Seminar deals with businesses’ responsibility to respect family

Business people, managers, professionals and union representatives who seek to better understand the importance of the family in the formation of enterprise and the generation of well-being in society would do well to attend a seminar on the family’s role in economic activity on Tuesday.

The Malta Chapter of the Vatican-based Centesimus Annus Pro Pontefice Foundation is organising the event at the Corinthia Palace Hotel. Proceedings will be in Maltese and begin at 5.30 p.m.

Among other issues, the seminar will examine how business needs to respect the family as a fundamental part of its corporate responsibility.

Chaired by Joseph F.X. Zahra, the seminar’s panel of speakers includes entrepreneur and former president of the Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry Reginald Fava, psychiatrist Anton Grech, and lawyer Austin Bencini.

Mr Zahra told The Sunday Times last week there was a direct correlation between harmony and solid values in family life and entrepreneurial flair.

“The formation of the person takes place primarily within the nucleus of the family and the values of work, enterprise, creativity and a sense of giving, and contributing to community find their seed within the boundaries of family life. The parents are the first role models for children,” Mr Zahra pointed out.

He conceded there is still a great deal of rhetoric: like many ‘new management’ fads, there is little substance. People are finding it more difficult to rest and spend time with their loved ones in a world that has blurred the demarcation lines between personal and work life, given the pressures of technology and telecommunication.

‘Love’ and ‘play’, he added, are two legs of a three-legged stool. The third, ‘work’, is unbalancing people’s physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual well-being.

“Responsible enterprise understands that in a world of tight deadlines and strict targets, space needs to be given to the aspirations of the human person,” Mr Zahra said. “Business without a soul will die. This is the leitmotif of Pope Benedict’s encyclical ‘Caritas in Veritate’.”

The Centesimus Annus Pro Pontefice Foundation promotes informed knowledge of the Church’s social teachings and organises initiatives to expand the Church’s effective role in all sectors of contemporary society.

Later this year, the Malta chapter will contribute to the foundation’s global research project themed ‘Family and Enterprise: surmounting the crisis through different forms of solidarity’.

The chapter will also participate in the annual convention in Rome in October, which will share this theme and will cover issues of work-life balance, corporate social responsibility, and social entrepreneurship.

Earlier this year, the chapter conducted research and held seminars on the socio-economic development of Gozo and collaborated with Bishop Mario Grech on the diffusion of innovative ideas on how private enterprise can contribute to the good of the community on the island.

Registration for Tuesday’s event is by e-mail to mspiterigonzi@miscomalta.com.