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Ethical management and leadership: a conceptual paper and Korean example

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Abstract

Business ethics have become an important topic globally for both policy-makers and businesses. This paper first discusses the conceptual framework for business ethics followed by ethical management (EM) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) as well as relevant theories. Within this conceptual framework, Korea is used as a country context as to the development of EM and CSR. An important example of an ethical scandal is the major steel manufacturer, POSCO as it was held up as an exemplar and role model of ethical management. However, in 2015, it faced allegations that the engineering and construction overseas unit chief of its Vietnamese subsidiary created a slush fund by overstating payments to Vietnamese contractors. This conceptual paper discusses the factors that created this situation referring to the theory of connection. It locates the case in the EM and CSR literature and analyses what went wrong and what the parent company could have done to prevent this from happening.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dubai Women’s College, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Louise Patterson

  2. IHCR, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea

    Chris Rowley

  3. Cass Business School, City, University of London, London, UK

    Chris Rowley

  4. Kellogg College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Chris Rowley

  5. Institute of Asia and Pacific Studies, Nottingham University, Nottingham, UK

    Chris Rowley

  6. Griffith University, South East Queensland, Australia

    Chris Rowley

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  1. Louise Patterson
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Patterson, L., Rowley, C. Ethical management and leadership: a conceptual paper and Korean example. Asian J Bus Ethics 8, 1–24 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13520-019-00086-3

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