A narrower
construction of the ethical role of the manager is that managers should serve only the interests of the
shareholder; that is, their sole ethical task is to meet the fiduciary obligation to maximize shareholder wealth
that is embedded in the law, predominantly that of the United States, although this point of view is increasingly
accepted in other parts of the world. Even in this narrow view, however, although not always recognized
explicitly, ethics are at the core of management practice.
The ethical role of managers is broadened beyond fiduciary responsibility when consideration is given to the
multiple stakeholders who constitute the organization being managed and to nature, on which human
civilization depends for its survival. Business decisions affect both stakeholders and nature; therefore, a logical
conclusion is that those decisions have ethical content inherently and that managerial decisions, behaviors, and
actions are therefore inherently ethical in nature. Whenever there are impacts due to a decision, behavior, or
action that a leader or manager makes, there are ethical aspects to that decision or situation. While some
skeptics claim that business ethics is an oxymoron, the reality is that decisions and actions have consequences,
and that reality implies some degree of ethics, high or low. Thus, ethics and the managerial role cannot
realistically be teased apart.