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Two Forms of Virtue Ethics: Two Sets of Virtuous Action in the Fire Service Dispute?

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  • David Dawson

Abstract

There has been increasing interest in the relevance of virtue approaches to ethics over the past 15 years. However, debate surrounding the virtue approach in the business, management and organisational studies literature has lacked progress. First, this literature focuses on a narrow range of philosophers, and, second, it has failed to analyse properly the consequences of virtue theory for action in practical settings other than in abstract terms. In order to begin addressing these issues, this paper compares what two virtue frameworks—one focused on virtue in the context of community and the other on individuals as virtuous agents—lead to when evaluating the actions of parties to the 2002–2004 UK Fire Service dispute. The analysis argues that the virtue frameworks proposed by MacIntyre and Slote offer different but complimentary evaluations. Both not only point to potential problems with industrial disputes, but also recognise the legitimacy of action that is based in good motivations and carried out with regard for the virtues. It seems that fire fighters and their immediate supervisors, on the whole, met the conditions of virtue, but that it is open to question if the leaders of the Fire Brigades Union and the Government did the same. The analysis goes on to suggest which modes of negotiation would be acceptable under the virtue frameworks, and the implications for those involved in industrial dispute. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

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  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:128:y:2015:i:3:p:585-601
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-014-2121-z
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Marcela Parada-Contzen & José Rigoberto Parada-Daza, 2023. "On the weighting of homo economicus and homo virtus in human behaviour," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    2. So Young Song & Youn-Kyung Kim, 2018. "Theory of Virtue Ethics: Do Consumers’ Good Traits Predict Their Socially Responsible Consumption?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(4), pages 1159-1175, November.
    3. David Dawson, 2018. "Measuring Individuals’ Virtues in Business," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(4), pages 793-805, February.
    4. Luis Arturo Pinzon‐Salcedo & Juanita Bernal‐Alvarado, 2022. "Dealing with complexity by using multilevel system boundary models," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(2), pages 175-184, March.
    5. David Dawson, 2018. "Organisational Virtue, Moral Attentiveness, and the Perceived Role of Ethics and Social Responsibility in Business: The Case of UK HR Practitioners," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(4), pages 765-781, April.
    6. Elina Riivari & Anna-Maija Lämsä, 2019. "Organizational Ethical Virtues of Innovativeness," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 223-240, March.

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