Editorial introduction: Derrida, business, ethics (original) (raw)
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… & Organizational History, 2007
The aim of this paper is to explore the fundamental relationship between ethics and business in their tragic historical unfolding as formulated in one of H.G. Wells's lesser novels, The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman (1914). Wells directly and explicitly addresses themes concerning modern business corporations, business people, management, social responsibility and domestic life at the turn of the twentieth century. We emphasize the centrality and importance of the form and style of the modern novel as a specific expression of ethics, that is, as a product of the continuous and tragic engagement of people with the finite horizon of life against which questions of moral sources emerge.Wells's novel offers a new platform for reflection upon the cultural rationale of business institutions and management in modern society in two main directions. First, we show how he creates the context for a much necessary historical analysis required to properly re-problematize the ethical sustainability of the ideal of the 'corporation' as the centre of the economy in modernity. Secondly, we work out how he allows us to ask the crucial and perennial question of whether the pursuit of profit can ever be reconciled with the urgent ethical imperative of modernity: finding the cultural resources necessary to sustain human freedom and emancipation against the limits of a political economy of acquisitive capitalism. Such problems are not simply of historical interest; they are central, but are largely neglected in texts of 'business ethics' since they are uncomfortable for, and incompatible with, such texts' simplistic, mechanical, ahistorical and rather defensive frameworks.
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The article is a review of issues connected with business ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the last 20 years. Two decades have passed since the Sixth Polish Philosophical Congress took place in Toruń, where—for the first time in the history of Polish philosophical conventions—business ethics was recognized as a philosophical sub-discipline. It manifested itself in a special subsection of the Congress devoted to the topic, which was also kept at the next congress meetings. The paper is not a full review and most likely is not free from subjectivism. This is partly due to the fact that the subject matter falls within the scope of the philosophy of practicality—as the author interprets and refers to the philosophical system of Tadeusz Kotarbiński.
Old and New in Business Ethics Theory
Business Ethics and Leadershi, 2020
This paper aims to show the need to study both classical and modern theories in business ethics. It is necessary because social relations in production change, as do production conditions, the relationship between owners and workers, employees. The aim of the article is also to demonstrate the possible deviations from the natural, basic principles of ethical behavior in business and to look for opportunities to regulate them and limit the opportunities for their manifestation. This study has an epistemological character, dedicated to studying the evolution of fundamental ethical theories explaining the interaction between subjects in the ethical ecosystem. In developing the article, descriptive analysis was used to identify, analyze, and summarize the main features of poodle theories in business ethics. This paper has its theoretical basis of a rich category of tools and classical theories in aesthetics; new business ethics theories are being developed as an inalienable part of the ethical ecosystem. The evolution of the productive forces has had its irreversible impact on the ethical relations in the social system and on each business unit as a whole. The interrelations between the main religions professed by mankind − Christianity, Judaism and Islamic religion with the main category assessing the return on investment, namely the interest rate, are analyzed. The conclusions have been drawn about this type of income in the older religions and newer religions. Basic new business ethics theories are analyzed, such as the Theory of moral hazard, Agency Theory, Diamond's Theory of delegated monitoring, Rent-Seeking. Research on the evolution of basic business economics theories is usually done based on theoretical analysis and much less based on specific business cases. Here is presented the manifestation of modern theories in business ethics, particular cases of changes in the state of business ecosystems and possibility that basis can also serve as a legal and regulatory initiative to precisely regulate these deviations and their sanction. The chosen form of research is sharing the opinions of the author of the study. In this article, the author seeks the connection, the integration of ethics in the functioning of the business system due to the severance of the direct relationship between owners and employees and the emergence of intermediaries as agents to whom decision-making rights are delegated. The severance of this relationship is at the heart of the evolutionary development of the ethical business side in the context of existing constraints.
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The aim of this paper is to explore the possibilities for an immanent ethics for business. The paper has three parts. In the first part, I make some general and critical comments about the nature of business ethics. In the second part, I outline the immanent ethics as presented by the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze. Then, I positioning immanent ethics within business, primarily in relation to the terms "best practice" and "best fit." The main claim here is that an immanent ethics encourages a shift from a merely reactive approach toward an active. This shift opens up the field for an affirmative practice that aims at enlarging the discussion within business ethics as such.
The Financialisation of Business Ethics
Business schools have become implicated in the widespread demonisation of the financial classes. By educat- ing those held most responsible for the crisis – financial traders and speculators – they are said to have produced ruthlessly talented graduates who have ambition in abundance but little sense for social responsi- bility or ethics. This ethical lack thrives upon the trading floor within a compelling critique of the complicity of the pedagogy of the business school with the financial crisis of the global economy. An ethical turn within the curriculum is now widely encouraged as a counteractive force. Within this paper, however, we argue that taking this ethical turn is not enough. For business ethicists to learn from the financial crisis, the crisis’ legacy needs to be taken account of, and financialisation needs to be taken seriously. Pedagogical reform cannot bracket itself off from the crisis as if it were coincidental with or separate from it. Post-crisis pedagogy must rather take the fact that it is requested now, in light of the crisis, as its very point of departure. The financial crisis must not be understood as something to be resisted in the name of Business Ethics. Instead, the financial crisis must be understood as the very foundation for contemporary Business Ethics in particular and for contemporary business and management education more generally.
The Dilemma of Business Ethics
Procedia Economics and Finance, 2012
Economist cannot avoid ethical questions if they want to understand the terms of policy debate, to help determine public policies, or to select problems for study. This ethical question is more often recently because of the pressure on financial economies, especially in emerging economies, to act unethically. Often legislation is required to correct unethical business practices. As we look back we see that moralizing by itself cannot do so much. It is only when moral concerns are translated into legal demands that changes are widespread, reliable and enduring. So in this paper we try to understand the dilemma of doing business ethically and the link between business ethic and the legislation.