Fairness Foundation
Encyclopedia
The Fairness Foundation is a non-commercial limited company (GmbH) which is striving to establish fairness
in society, economy, politics and culture. In order to do so, it imparts to people in responsible positions perspectives, results from academic research and qualifications regarding fairness.
and fairness.
During the first three years, the Fairness Foundation received an initial funding from venture philanthropist
Norman Rentrop
. The Foundation’s board of trustees, which was founded at the same time, elected Rupert Lay as its president and Karl-Heinz Brodbeck as his deputy.
In 2001, the “Deutscher Fairness Preis” (German Fairness Prize) was awarded for the first time, and the International Fairness Forum was held for the first time. In 2003, the first candidates of the Fairness Academy received their certificates as fairness coaches and fairness trainers. In 2004, Rupert Lay became the board of trustees’ honorary president and was awarded the “Deutscher Fairness Preis” (German Fairness Prize) in honour of his life’s work.
In 2003, the Fairness Foundation, exclusively active as a non-for-profit association, was publicly recognised because of its engagement by Federal President Johannes Rau
in that he accepted the patronage of the International Fairness Forum of that year.
In the Fairness Foundation’s memorandum
(HRB 6897) it says in §2:
“The Foundation’s objective is the psychological and social counselling and accompanying of people who have drifted in their jobs or in the scope of their vocational activities into psychological affliction (people as meant by §53 section 1 AO), in particular people who are in positions full of responsibility in organisations, companies, associations, institutions, in the econ-omy, in society, politics or cultural affairs, and also the education and public relations measures on behalf of fairness and a fair dealing with one another and against mobbing
, malicious gossip and other acts hurting the personality of others as well as the encouragement of fair ways of getting to terms with one another and the cooperation in organisations.”
According to the Foundation, the scope of fairness encompasses:
“The esteem and respect of every human being (…), taking into regard and balancing different interests (…), the mutual validity and observation of the rules that are valid for all people involved and enhancing life (…), the social, personal, ecologic and ethical compatibility of attitudes, decisions and behaviour, of structures, procedures and rules, of products and services.”
(cf. also the passage “Fairness and Fairness Ethics”.)
The Fairness Foundation establishes its annual accounts and a balance sheet and has the use of its donations and sponsoring contributions examined by a chartered accountant. On top of that, it publishes the legally required data in the electronic Bundesanzeiger
(a periodical published by the Central Government). The Company is based in Oberursel/Taunus. Its office is in Frankfort on the Main.
The Fairness Foundation is a member of the Deutscher Spendenrat e.V. (German association supervising and consulting every aspect of public donations) and in the Bundesverband Deutscher Stiftungen (Federal Association of Foundations). The financial means that are available for the Foundation to pursue its own objectives are obtained from donations, sponsoring, inheritance as well as charged services.
There is a separate internet site, the www.mobbing-scout.de. This is a helpline for all people suffering under unfairness or unfair attacks, and gives addresses of consultation service providers, telephone numbers, advice how best to proceed, check lists and advanced information.
By means of its “Fair Telephone Advertisement”, the Foundation wants to contribute to fairness also in the context of telephone advertisement. It wants to support above all the desire to make people get the matching telephone call in the area of B2B
(business-to-business), based on commitment, feedback and a higher quality in the area of telephone marketing and thus, at the same time, stop nonsensical, cheating or unfair advertisement calls. Company customers may register there in the “B2B telephone advertisement stop list”, which is granted all partners in the cooperation. On the site www.faire-telefonwerbung.de all relevant aspects concerning telephone advertisements have been collected, several complaint procedures are described, the ethics code of the partners in the coop eration initiative is published, there is a chronicle of court sentences, and legal texts and their comments are released there.
Through its site www.faire-partner.de, the Fairness Foundation’s initiative is connected to help companies and organisations if they wish to prove and present their Fairness Quality with regard to customers, clients, employees, citizens and suppliers. Organisations which can prove minimum standards of fairness and oblige themselves to join the Fairness Feedback System may show the Fairness Partner Seal.
