Papers by Matthew Sinnicks
Journal of Business Ethics, 2024
This paper draws on MacIntyre's ethical thought to illuminate a hitherto underexplored religious ... more This paper draws on MacIntyre's ethical thought to illuminate a hitherto underexplored religious context for business ethics, that of the Amish. It draws on an empirical study of Amish settlements in Holmes County, Ohio, and aims to deepen our understanding of Amish business ethics by bringing it into contact with an ethical theory that has had a significant impact within business ethics, that of Alasdair MacIntyre. It also aims to extend MacIntyrean thought by drawing on his neglected critique of modernity in the context of business ethics. The Amish context allows us to appreciate the relationship between MacIntyre's critique of modernity, his conception of practices and communities, and his distinctive approach to the virtues. It also helps us to better understand how the ethical life is possible within our emotivist culture.
Business Ethics Quarterly, 2024
Since the publication of Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue in 1981, tensions inherent to the rela... more Since the publication of Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue in 1981, tensions inherent to the relationship between morally educative practices and the institutions that house them have been widely noted. We propose a taxonomy of the ways in which the pursuit of external goods by institutions undermines the pursuit of the internal goods of practices. These comprise substitution, where the institution replaces the pursuit of one type of good by another; frustration, where opportunities for practitioners to discover goods or develop new standards of excellence are frustrated by institutional priorities and resource allocation; and injustice, which undermines the integrity of relationships within the organization and/or with partners. These threats, though analytically distinct, are often mutually reinforcing. This conceptual contribution is illustrated both by the extant literature and by a novel context, the three-ring circus.
Journal of Business Ethics, 2024
This paper aims to demonstrate the contemporary relevance of Adorno's thought for business ethici... more This paper aims to demonstrate the contemporary relevance of Adorno's thought for business ethicists working in the critical tradition by showing how his critique of modern social life anticipated, and offers continuing illumination of, recent technological transformations of capitalism. It develops and extrapolates Adorno's thought regarding three central spheres of modern society, which have seen radical changes in light of recent technological developments: work, in which employee monitoring has become ever more sophisticated and intrusive; leisure consumption, in which the algorithmic developments of the culture industry have paved the way for entertainment products to dominate us; and political discourse, in which social media has exacerbated the anti-democratic tendencies Adorno warned of in the mid-twentieth century. We conclude by presenting, as a rejoinder to these developments, the contours of an Adornian ethics of resistance to the reification and dehumanisation of such developments.
Organization, 2023
This paper attempts to show how Adorno's thought can illuminate our reflections on the future of ... more This paper attempts to show how Adorno's thought can illuminate our reflections on the future of work. It does so by situating Adorno's conception of genuine activity in relation to his negativist critical epistemology and his subtle account of the distinction between true and false needs. What emerges is an understanding of work that can guide our aspirations for the future of work, and one we illustrate via discussions of creative work and care work. These are types of work which cater to persistent human needs, albeit ones that are distorted under present social conditions. Adorno's thought helps us to understand why this is the case.
Business and Professional Ethics Journal, 2023
Business ethics is often understood as a variety of professional ethics, and thus distinct from o... more Business ethics is often understood as a variety of professional ethics, and thus distinct from ordinary morality in an important way. This article seeks to challenge two ways of defending this claim: first, from the nature of business practice, and second, from the contribution of business. The former argument fails because it undermines our ability to rule out a professional-ethics approach to a number of disreputable practices. The latter argument fails because the contribution of business is extrinsic to business in a way that distinguishes from the established professions. The article ultimately suggests we adopt a more aspirational approach to business ethics, which retains an appeal even in the face of charges of anti-capitalist irrelevance.
Encyclopedia of Business and Professional Ethics, 2023
Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy, 2022
At first glance, work appears to be something we do out of necessity for merely instrumental reas... more At first glance, work appears to be something we do out of necessity for merely instrumental reasons. It is a way of earning money to pay for other necessitiesfood, clothing, accommodation, and so onand, if we are lucky, some discretionary spending beyond that in our free time. The concept of 'work' also encompasses housework, homework, and voluntary work, which do not typically attract remuneration, but even these may be considered burdensome and primarily instrumental. This conception of work as burdensome has a long history. In the Old Testament, for instance, Adam's punishment for eating the forbidden fruit is the need to toil the cursed ground (Gen 3:17) in order to produce the necessities of life. This assessment of work remained largely constant in European thought, at least, throughout antiquity and the Middle Ages.
Frontiers in Sociology, 2022
Introduction: This paper explores the vulnerability of practice-like activities to institutional ... more Introduction: This paper explores the vulnerability of practice-like activities to institutional domination.
Methods: This paper offers an ethnographic case study of a UK-based engineering company in the aftermath of its acquisition, focusing in particular on its R&D unit.
