Ethical stances in Indian management culture

Abstract

Concerns the stances that Indian and UK managers take towards ethical issues at work. This topic is part of the broader cross‐cultural research agenda on managerial values. Makes a contribution to the subjects of business ethics and corporate citizenship. The responses of samples of Indian and UK managers to ethical issues were classified, using a research instrument called Redundancy, by eight ethical stances that are defined in a conceptual framework presented. The results are used to clarify issues that arise from the literature about Indian and UK managers’ values. The tentative findings are that Indian managers’ ethical stances were similar to those of Western managers but that, compared with the UK respondents, they were more likely to experience ethical tension between their personal, espoused, stances and those they took at work. The preference for a pragmatic, ethical puzzle, approach to issues, that was reported by both Indian and UK samples, is seen as a problem in developing good corporate citizenship. Presents an agenda for future research.

CSR and ethics in MSMEs in India

“…A review of the literature indicates that a few studies have examined the value orientations and ethical stances of Indian managers in large corporations (Monga, 2004;Fisher, Shirole & Bhupatkar, 2001). One study empirically examines the cultural influences on the judgment of Australian, Malaysian and Indian SME managers to whistle blowing as an internal control mechanism (Chavan & Lamba, 2007).…”

Forward looking or looking unaffordable? Utilising academic perspectives on corporate social responsibility to assess the factors influencing its adoption by business

“…Issues raised can be grouped under three main headings: measurement, gender and cultural context. Measurement issues relate to the subjectivity of the scoring method (Monga 2006), the sequencing of stages (Fisher et al 2001) and the evidence that ethical theory-in-use is stage volatile (Snell et al 2007). Gender claims centre on the assertion that Kohlberg's work fails to consider gender issues of morality (Gilligan 1982), and that the theory is more appropriately seen as a maledominated method of conflict resolution (Lovell 1997).…”

Critical success factors for corporate social responsibility: a public sector perspective

“…The CSR budget is spent mainly on public welfare especially in community development, primary education, public health, especially to combat dreaded diseases such as AIDS and malaria, infrastructure development, supply of clean drinking water, restoration of water bodies such as ponds and wells, and providing vocational training to unemployed youth to combat poverty. Researchers on ethical orientation of managers in India (Chakraborty, 1997;Fischer et al, 2001) suggest that the changing business environment in the post-liberalization era has prompted more pragmatic and contemporary ethical stances.However, as CSR is gaining momentum in PSUs, managers continuously encounter demands from multiple stakeholder groups to devote resources to CSR. This pressure emerges from government, customers, the local community, industry associations, competitors, suppliers, media and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), institutional investors and lenders.…”

“…The CSR budget is spent mainly on public welfare especially in community development, primary education, public health, especially to combat dreaded diseases such as AIDS and malaria, infrastructure development, supply of clean drinking water, restoration of water bodies such as ponds and wells, and providing vocational training to unemployed youth to combat poverty. Researchers on ethical orientation of managers in India (Chakraborty, 1997;Fischer et al, 2001) suggest that the changing business environment in the post-liberalization era has prompted more pragmatic and contemporary ethical stances.…”