The fundamental objective of FIMES is to develop and disperse tools for management and leadership that will permit the integration and communication of ethical and spiritual values in the workplace and in management practices. More specifically, our goal is to develop new management theories and principles that espouse these values, as well as identify avant-garde organizations in which such practices and tools have already helped in integrating these values. Furthermore, it is our aim to outline, test and diffuse these practices to different organizations around the world.

The terminology of 'International Forum', as is in the title of the organization, reflects its essence and our belief that this integration of ethical and spiritual values into management practices will require many dialogues, including active cooperation between people from different domains and universes, and consequently require much time.

Moreover, we consider the three notions of management, ethics and spirituality, to be inseparable:

The notion of management expresses our intent to rediscover, test and develop management theories, practices and tools that are truly useful for managers, whose goals it is to communicate, promote and integrate ethical and spiritual values into their daily management practices, while maintaining all the while its economic 'wealth'. As it is our wish to contribute to the expansion of these values in all types of organizations (private, public, government, associations, etc) and political economic contexts (liberalism, collectivism, cooperativism, etc), the notion of "economic wealth" is understood in a very broad sense (profits, commercial success, budgetary balance, economic efficiency, etc). The fact that the notion of management is mentioned firstly demonstrates our wish that the activities of FIMES be based on balancing "economic wealth" with "ethical and spiritual wealth" and that these three "wealths" are inseparable. An organization which cannot be efficient, cannot promote ethical and spiritual values.

The notion of ethics expresses our belief that work carried out in any organization should contribute to the economic, social and ecological well being as defined by each of these different ethics. For example, it is our belief that all organized work should, in principle, contribute to an efficiency in production as well as to a fairness in distribution of wealth (economic ethics); should encourage the happiness of individuals and the development of organizations, communities, and society (professional, organizational and social ethics); should be physically healthy for individuals and the natural environment (environmental and bio-ethics). Our vision of ethics is therefore not directed only towards those working within organizations, namely employees and managers, but also towards those with whome the organization is in relationship, i.e. consumers, investors, suppliers, wholesalers, members of the community, society in general and the natural environment.

Finally, the notion of spirituality expresses our conviction that each ethics lived in an atmosphere of individual and collective freedom is incomplete without the spiritual dimension. Furthermore, we believe that a person is left diminished if they are not able to fulfill all their aspirations and are unable to developp a balanced ensemble of human and spiritual values, as they themselves need and wish them to be, in the context of work. In this sense, the notion of spirituality does not necessarily imply any specific religious affiliation. FIMES is, however, open to all religious and spiritual practices of the world.

General policies

The activities of the FIMES members will be directed towards fulfilling our primary objectives, as indicated above.
These activities will include:

· Designing applied scientific research projects and disseminating their results
· Carrying out consulting projects and action-research within organizations
· Creating pedagogical material and organizational training programs
· Opening an international research center, based at HEC Montreal,
· Organizing conferences, seminars and forums around the world
· Developing an active international network

Specific guidelines will be followed to avoid certain problematic tendencies observed around the world: such as the introduction of ethical and spiritual dimensions into organizations for purely profit purposes or the rize of dogmatic ideology (abusive sects, fundamentalists movements, idealization of various gurus, certain New Age groups, etc). The following policies will guide the activities of FIMES:

· All FIMES activities will be held in business schools, be they private or public, as opposed to hotels or other locations, to ensure scientific rigor and practical management expertise.
· FIMES activities will be guided towards a wide audience, with a specific focus however on managers, and men & women working within organizations, as well as those who are in close relationship with organizations.
· All FIMES activities (Forums, conferences, seminars, consulting, etc) and products (books, videos, CD Roms, etc) will be sober. They should all promote the notions of solidarity, fraternity, human dignity and diversity of opinions, and promote the use of reflection, contemplation and dialogue.
· Conference speakers will only be accepted on a voluntary basis (with the exception of reimbursement for travel & accommodation costs) and all profits generated from these activities will be reinvested into FIMES.
· FIMES will promote the active participation of members from different religious and non-religious communities (Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhism, trans-personal psychology, aboriginal cultures, meditative traditions, etc.).
· The activities will be linked to contemplative orders and practices.
· Some members of the Board of directors and of the scientific board will be engaged in personal or collective spiritual practices.

Structure

To ensure that we fulfill our mission as defined above, and that our work will truly meet the needs of the different organizational contexts described, FIMES will have the following structure: a Board of Directors and a Scientific Board.

The role of the Board of Directors will be to define the strategic relevance of the activities, to evaluate the activities of the past and to approve those of the future. The members of the Board should participate in the development of the FIMES network through their own personal network and contacts. This Board, including members from Montreal and the international community, will meet twice yearly.

The role of the Scientific Board is to ensure that the activities approved by the Board of Directors are carried out appropriately. TheScientific board will be responsible also for evaluating the work done by FIMES members, for proposing new potential research and work to the Board of Directors, and for maintaining the scientific rigor of the research activities. The Scientific Board will meet twice yearly as well, and must include at least two members of the Board of Directors.

All the active members of FIMES, that is, all those who are directing or carrying out projects approved by the Board of directors and/or supervised by the Scientific Board, must commit themselves formally to make one tangible contribution to FIMES per year. These contributions may include organizing a forum, a conference or a seminar; conducting applied research, developing a tool, publishing a scientific article, writing a case study or developing an educational course or training program; supervising a masters or doctoral thesis or post-doctoral research; contributing, in a significant way, to the development of the FIMES network; and any other activity deemed to be pertinent by the Board of Directors.


For further informations, if you want to become a member of FIMES or if you wish to help us in our mission, visit the "Get involved" section.

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