NCJ Number
98629
Date Published
1985
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Management theory, viewed as a scientific discipline characterized by efficient instrumental action, is examined in terms of what it can shed on economic crime and its perceived morality.
Abstract
On a narrowly theoretical level, management theory and its relative, decision theory, are built around the abstractly rational concept of economic man. He is a decisionmaking machine whose mission in life is to choose the best from among all existing alternatives. This, however, is not to say that managers do not make moral decisions. Rather, the professional manager is faced with two sets of very strong and demanding ethical norms. One requires that the manager's chief responsibility is to act in the employer's interests in the best possible way and to do so in a way which optimizes effectiveness and efficiency. Following such moral obligations can lead to lawbreaking when these norms are in conflict with the norms of society and when the demands of morality and of norms of society and when the demands of morality and of the law are not identical. The primary moral and legal obligation of the manager is to serve the interests of the firm and when these conflict with the interests of society, priority must be given to the firm's interests. Because legal boundaries between managerial and social norms often are unclear, constant testing of the boundary line can lead to a legitimization of acts previously perceived as illegitimate. The economic marketplace exists in a context of many conflicts. The more interest, rules and demands are added to this context, the greater the possibility of conflict. The logic of management need not lead to an action demanded by law. When it does not, the result may be economic crime. Fourteen notes and 21 references are provided.