Abstract
The article protests against the usage of ethical codes by business organisations. It asserts that professionals are in a different situation to that of employees; and that with the latter ethical codes are used by management to ensure compliance and are devoid of ethical content. Ethical codes it is argued are part of management's control system in a time of flatter organisational structures with a far wider span of control. It is also asserted that the ambitions of some to utilise ethical codes so that the business organisation is able to engender societal change is dangerous and likely, if successful, to return us to an age which we could not seriously desire to re-visit.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adams, J.: 1992, ‘The Corporation Versus the Market’, Journal of Economic Issues XXVI(2), 397–405.
Aristotle: 1779, The Works of Aristotle ( John Smith, High Holborn).
Ayer, A. J.: 1990, The Meaning of Life (Scribners, New York).
Baratz, M. S.: 1970, The American Business System in Transition (Crowell, New York) as quoted by Gramm, W. S.: 1989, ‘Oligarchic Capitalism’, in M. R. Tool and W. J. Samuels (eds.), State, Society and Corporate Power (Transaction Publishers, Oxford), pp. 353–374.
Blau, J. R.: 1993, Social Contracts and Economic Markets (Plenum Press, New York)
Bridbury, A. R.: 1986, ‘Markets and Freedom in the Middle Ages’, in B. L. Anderson and A. J. H. Latham (eds.), The Market in History (Croom Helm, London), pp. 79–120.
Brooks, J.: 1971, Business Adventures (Penguin, Ringwood).
Brown, H. I.: 1988, Rationality (Routledge, New York).
Cavanagh, G. F., D. J. Moberg and M. Velasquez: 1995, ‘Making Business Ethics Practical’, Business Ethics Quarterly 5, 399–418.
Chaplin, J. E.: 1990, ‘Slavery and the Principle of Humanity: A Modern Idea in the Early Lower South’, Journal of Social History 24, 299–315.
Collingwood, R. G.: 1994, The Idea of History (O.U.P., Oxford).
Dawson, A. J.: 1994, ‘Professional Codes of Practice and Ethical Conduct’, Journal of Applied Philosophy 11(2), 146–153.
De George, R. T.: 1990, Business Ethics (Macmillan, London).
De George, R. T.: 1991, ‘Will Success Spoil Business Ethics?’, in R. E. Freeman (ed.), Business Ethics: The State of The Art (Oxford University Press), pp. 42–56.
Dienhart, J.: 1995, ‘Rationality, Ethical Codes, and an Egalitarian Justification for Ethical Expertise’, Business Ethics Quartely 5, 419–450.
Downing, F. G.: 1996, ‘On Applying Applied Philosophy’, Journal of Applied Philosophy 13(2), 209–214.
Drucker, P. F.: 1979, The Practice of Management (Pan, London).
Drucker, P. F.: 1980, Adventures of a Bystander (Harper and Row, New York).
Drucker, P. F.: 1985, The Changing World of the Executive (Times Books, New York).
Etheredge, J. M.: 1995, ‘Corporate Codes of Ethical Conduct’, Proceedings of the Second Annual Conference of the Australian Association for Professional and Applied Ethics, 9–23.
Farrell, B. J. and D. M. Cobbin: 1994, ‘Evaluative Study of Ethical Codes and Cultures in Australian Enterprises’, School of Accounting Ethics Research Group Paper (University of Technology, Sydney), pp. 1–25.
Farrell, B. J. and D. M. Cobbin: 1996, ‘A Content Analysis of Codes of Ethics in Australian Enterprises’, Journal of Managerial Psychology 11(1), 37–55.
Flew, A. (ed. con): 1984, A Dictionary of Philosophy (Pan, London).
Freeman, R. E. (ed): 1991, Business Ethics: The State of The Art (Oxford University Press, Oxford).
Fromm, E.: 1967, You Shall Be as Gods (Jonathan Cape, London).
Gilbert, M.: 1986, The Holocaust (Collins, Glasgow).
Gramm, W. S.: 1989, ‘Oligarchic Capitalism’, in M. R. Tool and W. J. Samuels (eds.), State, Society and Corporate Power (Transaction Publishers, Oxford), pp. 353–374.
Goodpaster, K. E.: 1991, ‘Ethical Imperatives and Corporate Leadership’, in R. E. Freeman (ed.), Business Ethics: The State of The Art (Oxford University Press, Oxford), pp. 89–110.
