Abstract
The paper reports on research undertaken in three organisations seeking to explore anomie at work. This research explores whether a distinction in the levels of anomie between people’s perception of the work and non-work contexts exists in three organisations, that is whether people are more likely to feel more hopeless and helpless in their work or non-work life. It also looks at whether people in different organisations have significantly different levels of anomie. A significant difference in the non-work anomie between organisations, but no significant difference in work anomie between organisations, was found. In the three organisations researched, the anomie score in the non-work context is lower than in the work context, indicating that respondents perceive the work context as more anomic. The work anomie for the total sample was found to be significantly higher that the non-work anomie. The implications for ethical behaviour at work and business ethics are discussed.
References
Aron, R.: 1967, Main Currents in Sociological Thought, R. Howard and H. Weaver (Trans.), Vol. (New York, Doubleday).
Barnard C. I. (1938) The Functions of the Executive. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
Beach L. R. (1990) Image Theory: Decision Making in Personal and Organizational Contexts. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester
Benn S. I. (1988) A Theory of Freedom. Cambridge University Press, New York
Bersoff D. M. (1999) Why Good People Sometimes do Bad Things: Motivated Reasoning and Unethical Behavior. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin 25(1):28–29
Box S. (1981) Deviance, Reality and Society, 2nd edn. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, London
Bernburg J. G. (2002) Anomie, Social Change and Crime. British Journal of Criminology 42:729–742
Butterfield K. D., Trevino L. K., Weaver G. R. (2000) Moral Awareness in Business Organizations: Influences of Issue-related and Social Context Factors. Human Relations 53(7):981–1018
Caruana A., Ramaseshan B., Ewing M. T. (2000) The Effect of Anomie on Academic Dishonesty Among University Students. The International Journal of Educational Management 14(1):23–30
Caruana A., Ramaseshan B., Ewing M. T. (2001) Anomia and Deviant Behavior in Marketing: Some Prelimimary Evidence. Journal of Managerial Psychology 16(5):322–338
Cohen D. V. (1993) Creating and Maintaining Ethical Work Climate: Anomie in the Workplace and Implications for Managing Change. Business Ethics Quarterly 3(4):343–358
Cullen J. B., Victor B., Stephens C. (1989) An Ethical Weather Report: Assessing the Organization’s Ethical Climate. Organizational Dynamics 18(2):50–62
Davis M. A., Andersen M. G., Curtis M. B. (2001) Measuring Ethical Ideology in Business Ethics: A Critical Analysis of the Ethics Position Questionnaire. Journal of Business Ethics 32:35–53
Deflem M. (1989) From Anomie to Anomia and Anomic Depression: A Sociological Critique on the Use of Anomie in Psychiatric Research. Social Science and Medicine 29(5):627–634
Dickson M. W., Smith B. D., Grojean M. W., Ehrhart M. (2001) An Organizational Climate Regarding Ethics: The Outcome of Leader Values and the Practices that Reflect Them. The Leadership Quarterly 12:197–217
Durkheim, E.: 1947, The Division of Labor in Society, G. Simpson (Trans.) (Free Press, New York).
Elm D. R., Nichols-Lippitt M. (1993) An Investigation of the Moral Reasoning of Managers. Journal of Business Ethics 12:817–833
Emler N., Hogan R. (1992) Individualizing Conscience: New Thoughts on Old Issues. In: Kurtines W. M., Azmitia M., Gewirtz J. L. (eds) The Role of Values in Psychology and Human Development. John Wiley & Sons, New York, pp. 200–238
Ewing, D.: 1978, –Employee Freedom within the Organization’, Paper presented at the Power and Responsibility in the American Business System: Proceedings of the Second National Conference on Business Ethics, Bentley College, April 7 & 8.
