RELIABILITY AND THE DESIGN OF ETHICAL ORGANIZATIONS - A RATIONAL SYSTEMS-APPROACH

This paper argues that the concept of reliability provides a useful fr amework for analyzing defects in organizational design and for prescri bing changes that will facilitate ethical decision making. Reliability becomes an ethical concern when the individual or organizational inte rest diverges from the collective interest. Redundancy and requisite v ariety provide two design tools which can enable organizations to act reliably in the collective interest. The paper then discusses potentia l disadvantages to the use of a reliability framework as well as possi ble problems of implementation. It concludes by examining avenues for future research.