The Demise of Ethics

Although contemporary governance structures and managerial practice are replete with the language of ethics and values, there is good reason to think that this conceals a much deeper loss of genuine ethical commitment within public and private sector organisations. This loss of commitment is both expressed in as well as underpinned by a number of factors that are identified here in terms of individualism, proceduralism, genericism and prudentialism. Rather than serving to counter it, the disciplines of applied and professional ethics often appear as contributing to the 'demise of ethics' that seems to threaten.