Ewin R. E. (1991) The Moral Status of the Corporation. Journal of Business Ethics 10:749–756
Fassin Y. (2005) The Reasons Behind Non-ethical Behaviour in Business and Entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Ethics 60:265–279
Forsyth D. R. (1980) A Taxonomy of Ethical Ideologies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 39(1):175–184
Forsyth D. R. (1992) Judging the Morality of Business Practices: The Influence of Personal Moral Philosophies. Journal of Business Ethics 11:461–470
Freeman R. E. (1994) The Politics of Stakeholder Theory: Some Future Directions. Business Ethics Quarterly 4(4):409–421
French P. (1979) The Corporation as a Moral Person. In: Donaldson T., Werhane P. H. (eds) Ethical Issues in Business: A Philosophical Approach, 3rd edn. Prentice Hall, New Jersey, pp. 100–109
French P. A. (1996) Integrity, Intentions and Corporations. American Business Law Journal 34(2):141–155
French W., Allbright D. (1998) Resolving a Moral Conflict Through Discourse. Journal of Business Ethics 17:177–194
Fromm E. (1942) The Fear of Freedom. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London
Fromm E. (1955) The Sane Society. Fawcett Premier Books, New York
Garrett J. E. (1989) Unredistributable Corporate Moral Responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics 8:535–545
Gioia D. A. (1992) Pinto Fires and Personal Ethics: A Script Analysis of Missed Opportunities. Journal of Business Ethics 11:379–389
Hampden-Turner C. (1970) Radical Man: The Process of Psycho-social Development. Schenkman Publishing, Cambridge
Himmelfarb G. (1995) The De-moralization of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values. Alfred A. Knopf, New York
Horton J. (1964) The Dehumanization of Anomie and Alienation: A Problem in the Ideology of Sociology. British Journal of Sociology 15(4):283
Jackall R. (1988) Moral Mazes. Oxford University Press, New York
Ladd J. (1970/1988) Morality and the Ideal of Rationality in Formal Organizations. In: Donaldson T., Werhane P. H. (eds) Ethical Issues in Business: A Philosophical Approach, 3rd edn. Prentice-Hall, New Jersey, pp. 110–122
Lindholm C. (1997) Logical and Moral Dilemmas of Postmodernism. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 3(4):747–760
MacIntyre A. (1993) After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, 2nd edn. Duckworth, London
McKenna R. J., Tsahuridu E. E. (2001) Must Managers Leave Ethics at Home? Economics and Moral Anomy in Business Organisations. Reason in Practice 1(3):67–76
Mansfield P. (2004) Anomie and Disaster in Corporate Culture: The Impact of Mergers and Acquisitions on the Ethical Climate of Marketing Organisations. Marketing Management Journal 14(2):88–99
Merton R. K. (1957) Social Structure and Anomie. American Sociological Review 3:672–682
Merton R. K. (1968) Social Theory and Social Structure, 3rd edn. The Free Press, New York
Metzger M. B., Dalton D. R. (1996) Seeing the Elephant: An Organizational Perspective on Corporate Moral Agency. American Business Law Journal 33:489–576
Miceli N. S. (1996) Deviant Managerial Behavior: Costs, Outcomes and Prevention. Journal of Business Ethics 15:703–709
Munck R. (2004) Globalization, Labor and the ‚Polanyi Problem’. Labor History 45(3):251–269
Nagel T. (1979) Mortal Questions. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Nesteruk J. (1991) Legal Persons and Moral Worlds: Ethical Choices within the Corporate Environment. American Business Law Journal 29:75–97
Ouchi W. G. (1980) Markets, Bureaucracies, and Clans. Administrative Science Quarterly 25:129–141
Paine S. L. (1996) Moral Thinking in Management: An Essential Capability. Business Ethics Quarterly 6(4):477–492
Passas N. (2001) False Accounts: Why Do Company Statements Often Offer a True and Fair View of Virtual Reality. European Journal On Criminal Policy and Research 9(2):117–135
Polanyi K. (1957) The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time. Beacon, Boston
Radin T. J., Werhane P. H. (1996) The Public/Private Distinction and the Political Status of Employment. American Business Law Journal 34(2):245–260
Radin T. J., Werhane P. H. (2003) Employment-at-will, Employee Rights, and Future Directions for Employment. Business Ethics Quarterly 13(2):113–130
