The constancy of ethics amidst the changing world of work

The dramatic changes of the past 25 years in the nature and conditions of work, including the globalization of organizations and the introduction of a strategic as opposed to employee-centered conception of HR have impacted the ways in which moral problems are manifested. But the paradigmatic forms taken by those problems, the character traits and motives needed to recognize them as such, the ethical reasoning used to address them, as well as the substance of the ethical principles on which such reasoning is based are all essentially unaffected and still pertain. Also discussed are distinctions among the variety of behaviors constituting the moral domain (incivility, intentional anti-organizational acts, and ethical failings); micro-versus macro-conceptualizations of “business ethics”; and formalistic versus principled mechanisms for promoting ethical organizational behavior. Viewed as critical is moral leadership from senior executives in creating salient ethical organizational cultures and climates. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.