ETHICS AND ORGANIZATIONAL REFLECTION: THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION AND POSTWAR “MORAL DEFICITS,” 1942-1954

Abstract

Modern times compel both business executives and business scholars to develop expeditious solutions to deep-seated moral problems. In an earlier era, leaders of the Rockefeller Foundation approached the realm of ethics more reflectively, contemplating and debating its optimum role in their organization over the course of a dozen years. The newly uncovered private correspondence regarding their deliberations documents the allegiances and beliefs of key management and political figures of the time, including those of Chester I. Barnard.