Results: The Lab struggled to maintain its practice-based work in an institutional environment that emphasized the pursuit of external goods.
Discussion: We use this case to develop two arguments. Firstly, we illustrate the concept of “practice-like” activities and explore their vulnerability to institutional domination. Secondly, in light of the style of management on display after the takeover, we offer further support to MacIntyre's critique of management. Finally, based on the empirical data we reflect on the importance of organizational culture, as well as friendship and the achievement of a common good in business organizations for these kinds of activities.
Journal of Business Ethics, 2022
This paper explores the notion that business calls for an adversarial ethic, akin to that of spor... more This paper explores the notion that business calls for an adversarial ethic, akin to that of sport. On this view, because of their competitive structure, both sport and business call for behaviours that are contrary to 'ordinary morality', and yet are ultimately justified because of the goods they facilitate. I develop three objections to this analogy. Firstly, there is an important qualitative difference between harms risked voluntarily and harms risked involuntarily. Secondly, the goods achieved by adversarial relationships in sport go beyond the function of sport, i.e. to entertain audiences. Thirdly, the most plausible account of the athlete's motivational development starts with their love of the sport, which can explain a commitment to the sporting ethics in a way that is not paralleled in business. I close by drawing attention to the ways in which an Aristotelian conception of business ethics may be able to accommodate these objections.
Journal of Business Ethics, 2022
This paper argues that Quaker business ethics can be understood as a MacIntyrean tradition. To do... more This paper argues that Quaker business ethics can be understood as a MacIntyrean tradition. To do so, it draws on three key MacIntyrean concepts: community, compartmentalisation, and the critique of management. The emphasis in Quaker business ethics on finding unity, as well as the emphasis that Quaker businesses have placed on serving their local areas, accords with MacIntyre's claim that small-scale community is essential to human flourishing. The emphasis on integrity in Quaker business ethics means practitioners are well-placed to resist the compartmentalising pressures of contemporary work. Quaker business ethics is also highly critical of the manipulative forms of management that MacIntyre regards as dominant. As such, Quaker business ethics provides evidence that more morally ameliorative forms of running business organisations is possible, even if they remain difficult to achieve.
Business Ethics Journal Review, 2022
Jaakko Nevasto has offered a number of thoughtful criticisms of our attempt to show that Adorno's... more Jaakko Nevasto has offered a number of thoughtful criticisms of our attempt to show that Adorno's work can fruitfully be brought to bear on topics in business ethics. After welcoming his constructive clarifications, we attempt to defuse Nevasto's main objections and defend our application of Adorno, focusing in particular on the topics of moral epistemology, needs, and the possibility of genuine activity-and thus good work-within capitalist society.
Business Ethics Quarterly, 2021
Given his view that the modern world is 'radically evil', Adorno is an unlikely contributor to bu... more Given his view that the modern world is 'radically evil', Adorno is an unlikely contributor to business ethics. Despite this, we argue that his work has a number of provocative implications for the field that warrant wider attention. Adorno regards our social world as damaged, unfree, and false and we draw on this critique to outline why the achievement of good work is so rare in contemporary society, focusing in particular on the ethical demands of roles and the ideological nature of management's self-understanding. Nevertheless, we show that Adorno's comments on activities such as art and philosophy mean that it is possible to draw on his work in a way that contributes constructively to the conversation about good and meaningful work within business ethics.
Debating Equal Pay for All: Economy, Practicability and Ethics, 2021
Equality is typically presumed to be an end of justice, however, in this chapter, we argue that i... more Equality is typically presumed to be an end of justice, however, in this chapter, we argue that it is better understood as a condition of justice. Our argument draws on the Just World Fallacy, the phenomenon of people mistakenly believing fortuitous patterns of reward or harm to be reflective of justice. This phenomenon can undermine relationships of equality even where differences in reward or harm are ostensibly deserved. If everyone received equal pay, then the propensity for people to defer to the more successful or derogate the less successful would be diminished, and thus there would be greater scope for people to enter into the sorts of relationships of equal respect and regard that just communities require.
Journal of Business Ethics, 2021
This paper draws a distinction between 'right MacIntyreans' who are relatively optimistic that Ma... more This paper draws a distinction between 'right MacIntyreans' who are relatively optimistic that MacIntyre's vision of ethics can be realised in capitalist society, and 'left MacIntyreans' who are sceptical about this possibility, and aims to show that the 'left MacIntyrean' position is a promising perspective available to business ethicists. It does so by arguing for a distinction between 'community-focused' practices and 'excellence-focused' practices. The latter concept fulfils the promise of practices to provide us with an understanding of the best work for humankind and highlights the affinities between MacIntyre's concept of a practice and Marx's conception of good work as free, creative activity. The paper concludes with a suggestion that we reflect on the best forms of work so that we can strive to ensure the very best activities, those most consonant with our flourishing, one day become available to all.
