Resumen de Virtue and organization: extending the macintyrean paradigm in business ethics
Alasdair MacIntyres After Virtue has had a major impact within moral philosophy, greatly contributing to the revival of virtue ethics. Within business ethics, MacIntyres work has shaped applications of virtue ethics to the firm. Much of this previous research has drawn upon MacIntyres notion of a practice, investigating the role of productive practices within organizations, outlining the role of the virtues within such practices, and explaining the dangers to virtuous practice stemming from institutional and environmental factors.
In this dissertation, I seek to expand the MacIntyrean paradigm in business ethics by drawing upon additional aspects of MacIntyres work and work of other proponents of the Aristotelian and Thomistic tradition of practical philosophy, and by illustrating how the MacIntyrean approach provides novel answers to key questions in business ethics. More specifically, in my first chapter, I draw upon MacIntyres Dependent Rational Animals to extend the focus on productive practices to include an account of the role of the virtues in enabling organization members to cope with vulnerability. In the second chapter, I develop a normative justification for employee rights grounded in the demands of the virtue of justice within the context of productive practices. And in the final chapter, I draw upon Pope Franciss recent discussion of moral development in Amoris Laetitia to elaborate ways in which organizations can better promote the development of virtues.
