Abstract
The paper delineates a heuristic device comprising relationships between levels of instrumentality towards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) implicit in differential theoretical organizational approaches, associated managerial freedom in ethical decision making, and corresponding managerial moral orientations. Prominent theoretical approaches to CSR including: criticalism, fundamentalism, social corporatism, social institutionalism and moralism identified in the extant literature are delineated. These approaches are synthesised and articulated with the concepts of degrees of CSR instrumentality, ethical freedom and managerial moral orientations to produce a composite heuristic device with specific potential practical implementations. Ramifications of the analysis in terms of developing managers with ethical acumen and providing organizational circumstances allowing this to flourish are briefly discussed.
Highlights
This paper has attempted to show how different levels of instrumentality in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) applications are associated with constraints on managerial ethical freedom and specific managerial moral orientations
Of particular interest is how the instrumentalism in CSR advocated by social corporatism is likely to have had two basic effects on management’s moral orientation
There is a ‘business case’ for the incorporation of ethics in a firm’s quest to enhance profitability. By imposing such a requirement on management it pushes CSR, which embodies the ethical profile of a firm, into the realm of business in the criticalism/fundamentalist sense and broaches the sincerity divide
Summary
In reaction to the global financial implosion a recent edition of the Financial Times stated that: ‘The world has gained a new appreciation for long-term risk, and regulators around the globe seek to impose new standards on institutions they supervise’ (Masters, 2009: 1 emphasis added). This paper is not directly concerned with offering a further, even partial, nonfinancial explanation of the recent credit crunch, such explanations of the crisis are becoming more prevalent and convincing (see, for example, Tett, 2009), it takes the view that such standards would have done little to avoid the collapse of global financial institutions, or to provide protection from such a possibility in the future. It is maintained that, a lack of subjective (existential) ethical freedom and the requirement made by organisations to use company ethical actions as a means to specific business ends, may increase the propensity for and legitimacy of ‘mauvais fois’ and lead to immoral managerial orientations that generate increasing levels of organisational risk. A heuristic approach plotting relationships between levels of instrumentality in corporate social responsibility behaviours and their corresponding managerial moral orientations is discussed in the paper using various prominent theoretical approaches to CSR. Practical outcomes of the model regarding the development of ethically oriented managers and the provision of an organisational climate that allows this to take root are briefly discussed
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