Moral Mazes The World of Corporate Managers

by Jackall, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780199729883
• ISBN10: 0199729883
• Edition: Anniv.
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-12-08
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This updated edition of a classic study of ethics in business presents an eye-opening account of how corporate managers think the world works, and how big organizations shape moral consciousness. Robert Jackall takes the reader inside a topsy-turvy world where hard work does not necessarily lead to success, but sharp talk, self-promotion, powerful patrons, and sheer luck might. What sort of everyday rules-in-use do people play by when there are no fixed standards to explain why some succeed and others fail? In the words of one corporate manager, those rules boil down to this maxim: "What is right in the corporation is what the guy above you wants from you. That's what morality is in the corporation." This brilliant, disturbing, funny look at the ethos of the corporate world presents compelling real life stories of the men and women charged with running the businesses of America. This new edition includes a foreword linking the themes of Moral Mazes to the financial tsunami that engulfed the world economy in 2008.

Author Biography

Robert Jackall is Willmott Family Professor of Sociology & Public Affairs at Williams College.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Business as a Social and Moral Terrain	p. 1
Moral Probations, Old and New	p. 6
The Social Structure of Managerial Work	p. 18
The Main Chance	p. 44
Looking up and Looking Around	p. 79
Drawing Lines	p. 106
Dexterity with Symbols	p. 142
The Magic Lantern	p. 173
Invitations to Jeopardy	p. 204
Moral Mazes and the Great Recession	p. 221
Author's Note	p. 241
Notes	p. 243
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 273
Index	p. 279
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