Abstract
This Chapter argues that the key to organizational integrity is a good moral climate. A good moral climate is one that has norms and values that contribute to a moral climate, including a commitment to stakeholder management, a commitment to seeing the purpose of the organization as a cooperative enterprise, and both substantive and procedural norms of fairness. Finally, I consider the role of incentives as they support or inhibit organizational integrity, identify conditions that work against moral integrity, and conclude by considering whether for-profit organizations can instill organizational integrity and remain profitable.
This article was originally published in The Oxford Handbook of Business Ethics, George G. Brenkert and Tom L Beauchamp, (eds.) Oxford University Press, 2010, 501–724. Reprinted with the permission of the editors and Oxford University Press. There have been some minor changes in the original in order to make this Chapter consistent with other Chapters in the book. Also some of the information in the original has been updated.
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Notes
- 1.
De George, Richard. (1993). Competing with Integrity. New York: Oxford University Press, 5.
- 2.
Victor, Bart and John B Cullen. (1988). “The Organizational Basis of Ethical Work Climates,” Administrative Science Quarterly, 33, 101–125.
- 3.
Bowie, Norman E. (1991). “The Firm as a Moral Community” in Richard M Coughlin (ed.), Morality, Rationality and Efficiency: New Perspectives on Socio-Economics, Armonk: M.E. Sharpe Inc., 169–183.
- 4.
Rawls, John. (1999). A Theory of Justice, rev ed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 58–60.
- 5.
Bowie, Norman E. (1999). Business Ethics: A Kantian Perspective. Malden: Blackwell Publishers.
- 6.
See Frank, Robert. (1988). Passions Within Reason. New York: W.W. Norton.
- 7.
Phillips, Robert. (2003). Stakeholder Theory and Organizational Justice. San Francisco: Berrett Koehler Publishers Inc.
- 8.
See Coca-Cola’s New Vending Machine A. (Harvard Business School Case 9-500-068).
- 9.
Harris, Jared and Philip Bromiley. (2007). “Incentives to Cheat: The Influence of Executive Compensation and Firm Performance on Financial Misrepresentation,” Organization Science, 13, 350–367.
- 10.
Additional variables affecting misrepresentation are discussed briefly in Chap. 3.
- 11.
Rawls, op.cit, 7–8.
- 12.
Richard Brandt excelled in using the insights of the social sciences including psychology and anthropology.
- 13.
Sears Auto Centers, Harvard Business School Case 9-394-009.
- 14.
Harvard Business School Case 9-382-034.
- 15.
Goodpaster, Kenneth E., Laura L Nash, and Henri-Claude de Bettignies. (2006). Business Ethics, Policies and Persons. Boston: Irwin McGraw Hill, 121.
- 16.
Werhane, Patricia. (1999). Moral Imagination and Management Decision Making. New York: Oxford University Press.
- 17.
Paine, Lynn Sharp. (1997). Instructor’s Manual: Cases in Leadership, Ethics, and Organizational Integrity. Burr Ridge: Irwin, 80–81.
- 18.
The development of transaction cost economics is primarily attributed to Oliver E Williamson. See his (1975). Markets and Hierarchies. New York: The Free Press, and his (1985). The Economic Institutions of Capitalism. New York: The Free Press.
- 19.
Belkin, Lisa. (1997). “How Can We Save the Next Victim?” The New York Times Magazine, June 15.
- 20.
After a 1997 merger the merged hospitals were referred to as Memorial Hermann.
- 21.
The details of this case are in Belkin op.cit.
- 22.
Janus, Irving. (1972). Victims of Groupthink. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 9.
- 23.
Mindguards occur when members protect the group and the leader by withholding information that is problematic or contradictory to the group’s cohesiveness.
- 24.
This chapter has not emphasized leadership as an ingredient in organizational integrity. This is not because the quality of the leader is unimportant.
- 25.
For example, see his (2007). Conscience and Corporate Culture. Malden: Blackwell Publishing.
- 26.
Davis, Michael. (1982). “Conflict of Interest,” Business and Professional Ethics Journal, 1, 17–28.
- 27.
One of the most complete and best accounts of this era is Charles Gasparino’s. (2005). Blood on the Street. New York: Free Press. If Arthur Andersen’s decline and fall is of interest, see Barbara Ley Toffler’s. (2003). Final Accounting. New York: Broadway Books.
- 28.
This decision of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has been appealed by Exxon to the U.S. Supreme Court. On the last day of its term in 2008 the Supreme Court reduced the 2.5 billion dollar damage award to just over 500 million.
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Bowie, N.E. (2013). Organizational Integrity and Moral Climates. In: Business Ethics in the 21st Century. Issues in Business Ethics, vol 39. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6223-7_11
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