M.A. / This study was set on making a survey of the current status of business ethics as academic field in Africa, as no comprehensive survey has yet been made. It is this need that prompted the main research problem namely: What is the current status of business ethics as an academic field in Africa? Which I translated into two sub-questions of which the first was a descriptive question: How has business ethics been institutionalised? And the other reflective in nature, What are the strengths and weaknesses of business ethics as an Academic field in Africa? In setting up the research aims, I wanted to determine: what African business ethics researchers, lecturers and facilitators of professional associations think business ethics is the extent and content of business courses in Africa, where they were taught, whether they were taught as sub-sections of other courses or as independent subjects, how many were taught on undergraduate level and how many on post-graduate level and whether students were getting academic credit for those courses. Looking at research I wanted to determine the amount and content of articles, books and unpublished dissertations on business ethics in Africa. I also wanted to determine the extent of the institutionalisation of business ethics, whether there were African journals dealing mainly with business ethics, how many centres, institutes and networks were dealing with what aspects business ethics in Africa and finally how many conference and seminars were addressing what issues of business ethics in Africa. After having established this, I finally wanted to determine whether business ethics was an academic field or discipline in Africa The results yielded the following information: A lot of misunderstanding still exists on the nature of business ethics: most of the researchers, lecturers and facilitators of professional business ethics associations focus mainly if not exclusively on the normative level of inquiry. This trend was reflected in their definitions, courses, research and central focus of the professional associations. There are 67 business ethics courses (55 undergraduate, 12 post-graduate) being taught at 30 departments in 4 African countries, namely Egypt, Kenya, Uganda and South Africa. Most courses focus on descriptive and normative ethics. I was able to locate and analyse 136 of the 167 articles, books and unpublished dissertations on business ethics in Africa. The content of the articles focus heavily on descriptive and normativeethical issues. The survey revealed 7 centres dealing with business ethics in Africa. They are located in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda. Their main focus leans heavily towards normativeethical solutions. I found 4 institutes dealing with business ethics in one way or another. Not one of the institutes focus exclusively on business ethics. They are located in Egypt, South Africa and Uganda. As with the centres, the focus is heavily on normative-ethical solutions. Apart from the recently established Business Ethics Network of Africa (BEN-Africa) there are no other networks dealing with business ethics in Africa. Six recorded conferences / seminars were held in Kenya, South Africa and Uganda. The main focus seems to be on normative ethical issues. Business ethics is still an academic field in Africa but it has the potential for developing into an academic discipline with the associated independent courses, research, journals and professional associations.

This study was conducted to determine the relationship between managers' ethical positions and their intended behavior.

No description available.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The business world has seemingly become hit by, or perhaps it has been more exposed of its unethical and morally bad decisions and procedures. One just has to follow the businessrelated issues and one becomes aware of events of corruption, greed, fraud, embezzlement, theft, nepotism and so forth. This is not just an occurrence in South Africa, but a global phenomenon. However, as South Africa approaches its tenth year of democracy, and the move towards the realization of our President's vision of an African Renaissance, there is an increasing awareness that a commitment to management by acceptable values is needed to remove negativity around management processes and practices in South Africa. We have to move to a culture of management where people are the central aspect around which good management revolves. As the forerunners of The African Renaissance, we need to engage with the concept of "Ubuntu", and truly realize that value-management is really that - being people through other people. We need to accept that we should be people driven, inclusive of every single person to be able to achieve the goals we set out for our companies. Emotional intelligence is vital if one bases a style of management on a people directed goals and orientations. When we look at each other through empathetic eyes this allows for consideration of others and ultimately allows for positive change and growth in an organization. To be able to move effectively towards such a management style is not as easy as discarding a predominantly Eurocentric style and embracing an African one. There is the element of human beings that plays a vital role. The values of an individual, the norms and beliefs that that individual holds dear, is pivotal to the structure of organizational culture. It is the stance of this thesis that each individual is responsible, in one way or another, for the structure and make up of the organizational culture of which it is a part. This thesis looks at research in this regard and how the findings could be applied in the South African corporate world to help facilitate effective transformation. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die besigheidswêreld word oënskynlik gebombardeer - of moontlik word dit net meer blootgestel aan die onetiese en moreel verkeerde besluite en prosedures. Dit is slegs nodig om te let op besigheidsaangeleenthede om gevalle van korrupsie, bedrog, hebsug, diefstal, nepotisme, en so voorts te bespeur. Bogenoemde gevalle kom nie slegs voor in Suid Afrika nie, maar is 'n universele verskynsel. Soos Suid Afrika sy tiende jaar van Demokrasie nader en daar 'n beweging is in die rigting van ons President se visie vir 'n Afrika Renaissance, is daar 'n toenemende bewuswording van die feit dat toewyding aan bestuur deur (aanneemlike) waardes noodsaaklik is om negatiwiteit rondom bestuurprosesse en - praktyke in Suid Afrika te verwyder. Ons moet ons beywer om te beweeg na 'n kultuur van bestuur waar individue die fokuspunt is te midde van voortreflike bestuurstyle. As die voorlopers van die Afrika Rennaissance moet ons meer verbind wees tot die konsep van "Ubuntu" en werklik besef dat waarde-bestuur inderwaarheid mens-gesentreerd behoort te wees. Ons moet die uitdagings aanvaar om gedissiplineerd op te tree en sorg te dra dat alle mylpale, wat deur die maatskappy daargestel word bereik word deur die optimale benutting van elke individu binne die maatskappy. Emosienele intelligensie is van die uiterste belang as die besigstyl gefundeer is op die beginsel van mens-gerigte doelwitte en ingesteldhede. Daar moet 'n kultuur gekweek word van empatie en konsiderasie vir ons medemens, wat uiteindelik positiewe veranderinge en groei binne die maatskappy sal bevorder. Om effektief in die rigting van so 'n bestuurstyl te beweeg, is nie bloot 'n geval van wegdoen met 'n oorwegend Eurosentriese styl en die aagryp van 'n Afrika - styl nie. Die menslike faktor speel'n beslissende rol. Die waardes van 'n individu, die norme en oortuigings wat vir hom of haar belangrik is, is van deurslaggewende belang vir die struktuur van organisatoriese kultuur. Hierdie tesis ondersoek narvorsing in hierdie verband en kyk hoe die bevindinge toegepas kan word in die Suid Afrikaanse korporatiewe wêreld om effektiewe transformasie te help fasiliteer.

