Reclaiming the System

Moral Responsibility, Divided Labour, and the Role of Organizations in Society

Lisa Herzog

Uses an innovative methodology that draws on qualitative interviews conducted by the author
Bridges the gap between normative theorizing and qualitative empirical research
Develops an aspirational, yet psychologically realistic picture of what organizations could look like from a moral perspective
Opens up the meso-level of organizational structures for normative inquiry, taking into account both individual morality and political institutions

Reclaiming the System

Moral Responsibility, Divided Labour, and the Role of Organizations in Society

Lisa Herzog

Description

The world of wage labour seems to have become a soulless machine, an engine of social and environmental destruction. Employees seem to be nothing but 'cogs' in this system - but is this true? Located at the intersection of political theory, moral philosophy, and business ethics, this book questions the picture of the world of work as a 'system'. Hierarchical organizations, both in the public and in the private sphere, have specific features of their own. This does not mean, however, that they cannot leave room for moral responsibility, and maybe even human flourishing.

Drawing on detailed empirical case studies, Lisa Herzog analyses the nature of organizations from a normative perspective: their rule-bound character, the ways in which they deal with divided knowledge, and organizational cultures and their relation to morality. The volume examines how individual agency and organizational structures would have to mesh to avoid common moral pitfalls and develops the notion of 'transformational agency', which refers to a critical, creative way of engaging with one's organizational role while remaining committed to basic moral norms. The volume goes on to explore the political and institutional changes that would be required to re-embed organizations into a just society. Whether we submit to 'the system' or try to reclaim it, Herzog argues, is a question of eminent political importance in our globalized world.

Reclaiming the System

Moral Responsibility, Divided Labour, and the Role of Organizations in Society

Lisa Herzog

1. Introduction: Subjects and Systems
Part I: Moral Responsibility in Challenging Contexts
2. Moral Responsibility, Socially Embedded
3. Moral Norms in Social Contexts
4. Organizations: Hierarchies of Divided Labour
Part II: The Moral Challenges of Organizational Life
5. Rules and Their Discontents
6. The Use of Knowledge in Organizations
7. The Responsibility for An Organizational Culture
8. Self and Role - Transformational Agency in Organizations
Part III: The Role of Organizations in Society
9. Organizations in Society - A 'Non-Ideal' Approach
10. Organizations in Society - How Good Can It Get?

Reclaiming the System

Moral Responsibility, Divided Labour, and the Role of Organizations in Society

Lisa Herzog

Author Information

Lisa Herzog is Professor of Political Philosophy and Theory at the Hochschule fur Politik of the Technical University of Munich. She works at the intersection of political philosophy and economic and social issues, focussing on the history of political and economic ideas, normative questions around markets, business ethics, and ethics in organisations. Her publications include Inventing the Market. Smith, Hegel, and Political Theory (OUP, 2013), and Just Financial Markets? Finance in a Just Society (editor, OUP, 2017).

Reclaiming the System

Moral Responsibility, Divided Labour, and the Role of Organizations in Society

Lisa Herzog

Reviews and Awards

"In her excellent treatise, Lisa Herzog argues for a comprehensive and original conception of an ethics of and within institutions. A much-needed, methodologically innovative contribution to a topic we need to think more about if we want to understand the complexities of our social life." -Rainer Forst, Goethe University Frankfurt

"Lisa Herzog's work reflects a closer engagement with empirical literature on human behaviour and organizational theory than is found in any other leading ethical theory. Moreover, the integration she proposes is original, her discussions are rich and subtle, and her policy discussion is highly nuanced . . . this is an important work that makes a real contribution to our understanding of the ethical dimensions of organizations." -Debra Satz, Stanford University

"This groundbreaking study is the rare case of a work of philosophy, in which central claims are developed by drawing directly on either own empirical material or relevant empirical scholarship. With the courage to synthesize far-ranging topics, using a high degree of sociological imagination, and with analytically trained argumentative skills,Lisa Herzog opens up an unjustly neglected area of moral or social philosophy." -Axel Honneth, Columbia University

Reclaiming the System

Moral Responsibility, Divided Labour, and the Role of Organizations in Society

Lisa Herzog

From Our Blog

How to face the moral challenges of organizations from the inside

When you enter your workplace on Monday morning, is it you who enters it, or is it someone else? A mask, a role you play in order to get through the work day? And does that matter? Many people would say it is a matter of choice, or perhaps of aesthetic sensibilities, whether or not you want to play a role in your job, or be true your own self.

Posted on December 11, 2018

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