Competing values

Mr. Phillips started BLSN two years ago to give executives the opportunity to engage in ethical and spiritual dialogue with peers at their own management level, with the help of a facilitator. Several small groups of six to eight (including Tom's) meet monthly in northern California; others are getting under way in southern California and Boston.

A typical four-hour session includes 25 minutes of silent prayer; an hour-long discussion on a pertinent theme, drawing on readings from the Bible and the business press; and 2-1/2 hours on a specific business challenge one of the executives faces. The groups are based on Christian teachings and are ecumenical, but BLSN has discussed eventually developing groups that draw on Jewish, Muslim, or Buddhist traditions.

It's not only the senior managers who feel the need for help. At Park Street Church in downtown Boston, a majority of the congregation are highly educated young professionals under the age of 30, many in their first jobs. Some have already run into challenges, such as the boss asking them to lie about their data or working on teams where other people don't share their ethical values.

The church has formed a "workplace ministry" that holds weekly classes on how to deal with such dilemmas, drawing on the Bible and experienced local businesspeople.

"We'll talk, for example, about honesty and the spin factor," says Virginia Viola, the church deacon who heads the program. "What you can do in those situations and how to handle it well so you don't get fired!"

As some of the young people are in start-up firms, she adds, they are able to help shape the culture. For example, one young woman who refused to mislead a client found her team members looking to her for advice in later situations.

Greg Snow, a database consultant for Accenture, a global technology consulting company, joined the class to figure out how his faith related to his job. Talking about these issues has helped.

"As a consultant you always face the challenge of maintaining work for yourself and doing the best for the client, and there can be a tendency to continue services that aren't really appropriate," he says. "Telling my managers I don't think [a certain] approach is best even though it would mean more revenue for the company," has brought a positive responsive, he says. He also values the multigenerational nature of the classes and learning from everyone's challenges.

Park Street Church draws on materials provided by Marketplace Network (MN), a nonprofit group that sponsors business forums and small groups but has focused particularly on developing tools and resources – in print and audio – for evangelical congregations and individuals.

"Many churches around the country just haven't taken it upon themselves to establish some kind of workplace ministry, and we can help them," says Kent Kusel, a former mortgage banker who is MN's president.

They offer a starter kit for either a small or large church, suggested sermon topics and outlines, and a three-volume core curriculum called "30 Moments Christians Face in the Workplace," with two years of lessons.

With a board of high-powered people, from a former chairman of Raytheon to the chief operating officer of the New England Patriots, the resources are keyed to real-life issues: how to deal with a difficult boss or unreasonable client in a cutthroat work environment; how to resolve conflict involved in office politics, gossip, or discrimination; how to tell the truth when subtle pressure is used to encourage lies and spin.

The group with perhaps the longest track record in this area is Woodstock Business Conference, at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Founded a decade ago to help Catholic business leaders, it has developed an in-depth study process for transforming the workplace that is now used by chapters in some 20 cities. WBC, too, draws on Bible stories to wrestle with contemporary workplace dilemmas.

"If a culture doesn't provide for this kind of imaginative exploration of the risks of ambition, greed, or avarice, then you aren't going to be prepared as a leader to act ethically in the real world," says Phillips.

• Send e-mail comments to lampmanj@csps.com

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