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Making business ethics useful

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  • Henry B. Arthur

Abstract

Strategic management cannot ignore the place of applied business ethics in organizational planning and decision making. This article establishes some of the aspects that make business ethics unique, together with the necessary steps for making them an effective contributor to business performance. The focus is upon applied business ethics—patterns of conduct. The usefulness of business ethics is discussed in terms of its dependence upon the total objectives of the firm, the identification of relationships and interests of affected parties in the relevant environment, and the recognition of the need for consensus and for positive implementation procedures. These structural requirements and constraints constitute a system through which effective action can be attained as management addresses the various moral, social and human elements with which business ethics has to deal. In this paper the author is not presuming to offer substantive answers to all, or even a few, of the ethical dilemmas and conflicts that business firms (or anyone else) cannot escape. Instead, what is proposed is a pragmatic approach outlining a path that can help to determine where we are, who is involved, what are the options, what are the dimensions and parameters of the problems in a businesss context, so that ethical issues (even those where uniquely ‘right’ answers are unattainable) can be treated with intelligence and fairness.

Suggested Citation

  • Henry B. Arthur, 1984. "Making business ethics useful," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(4), pages 319-333, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:stratm:v:5:y:1984:i:4:p:319-333
    DOI: 10.1002/smj.4250050403
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    Cited by:

    1. Kanika T Bhal & Poonam Sharma, 2001. "Ethical Decision Making by Indian Managers: Identification of Constructs, Their Measurement and Validation," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 26(3), pages 145-163, July.
    2. Alan Singer, 2010. "Integrating Ethics and Strategy: A Pragmatic Approach," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 92(4), pages 479-491, April.
    3. Calderón Reyes & Ferrero Ignacio & Redin Dulce M., 2013. "Ethical codes and corporate responsibility of the most admired companies of the world: Toward a third generation ethics?," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 14(4), pages 1-24, January.
    4. Qinqin Zheng & Yadong Luo & Stephanie Wang, 2014. "Moral Degradation, Business Ethics, and Corporate Social Responsibility in a Transitional Economy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 120(3), pages 405-421, March.
    5. Kanika Bhal & Nivedita Leekha, 2008. "Exploring Cognitive Moral Logics Using Grounded Theory: The Case of Software Piracy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 81(3), pages 635-646, September.

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