Walking Ethical Tightrope
WALKING THE ETHICAL TIGHTROPE: BALANCING THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF IN-HOUSE COUNSEL TO KEY STAKEHOLDERS
Legalwise Seminars Pty Ltd
12 November 2009
Sydney
By Steve Mark
NSW Legal Services Commissioner
“The moral ethos of managerial circles emerges directly out of the social context (of the corporation). It is an ethos most notable for its lack of fixedness. In the welter of practical affairs in the corporate world, morality does not emerge from some set of internally held convictions or principles, but rather from ongoing albeit changing relationships with some person. Since these relationships are always multiple, contingent, and in flux, managerial moralities are always situations, always relative.” Robert Jackall, MORAL MAZES: THE WORLD OF CORPORATE MANAGERS[1].
In 1988 Robert Jackall published a book MORAL MAZES: THE WORLD OF CORPORATE MANAGERS.[2] The book provides an in-depth sociological analysis of corporate managers in the chemical and textile industries in the United States in the early 1980s. Jackall’s goal was to examine bureaucracy in corporate America and to find out whether bureaucracy shapes moral consciousness. Jackall's inquiry, based on interviews with the managers themselves, found that these managers constantly adapt to the social environments of their organisations in order to succeed. In finding so Jackall discovered that ethics played a very small role in the business of management. The book also revealed that the most serious threat to integrity is the phenomenon of embeddedness, where people get embedded in their jobs and have trouble seeing beyond what is asked of them. Jackall found that a “what’s right in the corporation is what the guy above you wants from you” ideology pervades much of corporate life.
Robert Jackall’s conclusions about corporate America and the actions of management in 1988 resonate largely with the scandals involving in-house counsel in recent years.[3] From intentionally helping their
Legalwise Seminars Pty Ltd
12 November 2009
Sydney
By Steve Mark
NSW Legal Services Commissioner
“The moral ethos of managerial circles emerges directly out of the social context (of the corporation). It is an ethos most notable for its lack of fixedness. In the welter of practical affairs in the corporate world, morality does not emerge from some set of internally held convictions or principles, but rather from ongoing albeit changing relationships with some person. Since these relationships are always multiple, contingent, and in flux, managerial moralities are always situations, always relative.” Robert Jackall, MORAL MAZES: THE WORLD OF CORPORATE MANAGERS[1].
In 1988 Robert Jackall published a book MORAL MAZES: THE WORLD OF CORPORATE MANAGERS.[2] The book provides an in-depth sociological analysis of corporate managers in the chemical and textile industries in the United States in the early 1980s. Jackall’s goal was to examine bureaucracy in corporate America and to find out whether bureaucracy shapes moral consciousness. Jackall's inquiry, based on interviews with the managers themselves, found that these managers constantly adapt to the social environments of their organisations in order to succeed. In finding so Jackall discovered that ethics played a very small role in the business of management. The book also revealed that the most serious threat to integrity is the phenomenon of embeddedness, where people get embedded in their jobs and have trouble seeing beyond what is asked of them. Jackall found that a “what’s right in the corporation is what the guy above you wants from you” ideology pervades much of corporate life.
Robert Jackall’s conclusions about corporate America and the actions of management in 1988 resonate largely with the scandals involving in-house counsel in recent years.[3] From intentionally helping their