אתיקה ניהולית מהיבט מגדרי: דמיון ושוני בין מנהלות למנהלים בשיפוט המוסרי

The study examined the moral judgment of female and male managers in an organizational setting as well as the ethics of care, which management research usually associates with women. Several questions were asked: Is moral decision-making among managers a function of gender? If so, in what situations do we see this? How much does the organizational context affect moral decision-making among males and female managers? The study examined gender differences in moral orientations, recognizing the legitimacy of different orientations as equal in value. This approach differs from most of the studies in this field which assumed only one legitimate moral perspective and explored gender differences relating to "moral levels." The methodology was based on the qualitative-interpretative paradigm. Fifty male and female managers in the health services, welfare services, and banks, were interviewed on their perceptions and handling of ethical dilemmas in their job. The results suggested that both gender and the organizational context influenced male and female managers' understanding and handling of ethical dilemmas at work. The object of the dilemma (customer or higher-ranked employee) and the situational variables (such as ambiguity) were also found to affect moral judgment. Although feminist scholars have often maintained that the ethics of care is excluded from organizational ethics discourse, our findings show that the ethics of care is an important model for understanding moral judgment in management staff.