Search results

1 – 10 of over 12000
Book part
Publication date: 15 July 2020

John R. Shook, Tibor Solymosi and James Giordano

Weapons systems and platforms guided by Artificial Intelligence can be designed for greater autonomous decision-making with less real-time human control. Their performance will…

Abstract

Weapons systems and platforms guided by Artificial Intelligence can be designed for greater autonomous decision-making with less real-time human control. Their performance will depend upon independent assessments about the relative benefits, burdens, threats, and risks involved with possible action or inaction. An ethical dimension to autonomous Artificial Intelligence (aAI) is therefore inescapable. The actual performance of aAI can be morally evaluated, and the guiding heuristics to aAI decision-making could incorporate adherence to ethical norms. Who shall be rightly held responsible for what happens if and when aAI commits immoral or illegal actions? Faulting aAI after misdeeds occur is not the same as holding it morally responsible, but that does not mean that a measure of moral responsibility cannot be programmed. We propose that aAI include a “Cooperating System” for participating in the communal ethos within NSID/military organizations.

Details

Artificial Intelligence and Global Security
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78973-812-4

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 17 August 2016

Michel Anteby

Business schools offer a unique window into the making of corporate morals since they bring together future executives at formative moments in their professional lives. This paper…

Abstract

Business schools offer a unique window into the making of corporate morals since they bring together future executives at formative moments in their professional lives. This paper relies on an analysis of faculty’s teaching tasks at the Harvard Business School to better understand the making of corporate morals. More specifically, it builds on a coding of teaching notes used by faculty members to highlight the importance of silence in promoting a form of moral relativism. This moral relativism constitutes, I argue, a powerful ideology – one that primes business leaders not to vilify any moral stand. In such a context, almost anything can be labeled “moral” and few behaviors can be deemed “immoral.”

Details

The Structuring of Work in Organizations
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-436-5

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 February 2020

Zhigang Song and Qinxuan Gu

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between exchange ideology and employee creativity based on the social exchange perspective. It also attempts to examine the…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between exchange ideology and employee creativity based on the social exchange perspective. It also attempts to examine the mediating role of perceived shared leadership and the moderating role of vertical moral leadership.

Design/methodology/approach

Multilevel and multisource data were collected from 56 research and development (R&D) teams with 306 employees. Hypotheses were tested with multilevel path analysis.

Findings

The authors found that exchange ideology was negatively related to both perceived shared leadership and employee creativity, and perceived shared leadership mediated the relationship between exchange ideology and employee creativity. Moreover, we revealed that vertical moral leadership buffered the negative relationship between employee exchange ideology and perceived shared leadership and also the indirect effect of exchange ideology on employee creativity via perceived shared leadership.

Research limitations/implications

Organizations should select employees with a relatively weak exchange ideology when forming teams to conduct creative tasks. Moreover, team leaders should make great efforts to facilitate the development of shared leadership among team members while to be a moral leader.

Originality/value

This study extends creativity literature by investigating the effect of exchange ideology on employee creativity. It also sheds lights on leadership research by examining the mediating role of perceived shared leadership and the moderating role of vertical moral leadership.

Details

Management Decision, vol. 58 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0025-1747

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 November 2007

Paul Sollie

This conceptual paper aims to examine theoretical issues in the proactive ethical assessment of technology development, with a focus on uncertainty. Although uncertainty is a…

4429

Abstract

Purpose

This conceptual paper aims to examine theoretical issues in the proactive ethical assessment of technology development, with a focus on uncertainty. Although uncertainty is a fundamental feature of complex technologies, its importance has not yet been fully recognized within the field of ethics. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to study uncertainty in technology development and its consequences for ethics.

Design/methodology/approach

Going on the insight of various scientific disciplines, the concept of uncertainty will be scrutinised and a typology of uncertainty is proposed and introduced to ethical theory. The method used is theoretical and conceptual analysis.

Findings

The analysis results in questions with regard to the collection of information about the object of assessment (i.e. complex technologies and their development) and the framework of assessment (i.e. ethical theory and its practical aim of guiding the assessment of technology development). Moreover, based on the insights of the analysis of uncertainty, it is argued that substantive ethical theories prove to be inapt for the ethical assessment of complex technology development and therefore require a concomitant procedural approach. The paper concludes with requirements for any future ethics of technology under uncertainty.

