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Emergence of Ethical Issues During Strategic Change Implementation

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  • Scott Sonenshein

    (Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005)

Abstract

Using qualitative data from a Fortune 500 company undergoing a strategic change, I describe the emergence of three ethical issues and build a theory to explain how this emergence unfolds. I find that some employees reframe the meaning of strategic issues as involving ethical implications because of trigger points, ambiguity, and the use of an available employee welfare frame. These employees take the meaning of strategic issues and reinterpret them as either leading to harmful consequences or the violation of a right. I conclude by discussing the theoretical implications for business ethics and sensemaking research, and the practical implications for responding to ethical issues.

Suggested Citation

  • Scott Sonenshein, 2009. "Emergence of Ethical Issues During Strategic Change Implementation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(1), pages 223-239, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:20:y:2009:i:1:p:223-239
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.1080.0364
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Evelien Croonen, 2010. "Trust and Fairness During Strategic Change Processes in Franchise Systems," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 95(2), pages 191-209, August.
    2. Paul Shrivastava & Günter Schumacher & David Wasieleski & Marko Tasic, 2017. "Aesthetic Rationality in Organizations: Toward Developing a Sensibility for Sustainibility," Post-Print hal-01515126, HAL.
    3. Geovana Alves de Lima Fedato & Vanessa Martins Pires & Guilherme Trez, 2017. "The Future of Research in Strategy Implementation in the BRICS Context," Brazilian Business Review, Fucape Business School, vol. 14(3), pages 288-303, May.
    4. Masoud Shadnam & Andrew Crane & Thomas B. Lawrence, 2020. "Who Calls It? Actors and Accounts in the Social Construction of Organizational Moral Failure," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 165(4), pages 699-717, September.
    5. Yidi Guo & Quy Nguyen Huy & Zhixing Xiao, 2017. "How middle managers manage the political environment to achieve market goals: Insights from China's state‐owned enterprises," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 676-696, March.
    6. Tongyu Meng & Jamie Newth & Christine Woods, 2022. "Ethical Sensemaking in Impact Investing: Reasons and Motives in the Chinese Renewable Energy Sector," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(4), pages 1091-1117, September.
    7. Scott Sonenshein & Utpal Dholakia, 2012. "Explaining Employee Engagement with Strategic Change Implementation: A Meaning-Making Approach," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(1), pages 1-23, February.
    8. Sally Maitlis & Scott Sonenshein, 2010. "Sensemaking in Crisis and Change: Inspiration and Insights From Weick (1988)," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3), pages 551-580, May.
    9. Joep P. Cornelissen & Saku Mantere & Eero Vaara, 2014. "The Contraction of Meaning: The Combined Effect of Communication, Emotions, and Materiality on Sensemaking in the Stockwell Shooting," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(5), pages 699-736, July.
    10. Carlos Ferreira Peralta & Maria Francisca Saldanha & Paulo Nuno Lopes & Paulo Renato Lourenço & Leonor Pais, 2021. "Does Supervisor’s Moral Courage to Go Beyond Compliance Have a Role in the Relationships Between Teamwork Quality, Team Creativity, and Team Idea Implementation?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 168(4), pages 677-696, February.
    11. Masoud Shadnam & Andrey Bykov & Ajnesh Prasad, 2021. "Opening Constructive Dialogues Between Business Ethics Research and the Sociology of Morality: Introduction to the Thematic Symposium," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(2), pages 201-211, May.
    12. Olivier Charpateau, 2010. "L'Ethique En Entreprise : Un Modele D'Interaction Des Valeurs," Post-Print halshs-00613296, HAL.
    13. Treviño, Linda Klebe & den Nieuwenboer, Niki A. & Kreiner, Glen E. & Bishop, Derron G., 2014. "Legitimating the legitimate: A grounded theory study of legitimacy work among Ethics and Compliance Officers," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 123(2), pages 186-205.
    14. Jacqueline Kirtley & Siobhan O'Mahony, 2023. "What is a pivot? Explaining when and how entrepreneurial firms decide to make strategic change and pivot," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(1), pages 197-230, January.
    15. Shadnam, Masoud, 2020. "Choosing whom to be: Theorizing the scene of moral reflexivity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 12-23.
    16. Xiaoli Zhao & David R. Stiles, 2024. "Stuck in Limbo: how sensemaking discrepancy over strategy-related performance leads to disjointed collaboration in an international joint venture," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 903-945, June.
    17. Kristin Smith-Crowe & Danielle E. Warren, 2014. "The Emotion-Evoked Collective Corruption Model: The Role of Emotion in the Spread of Corruption Within Organizations," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(4), pages 1154-1171, August.
    18. Eero Vaara & Andrea Whittle, 2022. "Common Sense, New Sense or Non‐Sense? A Critical Discursive Perspective on Power in Collective Sensemaking," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(3), pages 755-781, May.
    19. Rose Bote & Tao Wang & Corine Genet, 2024. "You Say Social Agenda, I Say My Job: Navigating Moral Ambiguities by Frontline Workers in a Social Enterprise," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 192(2), pages 225-241, June.

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