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Adapting Kohlberg to Enhance the Assessment of Managers’ Moral Reasoning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

James Weber*
Affiliation:
Marquette University

Abstract

This paper presents an adaptation of Lawrence Kohlberg's Moral Judgment Interview and Standard Issue Scoring method. The adaptation emphasizes four points: (1) a mixture of less familiar and more familiar moral dilemmas, (2) followup questions which probe managers’ moral reasoning by focusing upon key organizational values, (3) the flexibility of utilizing either an oral or written interview method, and (4) a simpler, yet reliable, system for scoring the managers’ responses and identifying their stage of moral reasoning. An empirical investigation found that each adaptation could enhance the assessment of managers’ moral reasoning.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 1991

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