Morality As Organizational Practice

Organizations are increasingly the subject of moral debates. The positioning of enterprises of various sizes, non-governmental organizations, or public institutions is discussed and taken as a basis for consumer, client, and political decisions in a broad scope of topics. While the perspectives of customers, organizations, and further stakeholders on such developments have been highlighted under the label of 'ethical consumption' or vis-à-vis the fragility of organizations, the impact and effects on actors working in or for such organizations or subcontractors have so far only been dealt with tangentially or left as a blank spot. This volume turns its attention to the actors and organizational practices in order to trace the effects of these discourses on everyday lives. Similarly, the ethnographic case studies collected in this volume explore the extent to which everyday work life itself shapes discourses on the negotiation of morality in the present.

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.

Ethics and Organization provides a rich and valuable overview of an increasingly important issue for management and organizations in contemporary society. Debates about equal opportunities, environmental responsibility, consumer redress and corporate governance have given ethics a prominent place in the study of organizations in their social and natural environments. Within the organization, new management styles that seek to energize employees by manipulating their beliefs have highlighted the moral-ethical principles at issue in contemporary management. At the same time debates around postmodernism and relativism have moved ethics to a new centrality in contemporary social theory. Ethics and Organization addresses the questions that these and other developments raise for the study of management and organizations, from a multidisciplinary perspective. The book will be of value to advanced level students and academics engaged in analyzing the moral, political and ethical dimensions of organization theory and organizational practice.

Why do honest and decent employees sometimes overstep the mark? Drawing on scientific experiments and examples from business practice, Muel Kaptein discusses why good people sometimes do bad things and how they rise above this behavior.

This innovative textbook provides a systematic approach to developing practices of perception, reflection and inquiry to facilitate sound ethical action in organizational settings. Now in its second edition, Donna Ladkin’s Mastering Ethics in Organizations invites readers to reflect and experiment on ethical behaviors with targeted activities in unique organizational contexts.

Care is a human ability we all need for growing and flourishing. It implies considering the needs and interests of others, and the quality of how we relate to each other is often defined by care. While the value of care in private life is widely recognized, its role in the public sphere is contested and subject to political debates. In work organizations, instrumentality frequently overrides considerations for colleagues’ and co-workers’ well-being, while relationships are often sacrificed in the service of performance and meeting organizational targets. The questions this volume attempts to address concerns the organizational conditions that make care flourish and how a caring organization functions in practice. Specifically, we examine what it means to care for each other and what enhances caring behaviours in organizations. The volume ultimately focuses on how caring relations can contribute to making organizations better places. In this perspective, care involves the recognition of, and the limitations of, work as a key aspect of personal and social identity. Because care exceeds the sphere of individual intimacy, the book will also centre on the necessity for building caring institutions through a political process that considers the needs, contributions, and prospects of many different actors. This book aims to contribute to academic discussions on care in organizations, care work, business and organizational ethics, diversity, caring leadership, well-being in organizations, and research ethics. Managers, consultants, policy-makers, and students will find reflections about the goodness of care in organizations, and guidance about the ethical and practical difficulties of pursuing the project of building caring organizations.

With the use of exercises, reflective prompts and case studies, Mastering the Ethical Dimension of Organizations offers a practice-based approach to developing the skills critical to responding ethically to organizational dilemmas. Starting fro