Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-9nwgx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-14T10:21:54.409Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Ethics of Governance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Josef Wieland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

This article addresses the issue of whether and to what extent moral values can be attributed to collective actors. The paper starts from the premise that business ethics as the ethics of an organization is to be distinguished from the virtues of its members. This point is elaborated in both economic- and organization-theoretic terms within the framework of the New Economics of Organization. The result is the development of a concept of governance ethics. The ethics of governance is about the incorporation of moral conditions and requirements in the management, governance, and control structures of a firm. This is the contextual precondition for the long-lasting and beneficial effects of the virtues of individuals within the organizations.

Type
Corporate Governance
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , January 2001 , pp. 73 - 87
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2001

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

Alchian, A. and Demsetz, H. 1972. “Production Cost and Economic Organization.” American Economic Review 62: 777–795.Google Scholar
Barnard, C. J. 1938/1968. The Function of the Executive. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Barney, J. 1991. “Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage.” Journal of Management 17: 99–120.Google Scholar
Bull, C. 1983. “Implicit Contracts in the Absence of Enforcement and Risk Aversion.” American Economic Review 73: 658–671.Google Scholar
Casson, M. 1997. Information and Organization. A New Perspective on the Theory of the Firm. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Center for Business Ethics at Bentley College. 1992. “Instilling Ethical Values in Large Corporations.” Journal of Business Ethics 11: 863–867.Google Scholar
Donaldson, T. 1982. Corporations and Morality. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Donaldson, T. and Preston, L. 1995. “The Stakeholder Theory of the Corporation: Concepts, Evidence, and Implications.” Academy of Management Review 20: 65–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donaldson, T and Werhane, P., eds. 1998. Ethical Issues in Business – A Philosophical Approach. Engelwood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
French, P. 1984. Collective and Corporate Responsibility. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Gifford, A. 1991. “A Constitutional Interpretation of the Firm.” Public Choice 68: 91–106.Google Scholar
Hobbes, Thomas. 1651/1914. Leviathan, or the Matter, Form and Power of a Commonwealth, Ecclesiastical and Civil. London: Everyman’s Library.Google Scholar
Krafft, J. and Ravix, J.-L. 1998. “Theories of the Firm.” In Markets and Organization, ed. Arena, R. and Longhi, Chr.Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Paine, L. S. 1994. “Managing for Organizational Integrity.” Harvard Business Review 72:106–117.Google Scholar
Schmoller, G. 1901. Grundrifi der Allgemeinen Volkswirtschaftslehre. Bd. 1,4. Aufl. Leipzig: Duncker and Humblot.Google Scholar
Searle, J. R. 1969. Speech Acts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Searle, J. R. 1979. Expression and Meaning. Studies in the Theory of Speech Acts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sombart, W. 1902/1987. Der moderne Kapitalismus. Bd. 11,1. München: dtv-Reprint.Google Scholar
Teece, D. J.; Pisano, G.; and Shuen, A. 1997. “Dynamic Capabilities and Strategic Management.” Strategic Management Journal 18: 39–61.3.0.CO;2-Z>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vanberg, V 1992. “Organizations as Constitutional Systems.” Constitutional Political Economy 3: 223–253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weaver, G. R. 1993. “Corporate Codes of Ethics. Purpose, process, and content issues.” Business and Society 32: 44–58.Google Scholar
Weaver, G. R.; Trevino, L. K.; Cochran, Ph. L. 1999. “Corporate Ethics Programs as Control Systems.” Academy of Management Journal 43: 41–57.Google Scholar
Werhane, P. H. 1985. Persons, Rights, and Corporations. Engelwood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Wieland, J. 1989. Die Entdeckung der Òkonomie. Bern-Stuttgart: Haupt.Google Scholar
Wieland, J. 1996a. Okonomische Organisation, Allokation und Status. Tubingen: Mohr (Siebeck)Google Scholar
Wieland, J. 1996b. “Õkonomik der Transaktionsatmosphàre.” In Zwischen Evolution und Institution. Neue Ansatze in der òkonomischen Théorie, ed. Priddat, B. and Wegner, G.Marburg: Metropolis.Google Scholar
Wieland, J. 1997. “Die Neue Organisationsòkonomik.” In Théorie der Organisation, ed. Ortmann, G. et al. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag.Google Scholar
Wieland, J. 1998. “Kooperationsokonomie. Die Õkonomik der Diversifitãt, Abhãngigkeit und Atmosphare.” In Formelle und Informelle Institutionen, ed. G. Wegner and J. Wieland. Marburg: Metropolis.Google Scholar
Wieland, J. 1999. Die Ethik der Governance. Marburg: Metropolis.Google Scholar
Wieland, J. forthcoming. “Business Codes.” In International Encyclopedia of The Social and Behavioral Sciences, ed. Smelser, N. J. and Baltes, P. B.Oxford: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Williamson, O. E. 1975. Markets and Hierarchies. Analysis and Antitrust Implications. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Williamson, O. E. 1985. The Economic Institutions of Capitalism. Firms, Markets, Relational Contracting. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Williamson, O. E. 1990. Organization Theory. From Chester Barnard to the Present and Beyond. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Williamson, O. E. 1991. “Comparative Economic Organizations: The Analysis of Discrete Structural Alternatives.” Administrative Science Quarterly 36: 236–256.Google Scholar
Williamson, O. E. 1993. “The Evolving Science of Organization.” Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 149: 99–118.Google Scholar
Williamson, O. E. 1996. The Mechanisms of Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar