Values, Nature, and Culture in the American Corporation (Ruffin Series in Business Ethics): William C. Frederick
Review
“The author’s task is to explain the values that drive business, especially those individualistic, self-focused values that seem so intransigently opposed to the sustenance of a quality community life. This problem has been taken up by many other scholars in the past, but none has brought to it the grand vision, intellectual claritu, and sense-making that Frderick gives us in this work. I recommend slow, savory, intense reading to get the full benefit of what Frederick has done for us.”–Business & Society
“…A very well organized, clear, interesting, useful, and comprehensive book on the nature of business decision making and behavior in the context of a theory of business values that he develops.”–Academy of Management Review
“…a masterwork by a scholar long interested in studying business organizations as social systems and ethical environments…a facinating journey…”–Ethics
In Values, Nature, and Culture in the American Corporation, distinguished ethicist William Frederick explores issues of fundamental importance to all who aspire to conduct their business affairs ethically. He begins with an examination of the three value systems in business that are basically incompatible, and therefore in constant tension. The first is the need for managers to efficiently allocate resources for maximum profits. The second is the natural tendency for managers, in pursuit of the first goal, to accumulate power for its own sake. The third is the desire for people in the community to create relationships that will perpetuate these communities. Frederick brings in a range of ideas and concepts from the social sciences as well as the natural sciences to illuminate his discussion. In the final section of the book he explores a range of issues of current concern to managers, including corporate culture and technology.