Ethics, Roles, and Confucianism

Abstract

There are some notable ethical problems about role obligations, including the three prominent issues of role relativism, role definition, and role identification. The first is the problem to what extent roles may create duties or rights at odds with other moral requirements, the second is where roles are unclear or conflicting in what they prescribe, and the third is about the extent to which people commit themselves to their roles, or dissociate themselves from those roles. The three problems are significant in business ethics. A Confucian approach to roles can assist in dealing with them. Classical texts suggest a nuanced approach to roles, which allows greater flexibility, paying attention to context and detailed circumstances, always relating role prescriptions to respect and concern for other people, and emphasizing the importance of sincerity and authenticity in role performance. Such an account is consistent with virtue ethics approaches to business ethics.

Citation

Provis, C. (2018), "Ethics, Roles, and Confucianism", Grant, B., Drew, J. and Christensen, H.E. (Ed.) Applied Ethics in the Fractured State (Research in Ethical Issues in Organizations, Vol. 20), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 13-29. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1529-209620180000020002