Michael Jensen made a name for himself in the 1970s-1990 s with his 'agency theory' and its application to questions of corporate governance and economic policy. The effects of his theory were ...acutely felt in the pedagogics of business studies, as Jensen lent his authority to combat all attempts to integrate social considerations and moral values into business education. Lately, however, Michael Jensen has come to defend quite a different approach, promoting an 'integrity theory' of management learning. Jensen now rather aspires to empower students to give authentic expression to their personal values in their professional lives, and he sees the main function of management studies in assisting them in this effort. This article reconstructs the transformation of Jensen's outlook, drawing on Jensen's theories as an exemplar of wider trends in the current literature on management learning, away from a decidedly 'mechanistic' and towards a more 'humanistic' pedagogy of management. Jensen's case serves to highlight developments that might make for better preconditions for the appreciation of business ethics on part of business students. On closer inspection, though, it appears that his remaining within a positivistic framework ultimately impedes the kind of progress Michael Jensen envisions for business studies.
Firms increasingly deploy algorithmic pricing approaches to determine what to charge for their goods and services. Algorithmic pricing can discriminate prices both dynamically over time and ...personally depending on individual consumer information. Although legal, the ethicality of such approaches needs to be examined as often they trigger moral concerns and sometimes outrage. In this research paper, we provide an overview and discussion of the ethical challenges germane to algorithmic pricing. As a basis for our discussion, we perform a systematic interpretative review of 315 related articles on dynamic and personalized pricing as well as pricing algorithms in general. We then use this review to define the term algorithmic pricing and map its key elements at the micro-, meso-, and macro levels from a business and marketing ethics perspective. Thus, we can identify morally ambivalent topics that call for deeper exploration by future research.
Money has come a long way from the substances and shapes it had in antiquity and early modernity to the ever more ephemeral forms it took on in the last decades. A further step in this direction to ...an increasingly virtual world of finance is digital money. Amongst digital currencies, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and the many hundred altcoins created lately, stand out because of the challenge they pose to the conventional contour and conception of monetary systems. In addition to private banks and the public hand, via cryptocurrencies now also individuals emerge as emitters of currency. Whereas formerly the sovereignty over the issuance of money was anchored locally or nationally, backed by tangible private or public institutions, cryptocurrencies immediately surface globally within the intangible cyberspace of the worldwide web. In this novel realm of money, the cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Ripple stand for two different approaches to the question as to which impact money ought to have in people’s lives, and as to how individuals in turn can influence the nature and future of money. The article discusses the moral claims of these rivaling conceptions.
Resting as it does on the principle of freedom, today’s global economic system is in need of a global economic ethos of responsibility so as to assure its social and ecological sustainability. Not ...all ideas of freedom, however, are equally amenable to conceptions of cosmopolitan responsibilities. This article examines how quantitative versus qualitative notions of freedom respectively respond to this challenge. Simply put, quantitative models hinder the integration of responsibility into models of economic rationality whereas qualitative conceptions advance it. As a consequence, efforts to promote a humanistic paradigm of economics and management fare better when oriented at a qualitative idea of freedom. Cast along the lines of a qualitative conception of freedom, corporate responsibility more readily takes on a cosmopolitan dimension apt to meet the needs of the current age of globality.
Cryptocurrencies and Business Ethics Dierksmeier, Claus; Seele, Peter
Journal of business ethics,
09/2018, Letnik:
152, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, SETLcoin, Ether, Solar Coin, or Liberty Reserve exist since 2009. Because of their decentralized control, they are often considered a threat or alternative to the ...conventional centralized banking system. While the technological implication of some such currencies, especially of Bitcoin, has attracted much attention, so far there is little discussion about the entire field of cryptocurrencies and very little academic literature addressing its ethical significance. In this article, we thus address the impact of "blockchain technology" on the nature of financial transactions from a business ethics perspective. We begin with a survey on relevant literature from neighboring disciplines. Next, we work towards a 3 × 3 framework for current debates on the ethics of cryptocurrencies (see Table 1): we combine the micro, meso, and macro levels of business and society with assessments of the potential ethical impact of cryptocurrencies as morally beneficial, detrimental, and ambiguous. In addition, we highlight possible avenues for future research, such as the changing roles of the miners and regulators, the prosocial use of cryptocurrencies, the antisocial use for shadow banking and transactions in the 'dark net' and cryptocurrencies' effect on inflation and deflation.
