Brochure of the forum

We present below the final brochure of the forum.

Integrating ethics and spirituality at work:
Examples from different traditions around the world

Background of the Forums

In September 1998, HEC Montreal, the University of Montreal's business school - which is the oldest and largest business school in Canada - hosted the First International Forum on Management, Ethics and Spirituality. This Forum, attended by some 200 people, was a world premier: no other business school in the world had explicitly addressed these three notions together before.

Since then, the number of books and conferences focusing on these notions has increased dramatically. In December 1999, Business Week devoted its cover story to the rise of spirituality in the workplace; in August 2000, a new interest group on "Management, religion and spirituality" was formed at the Academy of Management, the largest international association which assembles the scientific community in the fields of management, strategy, leadership, etc. It is estimated today, that more than 90% of American managers wish to develop a more integrated life at work by using the deep ethical and spiritual values that inspire them and between 60 to 90 % of them in other parts of the world.

Purpose and specificity of the Forum

The purpose of this Forum is to enable leaders, managers and employees to learn from others and help to better integrate in more concrete ways their ethical and spiritual values, as well as their quest for meaning, into their work environments. What distinguishes this Forum from other conferences is that it is held in a business school rather than in a hotel or conference center. This is purposely done to better guarantee the scientific rigor of the presentations and diminishes the dangers of dogmatism or fundamentalism as well as the potential danger of the magical thinking of the New Age phenomenon. Furthermore, as no speaker receives a fee, the Forum does not promote authors whose only claim is to have been published on the subject. Rather we are seeking to study and understand, in a scientific manner, a phenomenon that is of deep importance to a growing number of individuals working in organizations of all kind around the world.

Who should attend?

While we take the scientific inquiry very seriously, the goals of the Forum are focused on answering the tangible needs of people working within organizations, be they private, public, governmental or associative. The majority of the speakers are practicing CEOs and organizational leaders, who speak from direct experience as well as professors from faculties of management. In the previous Forum, 70% of the participants were executives, managers or professionals working either in the private and public sector (50%) or the associative sector (20%); the remaining 30% of the participants were from the academic milieu, including professors, researchers and students. A high percentage of the total number of participants (87%) declared themselves to be very satisfied with both the content and the format of the Forum.

Format of the Forum

Considering this high degree of satisfaction, we have decided to keep the same original format for this second Forum. In order to promote a rich exchange, to enhance collective reflection and in the spirit of diversity, all activities are plenary. The lunches, taken together, render exchanges and informal meetings possible. The number of participants will be limited to approximately 200 people, preserving an important human quality. Furthermore, each plenary session of three presentations will be followed by a one hour facilitated dialogue, enabling Forum attendees to engage with the speakers and with themselves, allowing us to honor the spirit of scientific inquiry. Following each plenary session, a brief critical synthesis will be presented. Furthermore, brief musical interludes and shared moments of silence will be interwoven throughout the Forum, allowing for deeper reflection.

As asked by a number of participants at the first Forum, several workshops and divers activities will be offered on a voluntary basis at the end of the first day. A short summary of these will be presented at the beginning of the second day. We are also launching the first distinguished conference on the theme The Quest for Meaning at work. HEC Montreal will host several of these conferences during the years on a regular basis. The internationally renown philosopher Michel Serres, from the French Academy of Sciences, will open these conferences, offered to the general public, on the evening of the first day. Lastly, it is our intention to produce a book from the Forum, as we did after the first one. It will contain all the presentations, dialogues and syntheses. This is meant to facilitate the dissemination of the contents of the Forum to people within organizations around the world. This book will be published in several languages, including the English, French and Spanish.

Theme of this Forum

The theme of this second Forum is on the practical integration of ethics and spirituality at work. Specifically, the speakers have been asked to present the philosophies, strategies and tools that they have used in their respective organizations to integrate different ethical and spiritual values. They have also been asked to share both their success stories as well as the difficulties they have encountered. In order to honor the diversity of our world, speakers have been invited from very different traditions. We have drawn on the divers religious, inter-religious and non-religious ethical and spiritual traditions present in many different communities, countries and continents.

We apologize to the members of the traditions not represented during this Forum but, due to time constraints, we had to make difficult choices. We shall attempt to integrate you in a future Forum. Also, we apologize to the Jewish and the Muslim communities for the Forum being held on a Friday and Saturday. These days are however convenient for people working in organizations, who will need only to take one working-day off.

Preliminary program

Friday, May 25, 2001

8h00 : Registration and continental breakfast.
8h15 : Welcome address on behalf of the education & research sectors by Jean-Marie Toulouse, Director of l'École des HEC of Montreal.
8h20 : Welcome address on behalf of the private sector by J.-Robert Ouimet, CEO Ouimet-Cordon Bleu.
8h25 : Welcoming address on behalf of the public sector by Avrim Lazar, sub-minister in Human Resources and Development Canada.
8h30 : Presentation of the Forum, Thierry Pauchant.
8h45 : Conferences :
- Mr. André L. Delbecq, Professor, Leavy School of Management, Santa Clara University, USA : Developing an appropriate spirituality for leading an organisation.
- Mr. Robert Dutton, CEO of Rona Inc, Canada : Integrating spiritual and ethical values in the retail industry.
- Mr. Avrim Lazar, sub-minister in Human Resources and Development Canada: Encouraging well-being in the work place.
10h15 : Health break
10h30 : Dialogue between the presenters and the auditorium
11h30 : Lunch

