The broken tables of stone: a decalogue approach to corporate compliance practice

Purpose – Corporate compliance practices are often “coercively” structured, coined by a legal discourse and derived from individualist normative concepts. Drawing on the “logic of the Decalogue”, the purpose of this paper is to design an “enabling” approach based on a covenantal logic present within the Decalogue. Design/methodology/approach – The approach is interdisciplinary analysis summarizing exegetical, social science and business literature. Findings – Within a covenantal and transcendental perspective, a morally literate community of employees, which have learned to reflect upon their responsibility, form the basis for compliance arrangements. They form a necessary complementary element of functional compliance systems. Practical implications – The covenantal logic of the Decalogue can orientate the formulation of corporate compliance programs, which intend to follow an “enabling” approach. Normative claims should be rooted in an analysis of responsibilities towards relevant stakeholder groups. The potential of “spiritual capital” should be taken into consideration. Originality/value – Reflecting one of the oldest ethical documents of human civilisation in the context of the contemporary management discussion on “coercive versus enabling control”, the orientating role of practical wisdom from the Jewish tradition becomes tangible.