2.4 Moral ecologies in corporate governance  (Page 4/8)

Introduction

Corporate governance is defined in the Blackwell Encyclopedic Dictionary of Business Ethics as "concerned with those decisions made by the senior executives of a firm and the impacts of their decisions on various stakeholder groups." (EBE 147) This module turns corporate governance inside-out and looks at it from the perspective of the governed, that is, from the directors, managers, and employees subject to the structures and strategies of corporate governance. Corporate environments function as "moral ecologies," that is, "the somewhat stable, but constantly negotiated set of values, practices, and influences within societies, organizations, professions, and work groups." (Huff et. al., 2008) The thrust of this module is to help you begin to strategize on how to develop sustainable moral careers within different moral ecologies. You will study different kinds of moral ecologies using a taxonomy developed from the research of Michael Davis in Thinking Like an Engineer and Robert Jackall in Moral Mazes . Huff (2008) provides some generic strategies for individuals to pursue within in these organizational environments. But the exercises included in this module will encourage you to expand upon this list. Working through this module will help you to view corporate governance from within from the micro perspective of the individual. Another module will allow you to see corporate governance from the outside from the macro point of view.

What you need to know …

Personality characteristics: the "big five" (plus one)

So much of success in practical and professional ethics lies in anticipating and defusing potential ethical challenges. Called "Preventive Ethics," this approach encourages you to develop the skill of uncovering latent or hidden ethical problems that could erupt into full-blown ethical dilemmas. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." This module is designed to help you reflect on your personalty, different organizational environments or ecologies, and how your personality fits into these moral ecologies. Your success depends on developing plans for successful moral careers that respond to your personality traits and resist ethical challenges presented by organizational environments.

Personality characteristics: find your place on the continuum

1. Extraversion__________________________________________Introversion
2. Neuroticism___________________________________________Emotional Stability
3. Conscientiousness_____________________________________Carelessness.
4. Agreeableness_________________________________________Disagreeableness
5. Openness (to experience_______________________________Closed (to experience)
6. Honesty/Humility_____________________________________Dishonesty/Arrogance

This account of personality modifies that presented by Huff et al in "Good computing: a pedagogically focused model of virtue in the practice of computing, parts 1 and 2."

Three moral ecologies