Abstract
Virtues are an integral part of human flourishing, both personal and professional. In the professional field, particularly social work, virtues are fully compatible with the role of the social worker as a good person and a good professional. On that account, the notion of virtue is thought to be related only to individual professionals as moral agents. But it is certainly true that as individual professionals need virtues to flourish, organizations need virtues to flourish as well. In accordance with this idea, this chapter takes the discussion to another level, arguing that organizations, like individuals, that lack virtues or neglect them in any way are in danger of unethical practices. In this context, the chapter explores the role of virtues in social service organizations and their impact on ethical practice of social workers and other stakeholders. Finally, it suggests ways to have virtuous social service organizations so that social workers and other professionals are encouraged and empowered to foster ethical decision-making and embrace shared values and beliefs to support ethical practice in the workplace.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adams P (2009) Ethics with character: virtues and the ethical social worker. J Sociol Soc Welf 36(5):83–105. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol36/iss3/5
Alzola M (2015) Virtuous persons and virtuous actions in business ethics and organizational research. Bus Ethics Q 25(3):287–318. https://doi.org/10.1017/beq.2015.24
Aristotle (2004) Aristotle: the Nicomachean ethics (Further revised edn) (trans: Thomson JAK, rev: Tredennick H, intro: Barnes J). Penguin Books, London
Banks S (2008) Critical commentary: social work ethics. Br J Soc Work 38(6):1238–1249. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcn099
Banks S, Gallagher A (2009) Ethics in professional life: virtues for health and social care. Palgrave, Basingstoke
Bauman Z (1994) Alone again: ethics after certainty. Demos, London
Brown Μ (1989) Ethics in organizations. Issues Ethics 2(1). Retrieved from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v2n1/homepage.html
Cameron KS (2003) Organizational virtuousness and performance. In: Cameron KS, Dutton JE, Quinn RE (eds) Positive organizational scholarship: foundations of a new discipline. Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco, pp 48–65
Chapman WJ, Galston AW (1992) Virtue: nomos XXXIV. New York University Press, New York
Cheung JCS (2017) Practice wisdom in social work: an uncommon sense in the intersubjective encounter. Eur J Soc Work 20(5):619–629. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691457.2016.1255592
Clark C (2006) Moral character in social work. Br J Soc Work 36(1):75–89. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23720867
DiGangi C (2016, January) 7 scandals from the nonprofit world. MSN Money. Retrieved from https://finance.yahoo.com/news/7-scandals-nonprofit-world-120046834.html
Donaldson LP, Mayer LM (2014) Justice as a core virtue for social work practice. Soc Work Christ 41(2/3):207–231. 25p
Edwards JR, Cable DM (2009) The value of value congruence. J Appl Psychol 94(3):654–677. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014891
Garlington SB, Collins ME, Bossaller MRD (2020) An ethical foundation for social good: virtue theory and solidarity. Res Soc Work Pract 30(2):196–204. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049731519863487
Grey M (2010) Moral sources and emergent ethical theories in social work. Br J Soc Work 40(6):1794–1811
Harrison T, Morris I, Ryan J (2016) Teaching character in the primary classroom. Sage, London
Hasenfeld Y (2010) Human services as complex organizations, 2nd edn. Sage, Thousand Oaks
Hofstede G (2011) National cultures, organizational cultures, and the role of management. In: Values and ethics for the 21st century. BBVA, Madrid, pp 459–481
Hornsey MJ, Chapman CM, Mangan H, La Macchia S, Gillespie N (2020) The moral disillusionment model of organizational transgressions: ethical transgressions trigger more negative reactions from consumers when committed by nonprofits. J Bus Ethics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-020-04492-7
Houston S (2003) Establishing the virtue in social work: a response to McBeath and Webb. Br J Soc Work 33:819–824
Hughes M (2016) Ethics in organizations. In: Hugman R, Carter J (eds) Rethinking values and ethics in social work. Palgrave, London, pp 180–194
Hugman R, Pawar M, Anscombe B, Wheeler A (2021) Virtue ethics in social work practice. Routledge, Abington
International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW), International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) (2018) Global social work statement of ethical principles. Available online at: https://www.iassw-aiets.org/2018/04/18/global-social-work-statement-of-ethical-principles-iassw/
International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) (2012) Effective and ethical working environments for social work: the responsibilities of employers of social workers. Available online at: https://www.ifsw.org/effective-and-ethical-working-environments-for-social-work-the-responsibilities-of-employers-of-social-workers-2/
Johnson CE (2021) Meeting the ethical challenges of leadership: casting light or shadow, 7th edn. Sage, Thousand Oaks
Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues (2013) A framework for Character Education in Schools, Birmingham: University of Birmingham, Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, [Online]. Retrieved from www.jubileecentre.ac.uk/userfiles/jubileecentre/pdf/character-education/Framework%20for%20Character%20Education1.pdf