. The award winners have been so far:
2010: Prof. Dr. Ernst Fehr, University of Zurich
2009: Sören Stamer (Founder and trustee of the company CoreMedia plc)
2008: Günther Cramer, Peter Drews, Reiner Wettlaufer, Pierre-Pascal Urbon, directors of
SMA Solar Technology AG
2007: Anton Wolfgang Graf von Faber-Castell
2006: Entrepreneur family Berthold Leibinger
, Trumpf Group
2005: Dr. Andreas
and Dr. Thomas Strüngmann
, Hexal plc
2004: Prof. Dr. Rupert Lay SJ
2003: Prof. Dr. Götz Werner
, dm drugstore chain
2002: Prof. Dr. Gertrud Höhler
2001: Prof. Dr. Dr. Horst-Eberhard Richter
In 2001, the Fairness Foundation also awarded Fairness Academic Research Prizes to Stefan Machura, Rainer Schadt and Mechthild Iburg, and Fairness Publication Prizes to Milka Pavlicevic (Arte
/ZDF
) and Margit Zuber.
In 2010, Fairness Initiative Prizes go to abgeordnetenwatch.de, foodwatch.de and irrsinnig-menschlich.de for their efforts on behalf of more fairness and transparency in politics and citizenship.
2010: Fairness basic values in a social and rule of law state? Speech by Prof. Dr. Dres. h.c. Hans-Jürgen Papier
, President of the Federal Constitution Court from 2002 to 2010.
2009: Through fairness towards equal social rights? With Prof. Dr. Birger Priddat, Prof. Dr. Norbert Walter
(economist), Jutta Ditfurth
2008: Fairness at power and the power of fairness. With Prof. Dr. Karl-Heinz Brodbeck, Wolf Lotter, Prof. Dr. Reinhard Tietz, Günther Cramer (CEO SMA Technology AG)
2007: Responsibility in conflict with liberty and control. With Anton Wolfgang Graf von Faber-Castell, Prof. Dr. Michael Kosfeld, Dieter Brandes, Dr. Jürgen Kaschube
2006: What makes leadership and decision successful? With Berthold Leibinger, Prof. Dr. Reinhard Selten
, Prof. Dr. Gerald Hüther, Prof. Dr. Dieter Frey
(psychologist), Erik Prochnow
2005: Leadership between transparency and discretion. With Prof. Dr. Tom Sommerlatte, Heribert Schmitz, Betty Zucker, Dr. Andreas und Dr. Thomas Strüngmann
2004: No Forum was held, owing to lack of donations
2003: Leading with authenticity: A balance with contradictions. With Daniel Goeudevert, Dr. Reinhard K. Sprenger, Prof. Götz Werner, Prof. Dr. Karl-Heinz Brodbeck, Prof. Dr. Ger-trud Höhler
2002: When only reputation counts: Leadership at the age of risky publicity. With Prof. Dr. Dagmar Burkhart, Dr. Mario Gmür, Prof. Dr. Gertrud Höhler, Prof. Dr. Klaus Leisinger
2001: At what price? Light and shadow in leadership positions in economy and society. With Prof. Dr. Rupert Lay, Dr.med. Mark Schmid-Neuhaus, Dr.med Dieter Kalinke, Prof. Dr. Hans Lenk, Thomas Etzel, Roger Willemsen
.
Further education to become a Fairness Coach or Fairness Trainer
Professional coaches and trainers as well as experienced executives and personnel officers can get a two years’ training course run by the Fairness Foundation to become certified Fairness Coaches or Fairness Trainers. They can then join the Fairness Experts Network and can make use of the Foundation’s approach, methods and models as well as the exchange of opinions among colleagues and their supervision for their own work, all just subject to their own responsibility.
On this Fairness Hotline, there are honorary people working who have been trained and su-pervised, and, with no exception, they all bring professional knowledge and experience with them.
