Work, Ethics & Organisational Life is written from a multidisciplinary perspective, with personal ethical development at its core. The guiding pedagogical principle of the text is that of a ‘learning journey’. Rather than being prescriptive or descriptive, the text is reflective. Readers are encouraged to think of their engagement with ethical frameworks from the outset, and then to apply these as lenses through which people typically engage with organisations: as managers, employees, consumers and stakeholders not directly engaged with corporations. There are three main parts to the book. The introductory chapters offer a general introduction to the concept of ethics, to help readers learn more about ethical theory, its relationship to business and management, and to their own personal development. The second section takes readers through various stages of working life and examines how ethical issues arise at each stage, discussing the contributions of key ethicists, to deepen readers’ understanding of ethical theory and its importance to their own career planning and development. The third section looks at how ethics is applied in organisational contexts (strategy, corporate social responsibility, sustainability, international business and leadership), to help readers understand how they can change the practice of business and management in order to produce new forms of innovative practice that meet changing societal needs.
