Ethics at Work

Citation

Auer, C. (2005), "Ethics at Work", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 26 No. 1, pp. 79-80. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437730410556798

Appropriately, Bob Kelley begins his volume with Churchill's line commenting on the discussion of ethics – “a concise, compendious outline of ethics is not a novelty to be locally obtained”. Kelley, by his own acknowledgement, does not attempt to remedy Churchill's observation. Rather, Kelley's work is more of an anthology of the mores and variables that make the distillation of ethical truth such difficult work.

In Part I, Kelley takes the reader on a global tour of cultural, religious and organizational trends in regards to ethics. This section showcases Kelley's ability to bring the host of diverse perspective to bear on the matter of ethics. The reader will be challenged to put their closely held convictions of ethical truth to the international fire.

Part II introduces the stakeholder as the ethical guide. Kelley defines the stakeholder as all who interact with an organization or business. Stakeholders include the owners (shareholders, investors, proprietors, partners, etc.), employees, customers, suppliers and the community. When each of these is considered by the leadership, the dilemma of ethical code and subsequent behavior will be uncovered, Kelley asserts. Part III, then, is a discussion of how to implement a stakeholder approach to ethics.

Those who participate in the discussion of ethics can be sliced in many useful ways. One such method has to do with the notion of truth. All ethicists wrestle with the issue of a universal, global, time enduring truth. A truth that is applicable regardless of culture, religious tradition, historical context or sociological background. Many ethicists, when asked if such a truth exists, answer yes and their subsequent work is to find those pure nuggets of truth on which to base all ethical codes and behavior. Kelley is clearly not in this camp. Kelley clearly believes that an objective, enduring truth does not exist. Part I is a well written and comprehensive perusal of the problems that those who believe in an objective truth must deal with: however, Kelley concludes that because these problems exist (and have subsequently lead to a spectrum of ethical practice) that there is no such objective truth. This dismissal of universal truth then sets the table for Kelley to introduce the stakeholder as the definer of ethical practice. That is, ethical practice is based on the current attitudes and convictions of the stakeholders.

I make mention of this issue not to dismiss Kelley's work, but to warn the reader that the title is perhaps misleading. A more appropriate title would be: “A Case for the Stakeholder Approach to Ethics” or “A Case For Doing Whatever is Most Popular in The Current Context” or something of the like.

The strength of Kelley's work lies in his comprehensive and well articulated knowledge of cultural, religious and organizational perspectives. However, the reader who picks up this book on ethics with the hope of finding truth will be disappointed.