Administração e Valores: em busca de novos caminhos para a compreensão do comportamento administrativo

Abstract

Management’s moral integrity has never been so questioned. The frequent and evident corporate “scandals” which have been staining both private and public management in recent decades throughout the world reinforce the idea that management activity is indifferent to ethical questioning, idea which is already widespread not only within common sense, but also within the academy. The present theoretical assay aims to question the idea that management activity is (or came to be nowadays) indifferent to ethical questioning. Through a literature review, this theoretical essay intends to do a total counterpoint to such position, arguing that although management activity can actually contribute to social, environmental and psychological damage, it’s still morally guided. Adopting an interpretative epistemological perspective based on the ethical concept of value, it’s understood here that there really is a clearly visible moral orientation behind management practices, although this may not be the orientation expected by most of those agents who do not occupy managerial positions within organizations. This theoretical essay concludes with the observation that the study of values is a very promising alternative to research, critique and possible intervention on administrative behavior.