Abstract
What makes a given organization ethical? Who decides? Can you measure ethics? What criteria should be used for assessment and how? This paper examines these questions by looking at a set of principles for business, a model of ethical organizational culture growing out of those principles and the development and use of an assessment tool built on that model. In the early 1990s, against the horizon of what were then the early stages of globalization, the Center for Ethical Business Cultures (CEBC) at the University of St. Thomas fostered the development of The Minnesota Principles, principles “developed by…business leaders to foster the fairness and integrity of business relationships in the emerging global marketplace.” These principles were designed to serve as a foundation for dialogue by business leaders around the world. Since that time, the principles have had a global impact. The Minnesota Principles provided the substantial basis for the Caux Round Table Principles for Business, now available in sixteen languages and used around the world.