Business Ethics: Kant, Virtue, and the Nexus of Duty: Foundations and Case Studies

Preface
Contents
Part I: The Role of Business Norms and Their Philosophical Foundation
Chapter 1: Normative Ethics and Business Practice: An Introductory Review
1 Introduction
2 The Ethical in Business
3 Teleological Ethics
4 An Axiomatic System of Logic
5 The Social Contract
6 Business Codes of Conduct
7 Schools of Ethical Thought
8 The Noble Nature
9 The Profit Motive
10 The Design of the Course
Additional Readings
For additional readings on the philosopher John Rawls, see:
For a review of the political philosophy of Hannah Arendt, see:
Chapter 2: The Applicable Western Ethical View?
1 The Key Questions
2 Ancient Greek Origin of Rational Intuition
3 Intuition, Free Will, and Rationality: Foundations of the Enlightenment
4 The Enlightenment to Modern Ethical Philosophy
5 The Societal Sum of Individuals’ Happiness
6 A Western Ethical Tradition
References
More In-Depth Readings
Chapter 3: The Categorical Imperative Process and Moral Duties
1 Enlightenment Philosophy
2 The Categorical Imperative and Its Three Formulae
3 The Bankruptcy Declaration Example
4 Conclusion Concerning the Use of the Categorical Imperative
5 Maxims for Achieving the Harmonious Organization
6 Imperfect and Perfect Duties
7 Imperfect Duty and Its Practical Limitation
8 Some Additional Maxims and Agency Obligations
References
Supplementary Readings
Chapter 4: Moral Virtues and Ethical Decisions
1 Introduction
1.1 A Brief Classical Philosophical Review
1.2 A Brief Review of Some Recent Literature
1.3 A Brief Comparison of Two Views
2 Virtues, Rationality, and Completeness
3 The Linkage Between Dispositions-Towards-Duty and Virtue
3.1 A Set of Modern Managerial Virtues
3.2 The Managerial Virtues and Dispositions Towards Friendship
3.3 The Managerial Virtues and Dispositions Towards Reasoned Discourse
3.4 The Managerial Virtues and Dispositions Towards Due Diligence
4 Virtues or Dispositions?
References
Supplementary Readings
Chapter 5: The Abandonment of Business Codes of Ethics
1 The Process of Evil
2 Thoughtful Reflection and Codes of Conduct
3 The Competitive Firm and Tendencies Towards Code Abandonment
4 Psychological Studies of Unethical Conduct
5 The Prevention
Appendix: Enron as an Example
References
Supplementary Readings
Part II: The Nexus of Duty and Managing Moral Disengagement
Chapter 6: The Nexus of Managerial Imperfect Duty: Relations of Virtue, Discourse, and Due Diligence
1 Introduction
1.1 The Imperfect Duties of Management as Complements to Perfect Duties
1.2 The Imperfect Duties of Character Development
1.3 Development of the Argument
2 Classic Philosophical Notions of Duty
2.1 Perfect and Imperfect Duties for Management
3 Imperfect Duty and Its Practical Limitation
4 Benefits of the Imperfect Managerial-Duty Model
4.1 The Tradeoffs
4.2 Imperfect Duty and Contractual Obligations
4.3 The Wealth Pursuit of Management
4.4 Imperfect Duty and the Boundary of the Firm
4.5 Virtue, Character and the Noble Nature
5 Summary and Conclusion
References
Supplemental Readings
Chapter 7: Relations of Virtue, Pursuit of the Moral Community, and the Ends of Business
1 Introduction
2 Notions of Friendship, Sociability, and Moral Community
2.1 Friendships of Virtue
2.2 Unsocial Sociability and Friendships
2.3 Some Recent Research in Business Friendship
3 The Pursuit of Business as a Moral Community and Friendships of Virtue
4 Relations of Virtue and the Pursuit of a Moral Community
References
Supplemental Readings
Chapter 8: Reasoned Managerial Discourse
1 Introduction: The Imperfect Duty of Reasoned Managerial-Discourse
2 O’Neill’s Maxims for Reasoned Discourse
2.1 Managerial Authority Must Be Based on Reason
2.2 Managers Should Tolerate the Logical Reason of Others
2.3 Reasoned Argument Should Not Be Restricted or Discouraged
2.4 Management Should Reason in Common with Those Affected by its Policy Decisions
2.5 Accuracy in Managerial Discourse Should Be Pursued
3 Rational Discourse and Current Politically Sensitive Issues
3.1 Reasoned Managerial Discourse and Globalization
3.2 Reasoned Managerial Discourse and Diversity
3.3 Reasoned Discourse and Control
4 The Kantian Foundation of Reasoned Discourse
References
Supplemental Readings
Chapter 9: Due Diligence and the Profit Motive: Perfect or Imperfect Duty?
