Ethical Investment decision making in Basel Evangelical missionary organisation in colonial India from

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1 Ethical Investment decision making in Basel Evangelical missionary organisation in colonial India from Bincy B Kaluvilla University of South Australia Refeered Abstract Recent accounting and ethical scandals, such as Satyam computers and WorldCom, have brought the issue of the connection between ethics and investment decisions to the forefront of media interest. Non-profit organisations are also facing the same hazards as scandals continue to affect that sector, although this has received less attention in literature and research 1. Many investment decisions, whether for business or non-profit organisations, involve competing values. It is clear that the value systems of those designing and making investments within organisations are highly relevant to how those systems operate. Organisations can assign value to different aspects of financial performance, to the environment and to the social impacts of their activity 2. The outcome of decisions about competing values is often recorded in the books of account 3 and annual reports of the organisation 4. The requirement to account can itself influence the decision making 5. Further understanding of how these competing values are handled is needed. This can be aided by the in-depth study of organisations where the interplay of values is clear. Religious organisations fulfil this criterion well, and indeed there has been a growing body of literature describing their financial management 6. However there has been relatively little literature which looks at the interaction between the internal value system of the organisation and the effect of wider culture in which the organisation works. Most research on decision making power in religious organisations has stressed the relationship of the local organisation to structural and contextual factors, but there has not been any empirical research which looks at the cultural effect on the group decision making process of religious organisations. Hence, my two research questions are: How does the competing values effect the decision making process of the organisation? What is the linkage and interplay of these competing values?

2 Studies have shown that organisational culture is one of the most important factors, if not the most important, influencing ethical behaviour, especially with regard to integrity. Trevino s 7 has recognised that interplay of individual and organisational influences in ethical decision making. Weaver and Agle 8 have also included both cultural and individual influences for examining ethical attitudes and behaviour in business. At present business decision makers must incorporate ethics in their business decisions. However, confronting ethical dilemmas and making ethical decisions are not easy. An ethical dilemma can be defined as a conflict between different values, ideals, duties and norms. Relevant Theories- Theories opted for supporting my research and filling the gap in the literature is: Social Choice theory is a theoretical framework for analysis of combining individual preferences, interests, or welfares to reach a collective decision or social welfare in some sense 9. This theory is applicable to group decision making, negotiations and other economic processes. Stakeholder theory- the company should take into consideration the needs, interests and influences of peoples and groups who either impact on or may be impacted by its policies and operations. 10 Ruble and Thomas. 11 two dimensional decision making model has also been chosen for testing the conflict resolving strategies within the organisation. Purpose The empirical analysis in this research will examine the investment practices of a German missionary organisation operating in colonial India. The Basel Evangelical Mission (B.E.M) engaged in significant commercial activity alongside more traditional missionary work. The Mission s self-conception involves a strong commitment in their mission and to ethical concerns, and to accountability. In making decision, implementation and recording it faced competing values its core Calvinism, the Hinduism of the people amongst whom it worked, and the colonial government. The annual reports of the Mission from provide a unique source of information about the interplay of competing objectives and about how they can be resolved. The annual reports contain not only the bare financial results but extensive

3 and informed accounts of the debates regarding competing values. The case study will examine the way in which the decision making of the Basel Mission was influenced by four cultural forces Calvinism, Hinduism, British colonial power, and accounting practice. Design This paper is based on the 80 year annual reports of the BEM and analyses the impact of the different cultural values on their investment decision making process and the social/economic development of the society where there were operating. Such annual reports, produced annually provide not only a financial report to benefit the shareholders who invested in the mission trade, but also a longitudinal view of the results of the company s impact on the development of South India and the markets which were there to related. Further, the farmers, missionaries and merchants who were to be the principal customers and beneficiaries of the mission trade were also parties interested in the information provided in these increasingly detailed and complex documents. The annual mission reports of the BEM were quite detailed and information laden. Content analyses was conducted for analysing data, themes were generated from the literature. The entire 80 years documents were divided into three phases in order of their industrial expansions. Findings Ethical investment decision making are highly influenced by the cultural factors where an organisation operates. Findings suggest that the ethical investments conducted by the missionary organisation have lead for socio-economic development of the community where it was operating. The overall conclusion is that the religious organisations may have to draw some attention towards the choice of strategies ethical decision making. The study also reveals that how religious organisations should be cautious in selecting strategies for overcoming ethical dilemmas in order to protect the organisation s ethical mission or image. Originality/value- The study explains the history of the Basel Evangelical Missionaries ethical investment activities and their decision making process in relation to their investments activities while they were functioning in colonial India. The study contributes to the literature in several different ways. Firstly, it explains in detail the ethical investment practices and decision making process of a western Protestant Christian organisation functioning in a colonial country (in this case India). Thereby the study contributes to some extent towards the current insufficiency of research raised by Beidelman 12 into the area of financial studies of Christian organisations in colonial countries. Secondly, by studying the ethical investment of

4 the organisation in detail, the study thereby responds to Duncan et al s 13 call for more studies to be conducted into cross-denominational Churches. Thirdly, this will provide further understanding of the way in which ethical values can be sustained in the face of competing (commercial) values. Finally, it also contributes to the literature in that it emphasises that the cultural setting of an organisation does have an effect on their financial practices and decision making Salamon, L.D and Coe,K.C. 1997, Social investments by nonprofit corporations and charitable trusts: a legal and business primer for foundation managers and other nonprofit fiduciaries. UMKC Law Review, 66:2, Epstein, M. J and Roy, M. J 2001, Sustainability in Action Identifying and Measuring the Key Performance Drivers, Long Range Planning Journal, 34:5, Laughlin, R. 1990, A model of financial accountability and the Church of England, Financial Accountability and Management, 6: 2, ; Maali,B and Napier.C.2010, Accounting, religion and organisational culture: the creation of Jordan Islamic Bank, Journal of Islamic Accounting and Business Research,1:2, Ragaviah, J. 1990, Basel mission industries in Malabar and south Canara ( ), A study of its social and economic impact. Gian publishing house, New Delhi. 5 Wooten, T.C, Coker, J.W and Elmore,R. C Financial control in religious organisations: A status report, Nonprofit Management & Leadership 13:4, Lightbody, M. 2000, Storing and shielding: financial management behaviour in a church organisation, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 13: 2, ; Laughlin, R. 1990, A model of financial accountability and the Church of England, Financial Accountability and Management, 6: 2, Trevino.L.K. 1986, Ethical decision making in organisations: A person situation interactionist model. Academy of Management Review, 11, Weaver, G. R., &Agle, B. R. 2002, Religiosity and ethical behavior in organizations: A symbolic interactionist perspective. The Academy of Management Review, 27:1, Arrow,K.J., Sen,A.K., & Suzumara,K. 2002, Handbook of Social Choice & Welfare (Vol 1.ed): Elsevier 10 Freeman, R. Edward 1984, Strategic Management: A stakeholder approach. Boston: Pitman 11 Ruble, T. L., & Thomas, K. W. 1976, Support for a two-dimensional model for conflict behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 16,

5 12 Beidelman T. O. 1974, Colonial Evangelism: A Socio-Historical Study of an East African Mission at the Grassroots, Indiana University Press. 13 Duncan, J., Flesher, D. and Stocks, H. 1999, Internal control systems in US churches, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 12: 2, Abdul- Rahman, A. R. and Goddard,A 1998, An Interpretive Inquiry of Accounting Practices in Religious Organisations, Financial Accountability & Management 14 :3,