Foundations Of Ethics In Management

The forces generated by an explosion in human knowledge and exponential increases in technology have brought about tectonic shifts in personal as well as corporate worldviews. And while globalisation has ushered in many benefits for companies and consumers alike, this book posits that it is the fierce competition of global market-places which drives the largely unopposed belief that firms exist solely to enhance shareholder value. The author in arguing for a wider definition of 'shareholder' is of the opinion that this is a potentially lethal fallout, because single-minded pursuit of profit for profits' sake, in yielding to the tyranny of the bottomline, has undermined traditional and long-enduring value systems, and placed ethics on the sacrificial altar of vested interests, as scams such as Enron, WorldCom and Computer Associates have amply demonstrated.To bolster his arguments, the author compels the reader to think, assess and analyse for himself as he whisks him through a whirlwind tour of western ethical and value systems beginning from the halcyon days of Plato and Aristotle, right down to modern times, running the gamut of Newton, Hobbes, Descartes, JS Mill followed by the Utilitarians, Kant, Hegel and even the Jack Welch model. He then guides the reader the labyrinth of eastern thought, including Vedic and Taoist disciplines, before citing three pragmatic Indian models with firm philosophical underpinnings, one of which he zeroes in as having the greatest potential for good governance. Written in a very lucid style, this book is sure to remain fresh in the reader's memory as long as questions of right and wrong confront him in his daily life. No book on the subject can hope to do more.

Ethics for Managers introduces students to the philosophical underpinnings of business ethics and translates this theory into practical terms, demonstrating the moral implications of the decisions managers make. This edition features new material on global ethics, the financial downturn, and ethical sustainability. New, student-friendly features include: Learning objectives at the beginning of each chapter, which provide a roadmap to what is covered and how to use it. Cases that demonstrate real-world scenarios, allowing readers to grapple with real moral ambiguity. Discussion questions at the end of each chapter, which challenge students to see different moral perspectives and to practice good decision-making. A new chapter on international business ethics. Students of business ethics courses will find this compact, well-organized text a useful tool to understand ethics in the digital age.

Morality and ethics are at the heart of business practice, but the concepts themselves are usually assumed, rather than investigated. The chapters in this book refuse such easy answers, and force the reader to confront their own assumptions about ethics, provoking conclusions that are both disturbing and exciting. Martin Parker, University of Leicester, UK This timely book provides a collection of critical explorations and discussions of managerial ethics and their moral foundations. It is concerned with theoretical, conceptual and practical matters, and thus provides an open and broad approach to a very dense field of enquiry. Ethics and Organizational Practice challenges established theory in management studies and, in particular, provides a post-foundational argument to conventional business ethics. The contributors cover topics from corporate social responsibility and individual morality to primatology, psychopathology and corruption. They provide a multi-disciplinary and multi-dimensional exploration of managerial ethics and its moral foundation, presenting a critical understanding of the conditions of ethics in modern organizations. The book presents a philosophically informed critique of simplified notions of managerial and organizational ethics, making it an excellent resource for postgraduate students and scholars of business ethics, critical management, corporate social responsibility, international business and organizational psychology.

This book challenges these limited accounts of ethics and responsibility. It will be relevant to students and researchers across business and management, organizational studies, critical management studies, gender studies and sociology.

Management Ethics is an indispensable resource and guide to the issues and debates within the ethics of management. It includes examination of: the obligations that managers have to their various stakeholders: employees, customers, shareholders, and the community how managers can meet their obligations the ethics of supply chain management the ethics of dealing with the press and non-governmental agencies the concepts of sustainability and triple bottom line accounting The book culminates with distinctive chapters on stimulating the manager's moral imagination and promoting a unique theory of ethical leadership.

This book examines issues relating to ethical decision-making in the managerial context. Managers are paid to oversee the work of others, and in the course of their work, they often make decisions that impact other people. This book is intended to help managers, and students of management, reflect on the impact of their decisions, and to help them in making such decisions ethically. Ethics has to do with interpersonal or social values, and the rules of conduct that derive from them. By the time an individual becomes a manager, he or she invariably has a sense of moral right and wrong. Author Joseph Gilbert examines the sources of this sense, and how it is shaped and altered by various influences. He lays the groundwork for discussion by delving into the meaning of ethics and its philosophical foundations, then exploring its application to the task of management. This balanced approach both makes clear the moral implications of actions taken by managers and provides some time-tested ways of thinking about moral issues when they arise. Without preaching or critiquing the reader’s existing ethical sense, Ethics for Managers prepares the manager or student of business to adequately address the difficult decisions that will crop up during their career in an ethical and self-aware manner.

The book develops a philosophical foundation to the field of management education using the work of Martin Heidegger as a guiding philosophy. It asks the questions ‘what is a corporation?’ and ‘what is corporate management?’ These two questions are foundational for management thought in general and management ethics in particular. Most other academic fields are in some way defined and guided by a philosophical discourse. This philosophical discourse is largely missing in the field of management thought and education. Without this foundation it can never be clear what actually belongs into a certain academic discipline and what does not. It also therefore lacks a sound and well articulated ontological foundation critical for developing approaches to ethical management. This book seeks to fill this gap and consequently represents an interdisciplinary effort between the academic field of management/business administration and philosophy, which is vital for business ethics. Intended as required reading for an elective on philosophy of management that is offered annually at the Wits Business School / University of the Witwatersrand / Johannesburg. The structure of the course will be largely based on the structure of the book.

Exploring the ethical foundations of the different subfields of managerial thought, this book brings a thoroughly new light on the issue of sustainability and responsibility in management theory and practice.