1 Introduction: The Profit Motive as a Perfect or Imperfect Duty
2 The Issue of Shareholder Wealth and its Possible Maximization
3 Imperfect Duties Involving Capital Budgeting, Capital Structure, and Liquidity
3.1 The Complexity of Capital Structure and the Imperfect Duties of Management
3.2 The Diversified Portfolio Effect on Risk and Duties to Stakeholders
4 The Ethical Basis for the Imperfect Duty of Due Diligence
References
Supplemental Readings
Part III: Some Fundamental Problems in Management Ethics
Chapter 10: Fair Stakeholder Negotiations
1 Ethical Negotiation: An Introduction
1.1 The Negotiation
1.2 Deriving the Rules of Fair Negotiation
1.3 The Structure of this Exploration
2 Objectives, Negotiators, and Fairness Rules
2.1 Kantian Notions of Ethical Negotiators
2.2 Objectives of Fair Negotiation
2.3 Seven Posed Rules of Fair Negotiations
3 Definitions of Fair Agreement and Extent of Negotiations
3.1 Negotiating the Special Case of Risk
4 Violations of Rules and Compensation
4.1 Negotiations with Multiple Counter Parties
4.2 Criteria for Multi-Party Negotiations
5 Issue of Trust in Negotiations
5.1 Compensation Criteria When Violation of Rules is Unavoidable
6 Fairness in Negotiation and Management Theory
6.1 Management Theory and Fairness?
6.2 The Fair Negotiation Contribution
References
Advanced Reading in “Fair Negotiations”
Chapter 11: The Philosophy of Action and Authority in the Entrepreneurial and Management Ethics
1 Introduction: Philosophical Foundations
2 The Philosophical Basis for Authority within the Firm
3 Greek Philosophical Notions of Labor, Work and Action
4 The Nature of this Social Action
5 Cultural Principles of Entrepreneurial Authority and Action
6 Unethical Action and Authority
7 The Frontier Ethos and Social Separation
8 Empirical Studies of the Social-Class-Separation Effect
9 Conclusion
Appendix: Fred Meyer
References
Chapter 12: Duty, Boycotts and the Pricing of Ethics
1 The Adam Smith Problem
2 The Ideal Kantian Market
3 Notions of Duty and Market Efficiency
4 The Market Pricing of Ethics
5 Judging the Morality of Market Participants
6 Boycott Classifications and Effectiveness
6.1 Some Classical Boycotts
6.2 Some Recent Boycott Attempts
7 Conclusion
References
Advanced Readings in the “Adam Smith Problem” and the Linkage Between Morality and “The Invisible Hand”
Part IV: Some Current Moral Environmental Issues for Business
Chapter 13: Recognizing Environmental Duties
1 Perfect and Imperfect Environmental Duties
2 Imperfect Duty and Its Practical Limitation
3 Some Maxims for Reasoned Environmental Discourse
4 The Nature of Reasoned Environmental Discourse
4.1 The Attempted Disseminations of Information and the Obfuscations to Be Avoided
4.2 Fairness or Obfuscations
4.3 The Logic and Predominance of the Environmental Argument
5 Considered Moral Environmental Judgments
5.1 Collective Imperfect Duty
5.2 Considerations of Fairness
6 Summary Conclusion
References
Additional Advanced Readings
Chapter 14: The Philosophy of Community and the Environmental Ethic
1 Considerations of Environmental Duty
1.1 The Imperfect Collective Duties of Environmental Preservation
2 The Equity Considerations of Future Generations and Distant People
2.1 The Intergenerational Problem
2.2 Distributional Effects on the Disadvantaged
2.3 The Problem of Equity for Distant People
3 Efficiency and the Coase Theorem
4 The Search for a Just Environmental Policy
5 Relations of Virtue, the Moral Community, and Environmental Organizations
6 The Specialness of Process
6.1 Problems in Our Environmental Categorical Imperative Process (CIP)
7 Nature as Sacred
8 The Collective and the Environment
References
Additional Advanced Readings
Chapter 15: Some Current Environmental Problems for Business
1 Introduction
2 Rationality in Environmental Concerns
2.1 The Bias Due to Abundance
2.2 The Bias Due to Narrow Vision
2.3 The Bias Due to “It’s Gone!”
2.4 The Bias of Not Having “broad vision”
3 Business Knowledge and Conflicts of Interest
4 The Negative Externalities of Coal and Industry Obfuscations
4.1 Clean Coal and Acid Rain
4.2 Coal and “reasoned” Discourse
5 The Tragedy of the Commons as a Dead Zone
5.1 States’ Rights, and State Pollution Responsibilities
5.2 CAFOs and “Reasoned Discourse”
6 North Atlantic Fisheries and the Tragedy of the Commons
6.1 The Grand Banks and Georges Bank
7 Riverkeepers: “Not Radical, but American in Disposition”
8 Business’ Environmental Involvement
References
Additional Advanced Readings
References