Stage 3: The Management Morality of Conforming to Social Virtues

The morality of stage 3 carries strong connotations to virtue ethics. In contrast to stage 2 where management seeks selfishness and personal advantages, management behaviour at stage 3 is based on a conforming to socially determined virtues. The moral philosophy of virtue ethics can be divided into two broad categories appearing in historical sequence. The first category begins were almost all moral philosophy begins, in ancient Greece where philosophers such as Plato and Socrates but primarily Aristotle developed moral codes for good personal characters based on a belief that a good person acts morally good and hence is a moral person. The second category relates to modern virtue ethics associated with David Hume (1711–1776). Between both tower the so-called Dark Ages of Feudalism with Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) as the prime writer on virtue ethics albeit from a Catholic standpoint. Once mediaeval Catholic rule was overcome modern virtue ethics was also influenced to some extend by Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), John Stuart Mill (1806–1873), Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund Adorno (1903–1969), and Emmanuel Levinas (1906–1995). Before outlining their writings, the chapter starts with the very beginning of virtue ethics, in ancient Greece.