Moral Development in Management
Hai Dao
MGMT-8010-1: Management in Human and Societal Development
Dr. Donna Brown
Walden University
June 29th 2014

Moral Development in Management
Today organizations face great challenges in managing their workforces effectively. With the trend of globalization in business, managers are required to update their knowledge and education on how to make the most use of organizational resources, including human and materials. However, humans are probably the most important resources of any organization. They are the ones to operate equipments; handle materials; and produce output. They are also the ones to provide customer service and receive feedback that can be useful for the organization. With that said, management has evolved over the years to adapt to the human development within organizations. Many theories have been applied to help managers manage their workforce more effectively. One of the theories that will be addressed in this paper is Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral development, because one believes that moral development of people is related the success of the organization.
Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development
The main concept of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development is that it “extended Piaget’s theory, proposing that moral development is a continual process that occurs throughout the lifespan” (Cherry, n.d.). Indeed, learning never ends, especially when people are trying to adapt to the changing environment of the workforce. Kohlberg’s theory used the Heinz dilemma of the “drug stealing” scenario to see how young children use their moral judgment and reasoning to respond to the dilemma. The dilemma was that a sick woman’s husband had no choice but to steal the drug from the druggist in order to save his wife. The experiment was not about whether the stealing was wrong, but to see how participants use their