Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-b6zl4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-31T00:23:05.142Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - Reconsidering values

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2009

Mollie Painter-Morland
Mollie Painter-Morland
Affiliation:
DePaul University, Chicago
Get access

Summary

My analysis of moral agency in Chapter 3 has direct implications for understanding not only the process of how a particular normative orientation comes into being, but also what comes to be regarded as moral truth. It precipitates a radical reassessment of how we make statements about “right and wrong.” In this chapter I focus on a concept that is central to the idea of moral truth within an organizational context, namely values. In my analysis, I will challenge some of the conventional ways in which business ethicists and practitioners tend to think about and treat values.

In the case of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines' directives on what constitutes a proper ethics management program, organizations are instructed to formalize their ethics and compliance standards and procedures. As Chapter 1 indicated, there has been a lot of discussion about whether formalized codes really make a difference to employees' ethical behavior. Many are skeptical and argue that these documents often amount to little more than a decorative plaque on the wall or a reputation-enhancing marketing device.

A further interrogation of the validity of these charges is not the main purpose of my analysis. Instead, I would like to take a closer look at some of the unarticulated assumptions that often underlie the use of codes in ethics management programs and initiatives. In my experience, the practical value of codification is limited.

Type
Chapter
Information
Business Ethics as Practice
Ethics as the Everyday Business of Business
 , pp. 130 - 178
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Sharpe Paine, Lynn, “Does Ethics Pay?” Business Ethics Quarterly, 10 (2000), 319–330;CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharp Paine, Lynn, Why Companies Must Merge Social and Financial Imperatives to Achieve Superior Performance, 1st edition (McGraw-Hill, 2003);Google Scholar
Margolis, Joshua D. and Walsh, James P.. People and Profits? The Search for a Link between a Company's Social and Financial Performance (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2001);Google Scholar
Verschoor, Curtis, “Corporate Performance is Closely Linked to a Strong Ethical Commitment,” Business and Society Review, 104 (1999), 407–415CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verschoor, Curtis, “Does Superior Governance Still Lead to Better Financial Performance?” Strategic Finance, 86 (2004), 13–14;Google Scholar
Verschoor, Curtis, “Is There Financial Value in Corporate Values?” Strategic Finance, 87 (2005), 17–18Google Scholar
Frederick, William C., Values, Nature, Culture and the American Corporation (Oxford University Press, 1995), p. 243.Google Scholar
Parker, Martin, “Business Ethics and Social Theory: Postmodernizing the Ethical,” British Journal of Management (1998), 27–36CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frederick, William C., Values, Nature, Culture and the American Corporation (Oxford University Press, 1995)Google Scholar
Frederick, William C., “Creatures, Corporations, Communities, Chaos, Complexity,” Business and Society, 37 (1998), 358–389.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solomon, Robert C., Ethics and Excellence: Cooperation and Integrity in Business (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992).Google Scholar
Solomon, Robert C.., “Corporate Roles, Personal Virtues: an Aristotelian Approach to Business Ethics,” Business Ethics Quarterly, 2 (1992), 320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nietzsche, Friedrich, Beyond Good and Evil, translated by Hollindale, R. J. (Penguin, 1977), p. 104.Google Scholar
Heidegger, Martin, “Letter on Humanism” in Krell, David F. (ed.), Martin Heidegger: Basic Writings (New York: Harper & Row, 1977), pp. 193–242.Google Scholar
Nussbaum, Martha, Poetic Justice (Beacon Press, 1995), p. 14.Google Scholar
Wijnberg, Nachoem, “Normative Stakeholder Theory and Aristotle: the Link Between Ethics and Politics,” Journal of Business Ethics, 25 (2000), 333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nussbaum, Martha, Love's Knowledge (Oxford University Press, 1990), p. 55.Google Scholar
May, Simon, Nietzsche's Ethics and His War on “Morality” (Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 9.Google Scholar
Heidegger, Martin, Nietzsche Volumes III & IV The Will to Power as Knowledge and as Metaphysics and Nihilism, edited by Krell, David F. (San Francisco: Harper Collins), p. 66.
