Ethics Theory and Business Practice 5.3 Virtue Theory – Part Three Virtue, Work Practices, and...
-
Upload
edward-thomas -
Category
Documents
-
view
251 -
download
39
Transcript of Ethics Theory and Business Practice 5.3 Virtue Theory – Part Three Virtue, Work Practices, and...
Ethics Theory and
Business Practice
5.3 Virtue Theory – Part Three Virtue, Work Practices, and Human
Flourishing
aims
• to consider the how the achievement of excellence in practices delivers internal and external goods, which help people to flourish
• to explain how the prioritization of external goods in business might inhibit the cultivation of virtue, the attainment of excellence, and the achievement of internal goods
• to outline some practical steps that managers can take to encourage virtue in business
human flourishing
internal goods:e.g. enjoyment,
satisfaction, exhilaration, and
personal development
external goods:e.g. money and status
a practice
• ‘any coherent and complex form of socially established, cooperative human activity’ (MacIntyre, 1985: 187)
• some leisure practices: • some work practices: • excellence in practices enables the
achievement of internal goods and external goods
excellence in practices
human flourishing
internal goods external goods
practices, excellence, and community
practices and the standards of excellence that prevail within them are created, developed and sustained by communities of practitioners
www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7p2TCW4zVo
practices and virtue
• ‘A virtue is an acquired human quality • the possession and exercise of which tends to
enable us to achieve those goods which are internal to practices
• and the lack of which effectively prevents us from achieving any such goods’
(MacIntyre, 1985: 191)
practitioner’s flourishing
internal goods external goods
excellence in practices
virtue
some differences between internal goods and external goods
internal goods external goodsnot limited in supply limited in supply
dispersed throughout the community
the possession of a practitioner
can only be achieved via excellence
can also be achieved by other means
necessarily linked to virtue not necessarily linked to virtue
practitioner’s flourishing
internal goods external goods
excellence in practices
other people’s
flourishing
other means
virtue
beware of external goods
external goods are necessary to human flourishing, but:• they may get prioritized over internal goods• they may shift attention from the importance of
excellence• their pursuit may undermine virtue
so, external goods need to be kept in their proper place
institutions
• institutions provide the frameworks within which practices take place
• some examples of institutions in relation to leisure practices:
• some examples of institutions in relation to work practices:
• it is the role of institutions to take care of external goods
• and to ensure they are kept in their proper place
theory in practice
bloodgate: prioritizing external goods and the erosion of virtue
management and virtueto creating and sustaining a virtuous business, managers should:1. prioritize the pursuit of excellence in the practices
housed within their corporations2. treat external goods as a means to achieving the end
of excellence, rather than as an end in themselves3. celebrate internal goods over external goods4. resist the corrupting pressure of outside groups
(Moore, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2012; Moore and Beadle, 2006)
key points
• internal goods and external goods are both necessary to human flourishing
• work practices offer a fruitful source of internal and external goods, so they can help people to flourish
• however, for people to flourish in a comprehensive way, external goods need to be kept in their proper place; they should not be permitted to become an overriding priority
• as far as work practices are concerned, it is the role of companies and those who run them to ensure that the quest for external goods does not get out of hand
referencesMacIntyre, A. (1985/1981) After Virtue. London: Duckworth.Moore, G. (2002) ‘On the implications of the practice-institution distinction: MacIntyre and the application of modern virtue ethics to business’, Business Ethics Quarterly, 12/1: 19–32.Moore, G. (2005) ‘Humanizing business: a modern virtue ethics approach’, Business Ethics Quarterly, 15/2: 237–55.Moore, G. (2008) ‘Re-imagining the morality of management: a modern virtue ethics approach’, Business Ethics Quarterly, 18/4: 483–511.Moore, G. (2012) ‘Virtue in business: Alliance Boots and an empirical exploration of MacIntyre’s conceptual framework’, Organization Studies, 33/3: 363–87.Moore, G. and Beadle, R. (2006) ‘In Search of organizational virtue in business: agents, goods, practices, institutions and environments’, Organization Studies, 27/3: 369–89.