Ethics, Misconduct and the Financial Services Industry : Towards a Theory of Moral Business

This book explores how ethics and the moral context of business have evolved

historically in inf luential management theories and concepts. It looks at how

managerial thought accommodates morality, values, and ethics and demonstrates

the emerging patterns of ethical conduct to illustrate how moral aspects

of management and organizational practice can become peripheral.

The author examines a diverse range of data sources such as the most seminal

books in management and academic papers published in the mainstream

academic literature. The readings selected in the process are subject to critical

analysis and are complemented by an exploratory study of the financial services

industry, based on semistructured in-depth interviews. The uniqueness of the

proposed approach comes first from the consolidation of many perspectives

such as management, organization studies, and business anthropology rather

than focusing on one particular subdiscipline; second, from using a mixed

methodology, combining literature reviews with empirical, exploratory research

based on interviews; and third from including a narrative context in the

analysis and proposed future theory framework.

This book will appeal to students, researchers, and scholars who teach ethics

in the fields of economics or business. It is useful for advancing theory and

research on moral management and as a resource for management practitioners

looking to create business practices fostering moral sensitivity. Those interested

in setting future development directions may also find the proposed

consolidation of theoretical and empirical evidence valuable for the design of

future policies.