Utilizing Ubuntu to Inform Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Thinking on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Codes of Ethics in Business

Abstract

The paper is expository research based purely on existing information and leads to new and insights supporting the notion of using Ubuntu to inform practice in African business. The researcher analyzes and synthesizes views on the use and value of Ubuntu which is an African communitarian philosophy which could be used to transform management practices. The relationship between society and business in southern Africa should be viewed from an Afro-centric perspective. Consequently, it is suggested that the indigenous phenomenon of Ubuntu should be informing business activities such as the codes of ethics that are created to maintain a moral compass in business activities. This will hopefully improve the current situation in business conduct in which scant attention is paid to seriously serving others as is proposed by Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Ubuntu is thus predominantly required to offset what are often cosmetic Western business practices which neither effectively infuse ethical conduct in business nor consider societal needs in a meaningful manner.