The Management Ethics “Crisis”: An Organizational Perspective

The article focuses on business ethics in the United States and suggests there is an ethical lag in bureaucracy and business organizations. Scandals such as Watergate indicate that ethical standards have not been internalized from Judaic-Christian belief systems or civil religion. Managerial ethics should not be based on theistic individualism or ethical legalism. Executive codes of ethics should be based on three principles that foster ethical behavior throughout the organization, including the concept that cooperative social relations lead to moral action.