13h10 : Conferences :
- Mrs. Alice Tepper Marlin, President, Social Accountability International, New York, USA : Integrating SA8000, a global workplace and human rights standard.
- Mr. Ranmath Narayanswamy, Professor, Institute of Management, Bangalore, India : Buddhism and managing organizations.
- Mr. Albert Low, director of the Zen Centre of Montreal, Canada : Creative management and Zen.
14h40 : Health break
14h55 : Dialogue between presenters and auditorium
15h45 : M. Roger Berthouzoz, Synthesis of the presentations and dialogues that have taken place on day one of the Forum.
15h55 : Thierry C. Pauchant, short presentation of the workshops and activities as well as the evening conference.
16h00 : Workshops
18h00 : Dinner
19h00 : Thierry C. Pauchant, presentation and launching of the HEC Conference Series on "The Search for Meaning at Work".
19h05 : Michel Serres, Académie des Sciences, France : "Towards a Work Ethic for the 21st Century"

Saturday May 26, 2001

7h00 : Greeting and continental breakfast
7h55 : Thierry C. Pauchant, presentation of the 2nd day of the Forum.
8h00 : Conferences :
- Mr. Marc Saint-Olive, Co-ordinator, Réseau-Entreprendre, France : The contribution of Ignatian Spirituality in the leadership of a co-operative network.
- Mr. Denis Smith, Professor, Sheffield Management School, UK : Behind the masks : budo, management and strategy
- Mr. Bud Morris and Mrs. Kim Beauvais, President, Tewatohnihi'Saktha Kahnawake's Economic Development Commission, Canada : Community development and governance in the Mohawk context.
- Mr. Pascal Pingault, Founder of the Pain de Vie community, France : Sharing poverty: a source for a spiritual and economic life in a two-tiered world. A case in Nigeria.
10h00: Health break
10h15 : Dialogue between presenters and auditorium
11h30 : Lunch

13h00 : Conferences :
- Mr. Roberto Servitje, CEO, Bimbo Inc, Mexico : Managing with spiritual and ethical principals.
- Mr. Jamal Badawi, Professor, St Mary's College, Canada : Spirituality and ethics in business from a Muslim perspective.
- Mr. Quig Tingley, Co-President, Body Shop Canada : Body Shop's experience.
14h30 : Health break
14h45 : Dialogue between presenters and auditorium.
15h45 : Synthesis, closing of the Forum and invitation to the next Forum, which will take place in 2003 at the University of Santa-Clara (USA).

Practical information

Location

The Forum, including the meals, will be held at HEC, in the IBM amphitheater, located on main floor (See address below).

Language

The presentation and the exchange will take place in English and in French, with simultaneous translation available..

Accommodations

Accommodation for the Forum's participants has been arranged at several hotels in the area near the business school, at preferential rates. To take advantage of these rates, you must register before April 17 and mention the name of the Forum while making the reservation. The participating hotels are indicated on the Forum's Web site.

Fees

The cost of the Forum includes participation in all activities over the two days: two continental breakfasts, refreshments during the two breaks, two lunches and a dinner, Michel Serres' conference, the Forum's documentation. Note also that all taxes are included in the conference fees. Profits will be used to finance the publication of the Forum's book and scientific research on the integration of ethical and spiritual values at work.

· Business and public organizations : $425.00 before April 17; $495.00 after May 5
· Not for profit organizations: $210.00 before April 17: $245.00 after May 5
· Students : $50.00

Scientific committee

The Scientific Committee for this Forum is composed of :
· Nancy J. Adler, professor, McGill University Management School, Canada
· Roger Berthouzoz, professor of ethics, Fribourg University, Switzerland
· André Delbecq, distinguished professor, Santa Clara University, USA
· Taïeb Hafsi, Professor of strategy, HEC Montreal, Canada
· Solange Lefebvre, professor of theology, University of Montreal, Canada
· Ian I. Mitroff, Distinguished Professor of business policy, USC, USA
· Ramnath Narayanswamy, Professor, Indian Institut of management, India
· J.-Robert Ouimet, Ph.D., CEO, Ouimet Cordon Bleu Inc, Canada
· Thierry C. Pauchant, Professor of management, HEC Montreal, Canada
· Peter Sheldrake, professor of management and director, RIMT, Australia
· Denis Smith, professor of management, Sheffield, UK

Organizing committeen

The Organizing Committee is composed of members of FIMES of HEC Montreal.

Information

Information on the Forum, HEC Montreal, accommodations and Montreal in general, can be found on the Forum's Web site: www.hec.ca/fimes or by
telephone at 514-340-7145 or
fax at 514-340-7146.

The address of HEC Montreal and FIMES is:
FIMES
HEC
3000 Cote Ste-Catherine
Montreal, Quebec,
H3T 2A7 Canada

Registration

We suggest that you register early as we will limit the number of participants to approximately 200. Registration can be done one line through the Forum's web site, by mail, fax or telephone (see contacts above).

Haut de la page