For whistleblowers
(people who give hints and show risks) there is the Fairness Helpline, in which they find free of charge advice or clues so that they may deal with knowledge about risks, unfair practices, corrupt situations and illegal approaches in a strategically intelligent and efficient way. The Fairness Foundation has therefore become an official cooperation partner to Transparency International in Germany, which does it itself not advise individual whistleblowers but advises politicians and economists in view of their anticorruption work.
Any people with a certain responsibility who would like to get along better in certain situa-tions as far as fairness quality in their own behaviour is concerned or would like to learn from mistakes can consult the Foundation’s coaching line. People who are suffering from unfair attacks may find advice and help under www.mobbingscout.de .
“In order that people, families, organisations, companies and associations may develop positively, in order that personal, social, economic and cultural life may thrive, in order that people remain unharmed physically, psychologically, socially, in their minds and spiritually, may keep their well-being or achieve it and find their lives’ fulfilment, it is necessary to
What really is meant by fairness has been explained by Norbert Copray in “Fairness. A key to cooperation and confidence”. Gütersloh 2010.
As a guideline, the Foundation phrased it: “Show that behaviour to others and towards your-self as you would like others to deal with you when you are dependent on others’ benevolence.”
For the work of the Fairness Foundation it is essential that no other Fairness definition is imposed on others but that a fair debate is encouraged which enables an agreement on fairness and thus arrives at a solution of problems and a perspective for solutions in a cooperative communication. It is vital that people learn to foster fairness competence and that organisations create a fairness culture.
Distributive justice
Distributive justice concerns what some consider to be socially just allocation of goods in a society. A society in which incidental inequalities in outcome do not arise would be considered a society guided by the principles of distributive justice...
in society, economy, politics and culture. In order to do so, it imparts to people in responsible positions perspectives, results from academic research and qualifications regarding fairness.
History
The Fairness Foundation was established in Mai 2000 by Norbert Copray on the basis of his 20 years’ experience in the consultancy of executives and organisations and his special knowledge on the fields of communication, leadershipLeadership
Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task". Other in-depth definitions of leadership have also emerged.-Theories:...
and fairness.
During the first three years, the Fairness Foundation received an initial funding from venture philanthropist
Venture philanthropy
Venture philanthropy, also known as philanthrocapitalism, takes concepts and techniques from venture capital finance and high technology business management and applies them to achieving philanthropic goals.Venture philanthropy is characterized by:...
Norman Rentrop
Norman Rentrop
Norman Rentrop is a German publisher, author and investor.He is owner/shareholder of the German - based "Rentrop publishing group", "Rentrop & Straton" in Romania, "Wiedza i Praktyka" in Poland. His charitable foundation holds 51% of the charitable Bibel TV foundation...
. The Foundation’s board of trustees, which was founded at the same time, elected Rupert Lay as its president and Karl-Heinz Brodbeck as his deputy.
In 2001, the “Deutscher Fairness Preis” (German Fairness Prize) was awarded for the first time, and the International Fairness Forum was held for the first time. In 2003, the first candidates of the Fairness Academy received their certificates as fairness coaches and fairness trainers. In 2004, Rupert Lay became the board of trustees’ honorary president and was awarded the “Deutscher Fairness Preis” (German Fairness Prize) in honour of his life’s work.
In 2003, the Fairness Foundation, exclusively active as a non-for-profit association, was publicly recognised because of its engagement by Federal President Johannes Rau
Johannes Rau
Johannes Rau was a German politician of the SPD. He was President of Germany from 1 July 1999 until 30 June 2004, and Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 1978 to 1998.-Education and work:...
in that he accepted the patronage of the International Fairness Forum of that year.
Priorities
The Fairness Foundation’s particular objectives serving the public good are being put to practice in the following areas:- information
- prevention
- help for those who help themselves
- leadership competence
- development of good culture in companies and associations
- joining in the creation of a conscience for fairness in the economy, society, politics, cultural affairs, sports and the media by means of public relations and media work (homepage, data-bank for court sentences, publications, Fairness Partner Seal).
