Is There Any Ethical and Moral Consideration in the Theory and Practice of Global Business Social Darwinism?

Abstract

This article has revisited the interchangeable meanings of morality and ethics in today's global business practices. This article argues that in the theory and practice of the global business Social Darwinism, there is no room for ethics and morality because the competitive international business ideology promotes the “survival of the fittest.” Furthermore, the purpose of this article is to first define the distinction between morality and ethics and their application in the real world of today's business; second, to analyze the ideological foundation of the international business practices of Social Darwinism in relation to global production, consumption, profitability, and efficacy.     

A moral principles framework for human resource management ethics

This paper argues that the analysis of ethical issues in human resource management is legitimate and important. It argues that the theory of ethical relativism should be rejected and that it is meaningful to search for universal moral principles. It then presents a comprehensive framework for making judgments about human resource management ethics that consists of five complementary moral principles that have been developed and studied by philosophers: utilitarian ethics, rights ethics (using Kant's categorical imperative), distributive justice ethics, care ethics, and virtue ethics. It illustrates the application of the moral framework by analyzing the ethics of deceiving employees about the hazardous nature of chemicals in the workplace, the ethics of discrimination in employment, and the ethics of sexual harassment.     

Gender in Academic Networking: The Role of Gatekeepers in Professorial Recruitment

The aim of this study is to build a theoretical framework to understand how gendered networking practices produce or counter inequalities in organizations. We introduce a practice approach combined with a feminist perspective in organization network studies. The notions of gender and networking as social practices allow better insights into what people say and do in networks, and the ways that networking produces or counters gender inequalities. We draw on empirical material about professorial appointments in Dutch academia and analyse the accounts of gatekeepers illuminating their networking practices. The accounts show which networking practices gatekeepers routinely use in recruitment and how these networking practices are intertwined with gender practices. We use the notion of mobilizing masculinities to understand the self‐evident identification of men gatekeepers with men in their networks, and to understand how both men and women gatekeepers prefer the male candidates that resemble the proven masculine success model. Furthermore, this study provides the first empirical insights in mobilizing femininities in which women search for and support women candidates. We show how the gender practice of mobilizing femininities is a more precarious and marked practice than mobilizing masculinities. Mobilizing femininities in networking is intended to counter gender inequalities, but is only partially successful. Through constructions of ‘who you can trust’ or ‘who is a risk’, gatekeepers exercise the power of inclusion and exclusion and contribute to the persistence of structural gender inequalities.     

Gendered observations and experiences in executive women's work

This article explores gendered observations and experiences of executive women on the basis of common world views or lenses through which gender differences are interpreted and understood. Three types of lenses are identified from both the literature and the data: monocultural, statistical and structural. The discussion explores the relationships and ties between each lens noting the overlapping characteristics. A qualitative study is used to index the various themes and the coping strategies employed by executive women in Australia based on specific work experiences in leadership and gender relations. The study adds to existing gender theory by highlighting how gendered lenses can be used to explore gender hierarchies and inequality regimes which lie at the centre of executive women's work.     

Resolving ethical dilemmas through international human resource management: a transaction cost economics perspective

This paper examines the interaction between cross-cultural variation in ethics and international human resource management. Literature is reviewed that suggests the ethical orientation of a culture can vary based upon whether the culture values collective outcomes or adherence to generally accepted rules, processes, and rights. Drawing on transaction cost economics and social contracts theory, it is suggested that differences in ethics between a multinational organization and its host culture(s) can damage the multinational's reputation, reduce its ethical decision-making capacity, raise its transaction costs, and reduce performance. Theory is developed suggesting the appropriate approach to international human resource management can attenuate these problems.     

