Modern societies are shaped by market-driven and organizational structures. These structures derive their legitimacy and authority from moral frameworks. Organization and management ultimately serve as instruments for fostering a good social life. The underlying idea is that ethics does not exist outside economic activity, and that every economic action inherently carries a moral dimension.

Ethics in management examines the relationship between management and organizational practices and moral action. The institute focuses both on philosophical ethical theories and their application in business and society, as well as on concrete moral leadership, decision-making, and behavior within organizations.

Among other things, the following fundamental questions are explored: How can economic activity be justified morally? What are the implications for responsible business conduct? How can these insights be applied in management practice? Which ethical principles can be applied to leadership and decision-making practices? What possibilities for concrete change in organizational practice arise from ethical reflection? And what potential, yet unexplored, avenues for action might exist?

To answer these questions, philosophical discourse, social science-based ethical theories, and practical case studies from various sectors are examined. Theory-driven “thinking out loud” meets practice-oriented “working out loud,” opening up alternative ways of shaping organizational practice. The goal is to develop both an intellectual vocabulary and a practical toolkit for expanding the scope of actionable possibilities.