Enlarged European market needs human values, says Poles.

The moral and ethical values needed in business and industry were highlighted at a recent international business conference in Rzeszow, Poland. `More and more countries are moving towards an integrated Europe in which the market economy will be the predominant environment,' stated the conference invitation. `Many hope that the free European market will be a place where wealth can be created fast. However market forces are bad masters if they do not also serve human and moral ends.'

The conference, attended by business people from six European countries, was organized by Polish participants in the annual Swiss-based `Caux Conference for Business and Industry', and was the second held in Rzeszow. Andrzej Wizimirski, Director of the city's Chamber of Commerce, linked quality of work to a sense of personal responsibility. `We must become proud of our work again. The world must know that a product is good because it comes from Poland,' he said.

Dutch management consultant Paul Fermin stressed that honest communication was a precondition for staff to feel responsible within their companies. `Let us not try to manipulate by giving half truths,' he said. It was part of his company's policy to declare `not only the success stories but also the mistakes'.

Partnership between management and unions was also stressed by Wojciech Buczak, a regional representative of the Solidarity trade union. `It is a mistake to see unions and employers as enemies. Both need each other,' he said.

Bernard Margueritte, the doyen of French journalists in Poland, said that `in a period of transition, conscience is often replaced by consumerism'. He urged Poles to return to the moral values `ingrained in the Polish soul'. The Poles didn't have to copy others but had a message of their own, which needed broadcasting `with a loud voice to the West but also to the East'.

Krakow entrepreneur Andrew Michell told of his agony when he had had to fire a senior employee who was a personal friend. `The people side is the hardest part of running a business,' he said. The Rzeszow business conferences had helped to increase his `awareness of all stakeholders'. He hoped his judgement of people's dilemmas would become `more considerate and fair'.