Evans, Philip and Wurster, Thomas S., Blown to Bits: How the New Economics of Information Transforms Strategy (Harvard, 1999).Google Scholar
Nussbaum, Martha, Therapy of Desire: Theory and Practice in Hellenistic Ethics (Princeton University Press, 1994), p. 78.Google Scholar
Hartman, Edwin, “The Commons and the Moral Organization,” Business Ethics Quarterly, 4 (1994), 258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartman, Edwin, Organizational Ethics and the Good Life (Oxford University Press, 1996), p. 135.Google Scholar
Nietzsche, Friedrich, “On Truth and Lie in the Extramoral Sense” in Kaufman, W. (ed. and translator), The Portable Nietzsche (Penguin Books, 1954), p. 42.Google Scholar
Emden, Christian J., Nietzsche on Language, Consciousness and the Body (University of Illinois Press, 2005).Google Scholar
Kirkland, Sean D., “The Temporality of Phronesis in the Nicomachean Ethics,” Ancient Philosophy, 27 (2007).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Derrida, Jacques, “Differance” in Margins of Philosophy (University of Chicago Press, 1982).Google Scholar
Taylor, Charles, The Ethics of Authenticity (Harvard University Press, 1991), p. 60.Google Scholar
MacIntyre, Alasdair, After Virtue (Duckworth, 1981).Google Scholar
Parker, Martin, “Organization, Community and Utopia,” Studies in Cultures, Organisations and Societies, 4 (1998), 77–91.Google Scholar
Selznick, , “Organisation, Community and Utopia” in Martin Parker (ed.), Studies in Cultures, Organisations and Societies, 4 (1998), 77–91.
Rorty, Richard, “Ethics Without Principles” in Rorty, Philosophy and Social Hope (Penguin Books, 1999), p. 76.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel, Ethics: the Essential Works (London: The Penguin Press, 1994), p. 284.Google Scholar
Willmott, H., “Breaking the Paradigm Mentality,” Organization Studies, 14(5) (1993), 681–719;CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willmott, H., “Postmodernism and Excellence: the Differentiation of Economy and Culture,” Journal of Organizational Change, 5(1) (1992), 58–68;CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smircich, L., “Concepts of Culture and Organizational Analysis,” Administrative Science Quarterly, 28 (1983), 339–358;CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smircich, L. and Calas, M., “Organizational Culture: a Critical Assessment” in Jablin, F., Putnam, L., Roberts, K. and Porter, L. (eds.), Handbook of Organizational Communication (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1987), pp. 228–263.Google Scholar
Parker, Martin, Organizational Culture and Identity: Unity and Division at Work (London: Sage, 2000), p. 76.Google Scholar
McNeill, Will, “Care for the Self: Originary Ethics in Heidegger and Foucault,” Philosophy Today, 42 (1998).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sullivan, D. L. and Martin, M. S., “Habit Formation and Story Telling: a Theory for Guiding Ethical Action,” Technical Communication Quarterly, 10(3), 251–272.CrossRef
Levy, Neil, “Ethics and Rules: a Political Reading of Foucault's Aesthetics of Existence,” Philosophy Today, 42 (1998), 79–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunt, Alan and Wickham, Gary, Foucault and Law. Towards a Sociology of Law and Governance. (Pluto Press, 1994), p. 46.Google Scholar
Webb, David, “On Friendship: Derrida, Foucault and the Practice of Becoming,” Research in Phenomenology, 33 (2003), 129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewin, Roger and Regine, Birute, “On the Edge of the World of Business” in Lewin, R., Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaos (Phoenix, 2001), p. 198.Google Scholar
Murphy, J., “Chaos Theory as a Model for Managing Issues and Crises,” Public Relations Review, 22 (1996).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collier, Jane and Esteban, R., “Governance in the Participative Organisation: Freedom, Creativity and Ethics,” Journal of Business Ethics, 21 (1999), 179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guastello, S., Managing Emergent Phenomena: Nonlinear Dynamics in Work Organizations (London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002).Google Scholar
Ashmos Plowman, Donde, Solansky, Stephanie, Beck, Tammy E., Baker, LaKami, Kulharni, Mukta and Villarreal Travis, Deandra, “The Role of Leadership in Emergent Self-Organization,” The Leadership Quarterly, 18(4) (2007), 341–356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boal, Kimberley B. and Schultz, Patrick L., “Storytelling, Time and Evolution: the Role of Strategic Leadership in Complex Adaptive Systems,” The Leadership Quarterly, 18(4) (2007), 411–428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×