Juhila K, Raitakari S, Hall C (2017) Introduction. In: Juhila K, Raitakari S, Hall C (eds) Responsibilisation at the margins of welfare services. Routledge, Abington/New York, pp 1–8
Kaptein M (2008) Develo** and testing a measure for the ethical culture of organizations: the corporate ethical virtues model. J Organ Behav 29(7):923–947. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.520
Kasseri Z (2019) Social work in the field of addiction: in a search of an ethical practice based on virtues. Soc Work (Greek J) 134:3–29
MacIntyre A (2007) After virtue: a study in moral theory, 3rd edn. University of Notre Dame Press
McBeath G, Webb SA (2002) Virtue ethics and social work: being lucky, realistic, and not doing one’s duty. Br J Soc Work 32:1015–1036
Milley P (2002) Imagining good organizations: moral orders or moral communities? Educ Manag Adm 30(1):47–64. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263211X020301007
Moore G, Beadle R (2006) In search of organizational virtue in business: agents, goods, practices, institutions and environments. Organ Stud 27(3):369–389. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840606062427
Morris MC, Morris JZ (2016) The importance of virtue ethics in the IRB. Res Ethics 12(4):201–216. https://doi.org/10.1177/1747016116656023
Papadaki E, Papadaki V (2008) Ethically difficult situations related to organizational conditions: social workers’ experiences in Crete, Greece. J Soc Work 8(2):163–180. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468017307088497
Papouli E (2019) Aristotle’s virtue ethics as a conceptual framework for the study and practice of social work in modern times. Eur J Soc Work 22(6):921–934. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691457.2018.1461072
Papouli E (2019a) Moral courage and moral distress in social work education and practice: a literature review. In: Marson SΜ, McKinney RΕ (eds) The Routledge handbook of social work ethics and values. Routledge, Abingdon
Papouli E, Chatzifotiou S, Tsairidis C (2022) Character strengths and virtues for competent fieldwork education: Perspectives of undergraduate students from two university departments of social work in Greece. In: Baikady R, Sajid SM, Varoshini N, Rezaul Islam M (eds) The Routledge international handbook of field work education in social work. Routledge, New York
Parrott L (2010) Values and ethics in social work practice, 2nd edn. Learning Matters, Exeter
Parton N, O’Byrne P (2000) Constructive social work: towards a new practice. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke
Pawar M, Hugman R, Alexandra A, Anscombe A (2018) Virtue-led social work practice. In: Pawar M, Bowles W, Bell K (eds) Social work: innovations and insights. Australian Scholarly Publishing, pp 47–60
Pawar M, Hugman R, Anscombe B, Alexandra A (2020) Searching for virtue ethics: a survey of social work ethics curriculum and educators. Br J Soc Work 50(6):1816–1833
Pekkarinen A (2020) Virtues in social work research with children and families: the ethical accounts of Finnish PhD theses. J Soc Work Values Ethics 17:2
Peterson C, Seligman MEP (2004) Character strengths and virtues: a handbook and classification. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC
Preston-Shoot M (2011) On administrative evil-doing within social work policy and services: law, ethics and practice. Eur J Soc Work 14(2):177–194
Preston-Shoot M, Hojer S (2012) Social work, social justice and protection: a reflective review. In: Lyons K, Hokenstad T, Pawar M (eds) The SAGE handbook of international social work. Sage, pp 249–264
Pullen-Sansfacon A (2010) Virtue ethics for social work: a new pedagogy for practical reasoning. Soc Work Educ 29(4):402–415. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615470902991734
Raymond S, Beddoe L, Staniforth B (2017) Social workers’ experiences with whistleblowing: to speak or not to speak? Aotearoa N Z Soc Work 29(3):13–29. https://doi.org/10.11157/anzswj-vol29iss3id305
Rogowski S (2011) Managers, managerialism and social work with children and families: the deformation of a profession? Practice 23(3):157–167. https://doi.org/10.1080/09503153.2011.569970
Sanderse W (2020) Does Aristotle believe that habituation is only for children? J Moral Educ 49(1):98–110. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2018.1497952
Taylor A (2017) The five levels of ethical culture. Working paper, BSR, San Francisco. Retrieved from https://www.bsr.org/reports/BSR_Ethical_Corporate_Culture_Five_Levels.pdf
van Oudenhoven JP, de Raad B, Timmerman ME et al (2014) Are virtues national, supranational, or universal? Springer Plus 3(223). https://doi.org/10.1186/2193-1801-3-223
Weinberg M (2010) The social construction of social work ethics: politicizing and broadening the lens. J Progress Hum Serv 21(1):32–44
Weinberg M, Banks S (2019) Practising ethically in unethical times: everyday resistance in social work. Ethics Soc Welf 13(4):361–376. https://doi.org/10.1080/17496535.2019.1597141
Weiss-Gal I, Welbourne P (2008) The professionalisation of social work: a cross-national exploration. Int J Soc Welf 17:281–290. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2397.2008.00574.x
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Papouli, E. (2023). Virtues, Social Work and Social Service Organizations. In: Hölscher, D., Hugman, R., McAuliffe, D. (eds) Social Work Theory and Ethics. Social Work. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1015-9_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1015-9_17
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-19-1014-2
Online ISBN: 978-981-19-1015-9
eBook Packages: Social SciencesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences