Business Ethics for a Material World
An Ecological Approach to Object Stewardship

This book argues that managers must be stewards of workplace objects, from coffee to nitrogen oxides, to run sustainable and responsible businesses.

Ryan Burg (Author)

9781316634004, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 24 March 2022

393 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.58 kg

'Burg's concept of 'object', 'material' or 'matter', and 'thing' is primordial, unique, and highly useful as a way of understanding many components of human behavior, business behavior, plus the ethical and value dimensions of all kinds of organizations. His concept broadens and deepens the investigative, research-based query into the nature and functions of ecological systems plus the associated responsibilities that ensue to those affected by such relationships. Indeed, this 'singularity' opens up traditional ethical inquiries to much more comprehensive analysis and inclusiveness than previously understood.' William C. Frederick, Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh

Increasingly, conscientious consumers and green marketers are recognizing that material things, not firms, must be made responsible. Even so, many scholars in ethics, sustainability, and governance focus on people and organizations, ignoring the flows of things. In this book, Ryan Burg argues that material things are fundamental features of moral life, serving as both valuable instruments and guides for responsibility. Unless care is taken for these non-living entities, living things cannot be protected. Viewing the global economy as a network of material transfers, Burg argues that to facilitate object care, professionals must act as stewards. By tracing the origins and disposal of workplace objects through this material network, businesses and employees can discover the outcomes for which they are responsible, and managers can align ethics, sustainability and governance with a truly global formulation of responsibility.

Introduction
1. The singularization of everything
2. Singularization schema
3. The power of negative thinking
4. Three failures in regulated markets
5. Person, place, and product
6. Ecological value
7. Putting responsibility to work
8. Materiality for business ethics.

Subject Areas: The environment [RN], Business ethics & social responsibility [KJG], Business & management [KJ], Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ]