Abstract
The management process affects the level of ethical performance in organizational life. As one part of this process, managers establish priorities which give direction to an organization. In business firms, management typically stresses the attainment of profits and other related economic and technical factors. Since little explicit recognition is given to ethics, the resulting climate makes it easy to ignore ethical factors. Changing this situation by making ethics a significant part of the corporate culture is difficult and requires a combination of management communication and management example. However, managers who choose to emphasize ethics and who skillfully articulate their importance can improve the integration of ethics into the day-to-day operating decisions of the firm.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen, Robert F.: ‘The Ik in the Office’, Organizational Dynamics 8 (Winter, 1980).
Andrews, Kenneth R.: ‘Can the Best Corporations Be Made Moral?’, Harvard Business Review 51 (May–June, 1973), p. 60.
Barry, Vincent: Moral Issues in Business (Wadsworth Publishing Company, Belmont, 1979).
Business Week, ‘Corporate Culture: Hard-to-Change Values That Spell Success or Failure’, No. 2660 (October 27, 1980), p. 148.
Byrom, Fletcher L.: ‘A Conversation with Fletcher L. Byrom’, transcript of interview by John F. Steiner, Center for the Study of Business and Society, California State University, Los Angeles, California.
Drucker, Peter F.: Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices (Harper and Row, Publishers, New York, 1974).
Emerson Electric Company, Annual Report, 1981, p. 4.
Faltermayer, Edmund: ‘The Man Who Keeps Those Maytag Repairmen Lonely’, Fortune 96 (November, 1977).
Forbes, ‘Now You See 'Em, Now You Don't’, 130 (July 19, 1982), p. 35.
Longenecker, Justin G. and Charles D. Pringle: Management (Charles E. Merrill Publishing Company, Columbus, sixth edition, 1984), Chapter 1.
Peters, Thomas J. and Robert H. Waterman Jr.: In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-Run Corporations (Harper and Row, Publishers, New York, 1982), p. 26.
Reynolds, John I.: ‘Improving Business Ethics: The President's Lonely Task’, Business and Society 19 (Fall, 1978), pp. 15–16.
Vaill, Peter B.: ‘The Purposing of High-Performing Systems’, Organizational Dynamics 11 (Autumn, 1982).
Waters, James A.: ‘Catch 20.5: Corporate Morality as an Organizational Phenomenon’, Organizational Dynamics 6 (Spring, 1978), pp. 9–10.
Additional information
Justin G. Longenecker is Chavanne Professor of Christian Ethics in Business at Hankamer School of Business, Baylor University, Waco, Texas 76798, U.S.A. His most important publications are: Management, 6th ed. (Charles E. Merrill Publ. C., Columbus 1984), co-authored with Charles D. Pringle; Small Business Management, 6th ed. (South-Western Publ. Co., Cincinnati 1983), co-authored with H. N. Broom and Carlos W. Moore; and numerous journal articles, including: ‘The Ethics of MBO’, Academy of Management Review (April, 1982), pp. 305–312, co-authored with Charles D. Pringle.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Longenecker, J.G. Management priorities and management ethics. J Bus Ethics 4, 65–70 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382676
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382676