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Article
Publication date: 3 August 2021

Morten Bay

As interest in technology ethics is increasing, so is the interest in bringing schools of ethics from non-Western philosophical traditions to the field, particularly when it comes…

Abstract

Purpose

As interest in technology ethics is increasing, so is the interest in bringing schools of ethics from non-Western philosophical traditions to the field, particularly when it comes to information and communication technology. In light of this development and recent publications that result from it, this paper aims to present responds critically to recent work on Confucian virtue ethics (CVE) and technology.

Design/methodology/approach

Four critiques are presented as theoretical challenges to CVE in technology, claiming that current literature insufficiently addresses: overall applicability, collective ethics issues, epistemic overconfidence within technology corporations and amplification of epistemic overconfidence by the implementation of CVE. These challenges make use of general CVE literature and work on technology critique, political philosophy, epistemology and business ethics.

Findings

Implementing CVE in technology may yield some benefits, but these may be outweighed by other outcomes, include strengthening hierarchies, widening inequities, increasing, rather than limiting, predictive activity, personal data collection, misinformation, privacy violations and challenges to the democratic process.

Originality/value

Though not directly advocating against CVE, the paper reveals hitherto unidentified and serious issues that should be addressed before CVE are used to inform ethics guidelines or regulatory policies. It also serves as a foundation for further inquiry into how Eastern philosophy more broadly can inform technology ethics in the West.

Details

Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, vol. 19 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-996X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 July 2020

Wan-Ju Chou and Bor-Shiuan Cheng

While current management theory is largely based on economic assumptions, there is evidence to suggest capitalism is at a crossroads. Humanistic management is accordingly proposed…

Abstract

Purpose

While current management theory is largely based on economic assumptions, there is evidence to suggest capitalism is at a crossroads. Humanistic management is accordingly proposed as an alternative new paradigm. The present study follows this approach in considering Confucianism as a humanistic practice. The purpose of this study is to explore humanistic leadership displayed by a Confucian leader and how he/she presents humanistic concern in corporate management to pursue the common good.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopted a structured–pragmatic–situational approach to conduct a case study and collected data from three sources: semi-structured interviews, consultant observations and archival data.

Findings

The findings reveal that a Confucian leader takes all stakeholders' interests into account while engaging in corporate management and displays humanistic behaviors toward the stakeholders that are in line with five Confucian virtues. The leader cultivates the employees as Confucian humanistic agents. These employees accordingly act as bridges to transmit the humanistic spirit to their customers and other industries in the same market. To initiate an industry change to achieve collective welfare, a Confucian leader must first influence his/her primary stakeholders. The primary stakeholders next collectively influence the secondary stakeholders (i.e. the industry). Consequently, the overall goal of the common good is ultimately sustained.

Originality/value

This study identifies valuable practical implications for humanistic practices in corporate management from a Confucian perspective. In addition, this study takes a significant academic step forward by illuminating the humanistic paradigm.

Details

Cross Cultural & Strategic Management, vol. 27 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-5794

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 May 2012

Rick D. Hackett and Gordon Wang

The purpose of this paper is to bring definitional clarity to the term “virtue” as pertinent to the behavioural sciences literatures on leadership; to identify a short and…

8852

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to bring definitional clarity to the term “virtue” as pertinent to the behavioural sciences literatures on leadership; to identify a short and consolidated list of cardinal virtues commonly associated with leadership effectiveness; to provide a model relating leader virtues to leader outcomes (i.e. ethics, happiness, life satisfaction, and effectiveness); and to propose a program of research.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors systematically and comprehensively review Aristotelian and Confucian literatures on virtue ethics, and the literatures on seven leadership styles – i.e. moral, ethical, spiritual, servant, transformational, charismatic, and visionary leadership.

Findings

Six virtues, including four considered cardinal by Aristotle (courage, temperance, justice and prudence), and two considered cardinal by Confucius (humanity, and truthfulness), were common to all seven leadership styles.

Research limitations/implications

Researchers should aim to develop and validate a measure of virtuous leadership based on the six cardinal virtues presented here and also to test both the proposed measurement and structural models.

