Moral Mazes : The World of Corporate Managers

Robert Jackall presents an eye-opening account of how corporate managers think the world works, and how big organizations shape moral consciousness. He takes the reader inside the intricate world of the corporation where hard work does not necessarily lead to success, but where sharp talk, self-promotion, powerful patrons, and sheer luck might. This brilliant, sometimes disturbing, often wildly funny study of corporate thinking, decision-making, and morality presents compelling real life stories of the men and women charged with running the businesses of America. This anniversary edition includes a new afterword by the author linking the themes contained in Moral Mazes to the current financial crisis.

This classic study of ethics in business presents an eye-opening account of how corporate managers think the world works, and how big organizations shape moral consciousness. Robert Jackall takes the reader inside a topsy-turvy world where hard work does not necessarily lead to success, but sharp talk, self-promotion, powerful patrons, and sheer luck might. What sort of everyday rules-in-use do people play by when there are no fixed standards to explain why some succeed and others fail? In the words of one corporate manager, those rules boil down to this maxim: ¨What is right in the corporation is what the guy above you wants from you. That''s what morality is in the corporation.¨ This brilliant, disturbing, funny look at the ethos of the corporate world presents compelling real life stories of the men and women charged with running the businesses of America. This anniversary edition includes an afterword by the author linking the themes of Moral Mazes to the financial tsunami that engulfed the world economy in 2008.