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The Commons and the Moral Organization1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Edwin M. Hartman
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Abstract:

A complex organization is in effect a commons, which supervisory techniques cannot preserve from free riding. A corporate culture strong enough to create the requisite community-minded second-order desires and beliefs may be morally illegitimate. What morality requires is not local enforcement of foundational moral principles—a futile undertaking—but that the organization be a good community in that it permits the disaffected to exit, encourages reflective consideration of morality and the good life, and creates appropriate loyalty.

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Articles
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Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , July 1994, pp. 253 - 269
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 1994

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