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Abstract:

This session will provide a foundational understanding of how ethical principles guide business behavior and how organizations address their broader responsibilities to society. It will introduce key ethical frameworks used in managerial decision-making, explores the importance of integrity, transparency, fairness, and accountability in corporate conduct, and examines how companies develop policies to prevent misconduct. The topic also explains Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a strategic approach in which businesses contribute to economic, social, and environmental well-being beyond profit generation. Together, business ethics and CSR help organizations build trust with stakeholders, enhance long-term sustainability, and create positive societal impact.

Who should attend?

• Faculty members
• Recent graduates
• Current undergraduate and postgraduate students

Speaker’s Bio:

Oliver Williams is a member of the faculty of the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame and is the director of the Center for Ethics and Religious Values in Business.

Williams is the editor or author of 20 books as well as numerous articles on business ethics in journals such as the Harvard Business Review, California Management Review, Business Ethics Quarterly, the Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Corporate Citizenship, the African Journal of Business Ethics, the Asian Journal of Business Ethics, and Theology Today. Recent books include Corporate Social Responsibility: The Role of Business in Sustainable Development and Sustainable Development: The UN Millennium Development Goals, The UN Global Compact and The Common Good (Editor), both published in 2014. A full listing of books and articles is available at: https://cerv-mendoza.nd.edu

He served as associate provost of the University of Notre Dame for seven years and is a past chair of the Social Issues Division of the Academy of Management. In 2006, he was appointed a member of the four-person Board of Directors at the United Nations Global Compact Foundation. The United Nations Global Compact is the world's largest voluntary corporate citizenship initiative with over15,000 businesses in 160 countries as members.

For the last 15 years, from May until July, Williams served as a Visiting Professor at the Graduate School of Business of the University of Cape Town and Stellenbosch University. He has also served as the Donald Gordon Visiting Fellow at the University of Cape Town. In the 2012-13 academic year, he served as an International Scholar at Kyung Hee University in Seoul, South Korea and has taught there during the month of July each year since 2000. He also has been named as Professor Extraordinary at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. In 2019, he was honored with the Sumner Marcus Award from the Social Issues in Management Division of the Academy of Management for “outstanding contributions of service and scholarship to the field.” In 2020 he was selected as a Pioneer in Business Ethics, a project designed to preserve the history of the academic discipline; a video of the interview is preserved at the library of the University of Illinois and is available on line.Williams is an ordained Catholic priest in the Congregation of Holy Cross.

Refreshment and Networking:

End the event with some community building, networking, and refreshments