IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v194y2024i3d10.1007_s10551-023-05588-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Organizational Good Epistemic Practices

Author

Listed:
  • Lisa Warenski

    (The Graduate Center of the City University of New York
    University of Connecticut)

Abstract

Epistemic practices are an important but underappreciated component of business ethics; good conduct requires making epistemically sound as well as morally principled judgments. Well-founded judgments are promoted by epistemic virtues, and for organizations, epistemic virtues are arguably achieved through organizational good epistemic practices. But how are such practices to be developed? This paper addresses this normative and practical challenge. The first half of the paper explains what organizational good epistemic practices are and outlines a means for their construction. The second half of the paper demonstrates how specific good epistemic practices could be developed by considering a case of corporate epistemic failings: JPMorgan’s notorious 2012 ‘London Whale’ trading losses. Following this, the paper briefly surveys the institutional epistemic failings of the 2008 global financial crisis and the remedial actions that they suggest. Although the discussion is focused on the banking industry, the main ideas, and some of the epistemic practices, generalize to organizations in other industries.

Suggested Citation

  • Lisa Warenski, 2024. "Organizational Good Epistemic Practices," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 194(3), pages 485-500, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:194:y:2024:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-023-05588-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-023-05588-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-023-05588-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-023-05588-6?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. Niamh M. Brennan & John P. Conroy, 2013. "Executive hubris: the case of a bank CEO," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 26(2), pages 172-195, February.
    2. William G. Ouchi, 1979. "A Conceptual Framework for the Design of Organizational Control Mechanisms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(9), pages 833-848, September.
    3. Bradley P. Owens & Michael D. Johnson & Terence R. Mitchell, 2013. "Expressed Humility in Organizations: Implications for Performance, Teams, and Leadership," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(5), pages 1517-1538, October.
    4. Christopher Baird & Thomas S. Calvard, 2019. "Epistemic Vices in Organizations: Knowledge, Truth, and Unethical Conduct," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(1), pages 263-276, November.
    5. Boudewijn Bruin, 2013. "Epistemic Virtues in Business," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 113(4), pages 583-595, April.
    6. Nicolai J. Foss & Kenneth Husted & Snejina Michailova, 2010. "Governing Knowledge Sharing in Organizations: Levels of Analysis, Governance Mechanisms, and Research Directions," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3), pages 455-482, May.
    7. Mohammed Rawwas & Surendra Arjoon & Yusuf Sidani, 2013. "An Introduction of Epistemology to Business Ethics: A Study of Marketing Middle-Managers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(3), pages 525-539, October.
    8. Niamh M. Brennan & John P. Conroy, 2013. "Executive hubris: the case of a bank CEO," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 26(2), pages 172-195, February.
    9. Miguel Alzola, 2008. "Character and Environment: The Status of Virtues in Organizations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 78(3), pages 343-357, March.
    10. R. Edward Freeman & Michelle Greenwood, 2020. "Deepening Methods in Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 161(1), pages 1-3, January.
    11. Anna Grandori, 1997. "Governance Structures, Coordination Mechanisms and Cognitive Models," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 1(1), pages 29-47, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Marco Meyer & Chun Wei Choo, 2024. "Harming by Deceit: Epistemic Malevolence and Organizational Wrongdoing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 189(3), pages 439-452, January.
    2. Vita Akstinaite & Graham Robinson & Eugene Sadler-Smith, 2020. "Linguistic Markers of CEO Hubris," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(4), pages 687-705, December.
    3. Christopher Baird & Thomas S. Calvard, 2019. "Epistemic Vices in Organizations: Knowledge, Truth, and Unethical Conduct," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(1), pages 263-276, November.
    4. Mark Christensen & Geoffrey Lamberton, 2022. "Accounting for Animal Welfare: Addressing Epistemic Vices During Live Sheep Export Voyages," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(1), pages 35-56, September.
    5. White, Joshua V. & Harms, P.D. & Borgholthaus, Cameron J. & Tuggle, Christopher S., 2023. "I’m not the executive that I used to be: Understanding causes and consequences of personality change in the upper echelons," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    6. Antonio Leotta, 2016. "Inter-firm coordination as an Information problem. The case of a divisionalized company," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2016(2), pages 167-188.
    7. Argandoña, Antonio, 2017. "Humility and Decision Making in Companies," IESE Research Papers D/1164, IESE Business School.
    8. Hong Jiang & Wentao Liu & Lili Jia, 2019. "How Humble Leadership Influences the Innovation of Technology Standards: A Moderated Mediation Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-20, October.
    9. Jetta Frost & Rick Vogel & Khaled Bagban, 2016. "Managing Interdependence in Multi-business Organizations," Schmalenbach Business Review, Springer;Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, vol. 17(2), pages 225-260, August.
    10. Dunne, Neil J. & Brennan, Niamh M. & Kirwan, Collette E., 2023. "How the Big Four maintain and defend logic equilibrium at concurrent performances," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    11. Park, Jeong-Yang & Harris, Simon, 2014. "Microfoundations for learning within international joint ventures," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 490-503.
    12. Erwan Lamy, 2023. "Epistemic Responsibility in Business: An Integrative Framework for an Epistemic Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 183(1), pages 1-14, February.
    13. Runesson, Emmeli & Samani, Niuosha, 2023. "Goodwill or “No-will”: Hubris in the tone at the top," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1).
    14. Nault, Kelly A. & Sezer, Ovul & Klein, Nadav, 2023. "It’s the journey, not just the destination: Conveying interpersonal warmth in written introductions," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    15. Carlos Martin-Rios, 2016. "Innovative management control systems in knowledge work: a middle manager perspective," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 181-204, May.
    16. Andrea Francesconi & Enrico Guarini, 2017. "Performance-based funding e sistemi di allocazione delle risorse ai dipartimenti: prime evidenze nelle universit? italiane," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2017(1), pages 113-134.
    17. Pascale Amans & Sylvie Rascol-Boutard, 2006. "Controlling Complex Organizations on the Basis of an Operational Performance Measure," Post-Print hal-01659071, HAL.
    18. Mei, Maggie Qiuzhu & Wang, Le & Yan, Jie, 2023. "Maintaining product quality consistency when offshoring to emerging markets: The role of subsidiary control," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(1).
    19. Fuan Li & Mike Chen-ho Chao & Nancy Yi-feng Chen & Sixue Zhang, 2018. "Moral judgment in a business setting: The role of managers’ moral foundation, ideology, and level of moral development," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 121-143, March.
    20. David Pastoriza & Miguel Ariño & Joan Ricart, 2008. "Ethical Managerial Behaviour as an Antecedent of Organizational Social Capital," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 78(3), pages 329-341, March.

    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:194:y:2024:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-023-05588-6. 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.