De ontwikkeling van de inkomensongelijkheid gemeten volgens informatietheoretische maatstaven

Summary Some years ago Theil introduced new inequality measures, originating from information theory. He applied them 8.0. to income distributions in the United States. This inequality coefficient is - in contrast to Pareto's constant - based on the whole income distribution. Moreover, the inequality can be disaggregated into inequalities for groups of population. The numerical value of the inequality depends on the chosen class intervals; this may be inconvenient when making comparisons between countries, between different periods and the like. Hence we suggest an appropriate standardizing procedure. The inequality of income distributions has been calculated for the period 1950–1964 and a cornparison is made with Pmm's constant. The investigation relates to three groups of population: wage earners, self employed and others. A remark is made about between-province inequalities.     

The role of job assignment and human capital endowments in explaining gender differences in job performance and promotion

We test a job ladders theory of career progression within internal labor markets as developed by Lazear and Rosen (1990). The theory argues that gender promotion gaps are due to sorting of men and women into career tracks with different promotion opportunities based on ex ante quit probabilities. Analyzing US federal government employees using a dynamic unobserved panel data model, we find that job assignment is one of the strongest predictors of gender differences in promotion. We also find that women have to jump higher performance hurdles to promote across grades, but, within grades, their promotion probabilities are comparable to those of men. In this organization, women can be found in both fast- and slow-track jobs, based on their promotion history, suggesting that unobserved heterogeneity is revealed to the firm over the worker's career.     

The Twenty‐First‐Century Quest for Feminism and the Global Urban

The purpose of this essay is to initiate a conversation about the production and analysis of knowledge on women and the urban. Starting with a brief overview of how women have been addressed in the field of urban studies, I turn to their treatment in works by critical urban scholars, revealing how women fall away from urban theories. The dismissal of women from theory construction and the impact on women's lives of the imbrication of the gendered subject into neoliberal discourses about the city adds urgency to a feminist intervention. A feminist analytic requires the promotion of a new kind of global urban studies that takes seriously women's struggles, strategies and everyday desires.     

浅谈计算机网络信息安全管理

随着计算机网络技术的飞速发展,计算机信息网络已成为现代信息社会的基础设施。同时,计算机网络信息安全问题也随之日益突出。本文就计算机网络信息的安全管理谈几点看法。     

浅析计算机多媒体音像压缩技术

计算机多媒体技术算是信息技术领域的领军者,它发展的最快,在新一代电子技术蓬勃发展和激烈竞争中,处于一个焦点的地位。多媒体技术的功能有很多,如计算机、声音、图文、动画及通信等,在高速信息网广泛应用的情况下,可实现计算机的全球联网和信息资源共享,所以在许多行业都有所涉及,如咨询服务、图书、通信、金融、医疗等,我们的生活在其影响下正在不断的发生着变化。多媒体数据压缩技术是现代网络发展的关键性技术之一。由于图像和声音信号中存在各种各样的冗余,为数据压缩提供了可能。数据压缩技术有无损压和有损压缩两大类,这些压缩技术又各有不同的标准。     

基于信息素养提升的高职计算机基础课程教学方式初探

信息素养包含文化素养、信息技能以及信息意识,是当今信息时代背景下高职人才培养工作的重要内容之一。本文分析了目前高职学生在信息素养培养方面存在的问题,结合笔者的教学实践,提出了在计算机基础教学中培养学生信息素养的具体方法和建议。     

Commercializing Open Science: Deep Space Communications as the Lead Market for Shannon Theory, 1960–73

Recent research on the commercialization of scientific discoveries has emphasized the use of formal intellectual property rights (notably patents) as a mechanism for aligning the academic and entrepreneurial incentives for commercialization. Without such explicit intellectual property rights and licensing, how is such open science commercialized? This paper examines the commercialization of Claude Shannon's theory of communications, developed at and freely disseminated by Bell Telephone Laboratories. It analyses the first 25 years of Shannon theory, the role of MIT in developing and extending that theory, and the importance of deep space communications as the initial market for commercialization. It contrasts the early paths of two MIT‐related spinoffs that pursued this opportunity, including key technical and business trajectories driven by information theory. Based on this evidence, the paper provides observations about commercializing open science, particularly for engineering‐related fields.     

