The movement for reforming American business ethics: A twenty-year perspective
Journal of Business Ethics · 1992 · Volume 11 · Issue 1
Abstract
This paper presents a succinct review of the movement for moral genesis in business that arose in the 1970s. The moral genesis movement is characterized by: (a) the rejection of the premise that business and ethics are antagonistic; (b) the rise of the Issues Management approach, which stresses the social responsibility of the corporation: (c) disdain of government regulation as a means of business moralization, and (d) a search for control measures aimed at improving organization moral behavior. This movement now begins to give rise to a new organizational model, the “Self-Moralizing Corporation,” which transcends existing paradigms of corporate rectitude. The tenets of the “Self-Moralizing Corporation” are that: (a) the moral behavior of members is a requisite to the attainment of organization goals; (b) individual moral behavior is an asset which must be managed and developed by the corporation; (c) individual moral development is a collectively and individually shared responsibility; and, (d) the maintenance of moral values is more important than the preservation of organization structure.
Keywords
Economic Growth, Business Ethic, Social Responsibility, Organization Structure, Control Measure
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