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573The Politics of Stakeholder TheoryBusiness Ethics Quarterly 4 (4): 409-421. 1994.The purpose of this paper is to enter the conversation about stakeholder theory with the goal of clarifying certain foundational issues. I want to show, along with Boatright, that there is no stakeholder paradox, and that the principle on which such a paradox is built, the Separation Thesis, is nicely self-serving to business and ethics academics. If we give up such a thesis we find there is no stakeholder theory but that stakeholder theory becomes a genre that is quite rich. It becomes one of m…Read more
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78Enhancing Stakeholder PracticeBusiness Ethics Quarterly 16 (1): 23-42. 2006.Lack of specificity around stakeholder identity remains a serious obstacle to the further development of stakeholder theory andits adoption in actual practice by business managers. Nowhere is this shortcoming more evident than in stakeholder theory’s treatment of the constituency known as “community.”In this paper we attempt to set forth what we call “the Problem of Community” as indicative of the definitional problems of stakeholdertheory. We then begin the process of gaining greater specificit…Read more
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33Poor People and the Politics of CapitalismBusiness and Professional Ethics Journal 30 (3-4): 179-194. 2011.The purpose of this paper is to suggest that the current conversation about the relationship between capitalism and the poor assumes a story about business that is shopworn and outmoded. There are assumptions about business, human behavior, and language that are no longer useful in the twenty first century. Business needs to be understood as how we cooperate together to create value and trade. It is fundamentally about creating value for stakeholders. Human beings are not solely self-interested,…Read more
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67Scandinavian Cooperative Advantage: The Theory and Practice of Stakeholder Engagement in Scandinavia (review)Journal of Business Ethics 127 (1): 1-21. 2015.In this article, we first provide evidence that Scandinavian contributions to stakeholder theory over the past 50 years play a much larger role in its development than is presently acknowledged. These contributions include the first publication and description of the term “stakeholder”, the first stakeholder map, and the development of three fundamental tenets of stakeholder theory: jointness of interests, cooperative strategic posture, and rejection of a narrowly economic view of the firm. We t…Read more
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15Women's studies and business ethics: toward a new conversation (edited book)Oxford University Press. 1997.This latest book in the Ruffin Series in Business Ethics is the first work to analyze the significance of gender in the ethical management of business organizations. Scholars from the fields of business ethics and women's studies come together in this book to offer fresh new perspectives on business ethics. The contributors examine the value of feminist theory and scholarship for business ethics, and from this examination four overarching themes emerge. The first theme is that corporations are s…Read more
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33Erratum to: Scandinavian Cooperative Advantage: The Theory and Practice of Stakeholder Engagement in ScandinaviaJournal of Business Ethics 127 (1): 87-87. 2015.In this article, we first provide evidence that Scandinavian contributions to stakeholder theory over the past 50 years play a much larger role in its development than is presently acknowledged. These contributions include the first publication and description of the term “stakeholder”, the first stakeholder map, and the development of three fundamental tenets of stakeholder theory: jointness of interests, cooperative strategic posture, and rejection of a narrowly economic view of the firm. We t…Read more
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44Ethics and HRMBusiness and Professional Ethics Journal 30 (3-4): 269-292. 2011.The development of an ethical perspective of HRM that is both employee centered and explicitly normative and, as such, distinct from dominant and criticalperspectives of HRM has progressed in recent years. Reliance on the traditional “threesome” of rights/justice theories, deontology and consequentialism, however, has limited debate to micro-level issues and the search for a “solution.” By understanding the employment relationship as a stakeholder relationship, we open the ethical analysis of HR…Read more
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96Business Ethics at the MillenniumBusiness Ethics Quarterly 10 (1): 169-180. 2000.Business ethics, as a discipline, appears to be at a crossroads. Down one avenue lies more of the same: mostly philosophers takingwhat they know of ethics and ethical theory and applying it to business. There is a long tradition of scholars working in the area known as “business and society” or “social issues in management.” Most of these scholars are trained as social scientists and teach in business schools. Their raison d’etre has been admirable: trying to get executives and students of busin…Read more
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327Stakeholder Theory: A Libertarian DefenseBusiness Ethics Quarterly 12 (3): 331-349. 2002.Abstract:The purpose of this paper is to suggest that at least one strain of what has come to be called “stakeholder theory” has roots that are deeply libertarian. We begin by explicating both “stakeholder theory” and “libertarian arguments.” We show how there are libertarian arguments for both instrumental and normative stakeholder theory, and we construct a version of capitalism, called “stakeholder capitalism,” that builds on these libertarian ideas. We argue throughout that strong notions of…Read more
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31Values and Poetic Organizations: Beyond Value Fit Toward Values Through Conversation (review)Journal of Business Ethics 113 (1): 39-49. 2013.In the midst of greed, corruption, the economic crash and the general disillusionment of business, current conceptions of leadership, organizational values, and authenticity are being questioned. In this article, we fill a prior research gap by directly exploring the intersection of these three concepts. We begin by delving into the relationship between individual values and organizational values. This analysis reveals that the “value fit” approach to creating authenticity is limited, and also i…Read more
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University of VirginiaRegular Faculty
Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Applied Ethics |
Normative Ethics |
Areas of Interest
Metaphilosophy |
20th Century Philosophy |