were right and no doubt overly confident in the rectitude of
their moral judgments. However, widespread relativism is
problematic for at least two other reasons.
First, normative business ethicists have a particular
worry. If the rejection of universal values and virtues were
justified and/or if relativism were undeniable, then any
discussion of business ethics would in itself be pointless.
Even without inflating the influence of theoretical debate,
we may at least assume that it has a minimal long-term
influence on business practices. So, giving up reflection
might be a loss, and, needless to say, business ethics education
would be pointless as well. In other words, the
rejection of relativism and skepticism is a precondition for
business ethics to get off the ground.
Second, and more importantly, the popularity of relativism
is troubling because it discourages business people
from combating questionable trends in business practices
and, therefore, it may somewhat undermine business
morality. Some victims of questionable business practices
may actually be harmed by the lack of motivation to
combat these practices.
Given these reasons to combat moral relativism and
skepticism, this paper proposes some educational tools that
may help students and managers get over these persistent
philosophical confusions about moral relativism and about
the role of virtues in particular situations. Such an educational
strategy should allow business people to free themselves
from their imprisonment in relativist prejudices.
Once people have clearly accepted that it is simply not the
case that ‘‘anything goes’’ in ethics—that is as long as it is
in line with the specific cultural context—, they can finally
start to address genuine business ethics. It is frustrating to
analyze business ethics cases about, say, insider trading or
questionable marketing practices and then to hear at the
end of the session: ‘‘OK but this is just your Western
perspective’’ or ‘‘people who do not share your Christian
background will disagree.’’ Surprisingly, the topic is quite
neglected in many textbooks in the field of business ethics.
Some mention the issue, but mostly, they do not necessarily
defend a firm position. Others add to the confusion,
while still others skip the issue altogether, perhaps naively
supposing that students and managers have philosophically
sound ideas about it.6
This paper is structured as follows. First, I provide some
conceptual distinctions and clarifications related to moral
relativism and to the way in which the three traditional
approaches to ethics defend universalism. These sections
are rather short, because I merely highlight the conceptual
confusions that need to be clarified without adding any new
arguments to the debate. ‘‘Conceptual Discussion Related
to Moral Relativism’’ section focuses on some fundamental
distinctions related to moral relativism. Students and
managers, but also consultants and, surprisingly, even
researchers, often mix up radically different conceptions of
moral relativism. In ‘‘Universal Principles, Values, and
Virtues’’ section, I revisit arguments demonstrating that
virtues ethics is not in contradiction with universalism,
despite the fact that an ethical approach in terms of virtues
takes particular relationships and contexts seriously. Conceptual
confusions about moral relativism and misunderstandings
about virtue ethics both induce unwarranted
moral relativist beliefs. ‘‘Consultancy and Training in
Cross-Cultural Management’’ section makes a short sidestep,
exploring in greater detail the question of what triggers
the rejection of moral universalism. I will argue that
the confusion is in part created by teaching and training
sessions in cross-cultural management, in which the
methodological stance of the value-freedom of the social
sciences is, in a perplexingly mistaken way, transformed
into a radical rejection of all normative discussion. Especially,
celebrated authors like Hofstede et al. (2010) and
Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (2012) explicitly make
this unjustified move in their popular work. Since these
people are very influential, above all in business, via consultancy
and executive training, but also in business education
in business schools, it is important to take this
element into account in any educational strategy designed
to combat relativism. The remainder of the paper (‘‘Back to
Basics: Right and Wrong’’–‘‘Conclusion: Moral Universalism
and Business Ethics’’ sections) presents some tools
that may be helpful in steering people toward less simplistic
views about moral relativism and virtue ethics.
‘‘Universalism Without Arrogance’’ section argues that it is
equally important to spell out that moral universalism can
be understood in a humble way, without implying either
arrogant ethnocentrism or omniscience, as part of an
ongoing debate that progresses gradually.
Conceptual Discussion Related to Moral Relativism
In order to avoid conceptual confusion, it is important to