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Book part
Publication date: 22 April 2013

Michael Schwartz

Moral agents have moral choice. This chapter argues that moral choice denies historical inevitability when moral choice is informed by both moral imagination and historical…

Abstract

Moral agents have moral choice. This chapter argues that moral choice denies historical inevitability when moral choice is informed by both moral imagination and historical imagination. I explore this by way of one specific historical example which should be used, as the philosopher Bernard Mayo argued, as a moral exemplar. In pursuing my arguments I utilise work by Sir Isaiah Berlin, amongst others. I do though take issue with Berlin, whom I argue has confused not the nature but the role of historical imagination, claiming dominance for it where it cannot dominate. I conclude with historical inevitability being refuted by moral choice, informed by both moral imagination and historical imagination.I argue that the refutation of historical inevitability has implications for Australian businesses in their current dealings with the People’s Republic of China. Australia escaped the Global Financial Crisis because of Chinese purchases of Australian commodities. But Australian business in trading with China is trading with an unjust regime. Hoffman and McNulty (2009) argue that regarding a regime such as China we can ‘learn from our past’. Regarding the past I argue that Australian business executives dealing with China would benefit by studying the historical example of Churchill’s May 1940 decision and should use that as a moral exemplar. Earlier generations of Australian managers contemptuously dismissed Chinese workers. The current generation of Australian managers, who fail to morally acknowledge China’s workers and citizens, risks being equally contemptuous, dismissive and racist.

Details

Ethics, Values and Civil Society
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78190-768-9

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 August 2012

Louis Klein

This paper seeks to address the need for a comprehensive theoretical reference underlying the concerns of social complexity. The shortcomings of a very powerful yet cognitively…

469

Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to address the need for a comprehensive theoretical reference underlying the concerns of social complexity. The shortcomings of a very powerful yet cognitively biased theoretical model like Luhmann's theory of social systems especially call for the integration of the whole person into conceptualising social complexity. The paper aims to question what the conditions are for the possibility to successfully conceptualise social complexity.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on field research to explore the practical challenges of dealing with social complexity, the paper comprises discourse analysis and literature review. Luhmann's theory of social systems proved to be a fruitful starting point to integrate the latter research in neurosciences in a systemic way.

Findings

The paper finds that embedded mind thinking and holonic evolution of organism, psyche and society emerged out of the research as powerful thought figures. They allow for an improved practical and theoretical navigation on the ocean of social complexity.

Practical implications

The results implications for how we conceptualise social complexity and the ways we approach ourselves, how we govern, teach, heal, coach, learn, train, create, improve and innovate. Increasing our capabilities to meet social complexity will improve management, change, governance and project performance.

Originality/value

Addressing Luhmann's theory of social systems in the broader context of social complexity and neurosciences allowed for a reintegration of the whole person into the field of social complexity based not only on meaning but on feeling as well.

Article
Publication date: 1 April 2010

James M Connor and Jason Mazanov

Why has the reporting of scandal in sport been increasing? This paper focuses on the commercialisation of sport and changes in the media landscape. A case study of the Australian…

455

Abstract

Why has the reporting of scandal in sport been increasing? This paper focuses on the commercialisation of sport and changes in the media landscape. A case study of the Australian Rugby League competition and its long-running series of scandals concludes that scandal is inevitable in sport, and that marketing strategies must incorporate this. The authors propose a new strategy - embracement - as an effective way of mitigating scandal and leveraging for sponsor market position.

Details

International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, vol. 11 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1464-6668

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 28 July 2008

Mark P. Worrell

Faith in working-class revolution and the inevitability of socialism all but evaporated in the wake of the First World War when nationalism and patriotism triumphed over the…

Abstract

Faith in working-class revolution and the inevitability of socialism all but evaporated in the wake of the First World War when nationalism and patriotism triumphed over the principles of international solidarity and, as Perry Anderson put it, “The unity and reality of the Second International, cherished by Engels, was destroyed in a week” ([1976]1979, p. 14).1 The notion of revolutionary inevitability seems embarrassingly naïve today (to the point that, now, discussions of radicalism are much more likely to focus on intellectuals rather than labor movements)2 but prewar optimism was, in many ways, justified and, in fact, the idea of inevitability was shared across the political spectrum and not merely a symptom of the left. Dreading the rise of “plebian radicalism” Rudolf Sohm, for example, wrote that “The people is [sic] already aware of its powers. Already it has recognized itself as the real nation. The battalions of the workers are about to form, that they may thrust from its throne the bourgeoisie, the monarch of the present. More and more clearly are shown the signs of a movement, the aim of which is to destroy the entire social order, the State, the Church, the family….” (Smith, 1998, p. 38).

