Just Business Christian Ethics For The Marketplace – , eleven years after the original edition. Previously, Mr. Hill taught in the School of Business and Economics at Seattle Pacific University. Clearly, the book was written for a college-age audience.
The premise for the book is based on Hill’s identification of three attributes of God that have a “direct bearing on ethical decision-making.” These three attributes are God’s holiness, God’s justice and God’s love (15). Hill states that “a business act is ethical if it reflects God’s holy-just-loving character” (15). (His hyphens of “holy-only-loving” are explained as entangled; none of the three attributes have priority in describing God’s character.) When he speaks of holiness, Hill refers to a type of secluded lifestyle (he does not use the word “sanctification”) which should characterize the life of a Christian in business.
Just Business Christian Ethics For The Marketplace
Hill states that this life of holiness involves zeal for God, purity, accountability, and humility. Zeal for God, for example, means making God our highest priority. He is careful to note that zeal for God does not preclude business success, but that it is easy to lose sight of following Christ in the daily competitive grind. He wrestles (or, more accurately, encourages the reader to wrestle) with the challenge of living a holy life without becoming a legalist, without becoming judgmental, or without withdrawing from society. Hill does not provide much guidance in this area – but perhaps this is one of the strengths of the book. The truth is that it is much easier to understand Christ’s commandments in the abstract than it is to actually respond to “What would Jesus do” in daily life.
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Justice refers to basic human rights. Hill distinguishes between four categories of justice: procedural rights, substantive rights, merits and contractual justice (39). Procedural rights refer to due process and equal protection, which state that decision makers must be impartial and avoid basing decisions on pre-existing biases or the potential for personal gain. It would be hard to disagree with such a perspective. However, the argument begins to run into practical problems when examples are given. Hill states that due process “involves the opportunity [for the accused to tell] their side of the story before a decision is made” (41).
Next, Hill tells the story of “Jason” who, after 10 years of service, is told to vacate his desk and leave immediately. No other background is given, so the reader is left with the impression that “Jason” is being unfairly accused and expelled from the company. Maybe he is, but the reality of the workforce is that termination decisions are never easy and the termination process is almost always unpleasant. Having been on the “terminator” side of several such situations, this writer believes that a quick exit is generally much preferable to dragging it out with accusations and counter-accusations. The legal system exists, imperfectly, to deal with unfair dismissals, but the management of the company has the welfare of the whole organization to consider, not just the feelings of the individual being terminated. Of course, everything possible must be done to preserve “Jason’s” dignity, but once the decision is made, no one’s interests are served by delay. In fact, it seems rather magnanimous of this hypothetical company to have Jason clean his own desk; Often this is done by security personnel, with the personal contents of the desktop forcibly delivered by UPS.
Substantive rights refer to rights protected by law – things like property rights, safety, prompt payment for services rendered, citizenship, etc. Hill states that these are the rights protected by procedural rights. Immediately entering deep water (or at least, contentious territory), Hill cites alleged examples of abrogated substantive rights. He refers to, but does not identify, a certain company in Seattle, noting that coffee producers in some companies receive only 5% of the value of a cup of coffee. Similarly, he notes that companies collect blood in Third World countries and sell it for “more than a hundred times what it pays” (42). Then he raises the question (but it is actually more of a statement) whether the “poor also have substantive rights to a living wage and life-sustaining blood” (43).
This is actually an excellent point that every Christian business person should consider. However, in a book that – presumably – was written for business students, it fails to take into account the American belief in the virtues of the market as a regulator of demand, supply and price. The market, of course, is not the gospel – a fact that every Christian free market advocate must grapple with. But by blatantly implying that coffee producers and poor people who sell their blood are being denied their rights, readers are not confronted with an invitation to constructive inquiry and dialogue. Instead, they are called to admit that companies are behaving unethically. The student who enters the workforce determined to pay higher prices for raw materials will face a rude reality check!
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The third quality that forms the foundation of this book is God’s love. Hill notes that “while holiness focuses primarily on purity and justice on rights, love focuses on relationships” (54). Therefore, this section of the book focuses on the duty of a business manager to show empathy, mercy and sacrifice of rights. Again, Hill faces the challenge of finding examples to illustrate his points. He tells of “Deon” who takes over his family business and inherits a long-term non-performing employee. Rather than fire “Thomas” outright, Deon reorganizes the company, eliminates Thomas’ job – then gives Thomas a positive recommendation. This is given as an example of Deon’s empathy towards Thomas – although the reader must consider how Thomas’ new employer will view Deon’s integrity if Thomas performs poorly.
An example of corporate gamesmanship is given to illustrate grace. “Marcin” is encouraged not to retaliate against “Linda” who is undermining his relationship with a vice president. Most Christians would of course agree that retaliation is not a proper Christian response. But what is the correct response? A young Christian business professional faced with the reality of politics in the workplace—any workplace—might find the advice to “have face-to-face meetings with Linda, [pray] for her, and unsolicited acts [doing] kindness” does not lead to reconciliation but to further marginalization. A little sage advice on how to be a principled Christian in a politically charged workplace would be helpful.
As a serious treatment of ethics in the workplace, this book falls a bit short. It is quite light in the philosophical treatment of ethics. It also sheds light on the practical applications of ethical principles in various situations. The reader may come away disappointed that issues of market economics, politics, employee termination, prices, etc. not sufficiently incorporated into the author’s statements.
Despite this reviewer’s perceptions of the book’s shortcomings, this book has several areas of significant strength to recommend it. First, the many examples throughout the book provide the foundation for good class discussions. Although there have been a number of examples that, in this writer’s opinion, have led to poorly reasoned conclusions, the examples themselves illustrate real dilemmas. A skilled class facilitator with reasonable real-world experience and a clear understanding of Scripture will enjoy the level of interaction and critical thinking these examples will stimulate. Second, each chapter concludes with a number of scriptural references linked to concepts in the chapter. In classes where the integration of faith and learning is a goal, these references are valuable for “integration” discussions. Perhaps most valuable are the cases at the end of each chapter. Each case, only a few paragraphs long, is followed by several open-ended discussion questions. The situations and the questions give the student great opportunity to grapple with issues of faith and work.
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Would this author recommend Just Business as a text for a philosophy-oriented ethics class? Probably not. Would this be a book for a Christian business person caught up in the daily challenges of the workplace? Perhaps, but it seems likely that many business people will find the author’s perspective less than adequate for the “real” world. Would Just Business work as a text in an undergraduate business class on ethics? Absolutely. It provides a wealth of material for a discussion-oriented class about the challenges a new student faces.
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