Not-for-profit marketing in the real world: an evaluation of Barnardo's 1995 promotional campaign

This paper examines the extent to which the academic literature underpinning marketing communications appears in the practice of charities' marketing. The first part of the paper investigates the theoretical background surrounding the marketing communications of nonprofit-making organisations drawing from the main academic papers written since the subject was opened in 1969. This theory is then compared and contrasted with the results of a case study concerning a major campaign by Barnardo's, one of the United Kingdom's largest charities. Resultsindicatethatsomeofthepoints highlighted by the academic literature are found in the marketing communications strategy of Barnardo's. Nevertheless, a range of areas is ripe for improvement, including improved systems for obtaining feedback from the target audience on the message that they received. Copyright © 1999 Henry Stewart Publications     

The effect of personality on virtual communications in warfare

Individuals and corporations worldwide are increasing their use of computer‐mediated‐communications (CMC) systems and processes. Such endeavors are shortening lines of communications, yet simultaneously distancing understanding. Winston Churchill once opined that the British and the Americans are two great peoples separated by a common language. Some relate aspects of culture as the source of Churchill's quote. Separating factors may be more engrained than was previously believed or theorized. The authors examined a high‐stress setting in which the trappings of culture disappear leaving only the basic emotional and cognitive survival aspects of personality: the environment of military combat. The study examined the relationship of an individual's ability to function efficiently using virtual communications and processes while under extreme stress. Observing the results of the study's individual‐environment relations raise the question of whether personality is a factor in virtual team efficiency.     

Contextual embeddedness of careers: female “nonsurvivors” and their gendered relational context

Our aim is to contribute to a better understanding of the contextual embeddedness of women's careers. To do this, we leverage feminist relational theory (a) to understand the relational context of women's careers in Lebanon, with a particular focus on working‐self and career investments, and (b) to trace the gendered power dynamics of career investments in the relational context of work. Through examining the narratives of 24 Lebanese female “nonsurvivors” (i.e., used to work but are not currently engaged in paid work), our findings paint a complex and nuanced picture of different relational contexts. Represented on a continuum ranging from minimally conducive for women's careers to contexts that are incrementally more conducive, the differences between these contexts are unpacked through drawing attention to the gendered power dynamics shaping women's (dis)connection with their working self, the perceived (mis)alignment of others, and the career investments that they make. Our contribution lies in augmenting our understanding of the contextual embeddedness of women's careers by demonstrating the theoretical and practical utility of bringing a deeper feminist analysis to understand the relational context of work.     

Effects of two national environmental factors on e-commerce functionality adoption: a cross-country case study of a global bank

In order to offer new services and gain competitive advantages, e-commerce has been widely adopted, particularly in the banking industry. Unfortunately, despite the growing adoption of e-commerce in the banking industry, the issue that web-based B2C e-commerce functionality adoption varies between banks or a bank's branches across nations has not received sufficient attention. Many factors affect e-commerce functionality adoption. However, two national environmental factors (information infrastructure and demographics) are particularly important because they relate to the availability of technologies in use and the characteristics of customers, respectively. This research conducts a cross-country case study of a global bank's Beijing (China), Chicago (USA), and Dubai (UAE) branches to investigate how the two national environmental factors affect e-commerce functionality adoption. The specific objectives are to discover how information infrastructure (measured by number of PCs per 1000 people and Internet access cost) and demographics (measured by population composition and income) affect e-commerce functionality adoption of the global bank's three branches. Secondary data were collected for information infrastructure and demographics; additionally, focused interviews with these three branches' IT and business managers provided sources for answering ‘how’. The key finding demonstrates that the differences in e-mail ordering and online shopping adoptions between these branches are mainly attributed to proposed factors of population composition and Internet access cost, and the new factor of individual credit reference system. This research contributes to theory development in this emerging important research subject.     

