An Ethical Analysis of Hierarchical Relations in Organizations

Business Ethics Quarterly 4 (2):205-220 (1994)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Ethical analyses of the relations between managers and subordinates have traditionally focused on the employment contract. The inequality and requisite mutual trust between managers and subordinates makes the sub-disciplines of professional ethics and feminist ethics more applicable than the contractarian perspective. When professional ethics is applied to hierarchic relationships, specific obligations emerge for managers and subordinates alike. The application of feminist ethics results in the identification of an entirely different, though not contradictory, set of obligations. In toto, the analysis improves on the conventional wisdom governing hierarchic relationships while at the same time remaining consistent with our moral intuitions.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 86,468

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Organizational ethics: A stacked deck. [REVIEW]H. R. Smith & Archie B. Carroll - 1984 - Journal of Business Ethics 3 (2):95 - 100.
Applying ethical theory to public relations.Thomas H. Bivins - 1987 - Journal of Business Ethics 6 (3):195 - 200.
Ethical dilemmas in performance appraisal revisited.Clinton Longenecker & Dean Ludwig - 1990 - Journal of Business Ethics 9 (12):961 - 969.
The hierarchical abuse of power in work organizations.Donald Vredenburgh & Yael Brender - 1998 - Journal of Business Ethics 17 (12):1337-1347.

Analytics

Added to PP
2011-01-09

Downloads
49 (#273,917)

6 months
2 (#523,542)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

Toward an Ethics of Organizations.Joshua D. Margolis - 1999 - Business Ethics Quarterly 9 (4):619-638.
The Ethics of Mentoring.Dennis J. Moberg & Manuel Velasquez - 2004 - Business Ethics Quarterly 14 (1):95-122.
On Employee Vice.Dennis J. Moberg - 1997 - Business Ethics Quarterly 7 (4):41-60.

View all 9 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Anarchy, State, and Utopia.Robert Nozick - 1974 - Philosophy 52 (199):102-105.
Trust and antitrust.Annette Baier - 1986 - Ethics 96 (2):231-260.
Trust and Power.Niklas Luhmann - 1982 - Studies in Soviet Thought 23 (3):266-270.

View all 27 references / Add more references