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Vocational Virtue Ethics: Prospects for a Virtue Ethic Approach to Business

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  • David McPherson

Abstract

In this essay, I explore the prospects for a virtue ethic approach to business. First, I delineate two fundamental criteria that I believe must be met for any such approach to be viable: viz., the virtues must be exercised for the sake of the good of one’s life as a unitary whole (contra role-morality approaches) and for the common good of the communities of which one is a part as well as the individual good of their members (contra egoist approaches). Second, I argue that these two criteria can be met only if we are able to reconceive and transform the nature of work within contemporary business organizations. In particular, what is needed, I argue, is a retrieval of something like the older ideal of work as a “vocation”, or “calling”, whereby work can be viewed as a specific aspect of a more general calling to pursue, through the practice of the virtues, “the good life” both for ourselves and for others. Lastly, I consider some important challenges to this “vocational virtue ethic” approach to work within contemporary business organizations and offer a few suggestions for how they might be met. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2013

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  • David McPherson, 2013. "Vocational Virtue Ethics: Prospects for a Virtue Ethic Approach to Business," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(2), pages 283-296, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:116:y:2013:i:2:p:283-296
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-012-1463-7
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Moore, Geoff, 2005. "Corporate Character: Modern Virtue Ethics and the Virtuous Corporation," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(4), pages 659-685, October.
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    8. Bruno Dyck & David Schroeder, 2005. "Management, Theology and Moral Points of View: Towards an Alternative to the Conventional Materialist‐Individualist Ideal‐Type of Management," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(4), pages 705-735, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Gregory Wolcott, 2015. "The New (Old) Case for the Ethics of Business," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(1), pages 127-146, November.
    2. Robert E. Till & Mary Beth Yount, 2019. "Governance and Incentives: Is It Really All about the Money?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(3), pages 605-618, October.
    3. Surendra Arjoon & Alvaro Turriago-Hoyos & Ulf Thoene, 2018. "Virtuousness and the Common Good as a Conceptual Framework for Harmonizing the Goals of the Individual, Organizations, and the Economy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(1), pages 143-163, January.
    4. Nicholas Burton & Mai Chi Vu, 2021. "Moral Identity and the Quaker tradition: Moral Dissonance Negotiation in the WorkPlace," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(1), pages 127-141, November.
    5. Daniela Pianezzi & Hanne Nørreklit & Lino Cinquini, 2020. "Academia After Virtue? An Inquiry into the Moral Character(s) of Academics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(3), pages 571-588, December.
    6. J. Tuomas Harviainen & Janne Paavilainen & Elina Koskinen, 2020. "Ayn Rand’s Objectivist Ethics Applied to Video Game Business," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(4), pages 761-774, December.
    7. Albert D. Spalding & Gretchen R. Lawrie, 2019. "A Critical Examination of the AICPA’s New “Conceptual Framework” Ethics Protocol," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(4), pages 1135-1152, April.
    8. Leanne Morrison & Trevor Wilmshurst & Sonia Shimeld, 2018. "Environmental Reporting Through an Ethical Looking Glass," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(4), pages 903-918, July.
    9. Helen Nicholson & Ron Beadle & Richard Slack, 2020. "Corporate Philanthropy as a Context for Moral Agency, a MacIntyrean Enquiry," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(3), pages 589-603, December.
    10. David Dawson, 2015. "Two Forms of Virtue Ethics: Two Sets of Virtuous Action in the Fire Service Dispute?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 585-601, May.
    11. Matthew Sinnicks, 2019. "Moral Education at Work: On the Scope of MacIntyre’s Concept of a Practice," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(1), pages 105-118, September.
    12. Ben Lupton & Richard Warren, 2018. "Managing Without Blame? Insights from the Philosophy of Blame," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(1), pages 41-52, September.
    13. Olli I. Heimo & J. Tuomas Harviainen & Kai K. Kimppa & Tuomas Mäkilä, 2018. "Virtual to Virtuous Money: A Virtue Ethics Perspective on Video Game Business Logic," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(1), pages 95-103, November.
    14. Frank Jan Graaf, 2019. "Ethics and Behavioural Theory: How Do Professionals Assess Their Mental Models?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(4), pages 933-947, July.

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