Between a rock and a hard place : middle managers' ethical decision making and behaviour in the organisational context
This study increases knowledge and understanding of middle managers’ ethical decision-making and behaviour within the context of Finnish higher education. The aim of the research is to develop a new framework for ethical decision-making and behaviour by combining prior theories and empirical knowledge. This dissertation consists of an introductory essay and three articles. The main argument of this research is that through organisations’ socialisation processes, middle managers adopt socially defined managerial roles, which affect their ethical decision-making and ethical conduct. We can say that especially the ethical organisational culture is significant for middle managers’ understanding…
(A)moral Agents in Organisations? The Significance of Ethical Organisation Culture for Middle Managers’ Exercise of Moral Agency in Ethical Problems
This paper investigates qualitatively the significance of different dimensions of ethical organisation culture for the exercise of middle managers’ moral agency in ethical problems. The research draws on the social cognitive theory of morality and on the corporate ethical virtues model. This study broadens understanding of the factors which enable or constrain managers’ potential for moral agency in organisations, and shows that an insufficient ethical organisational culture may contribute to indifference towards ethical issues, the experiencing of moral conflicts, lack of self-efficacy and morally disengaged reasoning. In contrast, a healthy ethical culture can contribute to motivation to …