Work identification and responsibility in moral scandals

Abstract

This paper provides a detailed study of fraud in practice through an empirical investigation of B.P.Sayers , a family-owned stock broking firm that had been in existence for over 100 years and that collapsed due to the fraudulent activities of the firm’s junior partner. An interpretive narrative methodology has been employed which has resulted in the development of a detailed understanding of fraud and moral breakdown in organizations, resulting from a failure of responsibility that arises from a dysfunctional work identification and its moral implications. In developing this account of fraud, the conceptual framework utilized is drawn from the moral philosophical work of Emmanuel Levinas who explicated how the breakdown of social relations of responsibility results, in turn, in moral breakdown.