Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T19:47:44.388Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Lifeboat Ethics in Business

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Thomas F. McMahon C. S. V.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Lifeboat ethics is an anomalous concept that has been applied to many different situations, such as overpopulation. In this presentation, Lifeboat Ethics is applied to plant closings (Darlington, Amoco/Neodesha, Chrysler/Kenosha) and downsizing (BP Amoco). The power of the decision maker—not the rights of the employees—determines who will remain, who will be forced overboard, and who will be invited in.

Type
Articles
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , January 2000 , pp. 269 - 276
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2000

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

Amoco Corporation. Unpublished material, 1971.Google Scholar
Bentham, Jeremy. An Introduction to the Principles of Moral and Legislation (1789), ed. Burns, J. H. and Hart, H. L. A.London: Athlove Press, 1970.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berle, Adolf A.Power Without Property. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1959.Google Scholar
Chilton, Kenneth and Orlando, Michael. “A New Social Contract for the American Worker.” Business and Society Review, No. 96.Google Scholar
Cockburn, Alexander. “A Big Green Bomb Aimed at Immigration.” Los Angeles Times, October 2, 1997.Google Scholar
Davis, Keith, and Blomstrom, Robert L. Business, Society and Environment: Social Power and Social Response. New York: Mc Graw-Hill Book Company, 1971.Google Scholar
Donaldson, Thomas and Dunfee, Thomas W. “Toward a Unified Conception of Business Ethics: Integrative Social Contracts Theory.” Academy of Management Review, April 1944, pp. 252–253.Google Scholar
Dudley, Kathryn. The End of the Line: Lost Jobs in Post-Industrial America. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1994.Google Scholar
Fletcher, Joseph. “Feeding the Hungry: An Ethical Approach.” In Lifeboat Ethics: The Moral Dilemma of World Hunger, ed. Lucas, George R. Jr. and Ogletree, Thomas W.New York: Harper and Row, 1976.Google Scholar
Fletcher, Joseph. Situation Ethics: The New Morality. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1967.Google Scholar
Foley, Thomas J. “Plant Closings and Human Dilemmas.” Paper presented at the Loyola University Chicago Weekend Seminar on Socio-Ethical Values, February 24–25, 1989.Google Scholar
Gaines, Sallie L.Chicago Trubune, February 13, 1999.Google Scholar
Gaines, Sallie L.Chicago Tribune, February 18, 1999.Google Scholar
Garrett, Thomas and Klonoski, Bernard. Business Ethics. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1987.Google Scholar
Hardin, Garrett. “The Tragedy of the Commons.” Science, December 1968.Google Scholar
Hardin, Garrett. “Rights: Human and Non-human—The Rational Foundation of Conservation.” The North American Review, Winter 1974.Google Scholar
Hardin, Garrett. “Carrying Capacity As An Ethical Concept.” In Lifeboat Ethics: The Moral Dilemma of World Hunger, ed. Lucas, George R. Jr. and Ogletree, Thomas W.New York: Harper and Row, 1976.Google Scholar
Häsler, Alfred A. The Lifeboat is Full: Switzerland and the Refugees, 1933–1945. New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1969.Google Scholar
Lucas, Jr., George, R. and Ogletree, Thomas W., eds. Lifeboat Ethics: The Moral Dilemma of World Hunger. New York: Harper and Row, 1976.Google Scholar
Markowich, Michael. “Lifeboat Strategies for Corporate Renewal.” Management Review, 1994.Google Scholar
McMahon, C.S.V., Thomas, F. “From Social Irresponsibility to Social Responsiveness: The Chrysler/Kenosha Plant Closing.” Journal of Business Ethics 20, no. 2 (1999).Google Scholar
Merolli, Paul. “BP Amoco Union Breeds Dissention in Ranks.” The Oil Daily, February 5, 1999.Google Scholar
Mills, Nicolaus. The Triumph of Meanness: America’s War Against Its Better Self. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997.Google Scholar
Protzman, Ferdinand. “Rewriting the Contract for Germany’s Vaunted Workers.” The New York Times, February 13, 1994.Google Scholar
Shiver, Jr., Donald, W. “Lifeboaters and Mainlanders: A Response.” In Lifeboat Ethics: The Moral Dilemma of World Hunger, ed. Lucas, George. R. Jr. and Ogletree, Thomas W.New York: Harper and Row, 1976.Google Scholar
Steinbeck, John. Lifeboat. Scenario for movie. Twentieth Century Fox, 1944.Google Scholar
Supreme Court of the United States, Nos. 37 and 41 – October Term, 1964: Textile Workers Union of American v. Darlington Manufacturing Company et al. Decision: March 29, 1965.Google Scholar
Verghese, Paul. “Muddled Metaphors: An Asian Response to Garrett Harding.” In Lifeboat Ethics: The Moral Dilemma of World Hunger, Lucas, George R. Jr. and Ogletree, Thomas W.New York: Harper and Row, 1976.Google Scholar
White, Joseph B. “Chrysler to Donate Wisconsin Profits to Funds for Workers from Closed Plant.” The Wall Street Journal, February 17, 1988.Google Scholar
Wilson, Richard, “It’s a Question of Who Goes in the Lifeboat,” Scholarly Publishing: A Journal for Authors and Publishers 7 (1976).Google Scholar
Witcher, Gregory. “Chrysler to Pay $250 Million to Settle Dispute Over Wisconsin Plant Closing.” The Wall Street Journal, September 26, 1988.Google Scholar
Yeager, Leland B. “Ethics as Social Science.” American Economic Journal 24 (March), 1996.Google Scholar