I have been invited to the White House to chair a committee of senators who are charged with developing international business ethics guidelines (IBEG) for the next 10 years on Human rights. How do I examine the key ethical aspects of this issue? Develop an action plan that will lead people with different perspectives on these issues toward acceptable compromise and consensus.

Keeping in mind that resolving ethical issues seldom requires deciding who is right and who is wrong. Instead, it usually requires identifying a gray area of commonality among a diverse set of perspectives and working to build consensus around shared ideas.

My plan should involve more than just gathering all stakeholders and finding common ground; instead, it should detail the methods and processes that I will use as well as the issues and concerns that I will need to consider as I strive to reach a consensus on the IBEG. For example, how would I identify stakeholders? How will I assign different weights to stakeholders? Would all stakeholders be equal? What about the stakeholders that do not have a representative