Search results

This paper aims to contribute to the futurology of a possible artificial intelligence (AI) breakthrough, by reexamining the Omohundro–Bostrom theory for instrumental vs final AI goals. Does that theory, along with its predictions for what a superintelligent AI would be motivated to do, hold water?

The standard tools of systematic reasoning and analytic philosophy are used to probe possible weaknesses of Omohundro–Bostrom theory from four different directions: self-referential contradictions, Tegmark’s physics challenge, moral realism and the messy case of human motivations.

The two cornerstones of Omohundro–Bostrom theory – the orthogonality thesis and the instrumental convergence thesis – are both open to various criticisms that question their validity and scope. These criticisms are however far from conclusive: while they do suggest that a reasonable amount of caution and epistemic humility is attached to predictions derived from the theory, further work will be needed to clarify its scope and to put it on more rigorous foundations.

The practical value of being able to predict AI goals and motivations under various circumstances cannot be overstated: the future of humanity may depend on it. Currently, the only framework available for making such predictions is Omohundro–Bostrom theory, and the value of the present paper is to demonstrate its tentative nature and the need for further scrutiny.

Many psychological models of consumer behaviour use the construct of attitude, whereas in economic models behaviour is determined by costs and benefits under budget constraints. In this article, a behavioural cost‐benefit approach to consumer behaviour is proposed. Behavioural costs include time, physical and psychic costs of initiating, maintaining and changing behaviour. A behavioural model is proposed, in which cost‐benefit trade‐offs of behaviours play a central role. Some marketing applications on the evaluation of products, on the prediction of behavioural intentions and on shopping behaviour are discussed.

The aim of this study is to examine the relations among organizational ethical climate, goal interdependence (cooperative vs competitive goals), and organizational and professional commitment among auditors in Asia.

The authors conducted a field survey of 293 auditors employed in two offices of an international accounting firm: one in Hong Kong and one in Singapore.

Structural equation analyses indicate that instrumental ethical climates that focus on the pursuit of self‐interest and firm profitability promote more competitive and less cooperative goals among auditors. Benevolent/cosmopolitan (public interest) climates appear to enhance cooperative goals among employees. Cooperative goals in turn were associated with increased affective and normative organizational and professional commitments. Competitive environments significantly reduced affective and normative organizational commitment as well as affective professional commitment. Compared with their Hong Kong counterparts, Singaporean auditors perceived the ethical climate in their firm to be more positive or supportive of ethical values, and also felt the work environment in the firm was more cooperative and less competitive. In addition, the Singaporean auditors exhibited somewhat higher levels of emotional attachment to both their firm and the public accounting profession.

No prior accounting study has examined the influence of cooperative/competitive goals on work outcomes in a public accounting setting, or the role of ethical climates as potential antecedents of such goals. The results of the current study indicate that the development of cooperative and competitive goals is significantly related to the perceived ethical climate in public accounting firms, and that such goals may have significant effects on employee commitment not only to their organization but also to their profession. The significant differences between auditors in Hong Kong and Singapore have not previously been documented, and raise questions for future research.

Establishment of large‐scale education projects in developing nations is often problematical. After project approval it is sometimes difficult for initiatives to “get off the ground”. Examines one type of difficulty, interorganizational behaviour patterns, which may beset project establishment. The analysis is contextual. It draws on the experiences of Research Country (pseudonym) as this developing nation struggles to initiate its Third Education Project, approved for implementation by the World Bank. The data, gleaned from Government files and project documents, are presented in a scenario; and two major concepts in organizational theory, organizational myths and organizational goals, provide the frame of reference against which the data are analysed. The results reveal that the behaviour of organizations involved can influence the decision‐making process in project establishment, and as a result can slow down the process of project implementation.

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize a meso-level (organizational) social capital theoretical approach to public relations. A theory and conceptualization of social capital as a resource- and exchange-based function of public relations is proposed. Here it is argued that public relations professionals serve as the managers of intangible resources on behalf of organizations. These intangibles serve as social capital for organizations and are managed through strategic, goal-directed communication behaviors. Social capital is conceptualized alongside other forms of capital that contribute to organizational advantage. The author proposes a conceptual social capital model of public relations and argues that the strategic management of intangible resources as social capital offers an ontology for public relations.

The author employed a process of open-system theory building. Extensive research from multi-disciplinary areas of scholarship – namely, sociology, business, and public relations – formed the basis for the conceptualized model and propositions.

Public relations theory is narrowly defined and does not offer an adequate ontology. This paper extends and refines existing public relations scholarship surrounding social capital to focus on competitive advantages for the organization. This paper uses input from the larger fields of sociology and business, while contextualizing social capital within the public relations scholarship. The result is a resource- and exchange-based social capital model of public relations and propositions for further theory building and empirical analyses.

