Ties That Bind: A Social Contracts Approach to Business Ethics

by Thomas W. Dunfee and Thomas Donaldson

Book Overview

This text offers a method for untangling the ethical dilemmas that arise through business transactions, regardless of culture or context. It also demonstrates how empirical descriptions and normative... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0875847277
• ISBN13: 9780875847276
• Release Date: May 1999
• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
• Length: 306 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Review of Ties That Bind

Tom Donaldson and Tom Dunfee are two of the leading business ethicists in the world. Both at the Wharton School of Business, Donaldson and Dunfee have developed a unique normative framework for assessing moral issues in business. They borrow from two kinds of contracts: the social contract tradition articulated by philophsers such as Hobbes, Rousseau, and Rawls and extant social contracts, which are the real contracts developed by institutions in real communities. Donaldson and Dunfee wish to respect the particularity of individual cultures and therefore accord significant moral weight to extant local norms. If those norms allow for individuals to consent to the norms, they are authentic. They are not morally obligatory, however, unless they also pass a second test. This second test requires that the local norms not conflict with "hypernorms" which are cross-culturally demonstrated moral principles that accord with formal philosophy. If norms pass this test as well, then they are also legitimate.Donaldson and Dunfee develop a comprehensive set of criteria to determine whether or not a hypernorm exists and they also make numerous applications of their theory to actual business issues. In doing so, they also create "rules of thumb" or priority rules, to assist in determining what norms should apply when. The book also contains a very interesting discussion on the morality of bribery. Donaldson and Dunfee argue that bribery typically violates local norms as well as hypernorms. This case stands as an interesting test of their theory.This is one of the best books on business ethics available. For those inclined toward the persuasiveness of the social contract tradition, this is a must-read book. Even for those who are skeptical about that tradition, as am I, this book is an illuminating, challenging, and accessible book.Tim Fort Bank One Corporation Assistant Professor of Business Administration University of Michigan Business School Ann Arbor, MI 48109