Business Ethics in Theory and Practice

This collection of essays devoted to questions of international business presents fresh road maps to analyze business ethics topics of universal concern. Peter Earl and Matthew Hirshberg set up the context with accounts of implications of Western economic theory. Ian Grant raises the question of amorality in business. As Patricia Werhane and Alan Singer conclude, however, ethics is embedded in all that we do. Catherine Casey, Suchitra Mouly, Amelia Smith, Jay Sanakaran, Kate Kearins, Keith Hopper, David Coy, Glynn Owens, and V. Nilakant deal with ethical issues concerning organizational culture, management communication, and employee empowerment, and Ming Singer links moral development to workplace justice. Four studies of cultural traditions, Alejo Sison’s study of the Philippines, Shioji and Nakano’s analysis of Japanese traditions, and Wong Wai-Ying and Po-Keung Ip’s essays on Confucian ethics find that the underlying value system in each culture strongly influences business.
Stan Godlovitch and Singer conclude the collection, demonstrating that we have made some moral progress in business, politics, and science, as Werhane points out in her essay on environmental sustainability. New mind sets are crucial for moral and material progress and (they conclude) we are capable of such development.