RT Article
T1 Business ethics: Defining the twilight zone
JF Journal of business ethics
VO 8
IS 10
SP 781
OP 791
A1 Nel, Deon
A1 Pitt, Leyland
A1 Watson, Richard
LA English
PB Springer Science + Business Media B. V
YR 1989
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1785599860
AB This paper examines the issue of ethics policy in organizations. While the actions of top management may be the single most important factor in fostering corporate behaviour of a high ethical standard, there should be policy where policy is needed. The perceptions of three managerial groups — top- marketing- and purchasing managers — are compared regarding firstly, whether they see a need for policy on a range of ethically contentious issues, and secondly whether they believe there is policy covering these issues in their own organizations. No significant differences between the three groups of managers were found, either with regard to their perceptions of needs for policy, or as far as the existence thereof is concerned. However, an overall comparison of need for policy and the existence of policy showed a significant difference on the scenarios presented to respondents. Furthermore, the study identifies grey areas of ethics in business where managers believe policy is needed, but is not perceived to exist. The use of an ethics policy matrix in organizations is suggested as a practcial tool for the examination of ethically contentious issues.
K1 Grey Area
K1 Ethical Standard
K1 Business Ethic
K1 Marketing
K1 Economic Growth
DO 10.1007/BF00383778