Stakeholder Theory Organizational Ethics A Principle Of Stakeholder Fairness

Recent corporate scandals have brought attention to business ethics, yet there are few books available that cover an important aspect of this topic. In this timely study of organizational ethics and stakeholder theory - which holds that business is beholden not only to shareholders but also to customers, employees, suppliers, management, and the community - Robert Phillips challenges the idea that the theory has no ""moral underpinnings"" and suggests useful ways to define which groups are or are not legitimate stakeholders. This study is based on the work of John Rawls, the most widely cited moral and political philosopher of the 20th century.

Business ethics is a staple in the news today. One of the most difficult ethical questions facing managers is, To whom are they responsible? Organizations can affect and are affected by many different constituencies-these groups are often called stakeholders. But who are these stakeholders? What sort of managerial attention should they receive? Is there a legal duty to attend to stakeholders or is such a duty legally prohibited due to the shareholder wealth maximization imperative? In short, for whose benefit ought a firm be managed? Despite the ever growing importance of these questions, there is no comprehensive, theoretical treatment of the stakeholder framework currently in print. In Stakeholder Theory and Organizational Ethics, Robert Phillips provides an extended defense of stakeholder theory as the preeminent theory of organizational ethics today. Addressing the difficult question of what the moral underpinning of stakeholder theory should be, Phillips elaborates a "principle of stakeholder fairness" based on the ideas of the late John Rawls-the most prominent moral and political philosopher of the twentieth century. Phillips shows how this principle clarifies several long-standing questions in stakeholder theory, including: Who are an organization's legitimate stakeholders? What is the basis for this legitimacy? What, if any, are the limits of stakeholder theory? What is the relationship between stakeholder theory and other moral, political, and business ethical theories? Applying research from many related disciplines, Stakeholder Theory and Organizational Ethics is an overdue response to several long-standing and fundamental points of contention within business ethics and management theory.

A comprehensive foundation for stakeholder theory, written by many of the most respected and highly cited experts in the field.

Honoring the twenty-fifth anniversary of one of the most influential books in the history of business strategy and ethics, R. Edward Freeman's Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach, this work assembles a collection of contributions by the most influential and widely cited scholars working in the area of stakeholder scholarship today. The analyses collected here comment on the impact Freeman's book - and stakeholder theory more generally - has had upon the fields of management and organizational ethics. This study also includes original responses from Freeman himself. As the conversation about stakeholders hits its academic and popular stride, this timely volume provides both a retrospective of stakeholder theory's history as well as a guide to the questions that are likely to emerge during the next quarter century, providing a new foundation for future theory and practice. This volume will be an indispensible resource for any serious scholar working in the area of stakeholder theory. Additionally, because the language of managing stakeholder relationships is becoming increasingly popular, practicing executives and NGO members will find this an exceptional and informative reference.

'Stakeholders' includes a discussion of the concept of 'the stakeholder' in fields such as management, corporate governance, accounting and finance, strategy, sociology, and politics, and in public policy debate. Practical examples are used to examine a range of stakeholders.

In 1984, R. Edward Freeman published his landmark book, Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach, a work that set the agenda for what we now call stakeholder theory. In the intervening years, the literature on stakeholder theory has become vast and diverse. This book examines this body of research and assesses its relevance for our understanding of modern business. Beginning with a discussion of the origins and development of stakeholder theory, it shows how this corpus of theory has influenced a variety of different fields, including strategic management, finance, accounting, management, marketing, law, health care, public policy, and environment. It also features in-depth discussions of two important areas that stakeholder theory has helped to shape and define: business ethics and corporate social responsibility. The book concludes by arguing that we should re-frame capitalism in the terms of stakeholder theory so that we come to see business as creating value for stakeholders.

This book provides an academic introduction to, and presentation and defence of stakeholder theory as a model for the strategic management of businesses and corporations, as well as of public organizations and institutions. The concept of the stakeholder is generally applied to parties that affect or are affected by the activities of private or public organizations. Distinct from shareholders, stakeholders are those individuals, entities or communities that have a connection with the activities of a corporation, a firm or an organization. The notion of the stakeholder is intimately linked to a conception of the business firm as an entity founded on negotiated governance, in which the maximization of value for the shareholder is not the ultimate criterion. In this model, issues and interests that are not directly associated with shareholders and investors, but which go beyond capital to encompass the concerns of civil society, are considered to be of central importance. This book provides a broad overview of stakeholder theory, presenting it as an ethical approach to strategic management that is both pragmatic and applicable to developing democratic practices within corporations, while at the same time suggesting ways in which elements of a social contract can be elaborated within the context of globalization.