Women's Studies and Business Ethics: Toward a New Conversation. A. Larson and R. E. Freeman (Eds), Oxford University Press, London, 1997.
✍ Scribed by Diana J. Wong-Mingji; Sherry E. Sullivan
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2000
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 58 KB
- Volume
- 21
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0894-3796
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
While discussions of business ethics generally involve multiple perspectives that generate controversy, the debates rarely challenge fundamental, taken-for-granted norms that weave the fabric of our organizational life together. This collection of essays edited by Larson and Freeman questions some of the fundamental assumptions that underlie current debates on business ethics. The contributors to this volume question, critique, reframe, revise, and reconceptualize the production of knowledge under the rubric of the business ethics, and subsequently, challenge the nature and purpose of corporate business.
The book is written in an easy-to-read conversational mode. The ®rst section of the book consists of an introduction and four primary chapters that present radical feminist critiques of person±organization ®t, organization bureaucracy, knowledge production in business ethics, and the prevailing power structure of organizations and their environmental context. The second section includes four chapters that critically respond to the ®rst section. These responses turn the conversation into a lively debate. The third section includes two chapters that move the discussion toward pragmatic steps, based on the theoretical feminist analyses of business ethics.
In Chapter one, Derry presents ®ndings from her interviews of 10 corporate women. She analyzes their struggles in trying to ®t their values to organizational norms and expectations. She draws heavily on the metaphor of voice as women's expression of themselves and as being dierent from that of men. Derry argues that within the male dominated organizational power structure women not only struggle to achieve rights, but also to be listened to, accepted, and recognized for their unique and valuable contributions. She concludes that major ethical theories do not address the reality of sexism, and that men in power cannot realistically imagine what women's experiences are like. Hence, business ethics can only address practices of sexism by developing theories based on listening, understanding, and celebrating women's voices.
In Chapter two, Martin and Knopo deconstruct Weber's theory of bureaucracy. They ®rst provide a brief outline of their deconstructive methodology, explaining that it focuses on what has been left out relative to the devalued, invisible other. Applying this to analyze the bureaucratic model, the authors conclude that the tenets of bureaucracy (e.g., hierarchy, division of labour, impersonal rules) serve to legitimize power and privilege and provide a rationale for gender inequality. Personality stereotypes associated with men (e.g., unemotional, authoritarian, detached) are valued while personality stereotypes associated with women (e.g., emotional, nurturing, involved) are devalued. The bureaucratic system's work requirements and the lack of organizational support for family concerns make it extremely dicult for most women to succeed. To escape the bureaucratic system that promotes gender inequality, Martin and Knopo recommend redesigning work requirements (e.g., ¯exible schedules and job sharing). For example, using computers to reduce the number of low responsibility clerical positions would allow women to move to higher status positions, and change norms associated with impersonality.
Calas and Smircich continue the feminist critique of the epistemological foundation of business ethics in Chapter three. They examine its relationship to mainstream management scholarship, and the practice of management in organizations. They assert that business ethics is in partnership with masculine management, and implicitly endorses the practices of patriarchal organisations. Calas and Smircich suggest the need to break this partnership by a rewriting of business ethics. By deconstructing business ethics, the authors question the neutrality of business ethics that ignore or suppress women's voices. Calas and Smircich challenge researchers to move beyond the safety of neutrality, and suggest that they promote scholarly debates on questions like: `What kinds of organizations does our society sustain and for what purposes? With what consequences? And how do we contribute to it ( p. 74)?'