Originality/value

The value of the paper consists in establishing the need of researching and incorporating uncertainty in ethics. The results are consequently of practical and theoretical interest for anyone working in the field of ethics and technology.

Details

Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, vol. 5 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-996X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 October 2013

Barry Barnes, John H. Humphreys, Jennifer D. Oyler, Stephanie S. Pane Haden and Milorad M. Novicevic

Although communal forms of leadership are being called for to provide contemporary organizations with more responsive leadership platforms, the paper can find no compelling…

3954

Abstract

Purpose

Although communal forms of leadership are being called for to provide contemporary organizations with more responsive leadership platforms, the paper can find no compelling description as to how such leadership might develop in a world of hierarchy. The purpose of this paper is to fill this void.

Design/methodology/approach

Attempting to comprehend the sharing of leadership will require contemplation of unconventional approaches in opposition to the dominant logic associated with conventional organizational leadership. One current example of such unorthodox deliberation is the emerging awareness of the Grateful Dead's influence on business management and leadership. Accordingly, the paper examined and interpreted the experiences and expressed beliefs of Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead to offer a conceptualization of how shared leadership could emerge in traditional organizational settings.

Findings

The analysis indicates that Jerry Garcia exhibited aspects of transformational leadership, servant leadership, and authentic leadership that allowed him to influence the environment needed for the emergence of shared leadership.

Research limitations/implications

As a single case study, the primary limitation is one of generalizability. The paper accepts the trade-off, however, due to the significant conceptual insights available with a case methodology.

Practical implications

Without greater understanding of how shared leadership might unfold practitioners will assume the construct of shared leadership is laudable but naïve. The paper must begin developing plausible conceptualizations if the notion of sharing leadership is to be taken more seriously in organizations.

Originality/value

The paper offers a counterintuitive, counterculture conceptualization of how shared leadership could emerge and flourish in traditional hierarchical settings.

Details

Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 34 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7739

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 25 November 2009

Zoltan Laszlo Kiss

Hungary has been part of NATO's peacekeeping project in Afghanistan since 2003 and currently has more than 240 soldiers in the International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF)…

Abstract

Hungary has been part of NATO's peacekeeping project in Afghanistan since 2003 and currently has more than 240 soldiers in the International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF), NATO's first mission outside the Euro-Atlantic area. Hungary officially took over the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Baghlan Province from October 2006, and currently we have the 5th rotation of the Hungarian PRT in Afghanistan. The Hungarian unit serves in conjunction with representatives of several other nations.

Hungarian participation in NATO's UN-mandated peace support operation in Afghanistan has raised many questions not only in the field of operations, but also at home (mainly in the context of civil–military relations). Many of the Hungarian PRT-related challenges seem to be connected to the difficulties of proper management of civil–military interface, civil–military partnership and cooperation process, and financial backing of the mission.

Well-coordinated, multidimensional proactive and reactive responses to the conflict, and a comprehensive security sector transformation and reform can be vital to consolidate peaceful relations in Afghanistan; may help to win the “hearts and minds” of the local population; can help to establish security and provide improvement to Bahlan province; and might contribute to the success of the whole peacekeeping and post-conflict peace-building process in Afghanistan.

Details

Advances in Military Sociology: Essays in Honor of Charles C. Moskos
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84855-891-5

Article
Publication date: 1 March 1992

John Conway O'Brien

A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balanceeconomics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary toman′s finding the good life and society enduring…

