Justice, management, and governance

Abstract

Purpose

The object of this paper is to examine the debate in business ethics over extending insights from political philosophy (e.g. theories of distributive justice) to address questions about the management and governance of economic enterprises.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper engages in a philosophical argument.

Findings

Even if justice does not matter in a direct manner for questions about economic enterprises, current debate overlooks the possibility that justice matters in an indirect manner for questions about the management and governance of economic enterprises. The paper illustrates two ways in which justice matters for such questions. The first concerns the promotion of stakeholder interests by multinational corporations. The second concerns the claims of workers to participate in the governance of economic enterprises.

Originality/value

The paper is offered as a contribution to the literature on normative theories of managerial responsibility and corporate governance.

Citation

Hsieh, N. (2006), "Justice, management, and governance", Corporate Governance, Vol. 6 No. 3, pp. 261-267. https://doi.org/10.1108/14720700610671864