Rose G. (1966) Anomie and Deviation: A Conceptual Framework for Empirical Studies. British Journal of Sociology 17(1):29–45
Roshto, P. G.: 1995, – Review of “Values Based Leadership Rebuilding Employee Commitment, Performance, & Productivity”’, Retrieved 8/8/1997, from www.cber.nlu.edu/DBR/ROSHTO.htm
Schminke M., Ambrose M. L. (1997) Asymmetric Perceptions of Ethical Frameworks of Men and Women in Business and Nonbusiness Settings. Journal of Business Ethics 16:719–729
Shepard J. M., Shepard J., Wimbush J. C., Stephens C. U. (1995) The Place of Ethics in Business: Shifting Paradigms? Business Ethics Quarterly 5(3):577–601
Thorlindsson T., Bernburg J. G. (2004) Durkheims Theory of Social Order and Deviance: A Multi-level Test. European Sociological Review 20(4):271–285
Toddington S. (1993) Rationality, Social Action and Moral Judgement. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh
Treviño L. K. (1986) Ethical Decision Making in Organizations: A Person-situation Interactionist Model. Academy of Management Review 11(3):601–617
Treviño L. K., Youngblood S. A. (1990) Bad Apples in Bad Barrels: A Causal Analysis of Ethical Decision-making Behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology 75(4):378–385
Treviño L. K., Brown M. (2004) Managing to be Ethical: Debunking Five Business Ethics Myths. Academy of Management Executive 18(2):69–81
Tsahuridu, E. E.: 2002, ‚The Remoralisation of Business’, Paper presented at the International Conference of Reason in Practice and the Forum for European Philosophy: Developing Philosophy of Management, St Anne’s College, Oxford, 26–29 June.
Van Kenhove P., Vermeir I., Verniers S. (2001) An Empirical Investigation of the Relationships between Ethical Beliefs, Ethical Ideology, Political Preference and Need for Closure. Journal of Business Ethics 32:347–361
Vaughan D. (1998) Rational Choice, Situated Action, and the Social Control of Organizations. Law & Society Review 32(1):23–61
Victor B., Cullen J. B. (1987) A Theory and Measure of Ethical Climate in Organizations. In: Frederick W. C. (eds) Research in Corporate Social Performance and Policy, Vol. 9. Greenwich, JAI Press, pp. 51–71
Victor B., Cullen J. B. (1988) The Organizational Bases of Ethical Work Climates. Administrative Science Quarterly 33:101–125
Weaver W. G. (1998) Corporations as Intentional Systems. Journal of Business Ethics 17:87–97
Weber J. (1990) Managers’ Moral Reasoning: Assessing their Responses to Three Moral Dilemmas. Human Relations 43(7):687–703
Werhane P. H. (1999) Justice and Trust. Journal of Business Ethics 21:237–249
Wheeler D., Colbert B., Freeman R. E. (2003) Focusing on Value: Reconciling Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability and a Stakeholder Approach in a Network World. Journal of General Management 28(3):1–28
Williams O. F. (1997) The Challenge: Envisioning the Good Life. In: Williams O. F. (ed) The Moral Imagination. The University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame Indiana, pp. 1–15
Wilmot S. (2001) Corporate Moral Responsibility: What Can We Infer from Our Understanding of Organisations? Journal of Business Ethics 30:161–169
Wimbush J. C., Shepard J. M., Markham S. E. (1997) An Empirical Examination of the Multi-dimensionality of Ethical Climate in Organizations. Journal of Business Ethics 16:67–77
Zahra S. A. (1989) Executive Values and the Ethics of Company Politics: Some Preliminary Findings. Journal of Business Ethics 8(1):15–29
Zimbardo P. G. (2004) A Situationist Perspective on the Psychology of Evil: Understanding How Good People are Transformed into Perpetrators. In: Miller A. G. (ed) The Social Psychology of Good and Evil. Guilford Press, New York, pp. 21–50
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Dr Eva E. Tsahuridu is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Greenwich Business School in London, UK, Her main research interests include moral autonomy, anomie, and ethical leadership.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
E. Tsahuridu, E. Anomie and Ethics at Work. J Bus Ethics 69, 163–174 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9074-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9074-9