Proceedings of the International Association for Business and Society

This paper introduces a theoretical model to explain, predict and transform moral climate in business firms. I first discuss the concept of climate in the organizational literature. Next I propose an ideal climate for encouraging ethical conduct in business firms. I then describe how such a climate can be created through analyzing and changing aspects of the organization’s political, technical, and cultural systems. The paper concludes with a discussion of managerial implications and an agenda for future research.

The current literature in business ethics is tending toward an unacknowledged moral pluralism, with all the problems this position entails. An adequate moral pluralism cannot be achieved by a synthesis existing theoretical alternatives for moral action. Rather, what is needed is a radical reconstruction of the understanding of the moral situation that undercuts some of the traditional dichotomies, provides a soild philosophical grounding which is inherently pluralistic, and offers a new understanding of what it is to think morally. The philosophical position of American pragmatism, as briefly sketched in this paper, offers one such possible reconstruction.

Since 1964, there has been an expansion in the amount and the variety of state-sponsored and state-sanctioned gambling opportunities throughout the US. At the same time, the number of laws prohibiting cigarette smoking have grown enormously. It is striking how one of these activities is "tolerated" even encouraged by public policy makers while the other is rapidly being prohibited by them. This paper will examine this phenomenon in three parts: (1) defining what is meant by the ethics of tolerance and contrasting it with the ethics of sacrifice; (2) giving a brief historical synopsis of how the gambling and smoking issues have evolved over time; (3) drawing the implications of a shift to an ethics of tolerance on future public policy issues

This paper demonstrates many of the common concerns of the organizational justice and stakeholder management literatures. It shows that organizational justice can provide specific advice for the design of stakeholder relations, while stakeholder management can broaden the scope of justice research.

Meritocracy as a system of distributive justice has come under increasing criticism in recent years because its moral foundation is alleged to be weak. This paper presents a moral case for meritocracy based on individual justice as a first-order criterion and utilitarianism only as a second-order criterion. It also takes into account some realities of organizational governance that make "perfect" solutions impractical. Meritocracy, though clearly not a perfect solution, avoids or minimizes problems present in other formulations of distributive justice.

Russia is in a transition phase between socialism and capitalism. As such it is a good test case for the thesis that business ethics depends in large part for its content on existing laws, customs and ways of doing business. Russian business cannot be held to American standards, but American business in Russia can be held to higher standards than the Russians.

Dealing with cross-cultural ethical conflict is a complex, difficult, and increasingly frequent challenge for managers. Our position is that no one strategy is always best, and in this paper we propose a decision tree to guide managers in choosing among a number of alternative strategies for addressing these conflicts. Appraising the issue’s moral significance, the urgency of the situation, and the relative influence of the parties to the conflict provides the basis for the evaluation of strategies.

Ethical decision-making in organizations has traditionally been viewed as a function of individual and situational influences (e.g., Jones, 1991; Trevino, 1986; Trevino & Youngblood, 1990). However, previous "multiple influences" research has ignored the importance of social comparison effects (e.g., Adams 1965; Bandura, 1977; Firebaugh, 1980; Folger, 1986). A multi-level model is offered that incorporates social comparison effects (e.g., relative unethical behavior and relative performance) with contextual effects (e.g., norms, competitive pressures). Implications for further research are discussed.

In the UK, the recently published report of the Cadbury Committee states that non-executive directors should bring their judgement to bear on the standards of conduct within the companies on whose Board they sit. We set out to garner the views Of the non-executive directors of Britain's leading 500 companies, seeking to gain a strategic overview of the roles, responsibilities and obligations of business today, with a particular emphasis on the issue of business ethics. This paper presents the results of the research study and draws together the views of 118 senior businessmen (the majority of whom hold non-executive directorships among some of Britain's leading companies) who responded to a postal survey conducted in the summer of 1993.

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of organizational structure variables on the development of ethical work climates. It was found that firms that were more mechanistic tended to have a Law and Code or Rules climate type. The structural variables did not, however allow predictions of the other climate types: Caring, Independence and Instrumental. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

This paper discusses a current gap in organizational justice research which fails to acknowledge the tension inherent in democratic and non-democratic governance forms. The author suggests that an interpretive and cultural approach to organizational justice research provides a means of linking governance to justice in business and thus provides additional insights into workplace justice theory..

This exploratory study attempts to address the substantivity of organizational boundary by examining how select groups of university faculty define the normative boundaries of their academic work. Using Q Methodology, thirty-one (31) faculty members Q-sorted 66 issue statements in a study designed to test the ontological status of organizational boundaries. The indeterminacy of borders empirically elaborated in this study prompts a reconsideration of interpretive grammar that promotes organizations as sovereign and unified "centre(s) of calculation and classification."

Torbert’s "action inquiry" provides a method and criterion for managers and scholars in business and society who wish to foster and measure personal, professional and organizational development. Its implicit philosophy of the self, society and social science is explored, using Lonergan’s method of self-appropriation for understanding community and the human good. Using Lonergan clarifies the dynamics of action inquiry and suggests areas where it can be developed.

To the extent that it concerns human behavior, any theory of the firm will have a normative dimension and must, therefore, be justifiable on normative grounds. The extant theory of the firm is identified as one in which the firm acts solely to facilitate agents’ pursuit of personal material gain. A normative defense of this concept is attempted from the point of view of both economics and moral philosophy. The theory is found to be lacking on both counts. In an economic context, the extant conception of the firm does not yield a value maximizing outcome for either the individual or the economy in aggregate. In the context of moral philosophy, the theory of the firm fails to recognize the crucial role that business organizations play in nurturing the moral development of individuals therein. Recent developments in moral philosophy are sourced in order to outline a broader concept of the firm.

This paper discusses of the enactment of the ethic of care in organizations, through acts of inquiry and advocacy, and through the practice of ethical comportment. Caring is defined and superimposed on Argyris' model of learning through inquiry and advocacy, and onto Kolb's model of experiential learning. Caring through inquiry is enacted through reflective observation and active experimentation while caring through advocacy is practiced through one's own personal experience and the development of a conceptual framework. The interpersonal behaviors associated with the ethic of care, ethical comportment, are described, and the paper concludes with a discussion of how an organization can incorporate ethical comportment in daily functions.

Ethical perceptions of business practices by white and African American students are reported and contrasted. Significant differences were found in 23 out of 43 questionable practices described. White students perceived 4 of these practices as more unethical; 19 concerned African American students more. African Americans students placed more faith in government action to eliminate unethical practices. They were more willing to take personal actions to right perceived unethical practices in two of eight proposed actions; there being no difference on the other six questions.

The utility of integrative social contracts theory for multinational companies seeking guidance on ethical conduct in various cultural settings depends on the identification of hypernorms. In "integrative social contracts theory" (ISCT) as currently elaborated by Tom Donaldson and Tom Dunfee, hypernorms serve to validate or invalidate local norms, or micro social contracts. This paper hopes to advance discussion on the nature and use of hypernorms in ISCT.

Standard ethical responses to problems of international business morality emphasize the substantive moral rules, principles, codes or virtues which multinational corporations should follow. This paper maintains that the investigation of the structural features of moral systems will importantly aid in the attempt to address these problems. Four structural features are briefly discussed and their implications considered.

This paper identifies two kinds of trust that are likely to be associated with economic exchange: fragile trust and resilient trust. Arguments underlying propositions on the nature of these two kinds of trust, and their relationships to interoganizational cooperation are developed.