Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T09:55:14.014Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Corporate Character: Modern Virtue Ethics and the Virtuous Corporation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Geoff Moore
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

This paper is a further development of two previous pieces of work (Moore 2002, 2005) in which modern virtue ethics, and in particular MacIntyre’s (1985) related notions of “practice” and “institution,” have been explored in the context of business. It first introduces and defines the concept of corporate character and seeks to establish why it is important. It then reviews MacIntyre’s virtues-practice-institution schema and the implications of this at the level of the institution in question—the corporation—and argues that the concept of corporate character follows from, but is a novel development of, MacIntyre’s schema. The paper contrasts corporate character and virtues with the more familiar concepts of corporate culture and values. The constitutive and substantive elements of corporate character, including the essential corporate virtues, are then drawn out and illustrated with reference to the cases explored in Koehn (1998). Finally, the paper acknowledges and counters a specific criticism of this approach.

Type
Articles
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 15 , Issue 4 , October 2005 , pp. 659 - 685
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Angell, M. 1996. Science on Trial. The Clash of Medical Evidence and the Law in the Breast Implant Case. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Aristotle. 1955. The Ethics of Aristotle: The Nichomachean Ethics. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Beadle, R. 2002. “The Misappropriation of MacIntyre.” Reason in Practice 2(2): 45–54. (The journal has been subsequently renamed Philosophy of Management.)Google Scholar
Christensen, C., and Overdorf, M.. 2000. “Meeting the Challenge of Disruptive Change.” Harvard Business Review 78(2) (March–April): 66–76.Google Scholar
Clinard, M. 1983. Corporate Ethics and Crime. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage.Google Scholar
Collins, J., and Porras, J.. 1998. Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. London: Random House Business Books.Google Scholar
Deal, T., and Kennedy, A.. 1988. Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Dobson, J. 1996. “The Feminist Firm: A Comment.” Business Ethics Quarterly 6(2): 227–32.Google Scholar
Dobson, J. 1997. “MacIntyre’s Position on Business: A Response to Wicks.” Business Ethics Quarterly 7(4): 125–32.Google Scholar
Doris, J. 2002. Lack of Character: Personality and Moral Behavior. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Edmondson, A. 1999. “Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams.” Administrative Science Quarterly 44: 350–83.Google Scholar
Emerson, R. 1962. “Power-Dependence Relations.” American Sociological Review 27: 31–41.Google Scholar
French, P. 1995. Corporate Ehics. Fort Worth, Dallas: Harcourt Brace.Google Scholar
Goffee, R., and Jones, G.. 1998. The Character of a Corporation: How Your Company’s Culture Can Make or Break Your Business. London: HarperCollinsBusiness.Google Scholar
Goodpaster, K., and Matthews, J.. 1982, “Can a Corporation Have a Conscience?” Harvard Business Review 60(1): 132–41.Google Scholar
Harman, G. 2003. “No Character or Personality.” Business Ethics Quarterly 13(1): 87–94.Google Scholar
Hartman, E. 1996. Organizational Ethics and the Good Life. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison, R. 1972. “Understanding Your Organization’s Character.” Harvard Business Review 50(3): 119–28.Google Scholar
Hendry, J. 2001. “Missing the Target: Normative Stakeholder Theory and the Corporate Governance Debate.” Business Ethics Quarterly 11(1): 159–76.Google Scholar
Hofstede, G., Neuijen, B., Ohayv, D., and Sanders, G.. 1990. “Measuring Organizational Cultures: A Qualitative and Quantitative Study across Twenty Cases.” Administrative Science Quarterly 35(2): 286–316.Google Scholar
Johnson, G. 1992. “Managing Strategic Change: Strategy, Culture, and Action.” Long Range Planning 25(1): 28–36.Google Scholar
Judge, P. 2003. “Why it Pays to Act Ethically,” cited in Strategic Planning Society e-newsletter (November), http://www.sps.org.uk/November2003Article2.htm, 27/11/03.Google Scholar