Business & Society, 2020
The notion that business organizations are akin to Aristotelian political communities has been a ... more The notion that business organizations are akin to Aristotelian political communities has been a central feature of research into virtue ethics in business. In this article, I begin by outlining this “community thesis” and go on to argue that psychological research into the “just world fallacy” presents it with a significant challenge. The just world fallacy undermines our ability to implement an Aristotelian conception of justice, to each as he or she is due, and imperils the relational equality required for shared participation in communities. In the final section, I offer a description of what Aristotelian community might look like within organizations, and some suggestions about how it may be possible to resist the challenge posed by the just world fallacy.
Journal of Business Ethics, 2019
This paper seeks to show how MacIntyre's concept of a practice can survive a series of 'scope pro... more This paper seeks to show how MacIntyre's concept of a practice can survive a series of 'scope problems' which threaten to render the concept inapplicable to business ethics. I begin by outlining MacIntyre's concept of a practice before arguing that, despite an asymmetry between productive and non-productive practices, the elasticity of the concept of a practice allows us to accommodate productive and profitable activities. This elasticity of practices allows us to sidestep the problem of adju-dicating between practitioners and non-practitioners as well as the problem of generic activities. I conclude by suggesting that the contemporary tendency to regard work as an object of consumption, rather than undermining MacIntyre's account of practices, serves to demonstrate the potential breadth of its applicability.
Journal of Business Ethics, 2018
MacIntyre argues that management embodies emotivism, and thus is inherently amoral and manipulati... more MacIntyre argues that management embodies emotivism, and thus is inherently amoral and manipulative. His claim that management is necessarily Weberian is, at best, outdated, and the notion that management aims to be neutral and value free is incorrect. However, new forms of management, and in particular the increased emphasis on leadership which emerged after MacIntyre's critique was published, tend to support his central charge. Indeed, charismatic and transformational forms of leadership seem to embody emotivism to a greater degree than do more Weberian, bureaucratic forms of management; hence, MacIntyre's central contention about our emotivistic culture seems to be well founded. Having criticised the details but defended the essence of MacIntyre's critique of management , this paper sketches a MacIntyrean approach to management and leadership by highlighting the affinities between MacIntyre's political philosophy and Greenleaf's concept of servant leadership.
Business Ethics Quarterly, 2014
This paper argues that attempts to apply Alasdair MacIntyre’s positive moral theory to business e... more This paper argues that attempts to apply Alasdair MacIntyre’s positive moral theory to business ethics are problematic, due to the cognitive closure of MacIntyre’s concept of a practice. I begin by outlining the notion of a practice, before turning to Moore’s attempt to provide a MacIntyrean account of corporate governance. I argue that Moore’s attempt is mismatched with MacIntyre’s account of moral education. Because the notion of practices resists general application I go on to argue that a negative application, which focuses on regulation, is more plausible. Large-scale regulation, usually thought antithetical to MacIntyre’s advocacy of small-scale politics, has the potential to facilitate practice-based work and reveals that MacIntyre’s own work can be used against his pessimism about the modern order. Furthermore, the conception of regulation I defend can show us how management is more amenable to ethical understanding than MacIntyre’s work is often taken to imply.
Book reviews by Matthew Sinnicks
Business Ethics Quarterly, 2018
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Papers by Matthew Sinnicks
Methods: This paper offers an ethnographic case study of a UK-based engineering company in the aftermath of its acquisition, focusing in particular on its R&D unit.
Results: The Lab struggled to maintain its practice-based work in an institutional environment that emphasized the pursuit of external goods.
Discussion: We use this case to develop two arguments. Firstly, we illustrate the concept of “practice-like” activities and explore their vulnerability to institutional domination. Secondly, in light of the style of management on display after the takeover, we offer further support to MacIntyre's critique of management. Finally, based on the empirical data we reflect on the importance of organizational culture, as well as friendship and the achievement of a common good in business organizations for these kinds of activities.
Book reviews by Matthew Sinnicks
Methods: This paper offers an ethnographic case study of a UK-based engineering company in the aftermath of its acquisition, focusing in particular on its R&D unit.
Results: The Lab struggled to maintain its practice-based work in an institutional environment that emphasized the pursuit of external goods.
Discussion: We use this case to develop two arguments. Firstly, we illustrate the concept of “practice-like” activities and explore their vulnerability to institutional domination. Secondly, in light of the style of management on display after the takeover, we offer further support to MacIntyre's critique of management. Finally, based on the empirical data we reflect on the importance of organizational culture, as well as friendship and the achievement of a common good in business organizations for these kinds of activities.