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No Social Science without Critical Theory
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-538-3

Content available
Article
Publication date: 28 August 2007

M. de Rond

382

Abstract

Details

Strategic Direction, vol. 23 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0258-0543

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 23 October 2007

M. de Rond

217

Abstract

Details

Strategic Direction, vol. 23 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0258-0543

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1964

The tenth Fawley lecture of the University of Southampton was given by Professor Sir Willis Jackson, F.R.S., on the subject of ‘Scientific, Technological and Technical Manpower’…

Abstract

The tenth Fawley lecture of the University of Southampton was given by Professor Sir Willis Jackson, F.R.S., on the subject of ‘Scientific, Technological and Technical Manpower’. As one would expect from Sir Willis, the argument had a directness, cogency, and one might almost say inevitability, about it — inevitability in the sense that one knew one would end up convinced that what he said was both right and important.

Details

Education + Training, vol. 6 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0040-0912

Article
Publication date: 1 December 2004

Paul M. Leonardi and Michele H. Jackson

In times of organizational change leaders often tell stories that justify publicly the directions in which organizations move. Such stories are always political in nature and…

4271

Abstract

In times of organizational change leaders often tell stories that justify publicly the directions in which organizations move. Such stories are always political in nature and often reflect the motives of the storyteller. We observe how leaders in high‐tech organizations use the story of technological determinism in organizational settings as a discursive practice through which they invoke the “inevitability” of technology to justify managerial decisions to the public. Rather than taking ownership of certain actions, managers are able to use this story to claim that certain organizational changes are inevitable, and to eliminate alternative stories. We examine this strategy as it appears in the public discourse produced during two mergers in the high‐tech and telecommunications industries occurring from 1998 to 2002: US West and Qwest, and AOL and TimeWarner. Finally, we demonstrate that the story of technological determinism performs discursive closure around each merger.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 17 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

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Article
Publication date: 1 February 1999

Tom P. Abeles

Scholars have wandered the earth seeking community and resources for practising their art. It has only been for the last 500 years that universities have provided such a…

Abstract

Scholars have wandered the earth seeking community and resources for practising their art. It has only been for the last 500 years that universities have provided such a cloistered environment. A confluence of circumstances has broken this intellectual hegemony, threatening the sinecure, and forcing the institutions and the academics, themselves, to confront a past that never was while building towards a future that never will be.

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Foresight, vol. 1 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-6689

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 21 August 2021

Laura Caprioli, Mia Larson, Richard Ek and Can-Seng Ooi

This paper aims to focus on the re-presentation of the cultural phenomena hygge in Denmark and fika in Sweden in destination branding and address the inevitability of their…

3363

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to focus on the re-presentation of the cultural phenomena hygge in Denmark and fika in Sweden in destination branding and address the inevitability of their essentialization through the branding process.

Design/methodology/approach

Three relevant semi-structured interviews with destination marketing organisation’s employees were conducted, as well as a content-based analysis of three social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram). A total of 465 posts in total were analysed (140 Facebook posts, 109 Twitter posts, 216 Instagram posts).

Findings

This study demonstrates how, when communicated through social media, intangible cultural assets are transformed into tangible elements. It explains why the re-presentation and place branding processes necessarily simplify and essentialize the destination.

Originality/value

Destination branding scholars have traditionally criticised the flattening and essentialization of culture in destination branding and have called for a more nuanced approach to presenting a destination. This paper situates destination branding as a process that necessitates the manipulation of the presentation of the destination, which inevitably essentializes the place; this is intended. Critical destination branding researchers need to rethink their criticisms and acknowledge the inherent essentialization goal of destination branding.

Details

Journal of Place Management and Development, vol. 14 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8335

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 3000