1. Globalization and Violence: The Challenge to Ethics

Despite its many benefits, globalization has proven to harbor a good deal of violence. This is not only a matter of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction inaugurated by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, but includes many forms of indirect or “structural violence” resulting from the routine of economic and political institutions on the global scale. In this essay, the multifaceted phenomena of violence are approached from the standpoint of ethics. The prevailing political thinking associated with “realism” fails to address the problems of militarism and of hegemonic unilateralism. In contrast, many philosophers are critically rethinking the problem of global violence from different ethical perspectives. Despite sharing similar concerns, philosophers nevertheless differ over the role of philosophical reflection and the potentials of reason. These differences appear in two contrasting approaches associated with postmodern philosophy and discourse ethics. In the analysis of discourse ethics, attention is paid to Karl‐Otto Apel's attempt of philosophically grounding a macroethics of planetary co‐responsibility. At the heart of the essay is the analysis of the problem of violence, including terrorism, by Jürgen Habermas, who explains the phenomenon of violence in terms of the theory of communicative action as the breakdown of communication. Jacques Derrida's deconstruction of the notion of “terrorism” also is analyzed. According to the principle of discourse ethics, all conflicts between human beings ought to be settled in a way free of violence, through discourses and negotiations. These philosophers conclude that the reliance on force does not solve social and global problems, including those that are the source of violence. The only viable alternative is the “dialogical” multilateral relations of peaceful coexistence and cooperation among the nations for solving social and global problems. They emphasize the necessity of strengthening the international rule of law and institutions, such as a reformed United Nations.     

Does feminism belong in business ethics?

Contemporary society is experiencing dramatic shifts in its expectations for business and its practices. Within the academic realm two voices of change are the “feminist” and “business ethics” perspectives; unfortunately, these two perspectives often advocate conflicting expectations for business organizations. The purpose of this article is to provide an analysis of the expectations each perspective advocates, and to draw relevant implications for future business practices. Our general conclusion is that the feminist perspective maintains a system of gender dichotomies and fails to recognize shifts in the balance of powers. In contrast, a business ethics perspective moves beyond gender issues and dichotomous systems to the recognition that contemporary society is comprised of minorities, and that the rights of all minorities must be recognized and balanced. We suggest that the feminist perspective must reposition with the rapid shifts currently occurring within our society before it can be a “voice” that should be listened to by business organizations.     

多级环境自动监测监控系统的设计与实现

为了对环境质量现状及变化趋势进行实时、准确地监测,对污染源及其治理进行监督监测,文章综合利用计算机自动控制技术、嵌入式数据采集与传输技术、无线与有线通讯技术、分布式计算与数据处理、面向服务的体系结构(SOA)、地理信息系统(GIS)、移动计算等技术,实现了对多级、多种类环境要素进行自动连续在线的实时监测与监控,并成功应用于山东1个省、17个地市、139个县的三级环保部门,为节能、降耗、减排、总量控制等环境管理工作提供科学的依据。     

Identifying consumers' engagement with renewable energy

A moral engagement with sustainability enhances consumers' willingness to pay an increased rate for renewable energy when utility firms offer a variety of financial incentives to buy, rent and lease energy solutions to promote the uptake of energy‐efficient technologies. Using structural equation modelling, with data collected from 140 residential energy consumers in Canada, this paper tests and finds evidence that consumers' moral disengagement with environmental concerns negatively influences their willingness to pay more for renewable energy. Furthermore, it is observed that a consumer's perceived sense of control when evaluating energy solutions further accentuates the effects of moral disengagement on willingness to pay. These findings also illuminate the socio‐economic factors that encourage moral engagement concerning renewables. These findings underscore and build upon the claims of the theory of moral self‐regulation. The results and implications guide energy suppliers in potential niche business models to promote the uptake of energy efficient technologies. Similarly, the findings can guide policy‐makers on the cognitive and psychological factors that shape consumers' moral engagement with environmental concerns.