Is business ethics an oxymoron? - Editorial - Cover Story

Business Horizons, Sept-Oct, 1994 by John W. Collins

If we accept the traditional description of the manager's role, business ethics is an oxymoron because there is a conflict between the pursuit of self-interest and consideration of others. This traditional description is dysfunctional as an approach to management because it blinds managers to the need for trust and cooperation in the interdependent environment in which they operate.

A new role description for managers derived from ethical theory would focus on others-- society as a whole and individuals--rather than self-interest. Such a role would provide a foundation for the development of trust and cooperation with others on whom managers are interdependent for success.

Further, describing the manager's role in terms of building trust and creating value would make management an activity more worthy of people's commitment. It would provide a purpose that transcends the self by connecting the management role to the well-being of others, making effective management an activity that stimulates the spirit and involves issues of character and values. Managers would have to strengthen their souls--not sell them.

As Peters and Deming have recognized, commitment, transcendence, spirit, and character are the right stuff for effective management. It is time to discard the traditional description of the role of manager and replace it with one that tells managers to see their role less as a competitive game and more as a service or mission. Creating value and building trust are instrumental values for both ethical and effective management.

References

A. Carr, "Is Business Bluffing Ethical?" Harvard Business Review, January-February 1968, p. 143.

R. Frank, Passions Within Reason (New York: Norton, 1988).

R.E. Freeman, Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach (Boston: Pitman, 1984).

M. Friedman, "The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Maximize Its Profits," New York Times Magazine, September 30, 1970, pp. 32 .

L. Kohlberg, Essays on Moral Development: The Psychology of Moral Development (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1986).

T. Peters and R. Waterman, In Search of Excellence (New York: Harper & Row, 1982).

J. Rest, Moral Development Advances in Research and Theory (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1986).

M. Walton, The Deming Management Method (New York: Perigree, 1986).

John W. Collins is a professor of law and

public policy in the School of Management,

Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York.