Hanauske-Abel, H. M.: 1996, ‘Not a Slippery Slope or Sudden Subversion: German Medicine and National Socialism in 1933’, British Medical Journal 313(7070), 1445–1449.
Hawkins, J.: 1998, As quoted in Business Review Weekly, 27th April, 1998.
Hayek, F. A.: 1988, ‘The Principles of a Liberal Social Order’, in T. Donaldson and P. H. Werhane (eds.), Ethical Issues in Business, 3rd ed. (Prentice-Hall, Englewood-Cliffs), pp. 269–278.
Hosmer, L. R. T.: 1991, The Ethics of Management (Irwin, Boston).
Kant, I.: 1993, ‘Ethical Duties Towards Others: Truthfulness’, in T. Donaldson and P. H. Werhane (eds.), Ethical Issues in Business, 4th ed. (Prentice-Hall, Englewood-Cliffs), pp. 84–89.
Marshall, A.: 1925, Principles of Economics (MacMillan, London).
Marshall, K.: 1998, ‘Companies are Placing High Values on Ethics’, Australian Financial Review (22nd May), 56.
McCabe, D. L., L. K. Trevino and K. D. Butterfield: 1996, ‘The Influence of Collegiate and Corporate Codes of Conduct on Ethics-Related Behaviour in the Workplace’, Business Ethics Quarterly 6, 461–476.
Moore, J.: 1990, ‘What is Really Unethical about Insider Trading?’, Journal of Business Ethics 9, 171–182.
Moon, J.: 1995, ‘The Firm as Citizen? Social Responsibility of Business in Australia’, Australian Journal of Political Science 30, 1–17.
Mencken, H. L.: 1958, Prejudices: A Selection (Vintage Books, New York).
Nowell-Smith, P. H.: 1957, Ethics (Basil Blackwell, Oxford).
Oliver, J. M.: 1979, Law and Economics (Allen and Unwin, London).
O'Reilly, B.: 1997, ‘The Secrets of America‘s Most Admired Corporations’, Fortune (3rd March), 42–48.
Peters, T. J. and R. H. Waterman: 1982, In Search of Excellence (Harper and Row, New York).
Porter, M.: 1985, Competitive Advantage (Free Press, New York).
Richardson, S.: 1995, ‘The Banking Code of Practice. Show or Substance?’, Proceedings of the Second Annual Conference of the Australian Association for Professional and Applied Ethics, 35–51.
Rigby, S.: 1991, ‘Marxism and The Middle Ages’, History Today 41, 24–31.
Robin, D., M. Giallowakis, F. R. David and T. E. Moritz: 1989, ‘A Different Look at Codes of Ethics’, Business Horizons 32, 66–73 quoted in B. J. Farrell and D. M. Cobbin: 1994, ‘Evaluative Study of Ethical Codes and Cultures in Australian Enterprises’, School of Accounting Ethics Research Group Paper (University of Technology, Sydney), pp. 1–,25.
Saul, J. R.: 1997, The Unconscious Civilisation (Penguin, Ringwood).
Scott, W. G.: 1992, Chester I. Barnard and the Guardians of the Managerial State (University Press of Kansas, Lawrence).
Shanin, T.: 1979, Peasants and Peasant Societies (Penguin, Ringwood).
Sieff, M.: 1990, Marcus Sieff on Management: The Marks and Spencer Way (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London).
Taylor, J. G.: 1979, From Modernization to Modes of Production (MacMillan, Basingstoke).
Tawney, R. H.: 1961, ‘Tawney on Medieval Economic Thought’, in H. W. Spiegel (ed.), The Development of Economic Thought (Wiley, New York), pp. 14–24.
The Economist: 1992, Britain's Most Admired Companies (17th October), pp. 87–88.
Vogel, D.: 1991, ‘Business Ethics: New Perspectives on Old Problems’, California Management Review 33(4), 101–117.
Vollman, J. and R. Winau: 1996, ‘Informed Consent in Human Experimentation Before the Nuremberg Code’, British Medical Journal 313(7070), 1445–1449.
Wicks, A. C.: 1995, ‘The Business Ethics Movement’, Business Ethics Quarterly 5, 603–620.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schwartz, M. Why Ethical Codes Constitute an Unconscionable Regression. Journal of Business Ethics 23, 173–184 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006151806232
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006151806232