IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v152y2018i1d10.1007_s10551-016-3276-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Managing Without Blame? Insights from the Philosophy of Blame

Author

Listed:
  • Ben Lupton

    (Manchester Metropolitan University)

  • Richard Warren

    (Manchester Metropolitan University)

Abstract

This article explores the concept of blame in organizations. Existing work suggests that ‘no-blame’ approaches (or cultures) may be conducive to organizational learning and may foster innovation. However, both the apparently strong public appetite for blaming, and research into no-blame approaches, suggest that wider application of ‘no-blame’ in organizations may not be straightforward. The article explores the contribution of the rich philosophical literature on blame to this debate, and considers the implications of philosophical ideas for the no-blame idea. In doing so, it identifies conceptual and practical issues, sheds light on why the benefits of ‘no-blame’ may be difficult to realize, and offers the basis for an alternative approach. The article also contributes by providing foundations for future research, and identifies some fruitful lines of enquiry.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:152:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-016-3276-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-016-3276-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-016-3276-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-016-3276-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Waring, Justin J., 2005. "Beyond blame: cultural barriers to medical incident reporting," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(9), pages 1927-1935, May.
    2. Regine Oexl & Zachary Grossman, 2013. "Shifting the blame to a powerless intermediary," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 16(3), pages 306-312, September.
    3. 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.
    4. Ulfert Gronewold & Anna Gold & Steven Salterio, 2013. "Reporting Self-Made Errors: The Impact of Organizational Error-Management Climate and Error Type," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(1), pages 189-208, September.
    5. Mary Crossan & Daina Mazutis & Gerard Seijts, 2013. "In Search of Virtue: The Role of Virtues, Values and Character Strengths in Ethical Decision Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 113(4), pages 567-581, April.
    6. B. Provera & A. Montefusco & A. Canato, 2010. "A 'No Blame' Approach to Organizational Learning," Post-Print halshs-00588296, HAL.
    7. Dean Tjosvold & Zi‐you Yu & Chun Hui, 2004. "Team Learning from Mistakes: The Contribution of Cooperative Goals and Problem‐Solving," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(7), pages 1223-1245, November.
    8. J. S. Busby, 2006. "Failure to Mobilize in Reliability‐Seeking Organizations: Two Cases from the UK Railway," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(6), pages 1375-1393, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Grant J. Rozeboom, 2022. "The Virtues of Relational Equality at Work," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 7(2), pages 307-326, October.
    2. Vikram R. Bhargava, 2020. "Firm Responses to Mass Outrage: Technology, Blame, and Employment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 163(3), pages 379-400, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ertac, Seda & Gumren, Mert & Gurdal, Mehmet Y., 2020. "Demand for decision autonomy and the desire to avoid responsibility in risky environments: Experimental evidence," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    2. Elena Antonacopoulou, 2018. "Energising critique in action and in learning: The GNOSIS 4R Framework," Action Learning: Research and Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 102-125, May.
    3. Jiabin Wu, 2018. "Indirect higher order beliefs and cooperation," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 21(4), pages 858-876, December.
    4. Lucas C. Coffman & Alexander Gotthard-Real, 2019. "Moral Perceptions of Advised Actions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(8), pages 3904-3927, August.
    5. Kaili Zhang & Bin Zhao & Kui Yin, 2024. "When Leaders Acknowledge Their Own Errors, Will Employees Follow Suit? A Social Learning Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 189(2), pages 403-421, January.
    6. Mathieu Chevrier & Vincent Teixeira, 2024. "Algorithm Delegation and Responsibility: Shifting Blame to the Programmer?," GREDEG Working Papers 2024-04, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France, revised Sep 2024.
    7. Yi Wang & Xianfang Xue & Han Guo, 2022. "The Sustainability of Market Orientation from a Dynamic Perspective: The Mediation of Dynamic Capability and the Moderation of Error Management Climate," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-15, March.
    8. Lamberto Zollo & Massimiliano Matteo Pellegrini & Cristiano Ciappei, 2017. "What Sparks Ethical Decision Making? The Interplay Between Moral Intuition and Moral Reasoning: Lessons from the Scholastic Doctrine," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 145(4), pages 681-700, November.
    9. Neubert, Mitchell J. & Montañez, George D., 2020. "Virtue as a framework for the design and use of artificial intelligence," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 195-204.
    10. Behnk, Sascha & Hao, Li & Reuben, Ernesto, 2022. "Shifting normative beliefs: On why groups behave more antisocially than individuals," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    11. Argenton, Cédric & Potters, Jan & Yang, Yadi, 2023. "Receiving credit: On delegation and responsibility," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    12. 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.
    13. Stein, Caroline & Untertrifaller, Anna, 2020. "The effect of ethical responsibility on performance," MPRA Paper 99176, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Waring, Justin J., 2009. "Constructing and re-constructing narratives of patient safety," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(12), pages 1722-1731, December.
    15. Deepti Bhatia & Urs Fischbacher & Jan Hausfeld & Regina Stumpf, 2024. "Blame and praise: responsibility attribution patterns in decision chains," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 27(3), pages 637-663, July.
    16. Madelynn R. D. Stackhouse & Robert Stewart, 2017. "Failing to Fix What is Found: Risk Accommodation in the Oil and Gas Industry," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(1), pages 130-146, January.
    17. Yueqiao Qiao & Zhe Zhang & Ming Jia, 2021. "Their Pain, Our Pleasure: How and When Peer Abusive Supervision Leads to Third Parties’ Schadenfreude and Work Engagement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(4), pages 695-711, April.
    18. Anand Chand & Suwastika Naidu, 2017. "Health Care Service Quality and Availability of Skilled Health Workforce: A Panel Data Modelling of the UK, USA and Israel," Modern Applied Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 11(10), pages 152-152, October.
    19. James Arthur & Stephen R. Earl & Aidan P. Thompson & Joseph W. Ward, 2021. "The Value of Character-Based Judgement in the Professional Domain," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(2), pages 293-308, March.
    20. 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.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:152:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-016-3276-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.