- identifying, overwhelming unfairness, social and personal risks and trying to help preventing them by means of on-site analysis, experts’ opinions, development of perspectives, dialogue groups.
- counselling and accompanying people in responsible positions in the frame of the Foundation’s Fairness Service and thus help securing and establishing the Fairness-Potential among executives and companies or associations in the long run.
- further education through the advancement of professional fairness competence in open seminars, trainings, workshops, coaching sessions, mediation procedures as well as further education especially for certified fairness coaches and fairness trainers or to a fairness scout (Fairness Service, Fairness Academy).
- creating a network of personalities or professionals with a sound orientation to fairness and providing them with current relevant information (Fairness Networks, Fairness Experts Networks, fairnessreport).
In the Fairness Foundation’s memorandum
Memorandum of Association
The memorandum of association of a company, often simply called the memorandum , is the document that governs the relationship between the company and the outside...
(HRB 6897) it says in §2:
“The Foundation’s objective is the psychological and social counselling and accompanying of people who have drifted in their jobs or in the scope of their vocational activities into psychological affliction (people as meant by §53 section 1 AO), in particular people who are in positions full of responsibility in organisations, companies, associations, institutions, in the econ-omy, in society, politics or cultural affairs, and also the education and public relations measures on behalf of fairness and a fair dealing with one another and against mobbing
Mobbing
Mobbing in the context of human beings either means bullying of an individual by a group in any context. Identified as emotional abuse in the workplace, such as "ganging up" by co-workers, subordinates or superiors, to force someone out of the workplace through rumor, innuendo, intimidation,...
, malicious gossip and other acts hurting the personality of others as well as the encouragement of fair ways of getting to terms with one another and the cooperation in organisations.”
According to the Foundation, the scope of fairness encompasses:
“The esteem and respect of every human being (…), taking into regard and balancing different interests (…), the mutual validity and observation of the rules that are valid for all people involved and enhancing life (…), the social, personal, ecologic and ethical compatibility of attitudes, decisions and behaviour, of structures, procedures and rules, of products and services.”
(cf. also the passage “Fairness and Fairness Ethics”.)
Structure and Finances
The Foundation’s Managing Director is Dr. Norbert Copray. The eight people in the board of trustees are: Prof. Dr. Karl-Heinz Brodbeck, President; lawyer Irene Thiele-Mühlhan, Deputy President; Dr. Wolf-Henrik Friedrich, Helmut Graf, Dr.med. Dieter Kallinke, Dr. Hans A. Nikel, Dr.med. Mark Schmid-Neuhaus (members). Rupert Lay was made honorary president for life in 2004.The Fairness Foundation establishes its annual accounts and a balance sheet and has the use of its donations and sponsoring contributions examined by a chartered accountant. On top of that, it publishes the legally required data in the electronic Bundesanzeiger
Bundesanzeiger
The Bundesanzeiger is an official publication of the Federal Republic of Germany published by the German department of Justice with a scope similar to that of the Federal Register in the United States. It is used for announcing laws, mandatory legal and judicial announcements, announcing changes in...
(a periodical published by the Central Government). The Company is based in Oberursel/Taunus. Its office is in Frankfort on the Main.
The Fairness Foundation is a member of the Deutscher Spendenrat e.V. (German association supervising and consulting every aspect of public donations) and in the Bundesverband Deutscher Stiftungen (Federal Association of Foundations). The financial means that are available for the Foundation to pursue its own objectives are obtained from donations, sponsoring, inheritance as well as charged services.
Services
The Fairness Foundation runs its on internet site concerning fairness and unfairness with a focal point on people in responsible positions, organisations and companies. This site also provides a databank for court sentences.There is a separate internet site, the www.mobbing-scout.de. This is a helpline for all people suffering under unfairness or unfair attacks, and gives addresses of consultation service providers, telephone numbers, advice how best to proceed, check lists and advanced information.
