Ethics, management and mythology: rational decision making for health service professionals.

Abstract

This work provides an introduction to ethics, conceptual analysis, critical thinking and rational decision making, in relation to healthcare management. It strips away the mythology behind the rhetoric of contemporary management theory. Pt. 1. Management, morals and philosophy: a start -- 1. Who this book is for and who it is not for -- 2. The nature of morality -- Pt. 2. The morass of management theory -- 3. The illusion of quality -- 4. The pseudo-science of management -- Pt. 3. Philosophy: a course in moral and intellectual self-defence -- 5. The fall of philosophy ... -- 6. ... And the rise of the 'ethicist' -- Pt. 4. Moral education in an irrational world -- 7. Agent-centred ethics and the nature of value -- 8. The sort of managers we want and the sort we don't want.