Practical implications

The authors' recommended program of research will ideally inform development and design of selection and training programs for enhancing virtuous leadership.

Originality/value

The authors provide definitional clarity to the term “virtue” – one that is well grounded in the moral philosophy and virtue ethics literatures; consolidate vast and varied literatures on seven different widely subscribed leadership styles and identify six cardinal virtues most likely to positively impact leadership effectiveness; present an organizing framework, structural model, and research agenda to catalyze research on virtuous leadership.

Details

Management Decision, vol. 50 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0025-1747

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 September 2013

Paul Gibbs

This paper is an interweaving of virtues ethics perspectives of the relational and role grounded with the situational and agent and is explored through the patterns of academic…

1546

Abstract

Purpose

This paper is an interweaving of virtues ethics perspectives of the relational and role grounded with the situational and agent and is explored through the patterns of academic freedom. It uses a notion of Confucian‐inspired “role virtue ethics” where obligation, procedure and virtue mix in a relational way with a community of scholarly practice. This counter‐intuitive linking of ritual with freedom reveals the importance of the former in defending and maintaining academic freedom: a freedom with rule‐based obligations.

Design/methodology/approach

Applied philosophical approach to a pressing problem in higher education and indeed to all education.

Findings

The paper seeks a preliminary blending of eastern and western understanding to proceed to a “virtue role ethic” for higher education scholars and is presented as a more relational way of being than the contemporary notion of being a fitting scholar in higher education.

Practical implications

A synthesis of western and Confucian approach may offer insights to other ethical issues for educational management.

Social implications

A synthesis of western and Confucian approach may offer insights to other ethical issues for educational management.

Originality/value

The development of role virtue ethics more the discussion away from dispositions and from situational to a blending of both.

Details

International Journal of Educational Management, vol. 27 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-354X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 August 2008

Chau‐kiu Cheung and Andrew Chi‐fai Chan

Because of the paucity of information about what and how Chinese leadership styles contribute to organizational success, this study aims to elucidate Chinese leadership styles…

3845

Abstract

Purpose

Because of the paucity of information about what and how Chinese leadership styles contribute to organizational success, this study aims to elucidate Chinese leadership styles with reference to Confucian and Daoist schemata, relate them to organizational success, and explicate the relationships by exploring a grounded theory.

Design/methodology/approach

To obtain such knowledge, this study applies a grounded theory approach to analyzing interview data from 11 Hong Kong Chinese CEOs.

Findings

Results delineated the Chinese leadership styles based on relationship building, virtuous practice, hierarchical and centralized organization, and humility and self‐effacement. These practices were conducive to trust, cooperation, competence, and other achievements in the staff. The contributions of the Chinese leadership styles tend to reflect a security theory in that sustaining followers' security appears to mediate leadership practices and their outcomes.

Originality/value

Because the tradition of Confucian and Daoist teachings can be a basis for successful Chinese leadership styles, the teachings can still be valuable for leadership development today.

Details

Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 29 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7739

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 3 September 2021

Fengqi Qian and Guo-qiang Liu

Since the beginning of the new millennium, Confucian doctrines on one’s self-cultivation have been re-introduced to curriculum in China. The revived cherish of the Confucian

Abstract

Since the beginning of the new millennium, Confucian doctrines on one’s self-cultivation have been re-introduced to curriculum in China. The revived cherish of the Confucian legacy in the twenty-first century is a reverse from the official rejection of Confucianism in the Mao era (1950–1976). It also appears as a counterweight to the individualism proliferating among the Chinese youths born at the beginning of the new millennium (Gen Z). The re-introduction of Confucianism is thus ideologically purposeful. Yet how does the mixed exposure to Confucius’ legacy and the modern idea of self-awareness impact this cohort of young people, in particular their way of learning? This chapter focusses on Chinese Gen Z studying in Australia. Using the Bourdieuan theory of human habitus, this chapter examines how these students negotiate between the ideas of self-cultivation and self-awareness, and what implications such experiences have in an intercultural academic community.

