Abstract
There is an increasing use of the idea of “service” in management and business ethics literature, but the concept of service as a virtue has not been sufficiently analyzed. Catholic social teaching (CST) has developed interesting insights on service, linking it to the exercise of virtue and subsequently to human flourishing. This chapter, drawing from CST, presents service as virtue and focuses principally on service as expressed in working within a business organization. In addition, it considers a set of virtues connected to service, including availability, industriousness, diligence, kindness, and courage. Finally, it examines the relevance of the virtue of service for business, which is threefold: favoring the human flourishing of those who work in business, fostering quality of the work done, and contributing to the ethical quality of human relations involved in business.
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Guitián, G. (2015). Service in the Catholic Social Tradition: A Crucial Virtue for Business. In: Sison, A. (eds) Handbook of Virtue Ethics in Business and Management. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6729-4_11-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6729-4_11-1
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