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Related Experiment Videos

Moral communities.

David W Chambers1

  • 1University of the Pacific, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, 2155 Webster Street, San Francisco, CA 94115, USA. dchambers@pacific.edu

Journal of Dental Education
|November 16, 2006
PubMed
Summary

Organizations can be ethical agents by acting as communities based on promises, moving beyond individual responsibility. This perspective redefines moral influence within and among groups, emphasizing communication and commitment.

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Area of Science:

  • Business Ethics
  • Moral Philosophy
  • Organizational Behavior

Background:

  • Traditional ethical frameworks often focus on individual responsibility or abstract universal principles.
  • The capacity of organizations to function as ethical agents remains a debated topic in management and philosophy.
  • Understanding moral influence is crucial for effective community and inter-community dynamics.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether organizations can be considered ethical agents.
  • To define what constitutes moral influence exerted by and within organizational communities.
  • To propose an alternative discursive perspective on organizational ethics.

Main Methods:

  • Discursive analysis of ethical agency and moral influence.
  • Critique of received views on ethics (universal principles, individual responsibility).
  • Examination of moral influence through concepts like democracy, office, brotherhood, agency, witness, and promise-making.

Main Results:

  • Ethics is characterized as community action rooted in promises, challenging individualistic or principle-based views.
  • Moral influence within communities encompasses various relational dynamics and communication strategies.
  • Inter-community influence involves both damaging tactics (coercion, misrepresentation) and sound methods (rhetoric, promise-making).

Conclusions:

  • Organizations can act as ethical agents through community-based, promise-driven actions.
  • A discursive, community-oriented perspective offers a more adequate framework for understanding organizational ethics.
  • Effective moral influence relies on constructive communication and reliable promise-making within and between communities.

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