What Should a Manager Like Me Do in a Situation Like This? Strategies for Handling Ethical Problems from the Viewpoint of the Logic of Appropriateness

Minna-Maaria Hiekkataipale () and Anna-Maija Lämsä
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Minna-Maaria Hiekkataipale: JAMK University of Applied Sciences
Anna-Maija Lämsä: JSBE Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics

Journal of Business Ethics, 2017, vol. 145, issue 3, No 1, 457-479

Abstract: Abstract In this research, we argue that managers have various strategies for handling complex ethical problems and that these strategies are formed according to the logic of appropriateness. First, we will show through a qualitative empirical study the different strategies that are used for handling ethical problems. Five types of strategies are identified in this study: mediating, principled, isolation, teaching and bystanding. Secondly, we will investigate the types of ethical approaches which managers reveal when handling ethical problems. Thirdly, we will discuss which strategies seem to contribute to the overall ethicality of organisations. To conclude, we suggest that the decisions and actions of managers like the middle managers in this study are influenced by their interpretation of what is appropriate behaviour in the particular situation.

Keywords: Ethical problem; Ethical decision making; Problem-handling strategies; Logic of appropriateness; Middle manager; Qualitative study; Ethics; Ethical organisation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-015-2911-y

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