Organizational Ethics and the Good Life

This text argues that ethical principles should not derive from abstract theory, but from the real world of experience in organizations. It shows how ethical principles derive from what workers learn in their communities and that an ethical firm is one that creates a good life for its workers. Edwin Hartman argues that ethical priciples should not derive from abstract theory, but from the real world of experience in organizations. He explains how ethical principles derive from what workers learn in their communities (firms), and that an ethical firm is one that creates the good life for the workers who contribute to its mission. His aproach is based on the Aristotelian tradition of refined common sense, from recent work on collective action problems in organizations, and from social contract theory.