Skip to main content

The uses of moral talk: Why do managers talk ethics?

Journal of Business Ethics volume 8, pages 75–89 (1989)Cite this article

Abstract

When managers use moral expressions in their communications, they do so for several, sometimes contradictory reasons. Based upon analyses of interviews with managers, this article examines seven distinctive uses of moral talk, sub-divided into three groupings: (1) managers use moral talk functionally to clarify issues, to propose and criticize moral justifications, and to cite relevant norms; (2) managers also use moral talk functionally to praise and to blame as well as to defend and criticize structures of authority; finally (3) managers use moral talk dysfunctionally to rationalize morally ambiguous behavior and to express frustrations. The article concludes with several practical recommendations.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price includes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

References

  • Austin, John: 1958, How to Do Things with Words, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barth Karl: 1961, Church Dogmatics, Vol. III, Part IV, translators A. T. Mackay, T. H. L. Parker, Harold Knight, Henry A. Kennedy, and John Marks. Edinburgh: T. T. Clark.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barry, Vincent: 1970, Moral Issues in Business, Burlingame, Calif.: Wadsworth, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baumhart, Raymond: 1968, An Honest Profit: What Businessmen Say about Ethics in Business, New York: Holt.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bendix, Reinhart: 1956, 1974, Work and Authority in Industry, Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bird, Frederick and Waters, Jim: 1987, “The Nature of Managerial Moral Standards”, Journal of Business Ethics 6, 1–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowie, Norman: 1982, Business Ethics, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fingarette, Herbert: 1963, The Self in Transformation, New York, Harper and Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geertz, Clifford: 1973, The Interpretation of Cultures, New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gouldner, Alvin: 1976, Dialectic of Ideology and Technology, London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hart, H. L. A.: 1968, Punishment and Responsibility, New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirshmann, Albert O.: 1970, Exit, Voice and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • LaCroix, W. L.: 1979, Principles for Ethics in Business (revised edition), Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marx, Karl and Engels, Friedrich: 1939, The German Ideology, ed. by R. Pascal, New York: International Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marx, Karl: 1973, Grundrisse: Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy, trans. by Martin Nicolaus. London: Allen Lane.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCoy, Charles: 1985, Management of Values. The Ethical Difference in Corporate Policy and Performance, Boston: Pitman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mintzberg, Henry: 1973, The Nature of Managerial Work, New York: Harper and Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen, Richard P.: 1987, ‘What Can Managers Do about Ethical Management?’, Journal of Business Ethics 6(4), 309–320.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nietzsche, Friedrich: 1927, 1954, Geneology of Morals in The Philosophy of Nietzsche, trans. by B. Samuels. New York: Modern Library.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perrow, Charles: 1972, Complex Organizations, Glenview, Ill.: Scott, Forseman and Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, John Finley: 1970, Internalization of Norms: A Sociological Theory of Moral Commitment, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Searle, John: 1969, Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stone, Christopher D.: 1975, Where the Law Ends: Social Control of Corporate Behavior, New York: Harper and Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sutton, Francis X., S. E. Harris, C. Kaysen, and J. Tobin: 1956, The American Business Creed, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, Mark L.: 1980, A Study of Corporate Ethical Policy Statements, Dallas: The Foundation of the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking.

    Google Scholar 

  • Toffler, Barbara Ley: 1986, Tough Choices: Managers Talk Ethics, New York: John Wiley and Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Velasquez, Manuel G.: 1982, Business Ethics: Concepts and Cases, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waters, James A.: 1978, ‘Catch 20.5: Corporate Morality as an Organizational Phenomenon’, Organizational Dynamics, pp. 2–19.

  • Waters, James A.: 1988, ‘Integrity Management: Learning and Implementing Ethical Principles in the Workplace’, in S. Srivastva (ed.), Executive Integrity, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waters, James A. and Frederick Bird: 1987, ‘The Moral Dimension of Organizational Culture’, Journal of Business Ethics 6(1), 15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waters, James A, Frederick Bird, and Peter Chant: 1986, ‘Everyday Moral Issues Faced by Managers’, Journal of Business Ethics 5(5), 373.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weick, Karl E.: 1987, ‘Organizational Culture as a Source of High Reliability’, California Management Review XXIX(2), 112–127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Westin, Alan F. (ed.): 1981, Whistle Blowing: Loyalty and Dissent in the Corporation, New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Westley, Frances: 1988, ‘Strategic Conversation: Dynamics of Middle Management Inclusion in Strategic Processes’, Administrative Sciences Association of Canada: Proceedings.

  • Westley, Frances and Bird, Frederick B.: 1988, ‘The Social Psychology of Organizational Commitment’, Unpublished paper.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd West, H3G 1M8, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Frederick Bird, Frances Westley & James A. Waters

Authors
  1. Frederick Bird
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Frances Westley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. James A. Waters
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Frederick Bird teaches Comparative Ethics at Concordia University, where he is an associate professor. He has recently written a text on the comparative sociological study of moral systems as well as a number of articles on business ethics and contemporary religious movements.

Frances Westley is an Assistant Professor of Policy at McGill University in Montreal. She publishes in the area of visionary leadership, organizational culture and change, and strategic communications.

James A. Waters was Dean, Graduate School of Management at Boston College. His research interests concerned the process of strategy formation in complex organizations, organizational change and development, and ethics in organizations. His work has been published in such journals as Organizational Dynamics, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, California Management Review, Business Horizons, Journal of Applied Psychology, Business and Society, Canadian Journal of Administrative Science, Advanced Management Journal, Journal of Business Ethics, Organizational Behavior Teaching Review, and numerous anthologies. He died January 4, 1989.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bird, F., Westley, F. & Waters, J.A. The uses of moral talk: Why do managers talk ethics?. J Bus Ethics 8, 75–89 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382019

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382019

Keywords

  • Economic Growth
  • Defend
  • Practical Recommendation
  • Moral Justification
  • Relevant Norm