Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T07:20:56.077Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

11 - How Management Theories and Culture Fads Kill Organizational Ethics

from Part II - Business Enterprises

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2019

By
Marianne M. Jennings
Edited by
Ali E. Abbas
Ali E. Abbas
Affiliation:
University of Southern California
Get access

Summary

There was a time when we were all six-sigma-ing. We did so because Jack Welch had bought into the six-sigma phenomenon and he had created a phenomenally performing General Electric (GE). Then we moved along from good to great to the search for excellence to becoming great by choice to whatever superlative Jim Collins told us was the way to a company that was built to last. Then someone moved our cheese. We had no time for that because we were just one-minute managers. We smoothed earnings, incentivized employees, and created three tiers of employees – including getting rid of the bottom tier of employees, whether they deserved termination or kudos. We all wanted to be part of the Fortune 100, the Fortune Most Admired Companies, even as we were led by Fortune CEOs and CFOs of the year – many of whom ended up doing time.

Type
Chapter
Information
Next-Generation Ethics
Engineering a Better Society
 , pp. 143 - 157
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Dharmarajan, K. et al. (2017). Association of changing hospital readmission rates with partial mortality rates after hospital discharge. Journal of American Medical Association, 318(31), 270–278.Google Scholar
Drucker, P. F. (2001). The essential Drucker. New York, NY: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Grossman, L., & Jennings, M. M. (2002). Building a business through good times and bad (p. 166). Westport, CT: Quorum Books.Google Scholar
Jennings, M. (2017). The Atlanta public school system: Good scores by creative teachers (p. 343). Business ethics: Case studies and readings. Boston, MA: Cengage.Google Scholar
Lagace, M. (2002). Paul O’Neill: Values in action, Working Knowledge, Harvard Business School. Retrieved from https://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/paul-o-neill-values-into-actionGoogle Scholar
Mason, S. (2000). Performance-based planning for hospitals. Health Care Strategic Management, 12(14), 14.Google Scholar
Schein, E. (1985). Organizational culture and leadership (pp. 33–34). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Zemke, R., & Schaaf, D. (1989). The service edge. London: Penguin.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×