Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-m8qmq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-20T08:04:38.328Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Psychological Pragmatism and the Imperative of Aims: A New Approach for business Ethics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Joshua D. Margolis
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Psychological forces in play across individual, group, and organizational levels of analysis increase the likelihood that people in business organizations will engage in misconduct. Therefore, it is argued, we must turn our attention from dominant normative and empirical trends in business ethics, which revolve around boundaries and constraints, and instead concentrate on methods for promoting ethical behavior in practice, exploiting psychological forces conducive to ethical conduct. This calls for a better understanding of how organizations and their inhabitants function, and, in turn, it points to pragmatic solutions. Ethical conduct can be promoted by (1) normatively justifying vivid aims worthy of pursuit alongside economic objectives, and (2) empirically identifying the conditions and practices that advance those aims in firms. This approach challenges us to bring empirical and normative inquiry together—in ways unsettling to both. It pushes us to move beyond an empirical preoccupation with decision making and judgment, and it requires us to cope with political liberalism’s legitimate qualms about discussions of the good.

Type
Articles
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , July 1998 , pp. 409 - 430
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allison, S. T., Beggan, J. K., Midgley, E. H. 1996. The Quest for “Similar Instances” and “Simultaneous Possibilities”: Metaphors in Social Dilemma Research. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71 (3): 479–497.Google Scholar
Allport, G. W. 1955. Becoming: Basic Considerations for a Psychology of Personality. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Anderson, E. 1993. Value in Ethics and Economics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Angell, M. 1996. Science on Trial. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Badaracco, J. L. Jr., and Webb, A. P. 1995. Business Ethics: A View from the Trenches. California Management Review, 37 (2): 8–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bailyn, L. 1985. Autonomy in the Industrial R&D Lab. Human Resource Management, 24 (2): 129–146.Google Scholar
Bandura, A. 1986. Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Bandura, A., Barbaranelli, C., Caprara, G. V., and Pasotrelli, C. 1996. Mechanisms of Moral Disengagement in the Exercise of Moral Agency. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71 (2): 364–374.Google Scholar
Beauchamp, T. L., and Childress, J. F. 1994. Principles of Biomedical Ethics. (4th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bell, D. E., Raiffa, H., and Tversky, A. (eds.). 1988. Decision Making: Descriptive, Normative, and Prescriptive Interactions. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Berlin, I. 1969. Four Essays on Liberty. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Berlin, I. 1992. The Pursuit of the Ideal. In The Crooked Timber of Humanity: 1–19. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Brady, F. N., and Dunn, C. P. 1995. Business and Meta-Ethics. Business Ethics Quarterly, 5 (3): 385–398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, R. 1986. Social Psychology. (2d ed.). New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Butterfield, K., Treviño, L. K., and Weaver, G. 1996. Moral Awareness in Organizations: A Socialization Perspective. Paper presented at the Academy of Management, Cincinnati, Ohio.Google Scholar
Byrne, J. A. 1995. Informed Consent. Business Week, October 2: 104–116.Google Scholar
Cavanagh, G. F., Moberg, D. J., and Velasquez, M. 1995. Making Business Ethics Practical. Business Ethics Quarterly, 5 (3): 399–418.Google Scholar
Chaiken, S. 1987. The Heuristic Model of Persuasion. In Zanna, M. P.Olson, J. M. and Herman, C. P. (eds.), Social Influence: The Ontario Symposium, (Vol. 5): 3–39. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Chaiken, S., and Eagly, A. H. 1983. Communication Modality as a Determinant of Persuasion: The Role of Communicator Salience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45: 241–256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chaiken, S., Liberman, A., and Eagly, A. H. 1989. Heuristic and Systematic Information Processing Within and Beyond the Persuasion Context. In Uleman, J. S. and Bargh, J. A. (eds.), Unintended Thought: 212–252. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Collins, R. L., Taylor, S. E., Wood, J. V., and Thompson, S. C. 1988. The Vividness Effect: Elusive or Illusory? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 24 (1): 1–18.Google Scholar