Keeley, M. 2000. “A ‘Matter of Opinion, What Tends to the General Welfare’: Governing the Workplace.” Business Ethics Quarterly 10(1): 243–54.Google Scholar
Klein, S. 1988. “Is a Moral Organization Possible?” Business & Professional Ethics Journal 7(1): 51–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koehn, D. 1998. “Virtue Ethics, the Firm, and Moral Psychology.” Business Ethics Quarterly 8(3): 497–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohlberg, L. 1964. “Development of Moral Character and Moral Ideology,” in Review of Child Development Research, ed. Hoffman, L. W.. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Lea, S., and Webley, P.. 1997. “Pride in Economic Psychology.” Journal of Economic Psychology 18: 323–40.Google Scholar
MacIntyre, A. 1979. “Corporate Modernity and Moral Judgement: Are They Mutually Exclusive?” in Goodpaster, K. E. and Saye, K. M., Ethics and Problems of the 21st Century. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1979.Google Scholar
MacIntyre, A. 1985. After Virtue, 2nd ed. London: Duckworth.Google Scholar
MacIntyre, A. 1988. Whose Justice, Which Rationality? London: Duckworth.Google Scholar
MacIntyre, A. 1994. “A Partial Response to My Critics,” in After MacIntyre, ed. Horton, J. and Mendus, S.. Cambridge: Polity Press, 283–304.Google Scholar
MacIntyre, A. 1999. “Social Structures and Their Threats to Moral Agency.” Philosophy 74: 311–29.Google Scholar
Martin, J. 1992. Cultures in Organizations: Three Perspectives, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Martin, J. 2002. Organizational Culture. Mapping the Terrain. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage.Google Scholar
Moore, G. 1999. “Corporate Moral Agency: Review and Implications.” Journal of Business Ethics 21: 329–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, G. 2002. “On the Implications of the Practice-Institution Distinction: Macintyre and the Application of Modern Virtue Ethics to Business.” Business Ethics Quarterly 12(1): 19–32.Google Scholar
Moore, G. 2005. “Humanizing Business: A Modern Virtue Ethics Approach.” Business Ethics Quarterly 15(2): 237–55.Google Scholar
Morgan, G. 1997. Images of Organization. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage.Google Scholar
Pettigrew, A. 1979. “On Studying Organisational Cultures.” Administrative Science Quarterly 24(4): 570–81.Google Scholar
Phillips, M. 1995. “Corporate Moral Responsibility: When It Might Matter.” Business Ethics Quarterly, 5(3): 555–76.Google Scholar
Porter, J. 1994. The Recovery of Virtue, London: SPCK.Google Scholar
Reidenbach, R., and Robin, D.. 1991. “A Conceptual Model of Corporate Moral Development.” Journal of Business Ethics 10: 273–84.Google Scholar
Schein, E. 1983. “The Role of the Founder in Creating Organisational Culture.” Organizational Dynamics (Summer): 13–28.Google Scholar
Schein, E. 1984. “Coming to an Awareness of Organizational Culture.” Sloan Management Review 25(2): 3–16.Google Scholar
Schein, E. 1992. Organizational Culture and Leadership, 2nd ed. San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Selznick, P. 1957. Leadership in Administration. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Sennett, R. 1998. The Corrosion of Character: The Personal Consequences of Work in the New Capitalism. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Sinclair, A. 1993. “Approaches to Organisational Culture and Ethics.” Journal of Business Ethics 12: 63–73.Google Scholar
Solomon, R. 2003. “Victims of Circumstances? A Defense of Virtue Ethics in Business.” Business Ethics Quarterly 13(1): 43–62.Google Scholar
Swanda, J. 1990. “Goodwill, Going Concern, Stocks and Flows: A Prescription for Moral Analysis.” Journal of Business Ethics 9: 751–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Maanen, J., and Kunda, G.. 1989. “‘Real Feelings’: Emotional Expression and Organizational Culture.” Research in Organizational Behavior 11: 43–103.Google Scholar
Velasquez, M. 2003. “Debunking Corporate Moral Responsibility.” Business Ethics Quarterly 13(4): 531–62.Google Scholar
Wilkins, A. 1989. Developing Corporate Character: How to Successfully Change an Organization without Destroying It. San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar