Kantian Capitalism and the Stakeholder Model: the necessity of a corporate ethics of justice

Stakeholder theory is the main-stream way of conceiving organizations, especially for profit corporations. Corporations are described as a web of stakeholders before whom managers have a multi-fiduciary responsibility. Edward Freeman, the father of stakeholder theory, holds that a normative theory o...

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Main Author: Pedro Francés Gómez
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidad Complutense de Madrid 2015-07-01
Series:Las Torres de Lucca
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.lastorresdelucca.org/index.php/ojs/article/view/16
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spelling doaj-c1ca3014173c45fcaf5cc42acd1d29352020-11-24T20:40:35ZengUniversidad Complutense de MadridLas Torres de Lucca2255-38272015-07-0100437416Kantian Capitalism and the Stakeholder Model: the necessity of a corporate ethics of justicePedro Francés Gómez0Universidad de GranadaStakeholder theory is the main-stream way of conceiving organizations, especially for profit corporations. Corporations are described as a web of stakeholders before whom managers have a multi-fiduciary responsibility. Edward Freeman, the father of stakeholder theory, holds that a normative theory of stakeholder management would set those fiduciary responsibilities as truly moral duties, due to the fact that stakeholders possess intrinsic, as opposed to merely instrumental, value. This article criticizes the basis of Freeman’s defense of normative stakeholder theory. The crucial critical argument is that Freeman employs the very same normative foundation that the classic theory of the firm uses; while deriving a view of the corporation that is less precise than the classic one. As an alternative, it is proposed that the organization should be conceived as a realm for justice: a social context of interaction where all parties would find it rational to agree to criteria for distributing the benefits so that cooperation –as required to bring about those benefits– is secured. This approach founds obligations (among stakeholders) without the need to resort to hypothesis as individual dignity or rights. However, the demands of justice might still be operationalized as rights of several kinds.http://www.lastorresdelucca.org/index.php/ojs/article/view/16teoría de los stakeholders, teoría de la justicia, justicia y empresa, ética empresarial
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Pedro Francés Gómez
spellingShingle Pedro Francés Gómez
Kantian Capitalism and the Stakeholder Model: the necessity of a corporate ethics of justice
Las Torres de Lucca
teoría de los stakeholders, teoría de la justicia, justicia y empresa, ética empresarial
author_facet Pedro Francés Gómez
author_sort Pedro Francés Gómez
title Kantian Capitalism and the Stakeholder Model: the necessity of a corporate ethics of justice
title_short Kantian Capitalism and the Stakeholder Model: the necessity of a corporate ethics of justice
title_full Kantian Capitalism and the Stakeholder Model: the necessity of a corporate ethics of justice
title_fullStr Kantian Capitalism and the Stakeholder Model: the necessity of a corporate ethics of justice
title_full_unstemmed Kantian Capitalism and the Stakeholder Model: the necessity of a corporate ethics of justice
title_sort kantian capitalism and the stakeholder model: the necessity of a corporate ethics of justice
publisher Universidad Complutense de Madrid
series Las Torres de Lucca
issn 2255-3827
publishDate 2015-07-01
description Stakeholder theory is the main-stream way of conceiving organizations, especially for profit corporations. Corporations are described as a web of stakeholders before whom managers have a multi-fiduciary responsibility. Edward Freeman, the father of stakeholder theory, holds that a normative theory of stakeholder management would set those fiduciary responsibilities as truly moral duties, due to the fact that stakeholders possess intrinsic, as opposed to merely instrumental, value. This article criticizes the basis of Freeman’s defense of normative stakeholder theory. The crucial critical argument is that Freeman employs the very same normative foundation that the classic theory of the firm uses; while deriving a view of the corporation that is less precise than the classic one. As an alternative, it is proposed that the organization should be conceived as a realm for justice: a social context of interaction where all parties would find it rational to agree to criteria for distributing the benefits so that cooperation –as required to bring about those benefits– is secured. This approach founds obligations (among stakeholders) without the need to resort to hypothesis as individual dignity or rights. However, the demands of justice might still be operationalized as rights of several kinds.
topic teoría de los stakeholders, teoría de la justicia, justicia y empresa, ética empresarial
url http://www.lastorresdelucca.org/index.php/ojs/article/view/16
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