The public relations discipline often struggles to demonstrate return-on-investment for organizations. The social capital model of public relations offers support for the capital generation and maintenance role of public relations for organizational advantage.

This paper represents one of the first comprehensive attempts at developing a meso-level social capital theory of public relations focused on intangible resource management for the organization.

Goal setting as a process is a little like participative management — most managers believe in it, but few practise it. Though the work of researchers like Locke has shown fairly conclusively that people who set specific goals achieve more than those who do not, there has not been any significant translation of the findings into practice[1]. More popular works like The One Minute Manager, in attempting to bridge the gap between theory and practice, may have over‐simplified the process of goal setting.

This article presents four basic innovation leadership styles: charismatic, instrumental, strategic and interactive innovation leadership. The leadership styles and their characteristsics relate to process and product innovations in construction projects. A theoretical framework – which synthesizes these relations – enables explorative research into the effects of leadership on organizational innovativeness. Four case studies, observing the same manager in four comparable projects, explore the effects of each leadership style on a construction project’s innovativeness in ecological terms. On an analytical level the case study explorations indicate that a manager’s consistent performance of a leadership style stimulates the project’s ecological innovativeness when the manager also injects the project with ecological information, knowledge and competence. It also indicates that a manager’s consistent performance of a leadership style, without an injection of information, knowledge and competence in the project, does not stimulate the project’s ecological innovativeness.

This paper examines characteristics of three main education sub‐systems: the policy formation system, the management or control system and the implementation system. In the policy formation system the main features are: intangibility of some education goals; lack of means‐ends continuum; inconsistency of goals; external dominance; the role of management and of teachers in education policy formation; value judgements; lack of feedback; heuristic processes; and incrementalism. Characteristics of the management system include: internal and external constraints; flat hierarchy; bases of authority; conflicting role demands; lack of colleague control; bureaucratic rules; size of staff; feminization; and management self‐image. Implementation system features are: organization of small symmetric sub‐units; organizational implications of goal conflict; compulsory attendance of clients; cognitive vs. emotive functions; resulting tensions and conflicts; sub‐cultures; clients' vulnerability; differential treatment of clients; obstacles to output measurement; and implication of measurement difficulties. The last section points out some implications of the analysis which seem to indicate similar and increasingly important developments in other public service bureaucracies. These include: diffuse and intangible goals; value sensitivity; high cost and external dominance; client service and client dependence; obstacles to output measurements; professionalization and feminization.

The paper aims to explain how the balanced scorecard concept can be improved through customising the normal four perspectives.

An analysis of existing methods for developing a balanced scorecard reveals that the goals identified by using the approaches may not correspond to the company's mission and values. Against this background, fundamental multi‐criteria decision‐making principles are applied to design a method which helps to overcome this weakness.

Since the core idea is to derive the perspectives directly from the mission statements of a company, the method described here helps to develop an individualized balanced scorecard. A case study illustrates how the method works in practice.

The paper has practical relevance for the effectiveness and credibility of the balanced scorecard inside a company, particularly as it is gaining additional importance due to the fact that the concept is increasingly being used for external reporting.

Pointing out how an important methodical shortcoming of the balanced scorecard concept can be eliminated, the paper is especially of interest for practitioners.

The purpose of this paper is to present a process, grounded in Buddhist practical wisdom, which trains managers to negotiate effectively.

After comparing Western notions of phronesis/prudentia with insights from Buddhist tradition, it reports on the author's 20+years’ work in cross-cultural communication-skills training and examines sample training exercises.

Even experienced business-people rarely register the detail of what happens in their meetings. Simple behavioural routines, using checklists, can help here. The self-image of a problem-solver, reinforced by corporate culture, produces an urge to prove oneself right. So people get locked in to abstract, analytical thinking, and interpersonal relations are inhibited. A good way to overcome this constraint is to practise applying certain heuristics, or rules-of-thumb, for addressing contentious points in a negotiation.

An impractical ideology of analytical perfection dominates much of corporate cultures; much management education suffers from a hypertrophy of theory. A different, more practical approach seems overdue. A good way to catalyse a paradigm shift is indirectly, by focusing on specific behaviours. There are some important goals which we cannot attain by an instrumental process.

Unethical business behaviour, which is also ineffective, is often rooted in mistrust of direct experience. To improve ethics and effectiveness, businesses and managers need to recognise non-instrumental goals. Important as they are, efficiency and profitability are subordinate to the need for people to stay sane, to continue learning and to grow as humans, in the course of doing business.

Buddhist speech ethics and the culture of skill-in-means have much to offer management education.