Moral frictions : ethics, creativity and social responsibility in stem cell science
Name
828429448-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
12.73 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
0e269fa902a29480a064e47bb3299148
Author(s)
Evans, Joëlle
Advisor(s)
Wanda Orlikowski and Susan Silbey.
Alternative Title
Ethics, creativity and social responsibility in stem cell science
Date Issued
2012
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Competing moral orders pervade markets and organizations. Previous studies of morals and markets show that organizational and occupational communities in contested areas promote one unique moral perspective in order to gain legitimacy and ensure organizational survival. In this perspective, change and innovation are only possible when distinct actors with a competing moral perspective enter a market. Yet communities do sometimes produce innovations at odds with the moral position they promote. How do they achieve this? Drawing on a 17-months ethnography of a stem cell laboratory, I explore the ways in which competing moral orders intersect in the workplace and how this collision shapes work and innovation practices. I examine two distinct moral conflicts: conflicts over safety and conflicts over bioethics. These two different types of conflicts suggest together that, far from being ethical deserts where workers conform to their organization's perspective, workplaces dealing with contested objects and technologies are spaces of intense ethical questioning and negotiation. Local moral contests are rich with creative opportunities: organizational actors innovate and shape their organizations as they seek to couple the practices and goals of their organization with their avowed personal values. This dissertation contributes to unpacking the links between morals and organizations by showing that moral legitimacy is not just a post-hoc justification of organizational products or practices but is integral to the constitution of these products and practices. This work also contributes to studies of expert work by highlighting the role of moral heterogeneity, local contests, authority over tasks, and technological innovation on the definition of social responsibility in expert communities.
Description
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2012.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 237-250).
Subjects
Sloan School of Management.
MIT Department
Sloan School of Management
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