Over the past two decades the emphasis on corporate governance practice has increased globally. The corporate governance models which guide corporate ethics, currently employed in African countries, are extensively driven by Western elements. Corporate governance practice in relation to the African philosophy of Ubuntu is under analysed. While Ubuntu has been studied comprehensively in a number of legal disciplines, it has not enjoyed comparable attention in its application, relevance, and potential to enhance corporate governance practices in Africa. Limited academic research exists on the integration of the Ubuntu philosophy into corporate governance and the ethical perspectives introduced. Therefore, this dissertation aims to bridge this gap by exploring the current guiding frameworks of selected corporate governance practice in relation to the principle of the African philosophy of Ubuntu. Here, corporate governance practice is examined in South Africa and Namibia. Business ethics, ethical perspectives, corporate social responsibility, and the African notion of Ubuntu, in relation to the role that it plays in ethical leaderships, is evaluated. Links between Ubuntu and established Western ethical perspectives and theories support its use and significance for enhancing current corporate governance frameworks in these countries. The findings of this dissertation strengthen the need to analyse Ubuntu, particularly in relation to its link with social responsibility and ethical perspectives, in order to augment current corporate governance practices in Africa. It is submitted that corporate governance practices in Africa should reflect the notions of Ubuntu more clearly and coherently which will serve as a progressive model to enhance effective corporate governance.

Den snabba utvecklingen av generativ AI har lett till en utbredd, och ibland okritisk, användning av tekniken. Behovet av att kontinuerligt och hastigt uppdatera arbetsmetoder kan leda till att etiska överväganden förbises. Generativ AI erbjuder visserligen stora möjligheter för utveckling av tillvägagångssätt, men dess snabba introduktion kan också medföra konsekvenser som potentiellt underminerar allmänhetens förtroende för offentliga institutioner. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka hur kommuner i Gävleborgs län hanterar de etiska utmaningar som uppstår vid implementeringen och användningen av generativ AI inom kommunikationsarbetet. Den undersöker om kommunikationsavdelningarna för etiska resonemang och om de anser sig ha tillräckligt med kunskap för hantering av generativ AI på ett etiskt hållbart sätt. Studien eftersträvar även att ta reda på hur synen på riktlinjer skiljer sig åt mellan de aktuella kommunerna. För att besvara dessa frågor genomfördes intervjuer med nio respondenter från sju kommunala kommunikationsavdelningar i Gävleborgs län.  Resultatet visar skiljaktigheter i hur kommunikatörerna i de olika organisationerna hanterar etiska frågor kopplade till generativ AI, där tilliten till den egna kompetensen och synen på riktlinjer varierar mellan kommunerna. Samtidigt finns en trygghet i att de kunskaper man redan har som kommunikatörer är både relevanta och nödvändiga för att möta de etiska frågor som användningen av de nya teknikerna kommer att innebära för organisationerna. Studien indikerar ett starkt intresse och en medvetenhet om de etiska utmaningarna som generativ AI medför, men också en tydlig vilja att upprätthålla medborgarnas förtroende för sina organisationer genom noggrant övervägda arbetsmetoder. / The rapid development of generative AI has led to widespread, and sometimes uncritical, use of technology. The need to update working methods continuously and quickly can lead to ethical considerations being overlooked. Although generative AI offers great opportunities for the development of approaches, its rapid introduction can also bring consequences, potentially undermining public trust in public institutions. This study aims to investigate how municipalities in Gävleborg county handle the ethical challenges that arise in the implementation and use of generative AI in communication work. It also examines how the communication departments are reasoning and whether they consider themselves to have sufficient knowledge to manage generative AI in an ethically sustainable way. The study also seeks to find out how the view of guidelines differs between the municipalities in question. To answer these questions, interviews were conducted with nine respondents from seven municipal communication departments in Gävleborg.  The results show differences in how the communicators in the various organizations handle ethical issues linked to generative AI, where the trust in their own competence and the view of guidelines varies between the municipalities. At the same time, there is security in the fact that the knowledge one already has as communicators is both relevant and necessary to face the ethical questions that the use of the new technologies will entail for the organizations. The study indicates a strong interest and an awareness of the ethical challenges posed by generative AI, but also a clear desire to maintain citizens' trust in their organizations through carefully considered working methods.

Many researchers argue that there is a demand for a new way of teaching and learning to better equip us for the value pluralistic society we are living in. Research has shown that teachers are reluctant to teach about value pluralistic subjects. This thesis aims to study how rural Mongolian teachers view the human-nature relationship in relation to the current situation in Mongolia, characterized by economic growth and environmental issues. Ethical perspectives are applied on the teachers’ views in order to bring structure to the different ways of viewing the human-nature relationship. The study shows that the teachers’ values change depending on if they look at their personal relationship to nature or put nature in relation to society. The results prove that even though personal values are complex it is possible to bring structure to how we understand them. The result provides an example of how complex value pluralistic issues can be structured in order to enable an understanding of them. Furthermore, the thesis suggests that ethical perspectives can be used in education for sustainable development when striving for a new way of teaching and learning.