Toward a theory of organizational ethics

An understanding of organizational ethics requires synthesizing several fields, three of which are critically important: moral philosophy, moral development, and organizational culture. Moral philosophy provides a broad intellectual framework for organizational ethics. Within this framework different systems of ethics related to particular practices, such as medical ethics, can be grounded. Such an approach rejects the notions that organizational ethics can be looked at in relative terms or that a case method involving the examination of direct outcomes alone can be adequate. The field of moral development raises questions about the source of abilities of decision-makers to make ethical decisions. It suggests that where there is concern for the moral life of an organization, there should also be concern for the moral development of its members, and particularly of its leaders. Study of organizational culture shows the complex way that moral life is fused with the many elements of culture within the organization. Managing the ethical aspect of action in an organization requires managing its culture, which means attention to the message given by many different cultural elements, each of which should consistently give the desired message about ethical expectation. The emerging field of organizational ethics needs considerable expansion utilizing an interdisciplinary approach