Presently it is en vogue to search and research business models heedful to concerns of social, moral, and ecological sustainability. On the view here defended, however, we ought not to strive for ...piecemeal corrections but for a thoroughgoing paradigm change of the predominant economic theories and practices in favor of a genuinely ‘humanistic management.’ This very call for humanistic management serves as an introduction into this paper (section 1). The article then lays out a concept of humanistic management in three methodologically distinct steps, description – ascription – prescription, before addressing potential challenges to the approach of humanistic management and, finally, pointing out some of its practical implications. The article hence proceeds as follows: From a critique of the reductionist
description
of economic agency given in conventional economics (2), the paper moves on to the
ascription
of freedom and responsibility by and through human actors (3), which appears essential for any attempt at re-integrating moral
prescriptions
into economics and, by extension, management theory (4). The resultant, dignity-centered humanistic management conception is then defended against challenges from postmodern authors and defendants of ‘deep ecology’ (5). Afterward, the article presents some normative postulates for management practice (6); last, the main findings of the paper are summarized (7).
In the light of growing political and religious fundamentalism, this open access book defends the idea of freedom as paramount for the attempt to find common ethical ground in the age of globality. ...The book sets out to examine as yet unexhausted ways to boost the resilience of the principle of liberalism. Critically reviewing the last 200 years of the philosophy of freedom, it revises the principle of liberty in order to revive it. It discusses many different aspects that fall under its three main topics: the metaphysics of freedom, quantitative freedom and qualitative freedom. Open societies worldwide have come under increasing pressure in the last decades. The belief that politics and markets fare best when guided by the principle of liberty presently faces multiple challenges such as terrorism, climate warming, inequality, populism, and financial crises. In the view of its critics, the idea of freedom no longer offers adequate guidance to meet these challenges and should be partially corrected or even entirely replaced by countervailing values. Against the reduction of freedom to the merely quantitative question as to how much liberties individuals call their own, this book draws attention to the qualitative concerns which and whose opportunities society should foster. It argues that, correctly understood, the idea of liberty commits us to defend as well as advance the freedom of each and every world citizen.
After Business Ethics Dierksmeier, Claus
Journal of human values,
01/2024, Letnik:
30, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Lamenting the deplorable state of business ethics is, itself, a staple of the deplorable state of business ethics. But if, as its many critics claim, business ethics continuously fails to deliver on ...its promise, what could take its place in management education? After business ethics—How else can we integrate ethics into the curriculum? This article argues that an ethical grounding of business theory and corporate practice requires a critique of conventional economics, replacing the mechanistic paradigm that predominated economics over the last 200 years with a humanistic alternative.
Freedom and Sustainability Dierksmeier, Claus
Revista de Filosofía - Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción,
06/2024, Letnik:
23, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
This article examines the perceived conflict between freedom and sustainability, proposing that a qualitative understanding of freedom can integrate liberal and ecological interests. It critiques the ...notion of quantitative freedom, focused on maximizing individual choices without considering their content or purpose, for ignoring essential aspects such as the rights of future generations and ecological sustainability. In contrast, it argues that qualitative freedom, which values options based on their contribution to human autonomy and dignity, offers a more comprehensive solution. This perspective prioritizes options that promote the freedom of all, including future generations, and suggests that some restrictions may be necessary to enhance sustainable life opportunities. The conclusion asserts that qualitative freedom should precede the quantitative consideration of options, allowing sustainability policies to be viewed not as limitations on freedom but as qualitative improvements that ensure better opportunities for all, both now and in the future.
Die Arbeit untersucht das Noumenon, das geistige Wesen der Religion. Ausgehend von der praktischen Philosophie Kants wird gezeigt, dass dieses Noumenon, verstanden als symbolisch-indirekte Weise, die ...Welt zu verstehen, jedem - auch dem atheistisch orientierten- Menschen vertraut ist, der sich bemüht, ein gutes und integres Leben zu führen. Den normativ-kritischen Begriff der Religion erarbeitet der Autor in drei Schritten: Zunächst werden zentrale Aporien der praktischen Philosophie Kants (Postulatenlehre, Theorie des höchsten Gutes) anhand des synthetisch- praktischen Satzes a priori rekonstruiert und aufgehoben. Im zweiten Teil werden diese Aporien zu weiteren Theoremen der praktischen Philosophie Kants ins Verhältnis gesetzt, um die Bedeutung der Religion für das praktische Bewusstsein auszuschöpfen. Im dritten Teil wird der systematisch gewonnene Begriff der Religion fortbestimmt zu einem kritisch-normativen Konzept phänomenaler Religion. Diese Konkretisierung macht das Noumenon Religion gegenüber bloßer Vernunftreligion zum konkret-allgemeinen Begriff.
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