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Article
Publication date: 4 July 2016

Sung Jun Jo and Sunyoung Park

This paper aims to analyze current practices, discuss empowerment from the theoretical perspectives on power in organizations and suggest an empowerment model based on the type of

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to analyze current practices, discuss empowerment from the theoretical perspectives on power in organizations and suggest an empowerment model based on the type of organizational culture and the role of human resource development (HRD).

Design/methodology/approach

By reviewing the classic viewpoint of power, Lukes’ three-dimensional power and Foucault’s disciplinary power, we discuss power and empowerment in organizational contexts.

Findings

Power in organizations can be conceptualized based on the classic view, Foucault and critical view and Lukes’ three-dimensional power. We found that true employee empowerment is related to the third dimension of power. The role of HRD for empowerment can be categorized into enhancing motivation and commitment in terms of psychological empowerment and bringing real power to employees. The proposed empowerment model assumes that organizational culture influences the dimensions of empowerment and the role of HRD for supporting empowerment.

Practical implications

HRD needs to critically assess the meaning of power in particular contexts (Morrell and Wilkinson, 2002) before planning and implementing specific training and development interventions for performance improvement and/or organization development interventions for innovation.

Originality/value

This study attempts to review, analyze and discuss issues regarding employee empowerment from HRD perspectives. Implications for the roles of HRD and the empowerment model are proposed.

Article
Publication date: 1 November 1988

Tibor R. Machan

Here Marx's philosophy is dissected from the angle of bourgeois capitalism which he, Marx, sought to overcome. His social, political and economic ideas are criticised. Although it…

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Abstract

Here Marx's philosophy is dissected from the angle of bourgeois capitalism which he, Marx, sought to overcome. His social, political and economic ideas are criticised. Although it is noted that Marx wanted to ameliorate human suffering, the result turned out to be Utopian, contrary to his own intentions. Contrary to Marx, it is individualism that makes the best sense and capitalism that holds out the best hope for coping with most of the problems he sought to solve. Marx's philosophy is alluring but flawed at a very basic level, namely, where it denies the individuality of each person and treats humanity as “an organic body”. Capitalism, while by no means out to guarantee a perfect society, is the best setting for the realisation of the diverse but often equally noble human goals of its membership.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 15 no. 11/12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 1985

Tomas Riha

Nobody concerned with political economy can neglect the history of economic doctrines. Structural changes in the economy and society influence economic thinking and, conversely…

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Abstract

Nobody concerned with political economy can neglect the history of economic doctrines. Structural changes in the economy and society influence economic thinking and, conversely, innovative thought structures and attitudes have almost always forced economic institutions and modes of behaviour to adjust. We learn from the history of economic doctrines how a particular theory emerged and whether, and in which environment, it could take root. We can see how a school evolves out of a common methodological perception and similar techniques of analysis, and how it has to establish itself. The interaction between unresolved problems on the one hand, and the search for better solutions or explanations on the other, leads to a change in paradigma and to the formation of new lines of reasoning. As long as the real world is subject to progress and change scientific search for explanation must out of necessity continue.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 12 no. 3/4/5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Abstract

Details

Histories of Economic Thought
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-76230-997-9

Article
Publication date: 3 January 2017

Michel Dion

The purpose of this paper is to circumscribe the various philosophical connections between the classical and the modern notion of corruption from Enlightenment to post-modernity.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to circumscribe the various philosophical connections between the classical and the modern notion of corruption from Enlightenment to post-modernity.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper analyzed to what extent the classical notion of corruption (Plato, Aristotle and Cicero) still influenced the way philosophers perceived the phenomenon of corruption during the Enlightenment (1625-1832), the transition period (1833-1900) and the post-modernity (1901 onward). Taking those historical periods as reference points, the author will see how literature about historical, social and political conditioning factors of corruption could convey the presence/absence of the classical or the modern notion of corruption.

Findings

The paper finds that the classical notion of corruption implies the degeneration of human relationships (Plato and Hegel), the degeneration of the body-and-mind unity (Aristotle, Pascal and Thomas Mann) or the degeneration of collective morality (Cicero, Locke, Rousseau, Hume and Kant). The modern notion of corruption as bribery was mainly introduced by Adam Smith. Nietzsche (and Musil) looked at corruption as degeneration of the will-to-power. The classical notion of corruption put the emphasis on the effects rather than on the cause itself (effects-based thinking). The modern notion of corruption as bribery insists on the cause rather than on the effects (cause-based thinking).

Research limitations/implications

In this paper, the author has taken into account the main representatives of the three historical periods. Future research could also analyze the works of other philosophers and novelists to see to what extent their philosophical and literary works are unveiling the classical or the modern notion of corruption.

Originality/value

The paper presents a philosophical and historical perspective about corruption. It sheds light on the way philosophers (and sometimes novelists) deal with the issue of corruption, whether it is from an effects-based or from a cause-based perspective.

Details

Journal of Financial Crime, vol. 24 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1359-0790

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 20 December 2021

Manuele Bertoluzzo, Paolo Di Barba, Michele Forzan, Maria Evelina Mognaschi and Elisabetta Sieni

The purpose of this paper is to show how the EStra-Many method works on optimization problems characterized by high-dimensionality of the objective space. Moreover, a comparison…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to show how the EStra-Many method works on optimization problems characterized by high-dimensionality of the objective space. Moreover, a comparison with a more classical approach (a constrained bi-objective problem solved by means of NSGA-II) is done.

