Virtue Ethics as a Resource in Business

TLDR

Virtues provide both reasons for action and motivation across diverse contexts. The article offers an account of virtues as praiseworthy traits that influence conduct and explores their motivational power for defining the desired businessperson. It contrasts virtue ethics with rule ethics, arguing that virtue theories can integrate both theoretical and practical uses of rules. A virtue orientation shapes management attitudes and enhances decision‑making, improving ethical outcomes and business success.

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article provides an account of virtues as praiseworthy traits of character with a far-reaching capacity to influence conduct. Virtues supply their possessors both with good reasons that indicate, for diverse contexts, what sort of thing should be done and with motivation to do them. This motivational power of virtue is crucial for the question of what kind of person, or businessperson, one wants to be. The article shows how the contrast between virtue ethics and rule ethics is often drawn too sharply and indicates how virtue theories can incorporate both theoretical and practical uses of rules. More generally, it shows how a virtue orientation affects attitudes in management practices and how an understanding of certain virtues can help in making better decisions, both ethically and in relation to success in business.