Corporate Governance and the Ethics of Narcissus

2001 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Roberts

Abstract:This paper offers an extended critique of the proliferation of talk and writing of business ethics in recent years. Following Levinas, it is argued that the ground of ethics lies in our corporeal sensibility to proximate others. Such moral sensibility, however, is readily blunted by a narcissistic preoccupation with self and securing the perception of self in the eyes of powerful others. Drawing upon a Lacanian account of the formation of the subject, and a Foucaultian account of the workings of disciplinary power, it is then argued that the governance of the corporation is effected precisely through encouraging such a narcissistic preoccupation with the self. For the most part our narcissistic concerns are bound to ethically indifferent financial interests. But in recent years they have also been harnessed to the demand for environmental, social and ethical responsibility by the corporation. It is argued, however, that the desire to be seen to be ethical—the ethics of narcissus—is the obverse of “being responsible for.”

2008 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Crane ◽  
David Knights ◽  
Ken Starkey

The paper examines the contribution of the French philosopher Michel Foucault to the subject of ethics in organizations. The paper combines an analysis of Foucault’s work on discipline and control, with an examination of his later work on the ethical subject and technologies of the self. Our paper argues that the work of the later Foucault provides an important contribution to business ethics theory, practice and pedagogy. We discuss how it offers an alternative avenue to traditional normative ethical theory that both converges and diverges with other extant alternatives. By situating ethics as practices of the self, and by demonstrating the conditions under which freedom in organizations can be exercised, Foucault’s ethics attempt to connect an understanding and critique of power with a personal project of self. He therefore provides a theory of subjectivity that potentially informs a reshaping of contemporary virtue ethics theory, value-based management, and business ethics teaching.


PhaenEx ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
BJØRN HAMRE

This article reports on the ways in which psychiatric practice and power were constituted in a Danish asylum at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The point of departure will be a complaint by a former patient questioning the practice at the asylum in 1829. In an analysis of this narrative the study draws upon Foucauldian concepts like disciplinary power, confession, pastoral power and subjectivation. I will argue that the critique of the patient provides us with an example of the way that disciplinary power works in the case of an informal indictment of the methods and practice at an asylum. A key issue is whether the critique is not itself a part of the self-legitimation of disciplinary power.


2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
Sorab Sadri

This paper is based on sixteen years of intensive examination and research into three Industrial Sectors (manufacturing, process and technology) of Western India and all observations contained herein are born out of and relate directly to those sectors. The premise upon which we stand is that if business ethics and corporate governance co-exists then with proper HR interventions a value centred corporate culture will very likely emerges and the journey towards achieving organisational excellence becomes that much easier. In the postgraduate textbook entitled Organisational Excellence through Business Ethics and Corporate Governance the authors had begun by defining ethics and stating that ethics was the precondition for generating value centred corporate cultures? They then delved deep into what ethics entrails and how it impacts the organisation as well as the individual within it. Thereafter they went in to the concept of Corporate Governance, defined it, viewed how it developed, examined how it was practiced overseas and then how it came to India. In this paper the authors attempt to show how good governance is based on ethics and how those who head the functions of People Management, Company Secretary, and Accountancy (cost and chartered) can gainfully use it for realising the larger interest of the organisations they belong to.  To that extent, this paper is just what the title suggests:  an opinion on the subject based on ongoing research


1970 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 202-214
Author(s):  
Олена Савченко

У статті розглядається рефлексивна компетентність як інтегративне особистісне утворення, що формується в ході набуття суб’єктом рефлексивного досвіду при застосуванні різних форм рефлексивної активності, спрямованих на розв’язання визначених рефлексивних задач. У структурі рефлексивної компетентності оцінно-мотиваційний компонент виконує наступні функції: оцінку форм рефлексивної активності та її результатів, прогнозування можливих змін у процесі розв’язування проблемно-конфліктних ситуацій, визначення пріоритетних завдань подальшого розвитку себе як суб’єкта рефлексивної активності. На когнітивному рівні функціонує система критеріїв оцінювання власних форм рефлексивної активності, яка характеризується ступенем когнітивної складності, що відображає рівень диференціації та інтеграції системи. Функціонування оцінно-мотиваційного компонента на метакогнітивному рівні забезпечує система здібностей до прогнозування власної активності. Особистісний рівень представлений системою життєвих задач на саморозвиток, які стимулюють суб’єкта докладати зусилля щодо розвитку в себе певних якостей, формування певних вмінь та знань. Розрізненість елементів компонента є індикатором незавершеності процесу формування його внутрішньої структури, низький рівень інтеграції окремих складових не дозволяє системі ефективно компенсувати недорозвинені елементи. Найбільшу вагу у внутрішній структурі оцінно-мотиваційного компонента має показник сформованості системи здібностей до прогнозування власної активності, що підтверджує системотвірну функцію структур метакогнітивного рівня. In the article the reflective competence is seen as an integrative personal formation which develops in the process of acquiring of the reflective experience, when the subject is using various forms of the reflective activity for the solving of specific reflective tasks. In the structure of the reflective competence the value-motivational component performs such functions: an evaluation of forms of the reflective activity and its results, a prediction of the possible changes in the process of solving of the problem-conflict situations, a determining of the priorities for further development of himself as a subject of the reflective activity. The system of the criteria of an evaluating of the reflective activity`s forms functions on the cognitive level of the reflective competence. The level of the cognitive complexity is the basic feature of this system. The predictive abilities` system, that allows to form the expectations of the activity`s results, presents the value-motivational component on the metacognitive level. The system of the life tasks for the self-development, which stimulates the subject to make efforts to develop his own qualities, to form specific skills and knowledge, functions on the personal level. The fragmentation of the elements is an indicator of the incompleteness of the formation of the internal structure of the value-motivational component. The low level of integration of the separate elements does not allow effectively to compensate the functioning of the unformed elements of the system. The index of the formation of the abilities to predict his own activity has the greatest meaning in the internal structure of the value-motivational component. These data confirm the hypothesis about the system-forming function of the metacognitive structures that unite other structures. Thus the development of the predictive abilities will promote the increase of the abilities to the prediction of the others` behavior. An adequate assessment of other people significantly reduces the inconsistency of his own expectations and estimations of others. The development of the predictive abilities creates favorable conditions for the formation of the life tasks for the self-development to increase their value in the system of other tasks


