Ethical Role of the Manager

[Page 1234]In a broad construction of the ethical role of the manager, managing and leading can be said to be inherently ethics-laden tasks because every managerial decision affects either people or the natural environment in some way—and those effects or impacts need to be taken into consideration as decisions are made. A narrower construction of the ethical role of the manager is that managers should serve only the interests of the shareholder; that is, their sole ethical task is to meet the fiduciary obligation to maximize shareholder wealth that many people wrongfully believe is embedded in law. Even in this narrow view, however, although not always recognized explicitly, ethics are at the core of management practice.

The ethical role of managers is broadened beyond fiduciary responsibility ...