Proceedings of the International Association for Business and Society

Volume 12, 2001

Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual Meeting

The Role and Potential of the "Forgiveness Factor" in the Workplace
Implications for Business Ethics Thought and Research

The overall purpose of this paper is to situate, discuss, and analyze the topic of "forgiveness" within the body of business and society thought. In particular, this topic will be depicted to be a part of the business ethics literature and related to recent initiatives in the general topic arena of spirituality in business. It should be noted that forgiveness has recently (1990s) become the subject of social science research. However, a careful literature review shows that very little has been written about forgiveness, or the "forgiveness factor," in professional organizations such as businesses, government and academe. A major goal of this paper is to introduce this topic to our body of literature and to explore the possibilities it may have for enhancing theory and research in the Business and Society/Business Ethics fields. This will be done by delving into definitions, frameworks and research which have been conducted in other spheres and exploring the potential, applications and implications for business organizations, in particular.