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In search of organizational virtue in business: agents, goods, practices, institutions and environments

Moore, G.; Beadle, R.

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Authors

R. Beadle



Abstract

In this paper we argue that MacIntyre’s virtues-goods-practice-institution schema (MacIntyre 1985) provides a conceptual framework within which organizational virtue in general, and virtue in business in particular, can be explored. A heuristic device involving levels of individual agency, mode of institutionalization and environment is used to discuss why some businesses protect practices, develop virtues and encourage the exercise of moral agency in their decision making, while others struggle or fail to do so. In relation to conventional shareholder-owned capitalist business, both the mode of institutionalization and the environment are shown to be largely antithetical to the development of practices. Other businesses may meet the necessary internal conditions for the sustenance of practice-like features but remain dependent upon features within their environments. To illustrate this, we use participant observation to show how one particular organization—Traidcraft plc—meets the relevant conditions.

Citation

Moore, G., & Beadle, R. (2006). In search of organizational virtue in business: agents, goods, practices, institutions and environments. Organization Studies, 27(3), 369-389. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840606062427

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date 2006-03
Deposit Date Aug 26, 2008
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Organization Studies
Print ISSN 0170-8406
Electronic ISSN 1741-3044
Publisher SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 27
Issue 3
Pages 369-389
DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840606062427
Keywords Organizational-virtue, Business-virtue, MacIntyre, Virtues-goods-practice-institution, Traidcraft.
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1565156

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Copyright Statement
The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Organization studies, 27/3, 2006, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2006 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Organization studies page: http://oss.sagepub.com/ on SAGE Journals Online: http://online.sagepub.com/




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