A Jun-zi oriented enterprise is one which acts like a Jun-zi or noble man, the behavioral standard upheld by Confucius and elaborated in the Analects, one of the most important if not the most important Confucius canons. According to the Analects, a large number of Jun-zi ethical principles have been identified, which can be distilled into five cardinal virtues: benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and integrity, which form the components under our Jun-zi orientation construct. / Despite the fact that socially responsible corporate behavior and conscious capitalism have been advocated for more than three decades, we still witnessed numerous instances of corporate scandals both in the East and the West that caused unrecoverable damages to mankind and existing institutions. From the never ending product safety scares of Chinese products to the financial tsunami that has spread from the US to the rest of the world, we are constantly at the mercy of unscrupulous corporate executives who have few qualms about exploiting the system to the fullest extent for big profit. The doctrine of societal marketing orientation and corporate social responsibility has proven to be ineffective in preventing corporate catastrophes. A new paradigm is urgently needed to restore our confidence in business undertakings, without which trust cannot be re-established and order cannot be restored. To this end, we propose the concept ofa Jun-zi orientation that we believe could not only ensure decent corporate behavior, but would also enable a firm to stand out of its competitors in the marketplace. / On the face of it, our Jun-zi orientation construct is not significantly different from the existing societal marketing construct or the conscious capitalist ideology. However, in actuality, a Jun-zi oriented business differs from a promotional socially responsible (CSR) enterprise in a very fundamental way. For a promotional CSR company, responsible behavior is only a promotional instrument to ensure the survival of a firm and business profit, whereas for a Jun-zi oriented enterprise, responsible behavior is institutionalized. Hence, corporate social responsibility is embraced throughout a Jun-zi organization and affects all the policies it generates and not just used as a promotional means to generate short-term effects. / We believe that the Jun-zi concept propounded in the Analects can provide an alternative framework to help business managers not only run a more successful company, but also build a better society for humankind. Given the growing importance of China in international business, it also provides important insights for businesses operating in a Chinese culture context. In this research, we have developed a new scale that is psychometrically valid and reliable to measure Jun-zi orientation, and have empirically tested that Jun-zi orientation is positively associated with business performance. / Tian, Vane Ing. / Adviser: Ching Biu Tse. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-03, Section: A, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 187-202). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest dissertations and theses, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese; some appendixes include Chinese.

Firms have been largely characterised by competition and this necessitates that organisations leverage on their own competitive advantage in order to stay relevant to their customers. This is applicable to organisations whether they sell products or render services. Employees become key in assisting organisations to ensure that they deliver quality services or products to these customers, as they are mostly the ones that liaise with these customers. Employee engagement becomes an important factor that needs to be understood together with the leadership values that can be utilised to increase employee engagement. Understanding the role of leadership values in achieving employee engagement is essential as this will assist management to practise and encourage the implementation of these values in their organisations. The aim of this study to assist organisations to improve employee engagement by investigating the leadership values that influence the increase in employee engagement. This study is specifically looking at investigating the role that African Values in Leadership (AVL), as measured by communalism, cooperativeness, selflessness and collectivism, play in the achievement of employee engagement in firms. An empirical study, consisting of a mail survey was conducted amongst 109 employees of the State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in the Eastern Cape Province. The purpose of the study was to investigate the extent and leadership determinants of employee engagement in the SOEs. The key findings indicated that AVL played a vital role in achieving employee engagement. Important values that were found to be significant in increasing employee engagement were selflessness, collectivism and cooperativeness. Furthermore recommendations were made to management to ensure that they encourage employees to practise AVL and also lead by examples through modelling these values to foster employee engagement in SOEs.