Damon, W. 1988. The Moral Child. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Darley, J. 1996. How Organizations Socialize Individuals into Evil-Doing. In Messick, D. M. and Tenbrunsel, A. E. (eds.), Codes of Conduct: Behavioral Research Into Business Ethics: 13–43. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Dewey, J. 1957. Reconstruction in Philosophy. Boston, MA: The Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Dewey, J.1976–1983. The Middle Works: 1899–1924. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.Google Scholar
Donaldson, T., and Dunfee, T. W. 1994. Toward a Unified Conception of Business Ethics: Integrative Social Contracts Theory. Academy of Management Review, 19 (2): 252–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donaldson, T., and Werhane, P. (eds.). 1996. Ethical Issues in Business: A Philosophical Approach. (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Dunfee, T. W., and Donaldson, T. 1995. Contractarian Business Ethics. Business Ethics Quarterly, 5 (2): 173–186.Google Scholar
Dunning, D., Griffin, D. W., Milojkovic, J., and Ross, L. 1990. The Overconfidence Effect in Social Prediction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58: 568–581.Google Scholar
Duska, R. July 1996. The Whys of Business Revisited. Paper presented at the Society for Business Ethics annual conference, Quebec City, Canada.Google Scholar
Dyer, A. D., Himstead, T. E., and Smith, N. C. 1995. Dow Corning Corporation: Product Stewardship. (Case Study). Georgetown University.Google Scholar
Einhorn, H. J., and Hogarth, R. M. 1978. Confidence in Judgment: Persistence of Illusion of Validity. Psychological Review, 85: 395–416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischhoff, B., Slovic, P., and Lichtenstein, S. 1977. Knowing with Certainty: The Appropriateness of Extreme Confidence. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 3: 552–564.Google Scholar
Fisher, R., Ury, W., and Patton, B. 1991. Getting to Yes. New York: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Fiske, S. T., and Taylor, S. E. 1991. Social Cognition. (2d. ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Fort, T. L. 1996. Business as Mediating Institution. Business Ethics Quarterly, 6: 149–163.Google Scholar
Frederick, W. C. 1995. Values, Nature, and Culture in the American Corporation. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Freeman, R. E. 1988. Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach. Boston, MA: Pitman.Google Scholar
Freeman, R. E. 1994. The Politics of Stakeholder Theory: Some Future Directions. Business Ethics Quarterly, 4 (4): 409–421.Google Scholar
Freeman, R. E., and Gilbert, D. R. Jr. 1988. Corporate Strategy and the Search for Ethics. Englewood-Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Gersick, C. J. G., and Hackman, J. R. 1990. Habitual Routines in Task-Performing Teams. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 47: 65–97.Google Scholar
Gilbert, D. T. 1989. Thinking Lightly about Others: Automatic Components of the Social Inference Process. In Uleman, J. S. and Bargh, J. A. (eds.), Unintended Thought: 189–211. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Ginnett, R. (1987). First Encounters of the Close Kind: The Formation Process of Airline Flight Crews. Yale University, New Haven, CT.Google Scholar
Gladwell, M. 1996. Blowup. New Yorker, January 22: 32–36.Google Scholar
Goodpaster, K. E., and Whiteside, D. E. 1984. Dow Corning Corporation: Business Conduct and Global Values (A). (Case No. 385–018). Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Case Services.Google Scholar
Hackman, J. R. 1986. The Psychology of Self-Management in Organizations. In Pallack, M. S. and Perloff, R. O. (eds.), Psychology and Work: Productivity, Change, and Employment: 89–136. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hackman, J. R. 1992. Group Influences on Individuals in Organizations. In Dunnette, M. D. and Hough, L. M. (eds.), Handbook of Organizational Psychology, (Vol. 3): 199–267. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc.Google Scholar
Hampshire, S. 1989. Innocence and Experience. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Hartman, E. 1996. Organizational Ethics and the Good Life. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Higgins, E. T. 1996. Regulatory Focus. Paper presented at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Higgins, E. T., and Chaires, W. M. 1980. Accessibility of Interrelational Constructs: Implications for Stimulus Encoding and Creativity. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 16: 348–361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higgins, E. T., Roney, C. J. R., Crowe, E., and Hymes, C. 1994. Ideal Versus Ought Predilections for Approach and Avoidance Distinct Self-Regulatory Systems. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66 (2): 276–286.Google Scholar
Hoffman, M. L. 1982. Development of Prosocial Motivation: Empathy and Guilt. In Eisenberg, N. (ed.) The Development of Prosocial Behavior. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
