The Genesis of Employment Ethics

• Published in: Journal of business ethics Vol. 117; no. 4; pp. 707 - 719
• Main Authors: Van Buren, Harry J., Greenwood, Michelle
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer 01-11-2013; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Business and Management; Business Ethics; Christian ethics; Education; Employees; Employment; Ethics; Ethics and moral life; Institutionalization; Jewish business ethics; Jewish ethics; Jewish life & ethics; Judaism; Management; Morality; Morals; Philosophy; Quality of Life Research; Religion; Social ethics; Social sustainability; Sociology; Sociology of knowledge and ethics; Sociology of knowledge and sociology of culture; Sociology of work; Sociology of work and sociology of organizations; Spirituality; Studies; Torah; Work place; Working population. Employment. Women's work; Workplaces; Social sustainability; Employees; Workplace practices; Ethical principles; Employment ethics; Torah; Spirituality; Religion; Workplace; Ethics; Employment; Occupational Practice; Business
• ISSN: 0167-4544; 1573-0697
• DOI: 10.1007/s10551-013-1722-2

Given the growing interest in religion and spirituality in the community and workplace, we consider what light one of the oldest sources of human ethics, the Torah, can throw on the vexing issues of contemporary employment ethics and social sustainability. We specifically consider the Torah because it is the primary document of Judaism, the source of all the basic Biblical commandments, and a framework of ethics. A distinctive feature of Jewish ethics is its interpretive approach to moral philosophy: that is, immersion and sense making in a dense, lived-in, complicated moral world, which is particularly useful with regard to ethical analyses of the workplace. Rather than discover or create a new ethic for the employer-employee relationship, we seek to harness general principles and norms from the Torah to contemporary business conditions. In the spirit of sustainability, rather than plunder the new, we recreate from existing resources. Interpretations from the Torah provide a rich source of moral and practical guidance for contemporary business ethics while also responding to academic and popular interest in spirituality and business. These tenets, however, have not to date been specifically directed at current predicaments in employment. We redress this by deriving principles from the Torah and applying them to ethical issues in contemporary employment practices. Practical guidance for both research in and practice of employment ethics is also provided.