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Business regulation, business ethics and the professional employee

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Abstract

The differences in business reactions to legal regulation, and the nature of business moralities, are examined through the eyes of an ‘expert’ group — in-house lawyers. The research indicates that lawyers inevitably provide a degree of control through their technical expertise, but that they also identify strongly with their companies and emphasise shared ethics rather than ethical differences between lawyers and their employers. This can partly be explained by their integration with the company but also rests on the problematic nature of law and regulatory controls in relation to organisations within the community. In-house lawyers therefore reject a ‘policing’ role in favour of a ‘counselling’ role. Since they perceive themselves as part of a shared culture of ethics, they also avoid a leadership role. However, the article suggests that the nature of legal judgment should assist lawyers towards such a role, while recognising that organisational ‘statesmanship’ must be constrained by organisational culture and the wider community culture of ethical standards.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Legal Studies, Cherrytree Buildings, NG7 2RD, University Park, Nottingham, England

    Karl J. Mackie

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  1. Karl J. Mackie
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Additional information

Dr Karl J. Mackie is Director of the Centre for Legal Studies in the University of Nottingham, where he lectures in employment law and in management skills development. Lawyers in Business: and the Law Business is published by Macmillan (London) 1989. Dr Mackie is a member of the Business Strategy Network and a consultant in business strategy.

This paper has been adapted from Mackie, Lawyers in Business: and the Law Business (1989), (London: Macmillan), ch. 10.

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Mackie, K.J. Business regulation, business ethics and the professional employee. J Bus Ethics 8, 607–616 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00383029

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00383029

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