Review of "Defining Moments: When Managers Must Choose between Right and Right"

Abstract

The world is a complicated place. Yet philosophers have long sought to discover a theory capable of explaining all of its varied mysteries with cer? tainty. Although we have succeeded in debunking successive generations of grand theories, a new supreme theory always comes along to take the prior theory's place. Pragmatism arose as one response to this history. Philosophers such as William James and John Dewey taught that the quest for certainty was misplaced. Humans had to make the best use of their limited understanding and had to ac? cept the fact that some questions just couldn't be answered precisely. Ambiguity replaced certainty. Similar considerations inform Joseph Badaracco's recent book, Defining Moments: When Managers Must Choose between Right and Right. As a pragma? tist of sorts, Badaracco draws widely from ethical theory, literature, and philosophy to present a realistic decision-making framework for some of the most difficult ethical problems in business. In contrast to the strict analytic tra? dition in normative ethics, he confronts ethical dilemmas situationally. As a result, he takes background social and economic relations seriously. The result is an illuminating account of the process of ethical reasoning that should be more helpful to decision makers than extended analyses of how to maximize utility or similar debates in moral philosophy. Moral conflicts are Badaracco's chief concern in Defining Moments. As the title suggests, when required to choose between two competing courses of ac? tion, each of which has strong moral arguments in its favor, managers are confronted with some ofthe most difficult ethical choices in their careers. Following Sartre, he