1204

Abstract

A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balance economics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary to man′s finding the good life and society enduring as a civilized instrumentality. Looks for authority to great men of the past and to today′s moral philosopher: man is an ethical animal. The 13 essays are: 1. Evolutionary Economics: The End of It All? which challenges the view that Darwinism destroyed belief in a universe of purpose and design; 2. Schmoller′s Political Economy: Its Psychic, Moral and Legal Foundations, which centres on the belief that time‐honoured ethical values prevail in an economy formed by ties of common sentiment, ideas, customs and laws; 3. Adam Smith by Gustav von Schmoller – Schmoller rejects Smith′s natural law and sees him as simply spreading the message of Calvinism; 4. Pierre‐Joseph Proudhon, Socialist – Karl Marx, Communist: A Comparison; 5. Marxism and the Instauration of Man, which raises the question for Marx: is the flowering of the new man in Communist society the ultimate end to the dialectical movement of history?; 6. Ethical Progress and Economic Growth in Western Civilization; 7. Ethical Principles in American Society: An Appraisal; 8. The Ugent Need for a Consensus on Moral Values, which focuses on the real dangers inherent in there being no consensus on moral values; 9. Human Resources and the Good Society – man is not to be treated as an economic resource; man′s moral and material wellbeing is the goal; 10. The Social Economist on the Modern Dilemma: Ethical Dwarfs and Nuclear Giants, which argues that it is imperative to distinguish good from evil and to act accordingly: existentialism, situation ethics and evolutionary ethics savour of nihilism; 11. Ethical Principles: The Economist′s Quandary, which is the difficulty of balancing the claims of disinterested science and of the urge to better the human condition; 12. The Role of Government in the Advancement of Cultural Values, which discusses censorship and the funding of art against the background of the US Helms Amendment; 13. Man at the Crossroads draws earlier themes together; the author makes the case for rejecting determinism and the “operant conditioning” of the Skinner school in favour of the moral progress of autonomous man through adherence to traditional ethical values.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 19 no. 3/4/5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 July 2007

Brad Zdenek and Daniel Schochor

The purpose of this research is to identify and articulate the practical implications of the teacher's role in implementing a program related to developing moral literacy in…

2782

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to identify and articulate the practical implications of the teacher's role in implementing a program related to developing moral literacy in students as well as identifying what is necessary for professional development opportunities intended to educate teachers in the realm of moral literacy.

Design/methodology/approach

A broad range of recent literature on the subject of moral education and moral literacy are utilized to identify best practices and potential pitfalls related to moral literacy program implementation in schools as well as the particular impact of teacher behaviors on program success.

Findings

The paper identifies a pervasive need for professional development opportunities for teachers expected by their districts to implement programs related to moral literacy in their classrooms. Additionally, the authors identify the need for teachers to address the need for community involvement, the development of their own moral literacy, synergy between program ideals and teacher behavior, and developmentally appropriate implementation.

Practical implications

This paper serves as a condensed research base necessary for the development and implementation of a workshop intended to develop moral literacy in teachers and to showcase effective methods of integrating moral literacy across existing curricula.

Originality/value

This paper offers guidance for the development of an often overlooked form of professional development for teachers aimed at equipping them with the tools and knowledge necessary for effectively integrating character development programs in their curricula.

Details

Journal of Educational Administration, vol. 45 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-8234

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1987

Richard Harvey Brown

What is the place for personal agency and a morally legitimate civic order in a world of technical calculation? The historically recent opposition between systems management and…

Abstract

What is the place for personal agency and a morally legitimate civic order in a world of technical calculation? The historically recent opposition between systems management and personal agency and dignity is placed in context. “Technicism” is defined as an ideological extension of technical thinking to inappropriate domains and discussed in relation to positivism. The implications for social planning are discussed in detail.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 7 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 23 September 2013

Milorad M. Novicevic, Jelena Zikic, Jeanette Martin, John H. Humphreys and Foster Roberts

– The purpose of this article is to develop a moral identity perspective on Barnard's conceptualization of executive responsibility.

1873

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to develop a moral identity perspective on Barnard's conceptualization of executive responsibility.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses a prospective study design, as an alternative to a transitional grounded approach, to develop a theory-based framework to compare textual patterns in Barnard's writings. By using Barnard's conceptualization of executive responsibility within the identity control theoretical framework, the paper analyzes the challenges of executive moral identification.

Findings

The paper develops a theory-based, yet practical, typology of moral identification of responsible executive leaders.

Research limitations/implications

Although this proposed typology appears rather parsimonious, it is recognized that issues of moral behavior are certainly complex, and therefore should be addressed in a requisite manner in future model developments.

Originality/value

The paper posits that Barnard's conceptualization provides a useful channel to address the critical domain at the intersection of responsible executive leadership, identity, and ethics relative to the issues of CSR, diversity management, gender equity, and community involvement. The paper considers the typology of moral identification to be an operative conduit for subsequent empirical research and practical guidance for executive leadership development.

Details

Journal of Management History, vol. 19 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1751-1348

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 12000