In the run-up to Davos which begins on Jan 27, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has released a poll which shows that two out of three people believe the global financial meltdown was not just an economic crisis but a crisis of ethics and values.

The poll, conducted on Facebook last December, drew over 130,000 respondents from 10 G20 economies.

The findings were reported in the January 2010 World Economic Forum’s “Faith and the Global Agenda, Values for the Post-Crisis Economy”, an annual report on issues related to the role of faith in global affairs.

The poll results showed a severe trust deficit regarding values in the business world. Only a quarter believe that large, multinational businesses apply a “values-driven approach”, while 40% believe that small and medium-sized businesses do so.

Asked to identify the values most important for the global political and economic system, 40% chose “honesty, integrity and transparency”; 24% chose “others’ rights, dignity and views”; 20% chose the “impact of actions on the well-being of others” and 17% chose “preserving the environment”.

The poll’s findings tally closely with the values advocated by 16 global religious leaders who were invited to write editorials for  the report. Several religious leaders including Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Muhammad Taqi Usmani, vice-president of Islamic seminary Darul-Uloom Karachi, called for businesses that valued sustainability of society and the environment.

Other religious leaders including Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of the Art of Living Foundation; Prof Mustafa Çag Rici, Grand Mufti of Istanbul and Reverend Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, head of the World Council of Churches, all called for businesses to embrace integrity, transparency and honesty.

All 16 editorials advocated a global economy that is for the good of all human beings. “At the heart of a truly healthy economy is the concern for the well-being of others,” wrote Rabbi David Rosen in his editorial.

Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the WEF, said the report underlines the need for a set of values around which our global economic institutions and mechanisms must be built. “Our present system fails to meet its obligations to as many as three billion people in the world. Our civic, business and political cultures must be transformed if we are to close this gap,” he said in a statement released on Jan 18.

Schwab said it was for this purpose that the WEF is bringing world leaders together at the annual meeting in Davos-Klosters to rethink values underpinning the global system of cooperation.



This article appeared in Manager@work, the monthly management pullout of The Edge Malaysia, Issue 790, Jan 25-31, 2010