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This chapter questions the role of virtues in health professional medical ethics. It distinguishes between the ethics of conduct – usually expressed as moral principles – and the ethics of the character – expressed as virtues. It questions whether virtues are intrinsically valued or valued instrumentally as the means to right conduct. It poses two problems for virtue theory: (1) The “naked virtue” problem – whether instilling virtues increases the probability of correlative morally right conduct, and (2) the “wrong virtue” problem–which of many sometimes controversial virtues should be promoted. The chapter ends by arguing that these are less serious problems for the morality of conduct.

Purpose: We analyze how medical providers use accountability processes or the regulatory means through which individuals hold themselves or others accountable to social norms, to uphold their medical authority. We use the case of trans medicine because in this medical domain, providers often have little to no expertise and few are trained specifically in delivering trans medicine or working with trans patients. As a result, providers experience uncertainty and are left without the typical tools and expertise on which they depend in most other areas of medical decision-making.

Design/methodology/approach: We conducted in-depth interviews with 23 medical providers and observations of transgender healthcare conferences in the United States between 2012 and 2015.

Findings: Our work offers insight into the provider side of patient-provider encounters and medical decision-making in gender minority health. The first accountability strategy providers employed was to invoke the language of evidence as a method to maintain their authority, in spite of the paucity of scientific evidence that undergirds this emergent medical domain. The second strategy was to mandate compliance by holding trans people accountable to the expectation of acquiescing to medical authority.

Originality/value: We contribute to the scholarship on gender minority health by examining how high power actors use accountability processes to restore order in interactions with trans and nonbinary patients. We demonstrate how enforcement to expectations through accountability processes is a plausible, though oft-overlooked, dimension of health inequalities.

Recent emphasis in research and theory building on compassion in organizations has not yet received sustained attention by organization development and change scholarship. Compassion at work, however, has been reported as instrumental in coaching, ad hoc organizing, prosocial behavior during challenging times, and other processes central to developing and changing organizations. It also has been theorized to bring about an untapped organizational capability, contribute to fostering a climate of workplace forgiveness, and to facilitate development of social entrepreneurship. In this essay, we begin to outline what the recent advances in the compassion literature offer researchers and practitioners of organization development and change. We briefly review how compassion is defined across different contexts, how it can be seen through a positive lens and within broader lines of inquiry on social and emotional dynamics at work, and how interpretive approaches to studying compassion might fit with the study of change. Seeing compassion scholarship as more than a specialized trend in positive organizational behavior, we offer ample opportunities for diverse and novel inquiry into development and change at work.

This chapter aims to examine whether the intransigence of consumers is leading to exploitative conditions in developing countries. It focuses on Bangladesh where the situation is dire for workers in the apparel industry, as they work tirelessly to supply the needs of consumers in the developed world.

The chapter adopts an analytical approach to identify and analyse the key issues within the apparel sector. It assesses the issues on the basis of the ethical trade practices and the duty care theory in determining the roles, if any, that retailers and consumers play in the generation of these mishaps. It uses secondary sources obtained mainly through the media and the literature to review the current debates within the sector.

The chapter presents evidence that shows that the rationale for engaging with and supporting workers in developing countries are important strategic reasons for undertaking global investments. The chapter found that problems within the apparel business could be rectified if people at all stages of the supply chain take responsibility for their actions and inactions. This is particularly relevant in the context of weak states, where negative externalities such as human rights abuses, poor working conditions and low pay levels are often found.

The chapter makes a case for compelling firms to ensure the welfare of workers from those countries they source from. In particular, by focusing on Bangladesh, the chapter has attempted to link the national and local context to global forces in which ethical concerns are seen to have become susceptible to pressures of economic considerations. Such a situation underscores the need to explore the tensions that exist between global governance regimes and national regulations, and how they are likely to become more critical during times of economic development. More specifically, the chapter also believes further research can be done to assess how we should discharge our responsibilities to others within the supply chain of the apparel industry.

The chapter contributes to a discussion that has been of considerable concern to many international retailers, consumers and contractors in the garment industry of late. Its importance lies in the fact that it examines critically the competing claims as to who should take the blame for mishaps in the garment industry. It brings to the fore the ethical obligations that stakeholders have and suggests avenues for a series of engagements that can drive the cause for achieving just and compassionate care relations in the broadest sense within the business environment.