The traditional model of ethical decision making in business suggests applying an initial set of principles to a concrete problem and if they conflict the decision maker may attempt to balance them intuitively. The centrality of the ethical conflict in the accepted notion of “ethical problem” has diverted the attention of moral decision modelers from other ethical problems that real-world managers must face—e.g., compliance problems, moral laxity, and systemic problems resulting from the structures and practices of the business organization. The present article proposes a new model for ethical decision making in business—the Phase-model—designed to meet the full spectrum of business-related ethical problems. Drawing on the dominant moral theories in business literature, the model offers additional strategies for tackling ethical issues beyond the traditional cognitive operations of deductive application of principles to specific cases and the balancing of ethical considerations. Its response to the problems of moral pluralism in the context of decision making lies in its structural features. The model distinguishes between three phases of the decision-making process, each having a different task and a different theoretical basis. After an introductory stage in which the ethical problem is defined, the first phase focuses on a principle-based evaluation of a course of action; the second phase provides a virtue-based perspective of the situation and strategies for handling unsettled conflicts and compliance problems; and the third phase adapts the decision to empirical accepted norms. An illustrative case demonstrates the applicability of the model to business real life.

In this paper I explore the topic of moral compromise in institutional settings and highlight how moral compromise may affirm, rather than undermine, personal integrity. Central to this relationship between moral compromise and integrity is a view of the self that is responsive to multiple commitments and grounded in an ethic of responsibility. I elaborate a number of virtues that are related to this notion of the self and highlight how these virtues may support the development of individuals who are responsive and reasonable in moral discourse and discerning in establishing moral limits on compromise. I look at how moral regret is closely connected to moral compromise and emphasize its significance for reinforcing personal integrity. The paper closes with a discussion of the relevance of these topics to the field of business ethics.

Business ethics serves the important social function of integrating business and society, by promoting the legitimacy of business operations, through critical reflection. Although the social function of business ethics is implicit in leading business ethics foundation theories, it has never been presented in a systematic way. This article sets out to fill this theoretical lacuna, and to explore the theoretical potentials of a functional approach to business ethics. Key concepts from Parsonian functionalistic sociology are applied to establish the social integrative function of business ethics. This produces a theoretical framework for business ethics that provides strong theoretical arguments against often-heard criticisms of business ethics. Many of these criticisms are ideological in nature, in that they systematically play down the importance of integrative functions in the business-society relationship, on the grounds of unrealistic assumptions about the performance of economic and bureaucratic institutions. However, business ethics itself can also become ideological, if it forgets that the conditions for the application of ethics to business are not always ideal as well.

Moral imagination is a reasoning process thought to counter the organizational factors that corrupt ethical judgment. We describe the psychology of moral imagination as composed of the four decision processes identified by Rest (1986), i.e., moral sensitivity, moral judgment, moral intention, and moral behavior. We examine each process in depth, distilling extant psychological research and indicating organizational implications. The conclusion offers suggestions for future research.

The detrimental impact of fraud on organisations, the economy, and society makes the fight against it imperative. The objective of this article is to show that a proper understanding of the phenomenon of fraud is required in order to be able to undermine it. Such an understanding required firstly a sufficient definition of fraud that can distinguish it clearly from the related phenomenon of corruption. Secondly, a theoretical framework for understanding and explaining fraud is needed. After providing both such a definition and a theoretical framework, the latter is then used in the analysis of interviews conducted with persons who were convicted on charges of fraud in South Africa. The findings of this analysis are thenused to suggest various avenues for fighting fraud. Among these suggestions are proposals indicating the role that ethical values can play in undermining fraud.

Quite frequently, business periodicals feature articles on the importance of building and maintaining a “network” of business friends. Typically, these articles offer practical suggestions for “networking.” This article is a philosophical investigation of business friends, and business friendships. Relying upon Aristotle’s classic analysis, I argue that business friendships are instances of “incomplete friendships for utility.” Viewed in this way, much is revealed about what business friendships are; even more is revealed about what business friendships are not, It is perfectly natural to say that business friends use one another; this raises the issue of whether business friendships violate the Kantian “categorical imperative.” I argue that they need not, and that—so long as they are truly “friendships”—they do not. What this discussion makes clear, however, is that business friendships are in continuous peril of eroding into relationships that cannot survive moral scrutiny. I conclude with a few practical suggestions—and philosophical cautions.

In 1995, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Society for Engineering Education received a grant from the National Science Foundation to undertake a project aimed both at assisting Russian philosophers in developing curriculum on engineering ethics and learning how context affects the teaching of engineering ethics. The project began with three Russian philosophers visiting the U.S. to observe how we teach engineering ethics. The American members of the project then made three visits to Russia to be part of three different workshops that brought together Russian professors from a variety of disciplines to exchange ideas about teaching ethics among themselves and with the Americans. During these visits, three of the Russians asked if we thought American philosophers would be interested in hearing about the Russian situation. We were delighted by the question (especially since we had become fascinated with the differences in Russian ideas about ethics), and responded with enthusiasm for the idea of their writing such an article. The article that follows is the result of their endeavor to explain how business ethics issues arise in Russia. Among other things, the article reveals how Russia’s history and the experiences of Russians under the U.S.S.R create a context extremely different from our own, for thinking about (and teaching) business ethics.

The paper explores the problem of motivation in organizations. This problem arises because people may prefer to pursue their own interest instead of the firm’s common goals (the two underlying forces in any organization). First, the most representative economic proposals to motivate people are studied and summarized. The study leads us to the conclusion that those proposals do not mitigate the conflict of interests, because they do not make people pursue the common goals. To solve the problem, the common elements of the firm must be promoted. In order to be really “common,” those elements must be composed of “non-material” goods, which are the only perfectly shareable ones. They motivate workers by attracting their internal faculties, making the job more interesting and appealing, and providing it with a meaning. Finally, these considerations imply that a richer model of human motivation must be developed in order to reach more comprehensive conclusions.

In this paper, the approaches of a sample of small firms to environmental issues in the UK and the Netherlands are compared. The study makes a contribution by addressing the lack of research on small firms and the environment, as well as offering insights into the influence that cultural, institutional, and political frameworks can have on small firm owner-managers’ attitudes to external issues. The environment is considered here as an ethical issue, drawing on work on the environmental responsibility of business by both Bowie (1990) and Hoffman (1991). It is argued that the approaches to the environment identified in this study by Dutch and UK small firm owner-managers do not fit in with the positions of either Bowie or Hoffman. The concept of stakeholder cooperation is proposed as a more realistic alternative.