Ethical obligations and the manager

Many obligations of manager, especially those imposed upon managers in their fiduciary role or as a result of equitable responsibilities, have hitherto been recognised by the courts only after decisions have been made and substantial losses incurred. There are many developments today that are in effect building these sorts of responsibilities into the management process. Despite their great diversity, these developments might conveniently be described as a modern application of ethics. The impetus for these developments often lies outside the law. Such developments seek to institutionalise fundamental ethical responsibilities in areas of management to which the law has not traditionally extended. In this way, they tend to give guidance to managers and endorse the “spirit of the law”.