Design/methodology/approach

The six reactances of a compensation network (CN) for a wireless power transfer system (WPTS) are synthesized by means of an automated optimal design. In particular, an evolutionary algorithm EStra-Many coupled with a sorting strategy has been applied to an optimization problem with four objective functions (OFs). To assess the obtained results, a classical genetic algorithm NSGA-II has been run on a bi-objective problem, constrained by two functions, and the solutions have been analyzed and compared with the ones obtained by EStra-Many.

Findings

The proposed EStra-Many method identified a solution (CN synthesis) that enhances the WPTS, considering all the four OFs. In particular, to assess the synthesized CN, the Bode diagram of the frequency response and a circuital simulation were evaluated a posteriori; they showed good performance of the CN, with smooth response and without unwanted oscillations when fed by a square wave signal with offset. The EStra-Many method has been able to find a good solution among all the feasible solutions, showing potentiality also for other fields of research, in fact, a solution nondominated with respect to the starting point has been identified. From the methodological viewpoint, the main finding is a new formulation of the many-objective optimization problem based on the concept of degree of conflict, which gives rise to an implementation free from hierarchical weights.

Originality/value

The new approach EStra-Many used in this paper showed to properly find an optimal solution, trading-off multiple objectives. The compensation network so synthesized by the proposed method showed good properties in terms of frequency response and robustness. The proposed method, able to deal effectively with four OFs, could be applied to solve problems with a higher number of OFs in a variety of applications because of its generality.

Details

COMPEL - The international journal for computation and mathematics in electrical and electronic engineering , vol. 41 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0332-1649

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Documents related to John Maynard Keynes, institutionalism at Chicago & Frank H. Knight
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78350-061-1

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Responsible Investment Around the World: Finance after the Great Reset
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80382-851-0

Article
Publication date: 1 April 1986

Cedric Pugh

It was not until the late 1960s that housing attracted much attention from academic social scientists. Since that time the literature has expanded widely and diversified…

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Abstract

It was not until the late 1960s that housing attracted much attention from academic social scientists. Since that time the literature has expanded widely and diversified, establishing housing with a specialised status in economics, sociology, politics, and in related subjects. As we would expect, the new literature covers a technical, statistical, theoretical, ideological, and historical range. Housing studies have not been conceived and interpreted in a monolithic way, with generally accepted concepts and principles, or with uniformly fixed and precise methodological approaches. Instead, some studies have been derived selectively from diverse bases in conventional theories in economics or sociology, or politics. Others have their origins in less conventional social theory, including neo‐Marxist theory which has had a wider intellectual following in the modern democracies since the mid‐1970s. With all this diversity, and in a context where ideological positions compete, housing studies have consequently left in their wake some significant controversies and some gaps in evaluative perspective. In short, the new housing intellectuals have written from personal commitments to particular cognitive, theoretical, ideological, and national positions and experiences. This present piece of writing takes up the two main themes which have emerged in the recent literature. These themes are first, questions relating to building and developing housing theory, and, second, the issue of how we are to conceptualise housing and relate it to policy studies. We shall be arguing that the two themes are closely related: in order to create a useful housing theory we must have awareness and understanding of housing practice and the nature of housing.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 13 no. 4/5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Article
Publication date: 6 July 2015

Lianlian Liu

The purposes of this paper are to organize historical, solved questions and recent, unsolved questions in a coherent, progressive way; explore the key question to be answered…

Abstract

Purpose

The purposes of this paper are to organize historical, solved questions and recent, unsolved questions in a coherent, progressive way; explore the key question to be answered under this systematic framework; and reflect on an alternative analytical perspective to the current “problem-solving-oriented” approach. Transnational bribery regulation, with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Anti-Bribery Convention as the central governing legal instrument, is on the top agenda of international governance. However, its complex nature makes theoretical viewpoints on this topic rather fragmented. This fragmentation is used to help understand the wisdom of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) approach in the early years. However, as the FCPA approach was internationalized and evolves to its current phase, in which individual inquiries become path-dependent and interdependent, the fragmentation causes more confusion than makes contribution.

Design/methodology/approach

Sections 2 and 3 retrospect the historical trajectory of academic research on the global regulation of transnational bribery, systemizes relevant theoretical insights and illustrates how people’s understandings of the wisdom of the FCPA approach in early years affect their evaluations of the effect of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention in the contemporary era. Given that, at present, the most popular viewpoint is that the Convention is “ineffective”, Section 4 systemizes the diverse causal attributions of the “problem” in current academic literature, sorts out the roots causes and points out the key question for the next step forward under the version of the “problem-solving-oriented” analysis. Section 5 has a reflection on the inherent limitation of a “problem-solving-oriented” approach for our understanding of the effects of the Convention.

Findings

Under the version of a “problem-solving-oriented” approach, the key question to be solved is how to establish a mechanism to cope with the surreptitious nature of transnational bribery and the self-sacrificed nature of the FCPA-style approach simultaneously. The popular “problem-solving-oriented” approach has an inherent limitation to create new knowledge on the multilateral anti-bribery collaboration. A reality-based, historical analytical perspective is a good alternative to it.

Originality/value

The paper presents a personal, original organization of the conventional theoretical insights to the operation of the global anti-bribery collaboration and the underlying logics of these viewpoints. The paper also presents the author’s personal analysis of the “technical omission” and “inherent limitation” of a problem-solving-oriented approach to analyze the performance of the global anti-bribery collaboration, and the power of a historical analytical perspective as an alternative.

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