Date of Award
1987
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Business Administration
Department
Business
First Advisor
Jack Kirk
Second Advisor
James McHugh
Third Advisor
Charles Orme-Rogers
Abstract
This thesis will focus on the study of business ethics and the impact gender has upon the ethical decisions of corporate middle management .
Research has attributed the lack of ethics in businessmen to a decline in moral standards . Because this condition seems to be the rule rather than the exception, it becomes necessary to focus more clearly on the corporate system and the moral development of the individuals who make up this system.
Over the years moral development has been the subject of controversy as many theorists have developed their own ideas as to why people behave morally. Some theorists believe that there are differences in the way males and females solve ethical dilemmas; others do not.
The purpose of the present study is to investigate the possibility that, within a corporate setting, male and female middle managers may use different moral reasoning strategies when attempting to resolve ethical dilemmas. Specifically, it is hypothesized that discernible differences exist in the ethical decision-making processes used by male and female corporate managers.
Fifty-two graduate and undergraduate students participated in the study, twenty-six males and twenty-six females. The subjects were administered the Defining Issues Test and a simplified version of the Situational Perceptions Observations Test for the purpose of measuring the differences between male and female ethical decision making processes from both a moral development and a value orientation perspective. Data were analyzed by a one-way analysis of variance.
Results of the analysis produced considerable evidence to suggest that the hypothesis be rejected and to conclude that, within this sample pool, male and female moral development levels and value orientations are very similar .
Recommended Citation
Kemper, Daniel W., "The Impact of Gender Differences on the Ethical Conduct of Corporate Middle Management" (1987). Theses. 910.
https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/theses/910
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