By means of its “Fair Telephone Advertisement”, the Foundation wants to contribute to fairness also in the context of telephone advertisement. It wants to support above all the desire to make people get the matching telephone call in the area of B2B
Business-to-business
Business-to-business describes commerce transactions between businesses, such as between a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer...
(business-to-business), based on commitment, feedback and a higher quality in the area of telephone marketing and thus, at the same time, stop nonsensical, cheating or unfair advertisement calls. Company customers may register there in the “B2B telephone advertisement stop list”, which is granted all partners in the cooperation. On the site www.faire-telefonwerbung.de all relevant aspects concerning telephone advertisements have been collected, several complaint procedures are described, the ethics code of the partners in the coop eration initiative is published, there is a chronicle of court sentences, and legal texts and their comments are released there.
Through its site www.faire-partner.de, the Fairness Foundation’s initiative is connected to help companies and organisations if they wish to prove and present their Fairness Quality with regard to customers, clients, employees, citizens and suppliers. Organisations which can prove minimum standards of fairness and oblige themselves to join the Fairness Feedback System may show the Fairness Partner Seal.
Prizes
Every year, the Fairness Foundation awards its renowned “German Fairness Prize” to a personality who has rendered outstanding services with regard to the enhancement and development of fairness in the field of company and personnel leadership, the academic research and instruction, the public cultural or political commitment. The laureates are chosen by the Fairness Foundation’s Board of Trustees on the basis of an internal list for nominations. Always on the last Saturday in October, the prize is awarded in the context of a public celebration in Frankfurt on the MainFrankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
. The award winners have been so far:
2010: Prof. Dr. Ernst Fehr, University of Zurich
University of Zurich
The University of Zurich , located in the city of Zurich, is the largest university in Switzerland, with over 25,000 students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of theology, law, medicine and a new faculty of philosophy....
2009: Sören Stamer (Founder and trustee of the company CoreMedia plc)
2008: Günther Cramer, Peter Drews, Reiner Wettlaufer, Pierre-Pascal Urbon, directors of
SMA Solar Technology AG
SMA Solar Technology
SMA Solar Technology AG is a German solar energy equipment supplier founded in 1981 and based in Niestetal, a suburb of Kassel, Germany. It is the world's largest manufacturer of inverters for solar photovoltaic modules with a revenue of 1.9 billion € and estimated 40% share of the global market in...
2007: Anton Wolfgang Graf von Faber-Castell
Faber-Castell
Faber-Castell is one of the world's largest manufacturers of pens, pencils, other office supplies and art supplies, as well as high-end writing instruments and luxury leather goods...
2006: Entrepreneur family Berthold Leibinger
Berthold Leibinger
Berthold Leibinger is a German engineer, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is founder of the non-profit foundation Berthold Leibinger Stiftung and Associate and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the German company Trumpf.- His Life :Born in Stuttgart, Berthold Leibinger graduated with Abitur...
, Trumpf Group
2005: Dr. Andreas
Andreas Strüngmann
Andreas Strüngmann was born in Germany and founded generic drug maker Hexal AG in 1986. It became Germany's second-largest generic drug producer. In February 2005, he and his brother Thomas sold Hexal and their 67.7% of U.S...
and Dr. Thomas Strüngmann
Thomas Strüngmann
Thomas Strüngmann founded generic drug maker Hexal AG in 1986. In February he and his brother sold Hexal and their 67.7% of U.S. Eon Labs to Novartis for $7.5 billion.-External links:*...
, Hexal plc
2004: Prof. Dr. Rupert Lay SJ
2003: Prof. Dr. Götz Werner
Götz Werner
Götz Wolfgang Werner is the founder, co-owner, and member of the advisory board of dm-drogerie markt, a German drugstore chain. He was leading the company for 35 years. Since October 2003, he is the head of Cross-Department Group for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology...