Details

Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: The Context of Being, Interculturality and New Knowledge Systems
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80043-007-5

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 August 2021

Vane-Ing Tian, Felix Tang and Alan C.B. Tse

This paper aims to develop a culturally sensitive model based on the Chinese Confucian philosophy and normative ethics, which emphasizes the wholehearted social responsibility of…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to develop a culturally sensitive model based on the Chinese Confucian philosophy and normative ethics, which emphasizes the wholehearted social responsibility of a Junzi (a noble man). Analogous to the popular marketing concept and strategic marketing orientation concepts, the authors define the Junzi concept as a business philosophy and Junzi orientation as the implementation of this philosophy. It proposes a Junzi orientation has a positive influence on companies' performances.

Design/methodology/approach

An 18-item scale comprising five dimensions: (1) Ren – benevolence, humaneness; (2) Yi – appropriateness, righteousness; (3) Li – propriety, harmonious differentiation; (4) Zhi – wisdom, knowledge management; and (5) Xin – integrity, trustworthiness, was developed to measure Junzi orientation. A total of 423 questionnaires were collected from different industries in Hong Kong, and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted.

Findings

The multidimensional behavioral construct of Junzi orientation scale was reliable and valid. The data supported that Junzi orientation has a positive influence on companies' performances.

Practical implications

The paper suggests that Junzi orientation could enhance a firm's competitive advantage.

Originality/value

This paper develops a culturally sensitive business orientation scale based on Chinese Confucianism and normative ethics.

Details

Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, vol. 34 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-5855

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 21 March 2022

Andrew T.W. Hung

The aim of this paper is to argue for the values of familial caring and relationships in addition to the provision of social media technology during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong…

1288

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to argue for the values of familial caring and relationships in addition to the provision of social media technology during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong.

Design/methodology/approach

The discussion of this paper has adopted an inter-disciplinary approach by integrating health care system and psychological analysis, based on cultural philosophical argument through the hermeneutic approach of classical texts and critical analysis.

Findings

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the dilemma between the public health measures for COVID-19 and sustaining elderly social psychological health through familial connection. From a Confucian perspective, the practice of filial piety (xiao, 孝), which demands taking care of parents, is essential for one’s moral formation, and for one’s becoming a virtuous (ren, 仁) person. The necessity of taking care of elderly parents by adult children is not something that can be explained in terms of consequentialism. Indeed, the rising trend of instrumental rationality seems to weaken rather than strengthen the sense of filial obligation. In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic which tends to separate connections between family members, the author argues that we should emphasize the values of familial caring and relationship because it enhances the elderly’s characteristic of resilience.

Originality/value

This paper shows that while social media technology has mitigated the negative effect of social distancing, such online relationships should never replace the bodily connections between the elderly and their family members from a Confucian perspective.

Details

Public Administration and Policy, vol. 25 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1727-2645

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 25 September 2020

Abstract

Details

Bringing Children Back into the Family: Relationality, Connectedness and Home
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83867-197-6

Article
Publication date: 23 March 2010

Yong Han, Nada K. Kakabadse and Andrew Kakabadse

This paper seeks to explore whether the Western concept of servant leadership holds the same meaning in the public sector of the cross‐cultural context of China and to identify…

5492

Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to explore whether the Western concept of servant leadership holds the same meaning in the public sector of the cross‐cultural context of China and to identify whether there is an alternative term in the Chinese language that closely relates to the concept of servant leadership

Design/methodology/approach

An inductive approach is adopted based on critical incident technique, using an open‐ended survey to collect the data.

Findings

It was found that the concept of servant leadership holds parallel meaning in China to that of the West and that the Chinese concept of servant leadership can be described precisely as public servant leadership in the public sector and servant leadership in the non‐public sector. When asked to characterize Chinese servant leadership in the public sector, the study respondents consider six types of servant leadership similar to the West but also three types of Chinese extended servant leadership.

Originality/value

The paper is a first attempt to examine servant leadership in the public sector in China. It not only reports various forms of Chinese servant leadership orientation, but also compares and contrasts various servant leadership forms between China and the West, highlighting research gaps for future research within the context of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the West.

Details

Journal of Management Development, vol. 29 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0262-1711

Keywords

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