Ethics and management: A controversial issue

This paper is a part of a broader research project which aims to examine how ethical paradigms are related to theories of organization and management. Using an analysis of various studies on the issue of Business Ethics as its point of departure the paper points out that there are two converging lines of thought. The first emphasizes that management should be reexamined in the light of the cultural changes taking place and maintains that management is a key factor in this change. The second proposes that ethics in general (and Business Ethics in particular) should be understood to mean more than simply applying certain values and stresses that this definition of ethics should be rethought in order to foster a closer relationship between ethics and the decision-making processes.Josep M. Lozano teaches Social Philosophy and Business Ethics at ESADE (Barcelona). He hasLicenciatura degrees in Philosophy and Theology and is currently working on his doctorate, researching the correlation between concepts of ethics and management. He is a regular contributor to a number of Spanish journals, writing on cultural analysis, ethics and theology. He is the author of three books which are systematic studies of these subjects.