, dm drugstore chain
2002: Prof. Dr. Gertrud Höhler
2001: Prof. Dr. Dr. Horst-Eberhard Richter
In 2001, the Fairness Foundation also awarded Fairness Academic Research Prizes to Stefan Machura, Rainer Schadt and Mechthild Iburg, and Fairness Publication Prizes to Milka Pavlicevic (Arte
Arte
Arte is a Franco-German TV network. It is a European culture channel and aims to promote quality programming especially in areas of culture and the arts...
/ZDF
ZDF
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...
) and Margit Zuber.
In 2010, Fairness Initiative Prizes go to abgeordnetenwatch.de, foodwatch.de and irrsinnig-menschlich.de for their efforts on behalf of more fairness and transparency in politics and citizenship.
Events
Every year, the Fairness Foundation carries out the International Fairness Forum. It is meant to spread the latest results from the field of Fairness Research to people in responsible positions, and it invites to reflect upon unfair and fair aspects in society, economy, politics and culture as well as the perspectives of a fair society. So far, the following Fairness Forums have been carried out:2010: Fairness basic values in a social and rule of law state? Speech by Prof. Dr. Dres. h.c. Hans-Jürgen Papier
Hans-Jürgen Papier
Hans-Jürgen Papier is a German scholar of constitutional law and was President of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany from 2002 to 2010....
, President of the Federal Constitution Court from 2002 to 2010.
2009: Through fairness towards equal social rights? With Prof. Dr. Birger Priddat, Prof. Dr. Norbert Walter
Norbert Walter (economist)
Norbert Walter is a German economist. He was the chief economist of Deutsche Bank from 1990 to 2009.Born in Weckbach, Bavaria, Walter studied economics at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, earning his Diplom in 1968.In 1990, he succeeded Franz-Josef Trouvain as chief...
(economist), Jutta Ditfurth
2008: Fairness at power and the power of fairness. With Prof. Dr. Karl-Heinz Brodbeck, Wolf Lotter, Prof. Dr. Reinhard Tietz, Günther Cramer (CEO SMA Technology AG)
2007: Responsibility in conflict with liberty and control. With Anton Wolfgang Graf von Faber-Castell, Prof. Dr. Michael Kosfeld, Dieter Brandes, Dr. Jürgen Kaschube
2006: What makes leadership and decision successful? With Berthold Leibinger, Prof. Dr. Reinhard Selten
Reinhard Selten
-Life and career:Selten was born in Breslau in Lower Silesia, now in Poland, to a Jewish father, Adolf Selten, and Protestant mother, Käthe Luther. For his work in game theory, Selten won the 1994 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences...
, Prof. Dr. Gerald Hüther, Prof. Dr. Dieter Frey
Dieter Frey
Dieter Frey is a German former footballer who played as a defender or midfielder. Frey began his professional career with Bayern Munich, making his debut against VfB Leipzig in the 1993–94 season. He never established himself as a first-team regular, however, and left in 1996 to join SC Freiburg...
(psychologist), Erik Prochnow
2005: Leadership between transparency and discretion. With Prof. Dr. Tom Sommerlatte, Heribert Schmitz, Betty Zucker, Dr. Andreas und Dr. Thomas Strüngmann
2004: No Forum was held, owing to lack of donations
2003: Leading with authenticity: A balance with contradictions. With Daniel Goeudevert, Dr. Reinhard K. Sprenger, Prof. Götz Werner, Prof. Dr. Karl-Heinz Brodbeck, Prof. Dr. Ger-trud Höhler
2002: When only reputation counts: Leadership at the age of risky publicity. With Prof. Dr. Dagmar Burkhart, Dr. Mario Gmür, Prof. Dr. Gertrud Höhler, Prof. Dr. Klaus Leisinger
2001: At what price? Light and shadow in leadership positions in economy and society. With Prof. Dr. Rupert Lay, Dr.med. Mark Schmid-Neuhaus, Dr.med Dieter Kalinke, Prof. Dr. Hans Lenk, Thomas Etzel, Roger Willemsen
Roger Willemsen
Roger Willemsen is a German author, essayist and TV presenter.-Biography:Willemsen was born and passed his Abitur in Bonn, Germany. He studied German philology/studies , philosophy and history of art in Bonn, Munich and Vienna and was awarded a scholarship by the "Evangelisches Studienwerk"...
