A ética na empresa

: qual o papel da ética na empresa?

Abstract

My aim is to analyze and develop the role of ethics in the firm, this dissertation is developed in order to demonstrate that ethics is not instrumental to the firm, i.e. it is not restricted to a management tool. In order, to analyze this topic, it is important to define what a firm is. In this sense, the analysis begins with a focus on the theory of the firm showing its main features and its limits. However, there is a fundamental question that is not addressed by the theory of the firm, the question of the ontological status of the firm, i.e. what type of entity a firm is. When we speak about firms, do we speak about entities that really exist (per se and beyond the individuals which constitute them) or, simple aggregations of people/contracts/legal objects without any independent existence? What I propose in this dissertation is that firms are real entities and accordingly they are agents that live and develop a particular culture, an ethos and are responsible for their actions. This ethos is based primarily on trust, the basis of all social life that is essentially defined by relations of exchange.

Date of Award	23 Jul 2014
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Maria da Conceição Monteiro Soares (Supervisor)