Ames, M. C. F. D. C., & Serafim, M. C. (2020). Virtue Ethics in Management: a brief introduction. In: Serafim, M. C. (Org.). Virtues and Moral Dilemmas in Administration(p. 20-87). Florianópolis: Admethics.

Access the book chapter here (Research Gate)

This chapter introduces the panorama of virtue ethics in Administration for Portuguese-speaking readers. We present a retrospective of virtue ethics in Business Administration(business ethics) and Public Administration(administrative ethics).

In addition, we detail concepts and seminal authors from three perspectives on virtue ethics: the Aristotelian school, the MacIntyrean school, and the Social Doctrine of the Church. We then delve into the definitions of the following virtues: fortitude, temperance, justice, hope and phronesis or practical wisdom.

The choice of these virtues is justified because they formed the basis of my doctoral thesis, in which a version of this chapter made up the theoretical framework (Ames, 2020, section 2.2). Finally, we take a comprehensive look at the virtue of phronesis, a central theoretical element in virtue ethics and organizational practice.

Keywords: virtue ethics; business ethics; administrative ethics; phronesis or practical wisdom; Aristotelian ethics; MacIntyrean ethics.