On the (Im)Possibility of Business Ethics

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

   PDF

2. Theoretical Foundation

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

      PDF

3. Theoretical foundation

   1. Towards a Postmodern Understanding of Business Ethics

      • Minka Woermann

      Pages 3-29

   2. The Ethics of Complexity and the Complexity of Ethics

      • Minka Woermann

      Pages 31-50

   3. Introducing a Deconstructive Ethics

      • Minka Woermann

      Pages 51-74

   4. ‘Virtues’ for a Complex World

      • Minka Woermann

      Pages 75-86

4. Practical Application

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 87-87

      PDF

5. Practical application

   1. Reconsidering the Meaning of Corporate Social Responsibility

      • Minka Woermann

      Pages 89-123

   2. Towards a Theory and Model of Corporate Social Responsibility and Implications for Management and Leadership Practices

      • Minka Woermann

      Pages 125-157

   3. Implications for Teaching Business Ethics

      • Minka Woermann

      Pages 159-170

6. Back Matter

   Pages 171-175

   PDF

Corporations, and the environments in which they operate, are complex, with changing multiple dimensions, and an inherent capacity to evolve qualitatively. A central premise of this study is that a postmodern reading of ethics represents an expression of, and an engagement with, the ethical complexities that define the business landscape. In particular, the deconstructive philosophy of Jacques Derrida offers a non-trivial reading of a complex notion of ethics, and thereby helps us to develop the skills necessary to critique and intervene in our practices, and to develop robust strategies for living in the absence of prescriptive ethical frameworks. Although a central premise of this study is that substantive ethical claims can only be generated within a given context, the study nevertheless presents readers with a meta-position that illustrates the type of considerations that should inform ethical reflection from a complexity perspective. In order to illustrate the value that this meta-position holds for business ethics, these considerations are explored in terms of the implications that they hold for our understanding of corporate social responsibility, for the practice of responsible management and leadership practices, and for teaching business ethics.

• Conceptualising Corporate Identity
• Conceptualising Corporate Responsibility
• Conceptualising Stakeholder Relations
• Deconstruction as an Expression of Ethical Complexity
• Deconstructive Ethics
• Derrida’s Central Concepts
• Guiding Principles for Corporate Social Responsibility
• Poststructural Understanding of Business Ethics
• Reconsidering the Meaning of Corporate Social Responsibility
• Responsible Leadership
• The Complexity of Ethics
• The Ethics of Complexity
• Theory of Corporate Social Responsibility
• Traditional Account of Corporate Social Responsibility

• , Department of Philosophy, Stellenbosch University, Matieland, South Africa

  Minka Woermann

Policies and ethics