Artikel

Morele dimensies van het ondernemen: bedrijfsethiek als socio-culturele stroming

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Abstract

Moral dimensions of management. Business ethics as a socio-cultural trend - The growing interest of philosophers in ’practical ethics’ and the similarly growing interest of practitioners and professionals - particularly within the ’economic sphere’ - in the ethical dimensions of their activities are related to recent objective developments and socio-cultural trends within modern states : increasing awareness of the ’limits of growth’, decline of ’blue print’ ideologies, relative satisfaction of consumption markets, expanding ’leisure’ or ’information’ time, developments towards economic deregulation. The enterprise is more and more approached as a social entity with multiple links to the whole community in which it is implanted. The article discusses the significance of the gap that has been established, both theoretically and practically, between ’economic’ and ’ethical’ behaviour and between ’economics’ and ’ethics’, emphasizing the relevance of a new synthesis. It sketches the emergence of ’ethical investment funds’ and finds in their operation possibilities to develop a ’moral audit’ of enterprises through ’ethical screening’ of their activities. At the end of the 20th century, the gap between strategic-instrumental and ethical-intrinsic reason should be overcome by looking at and developing their mutual dependence.

How to Cite:

Raes, K., (1992) “Morele dimensies van het ondernemen: bedrijfsethiek als socio-culturele stroming”, Tijdschrift voor Sociale Wetenschappen 37(2), 101–136. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/tvsw.95103