Abstract
Although there are many conceptions of “Justice”, these different perceptions can provide many interesting insights into a business person's ethical standards as well as that person's decision-making processes. Using the Bishops' Pastoral Letter on the U.S. Economy as the basis for asking questions about “justice”, twenty-four business executives were interviewed about their conception of justice. An analysis of these interviews reveals that this group of businesspeople operated under very different conceptions of “Justice” at the Macroenvironmental and Microenvironmental levels. This result has some interesting implications not only for those scholars concerned with business ethics but for everyone who has a stake in business education.
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‘Men are called good, chiefly on account of their Justice.’ Cicero, 56 B.C. ‘Ideology is applied philosophy.’ Lodge, 1986
Richard McGowan, S. J. is an Assistant Professor of Operations and Strategic Management at Boston College. His research focus involves examining both the rationale behind business and public policy decisions as well as determining the effectiveness of these policy measures. Some of his recent publications include “Deciphering the Japanese Import Quota,” Policy Studies Journal (1988) and “Public Policy Measures and Cigarette Sales: An ARIMA Intervention Analysis Study” JAI Social Issues Management Volume (1989).
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McGowan, R. Justice: The root of american business ideology and ethics. J Bus Ethics 9, 891–901 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382912
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382912