"Does the end justify the means?"

The topic I wish to propose for debate in this, my first editorial as director of the Innovar journal, has to do with the decision-making for which those of us who are, have been or will be in a position where we have some degree of power are responsible. In making a decision, we establish the individual way of acting that each of us must deal with while we hold a certain post, and we affix that individual hallmark to which those of us who teach subjects associated with evolution in organizations refer.

In today's world, and not just when dealing with business, it would seem that one of the premises that must prevail is "the end justifies the means". This affirmation has been falsely attributed to Niccolo Machiavelli -even though he never wrote it and apparently never said it− given that in his book The Prince, Machiavelli expresses the idea that when men hold power, they should be judged by the results they obtain and if in the end the desired results are indeed achieved, the means employed to do so would have to be pardoned. The logic of this affirmation is clearly the opposite of saying "the end does not justify the means".

The fundamental fact to which I wish to refer is that a person in a position of power faces the choice of which of the two roads they must take, through a process of freedom of choice, but with full awareness that whatever decision they make has an effect that goes beyond the immediate provisions they execute while holding their position. At the same time, those decisions will have important consequences when the community or society that is directly affected becomes fully and totally aware of the decisions made and of the benefits or damages deriving from them. This under the premise that in the academic world, more than in any other, at a given moment one holds a specific post but that at any time it is most probable that one will no longer have that position, but, additionally, in awareness that not only must one act based on this premise but that we are always responsible to a society that, one way or the other, is witness to and judge of one's actions.

Gloria I. Rodríguez L. Ph. D.

Editor in chief - INNOVAR
Fulltime Associate Professor
Escuela de Administración y Contaduría Pública
Facultad de Ciencias Económicas
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, sede Bogotá