How Do Managers Think about Market Economies and Morality? Empirical Enquiries into Business-ethical Thinking Patterns
Journal
Journal of Business Ethics
ISSN
0167-4544
Type
journal article
Date Issued
1993-11-01
Author(s)
Abstract
How do managers think about the relationship between the pursuit of economic success on the one hand and ethical demands on the other? This paper presents the main results of a qualitative-empirical study (Ulrich/Thielemann 1992). The range of thinking patterns displayed by Swiss managers in this field of tension is elucidated and typologized. The results are then compared with those yielded by other studies on managerial ethics. Although the comparisons reveal essential parallels, the findings of previous investigations are interpreted in a considerably different manner. In particular it is shown that, on the strength of a systematic conception of the fundamental problem of business ethics, the frequently heard assertion that the vast majority of managers are ethical opportunists must be revised. The internationally prevailing thinking pattern among managers does not prove to be ethical opportunism or even cynicism but economism, i.e. the ethical conviction that economically "appropriate" action in itself is ethically good as such.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
HSG Profile Area
SHSS - Kulturen, Institutionen, Maerkte (KIM)
Refereed
Yes
Publisher
Reidel
Publisher place
Dordrecht
Number
12
Start page
879
End page
898
Pages
20
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
17448
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Name
How_do_managers_think_about_market_econo.pdf
Size
2.39 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
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