，確認自己是－就像我朋友所說的－潔白無瑕。」

"When we do something that is out of line with our basic principles, or principles we're expected to have, not only does it affect us, but it affects all those associated with us," Estess says. "That's the reason that we in Rotary have to be ever vigilant to be sure that we are, as one friend of mine says, 'squeaky clean.'"

基層的扶輪社員有二個堅如磐石的啟示和指導來源－四大考驗及扶輪社員事業與職業道德宣言。

Grassroots Rotarians have two bedrock-strong sources of inspiration and guidance: The Four-Way Test and the Declaration of Rotarians in Businesses and Professions.

四大考驗源自於扶輪社員泰勒(Herbert J.Taylor)所面臨的專業挑戰。他在1932受雇管理芝加哥一家面臨倒閉的鋁業公司(Club Aluminum Company)。泰勒研究該公司的營運後發現其不合宜的做法，包括誇大不實的廣告。他希望讓該公司重回財務正常、行事正直的道路。信教虔誠、後來成為國際扶輪社長的泰勒坐在桌前，閉上雙眼，開始祈禱。然後他寫下24個字的道德標準讓員工在私人生活與職場遵循。這項標準成為「四大考驗」，對「我們所想、所說、所做的事做一個簡單的評估」。

The Four-Way Test grew out of a professional challenge faced by Herbert J. Taylor, a Rotarian who was hired in 1932 to run the faltering Club Aluminum Company of Chicago. Taylor reviewed the company's operations and found some failings in its practices, including advertising that promised more than the company could deliver. Hoping to reset the business on the path to solvency and integrity, Taylor, a deeply religious man who would later serve as RI president, sat at his desk, closed his eyes, and prayed. He then jotted down a 24-word code of ethics for his employees to follow in their personal and professional lives. That code became The Four-Way Test, a simple evaluation "of the things we think, say, or do".

扶輪社員事業及專業宣言(www.rotary.org/abo-utrotary/declaration.html)可作為扶輪宗旨所呼籲之崇高道德標準的準則。它包含8點，簡述扶輪如何將服務融入職場。第7120地區(美國紐約州)總監霍爾(Teresa Hall)看出扶輪提供的這些工具的價值。

The Declaration of Rotarians in Businesses and Professions provides guidelines for the high ethical standards called for in the Object of Rotary. It is an eight-point plan that outlines how Rotarians incorporate service into their professional lives. Teresa Hall, governor of District 7120 (New York, USA), sees value in these tools that Rotary provides.

霍爾說：「當今企業界普遍的道德氣氛幾乎是處於前所未有的低迷局面。如果涉及最近企業醜聞的人在事前都能想想四大考驗和扶輪社員事業與專業宣言，我們便可能過得更好。」

"The general ethical climate in the business world is pretty much at an all-time low," Hall says. "If the people involved in the wrongdoing of the recent corporate scandals thought of The Four-Way Test or the Declaration of Rotarians in Businesses and Professions beforehand, then we might find ourselves in better shape."

霍爾親自體驗過企業行所三行和樹立良好模範的力量。在成長的過程中，她看著父母經營家族企業－一家販賣電視的電器行－並從中學習。

Hall knows firsthand the power of doing the right thing in business and setting good examples. Growing up, she watched and learned as her parents ran the family business, a television shop.

她說：「我的父母服務顧客，不管他們買不買得起。這是他們回饋的方式。我父親總是告訴我成功的意義不只是在於金錢而已，也在於你能為別人所做的事，他把他們自己個人的超我服務融入成功的願景。」

"My parents took care of all customers, regardless of their ability to pay," she says. "This was their way of giving back. My dad always told me the meaning of success was not just in dollars, but in what you could do for others, and he incorporated his vision for success with his own personal Service Above Self."

當霍爾獲得引介加入扶輪，看到它的原則與她父親和她本人的原則十分相似時，便知道她已經找到她要的組織－遵循一個簡單但有力，幾乎顯現於每個宗教和價值體的原則。

When she was introduced to Rotary and saw how similar its principles were to her father's and her own, she knew she had found the right organization, one that follows a simple yet powerful principle expressed by nearly every major religion and values system.

艾思悌士說：「己所不欲，勿施於人－古老的金科玉律。能夠呈現我們真實自我的並不是看大事，而是我們經常做的小事。」

"Do unto others as you would do unto yourself — the old golden rule," Estess says. "It's not the big things. It's the little things that we do on a regular basis that tell the story of what we're all about."

在接下來幾頁裡，各位將可讀到扶輪在誕生近100年後，它的社員依然從許許多多的小事累積中，繼續影響人們在職場的行為。有些事可能要算大事。扶輪社員艾德森(Jim Alderson)揭發金額超過百萬美元的會計舞弊案，狄恩(John Dean)思考扶輪理想為何本來可以預防美國政府歷史上最惡名昭彰的醜聞之一。可是解決之道多多少少都不出泰勒遠在1932年所寫下的24個字。

In the pages that follow, you'll read about how nearly 100 years after Rotary was born, its members continue to influence the way people conduct themselves in their professional lives by adhering to the little things. Some of these things may seem big — Rotarian Jim Alderson uncovered fraud that amounted to more than a billion dollars, and John Dean speculates on how Rotary ideals might have prevented one of the most infamous government scandals in U.S. history. But in one way or another, the solutions are all based on those 24 words that Herb Taylor first wrote back in 1932.