There is a fundamental tension in business ethics between the apparent need to ensure ethical conduct through hierarchical control, and the encouragement of individuals' potential for autonomous moral judgement. In philosophical terms, these positions are consequentialist and Kantian, respectively. This paper assumes the former to be the dominant position in practice, and probably in theory also, but regards it as a misplaced extension of the more general managerial tendency to seek and maintain control over employees. While the functions of such (...) control are recognized, the arguments in favour of individuals' moral autonomy are pursued from both a Kantian and a social–theoretic perspective. Reference is made to Kohlberg's research on moral development that provides an insight into how individuals, through participation in debate with colleagues, might become more effective moral agents within organizational settings. This is contrasted with a managerial perspective, which pays lip service to individuals' right to such genuine involvement. The paper considers psychological manipulation and the legitimacy of managerial authority on matters of ethics, as opposed to in the purely technical context. The wider societal significance of such hierarchical power in organizations constitutes an important background to the paper. It is concluded that genuine, non‐manipulative, participation by employees (and others) is the way forward for the ethical management of business ethics. (shrink)

In this article two important organizational concepts - lean production and sociotechnical systems design - are evaluated on their reflective capacity and their (moral) outcomes. At least in theory both concepts entail a promise of overcoming some of the irreflexive pitfalls of rational organization. As will be shown, both concepts do have short-comings too. It is argued that the meaning and value of the concepts is related to the context in which the systems are implemented.

Drawing on implicit leadership theory (ILT) research, we develop and test a model that explains why integrating transformational leadership and servant leadership may achieve enhanced leader effectiveness. Using a sample of 237 hairstylists and 474 of their customers representing 31 salons, we confirm the augmentation effects of transformational leadership and servant leadership on followers' perceptions of leader stereotypicality (i.e., the extent to which a leader matches followers' implicit theories of leaders) and on customer satisfaction. However, we do not find the (...) hypothesized interaction effect of transformational and servant leadership. Implications are discussed and directions for future research are suggested. (shrink)

There is a fundamental tension in business ethics between the apparent need to ensure ethical conduct through hierarchical control, and the encouragement of individuals' potential for autonomous moral judgement. In philosophical terms, these positions are consequentialist and Kantian, respectively. This paper assumes the former to be the dominant position in practice, and probably in theory also, but regards it as a misplaced extension of the more general managerial tendency to seek and maintain control over employees. While the functions of such (...) control are recognized, the arguments in favour of individuals' moral autonomy are pursued from both a Kantian and a social–theoretic perspective. Reference is made to Kohlberg's research on moral development that provides an insight into how individuals, through participation in debate with colleagues, might become more effective moral agents within organizational settings. This is contrasted with a managerial perspective, which pays lip service to individuals' right to such genuine involvement. The paper considers psychological manipulation and the legitimacy of managerial authority on matters of ethics, as opposed to in the purely technical context. The wider societal significance of such hierarchical power in organizations constitutes an important background to the paper. It is concluded that genuine, non‐manipulative, participation by employees is the way forward for the ethical management of business ethics. (shrink)