Business Ethics, Philosophy of Management, and Theory of Leadership

Abstract

This article presents the background of the discussions of the relation between business ethics and philosophy of management. The reason for the need for rethinking business ethics and philosophy of management is the many scandals and the crisis of business in contemporary society. The question is whether it is possible to overcome the oxymoron between ethics and business with the point of view that “good ethics is good business”. In order to answer this question we need to rethink business ethics with philosophy of management. From this perspective, the paper addresses the problem of moral blindness in organizations. The extended elements of moral blindness in organizations represent the basis for our need for business ethics. The state of the art of business ethics with utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics, discourse ethics and recent approaches to philosophy of management within the analytical and continental traditions need to be aware of this need to rethink business ethics from the perspective of philosophy of management. On this basis the paper proposes a global philosophy of management with cosmopolitan business ethics as a foundation of the concept of the balanced company in international business. A case-study approach based on care evaluation of ethical decision-making and ethical dilemmas in particular companies may help to advance this approach.