Her/His Ethics? Managerial Ethics in Moral Decision-Making from a Contextual, Gendered, and Relational Perspective

Abstract

For the last decades, the question of differences in the moral judgments of women and men and the role of an “ethics of care” versus an “ethics of justice” have been debated. The aim of the present study was to explore the gendered aspects of leaders’ moral judgments and how they interact with more communal (health/welfare services) versus agentic (banking) organizational contexts. Using qualitative-interpretative analysis, 50 men and women Israeli managers participated in in-depth interviews focused on the ways they construct, understand, and react to ethical work dilemmas. Results suggested that both gender and organizational context contributed to shaping the managers’ understandings and decisions regarding the ethical dilemmas in their work. Additionally, the relational target of the dilemma (i.e., clients, employees, supervisors) and situational variables (e.g., ambiguity) affected their moral judgments. Although feminist scholars often have claimed that the ethics of care is excluded from organizational discourse, our findings show that the ethics of care is a significant model for understanding managerial moral judgments. We discuss implications for managers and consultants regarding training of responsible leaders who can represent different moral orientations in their work with multiple stakeholders.