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Background Note
| HBS Case Collection
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1991
(Revised from original 1990 version)
Dirty Hands
by
Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.
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Abstract
A one-paragraph excerpt from a play by Jean-Paul Sartre. Describes in the words of one character, the ethical problem of "dirty hands": the problem that doing the morally superior thing in some circumstances inevitably involves doing some things that are morally wrong. This excerpt is for use as a supplement to cases in which the "dirty hands" problem arises.
Keywords: Moral Sensibility;
Management;
Problems and Challenges;
Personal Characteristics;
Value;
Citation:
Badaracco, Joseph L., Jr. "Dirty Hands." Harvard Business School Background Note 390-213, April 1991. (Revised from original May 1990 version.)