James, W. 1978. Essays in Philosophy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Janis, I. L. 1972. Victims of Groupthink. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Janis, I. L. 1982. Groupthink. (2d ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Jones, T. M. 1991. Ethical Decision Making By Individuals in Organizations: An Issue-Contingent Model. Academy of Management Review, 16 (2): 366–395.Google Scholar
Kant, I. 1781/1965. Critique of Pure Reason. Norman Kemp, Smith (Trans.). New York: St. Martin’s Press.Google Scholar
Kant, I. 1785/1959. Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals. Lewis White, Beck (trans.). Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill.Google Scholar
Kant, I. 1797/1991. The Metaphysics of Morals. Mary, Gregor (trans.). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Katz, J. P. 1993. Wetherill Associates, Inc. (Case No. 394–113). Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Case Services.Google Scholar
Keeley, M. 1988. A Social-Contract Theory of Organizations. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
Keeley, M. 1995. Continuing the Social Contract Tradition. Business Ethics Quarterly, 5 (2): 241–255.Google Scholar
Klayman, J., and Ha, Y. 1987. Confirmation, Disconfirmation, and Information in Hypothesis Testing. Psychological Review, 94: 211–228.Google Scholar
Kohlberg, L. 1976. Moral Stages and Moralization: The Cognitive-Developmental Approach. In Lickona, T. (ed.) Moral Development and Behavior: Theory, Research and Social Issues: 31–53. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar
Korsgaard, C. M. 1996. The Sources of Normativity. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Langer, E. J. 1978. Rethinking the Role of Thought in Social Interaction. In Harvey, J. H.Ickes, W. I. and Kidd, R. (eds.), New Directions in Attribution Research, (Vol. 2): 35–58. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Lord, C. G., Ross, L., and Lepper, M. R. 1979. Biased Assimilation and Attitude Polarization: The Effects of Prior Theories on Subsequently Considered Evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37: 2098–2109.Google Scholar
Luban, D. 1988. Lawyers and Justice: An Ethical Study. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Luban, D., Strudler, A., and Wasserman, D. 1992. Moral Responsibility in the Age of Bureaucracy. Michigan Law Review, 23: 48–92.Google Scholar
MacIntyre, A. 1984. After Virtue. (2d ed.). Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
Marcus, R. B. 1987. Moral Dilemmas and Consistency. In Gowans, C. W. (ed.), Moral Dilemmas: 188–204. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Margalit, A. 1996. The Decent Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Meacham, J. A. 1983. Wisdom and the Context of Knowledge. In Kuhn, D. and Meacham, J. A. (eds.), Contributions in Human Development, (Vol. 8): 111–134. Basel: Karger.Google Scholar
Merton, R. K. 1968. Social Theory and Social Structure. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.Google Scholar
Messick, D. M., and Bazerman, M. H. 1996. Ethical Leadership and the Psychology of Decision Making. Sloan Management Review (Winter): 9–22.Google Scholar
Myers, D. G. 1982. Polarizing Effects of Social Interaction. In Brandstatter, M.Davis, J. H. and Stocker-Kreichgauer, G. (eds.), Group Decision Making: 125–161. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Nagel, T. 1979. The Fragmentation of Value. In Mortal Questions: 128–141. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Neale, M. A., and Bazerman, M. H. 1991. Cognition and Rationality in Negotiation. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Nisbett, R. E., and Ross, L. D. 1980. Human Inference: Strategies and Shortcomings of Social Judgment. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Okin, S. M. 1989. Justice, Gender, and the Family. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Paine, L. S. 1993. Dow Corning Corporation: Business Conduct and Global Values (A) Supplement. (Case No. 394–068). Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Case Services.Google Scholar
Paine, L. S. 1994. Managing for Organizational Integrity. Harvard Business Review, March-April: 106–117.Google Scholar
Paine, L. S. 1997a. Building Organizational Integrity: Creating Context. In Cases in Leadership, Ethics, and Organizational Integrity: A Strategic Perspective: 89–107. Chicago: Irwin.Google Scholar
Paine, L. S. 1997b. Maintaining Organizational Integrity: Critical Decisions. In Cases in Leadership, Ethics, and Organizational Integrity: A Strategic Perspective: 223–237. Chicago: Irwin.Google Scholar
Parks, S. D. 1993. Is It Too Late? Young Adults and the Formation of Professional Ethics. In Piper, T. R.Gentile, M. C. and Parks, S. D. (eds.), Can Ethics Be Taught?: 13–72. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Perrow, C. 1984. Normal Accidents: Living with High Risk Technologies. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Perrow, C. 1986. Complex Organizations: A Critical Essay. (3d ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Pruitt, D. G. 1971a. Choice Shifts in Group Discussion: An Introductory Review. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 20: 339–360.Google Scholar