An Applied Ethics for Professionals Research Report Submitted to the University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Art, 2018 / The role of Human Resources Management (HRM) can be characterised as “provid[ing] direction as to how an organisation should handle people so that organisation[al] effectiveness and individual satisfaction are maximised” (Trezise, 1996:87). Such a role inevitably creates a number of ethical tensions. If HRM practitioners face difficult ethical challenges in organisations, then it follows that it is important to understand what type of ethical expertise they require to address these challenges. My first aim will be to assess whether prevailing models of ethical expertise are able to conceptualise moral agency and the capacity that is needed to develop such agency in HRM. In this regard, I shall argue that the prevailing models are insufficient for their purposes. My second aim will be to develop a more satisfactory account. I will argue that a broader notion of ethical expertise is required: one, which includes not only virtue but also the process of deliberation and the application of moral agency; which is effectively able to deal with a multitude of situations; and which has a chance of identifying the best alternatives in complex HRM ethical situations. Such an expanded notion of ethical expertise potentially strengthens the ability of HRM practitioners to be more effective as ethical stewards. / XL2019

Orientador: Tom Dwyer / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciencias Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-14T10:47:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Mazieres_AntoineBernardoMarie_M.pdf: 1276055 bytes, checksum: fb566238c8de83cd0ddace38cae7b026 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Resumo: Esta dissertação procura apresentar as significações políticas e culturais de um movimento de Software Livre e de Código Aberto (SL/CA) entendido como conjunto muito heterogêneo de comunidades e projetos. Ademais, a partir de um histórico do objeto "software" desde a sua origem, mostramos como ele foi diferenciado do hardware e depois encerrado como um objeto fechado pela companhias de software nascentes. Nesse contexto, o movimento SL/CA aparece tanto uma reação ao fenômeno de blackboxing, como uma continuação da tradição de compartilhamento de informações dentro da engenharia da computação. Por isso, estrutura-se ao redor de vários ramos da ética hacker e de seu agnosticismo político para constituir uma alternativa tecnológica concreta. Isto nos permite afirmar que as características sociopolíticas das comunidades do Software Livre devem ser procuradas no próprio ato de programar, na pragmática, como arte ou regulação. Dessa forma, estudamos os casos específicos de varias comunidades (gNewSense, Samba, BSD) para tentar sistematizar os seus posicionamentos tecnológicos e sociopolíticos a respeito do movimento tecnológico contemporâneo. / Abstract: This dissertation presents some political and cultural significations of a Free Software Movement, understood as a heterogeneous aggregation of projects and communities. Then, the historical analysis of the "software object" shows how it become, in the first place, differentiated from the hardware and, then, secondly, closed as an end- product by the rising software companies. In this context, the Free Software Movement presents itself as a reaction to blackboxing phenomena, as well as a continuation of the computater engineering tradition of sharing knowledge freely. Therefore, FS Movement has become structured through diverse blends of Hacker Ethic and its own political agnosticism, in order to build a concrete technological alternative. This leads to the argument that sociopolitical characteristics of Free Software communities should be found in the very act of programming, and in its pragmatics as an art or a regulation. Finally, specific cases of several communities (gNewSense, Samba, BSD) are examined in an attempt to systematize their sociopolitical and technological positions of the contemporary technological movement. / Mestrado / Mestre em Ciência Política

The purpose of this study was to look at the relationships between moral philosophy classification and elements of risk, which in turn effect overall decision-making processes. Specifically, two moral philosophy classification were examined: utilitarian and egoism.

Fraudulent behaviour by management has become a global problem that cuts across cultural and ideological divides. Therefore, given the high incidence and cost of fraud internationally and locally, as well as the fact that stakeholders, including shareholders, governments and non-governmental organisations, are increasing the pressure on organisations to manage unethical behaviour more effectively, it is astonishing that fraud per se has not attracted more research efforts. Enron, WorldCom and Arthur Andersen, among others, have underscored the fact that the current modes which are governing companies are not sufficient to protect investors and public interests, because it is easy for otherwise honest people to be swept along in a climate of corruption. The aim of this study was to propose a model to predict potential risk of management fraud based on the organisational climate of the organisation. An interpretative framework was used to develop a conceptual model. Analytical induction and Lawshe’s content validity ratio were applied to validate the conceptualised model. The conceptual model assumes that there are certain organisational climate factors (determinants and dimensions) within an organisation which could indicate the direction of climate within the organisation. The determinants are leadership style, managerial values, trustworthiness, and organisational values. The following dimensions were identified: level of individual autonomy, reward system of organisation, degree of open communication between employees and management, perceived individual pressure, and fairness and innovation. The conceptual model further assumes that, although employees’ acceptance and/or tolerance of unethical behaviour might be high, not all managers will engage in fraud, as the various aspects of the fraud diamond also impose a form of constraint on the organisation. The level of individual constraint as imposed by the fraud diamond is moderated by an individual’s gender, tenure, education and age, which form part of an individual’s capability and comprise the acquired traits of an individual. Apart from these biographical traits, the model includes personal traits that will also have an impact on an individual’s capability. The limitations, practical implications and recommendations for future research are also discussed. This study, not only augments fraud literature, but also contributes to industrial/organisational psychology by studying individual deviance from an organisational perspective. / Psychology / D. Phil. (Consulting psychology) : illustrated (some colored)