.
Seminars
Moreover, the Fairness Foundation carries out seminars in its own rooms and as in-house programmes in companies.Further education to become a Fairness Coach or Fairness Trainer
Professional coaches and trainers as well as experienced executives and personnel officers can get a two years’ training course run by the Fairness Foundation to become certified Fairness Coaches or Fairness Trainers. They can then join the Fairness Experts Network and can make use of the Foundation’s approach, methods and models as well as the exchange of opinions among colleagues and their supervision for their own work, all just subject to their own responsibility.
Network
People who are interested in Fairness or are committed on its behalf can join the Fairness Network, so that fairness may be encouraged in Germany and that they may enjoy contacts with other people committed like themselves. For companies and organisations, there is the Fairness-in-business-network. Certified Fairness Coaches and Fairness-Trainers can be con-tacted in this network. For all those consulting one of the nets there is also Fairnessreport, the Foundation’s own professional journal.Consultation, hotlines, e-mail consultation
For people in responsible positions who find themselves subject to unfair attacks, the Fairness Foundation offers a Fairness Hotline.On this Fairness Hotline, there are honorary people working who have been trained and su-pervised, and, with no exception, they all bring professional knowledge and experience with them.
For whistleblowers
Whistleblower
A whistleblower is a person who tells the public or someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities occurring in a government department, a public or private organization, or a company...
(people who give hints and show risks) there is the Fairness Helpline, in which they find free of charge advice or clues so that they may deal with knowledge about risks, unfair practices, corrupt situations and illegal approaches in a strategically intelligent and efficient way. The Fairness Foundation has therefore become an official cooperation partner to Transparency International in Germany, which does it itself not advise individual whistleblowers but advises politicians and economists in view of their anticorruption work.
Any people with a certain responsibility who would like to get along better in certain situa-tions as far as fairness quality in their own behaviour is concerned or would like to learn from mistakes can consult the Foundation’s coaching line. People who are suffering from unfair attacks may find advice and help under www.mobbingscout.de .
Fairness Barometer
Once a year the Fairness Foundation, by means of the Fairness Barometer, confronts the German society with a mirror as far as its fairness quality is concerned. This Barometer analyses leading social groups as well as the importance of fairness to citizens in their behaviour as private people or consumers.Fairness and Fairness Ethics
In its Fairness Charta, the Fairness Foundation has described the social importance of fairness and the claim on every person to become active on behalf of fairness. It says there (among other statements):“In order that people, families, organisations, companies and associations may develop positively, in order that personal, social, economic and cultural life may thrive, in order that people remain unharmed physically, psychologically, socially, in their minds and spiritually, may keep their well-being or achieve it and find their lives’ fulfilment, it is necessary to
- grant by all means a just and fair dealing of the people with one another,
- the care, tolerance and understanding for other people in their individual behaviour
- make efforts on behalf of rules, structures, values and procedures that make fairness and fair play possible and safeguard them.”
What really is meant by fairness has been explained by Norbert Copray in “Fairness. A key to cooperation and confidence”. Gütersloh 2010.
As a guideline, the Foundation phrased it: “Show that behaviour to others and towards your-self as you would like others to deal with you when you are dependent on others’ benevolence.”
For the work of the Fairness Foundation it is essential that no other Fairness definition is imposed on others but that a fair debate is encouraged which enables an agreement on fairness and thus arrives at a solution of problems and a perspective for solutions in a cooperative communication. It is vital that people learn to foster fairness competence and that organisations create a fairness culture.