Pruitt, D. G. 1971b. Conclusion: Toward an Understanding of Choice Shifts in Group Discussion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 20: 494–510.Google Scholar
Putnam, H., and Putnam, R. A. 1994. Dewey’s Logic: Epistemology as Hypothesis. In Conant, J. (ed.) Words and Life: 198–220. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Rawls, J. 1971. A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Rawls, J. 1993. Political Liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Rawnsley, J. H. 1995. Total Risk: Nick Leeson and the Fall of Barings Bank. New York: HarperBusiness.Google Scholar
Rest, J. R. 1986. Moral Development: Advances in Research and Theory. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Roney, C. J. R., Higgins, E. T., and Shah, J. 1995. Goals and Framing: How Outcome Focus Influences Motivation and Emotion. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21 (11): 1151–1160.Google Scholar
Ross, L, and Ward, A. 1997. Psychological Barriers to Dispute Resolution. In Zanna, M. P. (ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Russo, J. E., and Schoemaker, P. J. H. 1989. Decision Traps: Ten Barriers to Brilliant Decision-Making and How to Overcome Them. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Sandel, M. J. 1994. Political Liberalism (Review of Rawls: Political Liberalism). Harvard Law Review, 107 (7): 1765–1794.Google Scholar
Schon, D. A. 1983. The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Sherif, M. 1958. Superordinate Goals in the Reduction of Intergroup Conflict. American Journal of Sociology, 63: 349–358.Google Scholar
Shklar, J. N. 1984. Ordinary Vices. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Simons, R. 1995. Levers of Control. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Smith, H. J. 1994. Managing Privacy: Information Technology and Corporate America. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Solomon, R. C. 1993. Ethics and Excellence: Cooperation and Integrity in Business. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Staw, B. M., Sandelands, L. E., and Dutton, J. E. 1981. Threat-Rigidity Effects in Organizational Behavior: A Multilevel Analysis. Administrative Science Quarterly, 26: 501–524.Google Scholar
Stern, R. N., and Barley, S. R. 1996. Organizations and Social Systems: Organization Theory’s Neglected Mandate. Administrative Science Quarterly, 41: 146–162.Google Scholar
Stoner, J. A. F. 1968. Risky and Cautious Shifts in Group Decisions: The Influence of Widely Held Values. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 4: 442–459.Google Scholar
Taylor, C. 1985. The Diversity of Goods. In Philosophy and the Human Sciences: 230–247. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Taylor, C. 1989. Sources of the Self. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Taylor, S. E. 1983. Adjustment to Threatening Events: A Theory of Cognitive Adaptation. American Psychologist, 38: 1161–1173.Google Scholar
Thornton, S. 1995. Children Solving Problems. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Treviño, L. K. 1986. Ethical Decision Making in Organizations: A Person-Situation Interactionist Model. Academy of Management Review, 11 (3): 601–617.Google Scholar
Treviño, L. K., and Weaver, G. R. 1996. Barriers to and Facilitators of Moral Perception: The Case of Competitive Intelligence Practitioners. Paper presented at the Academy of Management, Cincinnati, Ohio.Google Scholar
Treviño, L. K., and Youngblood, S. A. 1990. Bad Apples in Bad Barrels: A Causal Analysis of Ethical Decision-Making Behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 75 (4): 378–385.Google Scholar
Tversky, A., and Kahneman, D. 1974. Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases. Science, 185: 1124–1131.Google Scholar
Tversky, A., and Kahneman, D. 1981. The Framing of Decisions and the Psychology of Choice. Science, 211: 453–458.Google Scholar
Ury, W., Fisher, R., and Patton, B. 1991. Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement without Giving In. (2d ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Vandivier, K. 1972. The Aircraft Brake Scandal. Harper’s Magazine: 45–52.Google Scholar
Vaughan, D. 1995. The Challenger Launch Decision. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Weber, M. 1958. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Talcott, Parsons (trans.). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.Google Scholar
Weber, M. 1978. Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology. Roth, G. and Wittich, C. (eds.). Fischoff, E.Gerth, H.Henderson, A. M.Kolegar, F.Mills, C. W.Parsons, T.Rheinstein, M.Roth, G.Shils, E.Wittich, C. (trans.). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Weick, K. E. 1993. The Collapse of Sensemaking in Organizations: The Mann Gulch Disaster. Administrative Science Quarterly, 38: 628–652.Google Scholar
Williams, B. 1985. Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Williamson, O. E. 1985. The Economic Institutions of Capitalism. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar