Beyond Empiricism: Realizing the Ethical Mission of Management

• Date: 01 September 2012
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8594.2012.00409.x
• Published date: 01 September 2012
• Author: Julian Friedland

Beyond Empiricism: Realizing

the Ethical Mission

of Management

JULIAN FRIEDLAND

ABSTRACT

Research into the proper mission of business falls within

the context of theoretical and applied ethics. And ethics is

fast becoming a part of required business school cur-

ricula. However, while business ethics research occasion-

ally appears in high-profile venues, it does not yet enjoy a

regular place within any top management journal. I offer a

partial explanation of this paradox and suggestions for

resolving it. I begin by discussing the standard conception

of human nature given by neoclassical economics as dis-

seminated in business schools; showing it is a significant

obstacle to an accurate conception of ethics and how this

limits consideration of sustainability and corporate social

responsibility (CSR). I then examine the scope of the top

management journals, showing how their empirical and

descriptive focus leaves little room for ethics, which is an

essentially conceptual and prescriptive discipline. Finally,

I suggest avenues for research into the ethical mission

of business, generally––and sustainability and CSR, in

particular––by appeal to the precepts of Harvard Business

Julian Friedland is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Business Ethics, Department of Law &

Ethics, School of Business Administration, Fordham University, New York, NY. E-mail:

jfriedland2@fordham.edu.

bs_bs_banner

Business and Society Review 117:3 329–356

© 2012 Center for Business Ethics at Bentley University. Published by Blackwell Publishing,

350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA, and 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK.

School’s Master’s in Business Administration ethics oath

modeled on the medical and legal professions.

INTRODUCTION

The mission of the university is to contribute to the social

good by research and dissemination of knowledge. Each

part of the university, from the liberal arts to the social and

hard sciences, contributes to this compact in its own way. But

what is the proper mission of business within the university? This

question is still somewhat unclear for it is a relatively young field,

having only been part of the traditional university for scarcely

over a century (Khurana 2007, p. 89). Should business school

merely prepare students for various commercial vocations? If it is

to share the university mission, then this can only be one of its

aims for it must also lead commerce in concert with the greater

social and environmental good. Discovering how to accomplish

these goals is largely the province of ethics. And ethics courses

are rightly becoming more a part of core business school cur-

ricula. Paradoxically, however, ethics properly construed as pre-

scriptive logical argument does not yet enjoy a regular place

within any of the top business management journals.

In this article, I offer an explanation for this phenomenon by

pointing to the essentially conceptual nature of ethics, which does

not fit within the predominately empirical scope of management

research. I begin in part one by discussing the standard concep-

tion of human nature given by neoclassical economics as taught

and researched in business schools, showing that it is consider-

ably impoverished and a significant obstacle to an accurate

conception of ethics, thus hamstringing the discourse on

sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR). I then

proceed in part two to examine the scope of the top management

journals, showing how their empirical and descriptive focus leaves

precious little room for ethics, which is an essentially conceptual

and prescriptive discipline. Finally, in part three, I suggest

avenues for research into the proper mission of business by

appeal to the precepts of Harvard Business School’s new MBA

ethics oath modeled on the medical and legal professions. I show

how this oath gives voice to standard Western ethical approaches

330 BUSINESS AND SOCIETY REVIEW