Author(s):  
Ekaterina Galkina ◽  

The problem of the study is that it is not sufficiently studied what psychological barriers people face at the initial stage of professional activity as self-employed. The aim of the study is to study the features of psychological barriers at the initial stage of professional activity of self-employed people. Research hypothesis: at the initial stage of professional activity as self-employed people face psychological barriers in the organizational and creative areas of entrepreneurial activity. The problem of psychological barriers was considered in their works by S. Rubinstein, N. Podymov, I. Pavlov, R. Shakurov and others. The article formulates particular definitions of the main concepts. Methodology: analysis of an individual case using interviews with processing in the framework of interpretive phenomenology. Respondent: female, 34 years old, self-employed as a psychologist for 1 year. Results: psychological barrier of accepting financial responsibility, barrier of adherence to a certain professional culture, barrier of competence in the profession. Certain psychological barriers can arise in connection with certain underlying medical conditions. The conclusions are that psychological barriers are a complex mental education, can be overcome in stages, and motivation of the subject is important for overcoming barriers.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 13-21
Author(s):  
Todd Backes ◽  
Charlene Takacs

There are a wide range of options for individuals to choose from in order to engage in aerobic exercise; from outdoor running to computer controlled and self-propelled treadmills. Recently, self-propelled treadmills have increased in popularity and provide an alternative to a motorized treadmill. Twenty subjects (10 men, 10 women) ranging in age from 19-23 with a mean of 20.4 ± 0.8 SD were participants in this study. The subjects visited the laboratory on three occasions. The purpose of the first visit was to familiarize the subject with the self-propelled treadmill (Woodway Curve 3.0). The second visit, subjects were instructed to run on the self-propelled treadmill for 3km at a self-determined pace. Speed data were collected directly from the self-propelled treadmill. The third visit used speed data collected during the self-propelled treadmill run to create an identically paced 3km run for the subjects to perform on a motorized treadmill (COSMED T150). During both the second and third visit, oxygen consumption (VO2) and respiratory exchange ratio (R) data were collected with COSMED’s Quark cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) metabolic mixing chamber system. The VO2 mean value for the self-propelled treadmill (44.90 ± 1.65 SE ml/kg/min) was significantly greater than the motorized treadmill (34.38 ± 1.39 SE ml/kg/min). The mean R value for the self-propelled treadmill (0.91 ± 0.01 SE) was significantly greater than the motorized treadmill (0.86 ± 0.01 SE). Our study demonstrated that a 3km run on a self-propelled treadmill does elicit a greater physiological response than a 3km run at on a standard motorized treadmill. Self-propelled treadmills provide a mode of exercise that offers increased training loads and should be considered as an alternative to motorized treadmills.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 135-150

The springboard for this essay is the author’s encounter with the feeling of horror and her attempts to understand what place horror has in philosophy. The inquiry relies upon Leonid Lipavsky’s “Investigation of Horror” and on various textual plunges into the fanged and clawed (and possibly noumenal) abyss of Nick Land’s work. Various experiences of horror are examined in order to build something of a typology, while also distilling the elements characteristic of the experience of horror in general. The essay’s overall hypothesis is that horror arises from a disruption of the usual ways of determining the boundaries between external things and the self, and this leads to a distinction between three subtypes of horror. In the first subtype, horror begins with the indeterminacy at the boundaries of things, a confrontation with something that defeats attempts to define it and thereby calls into question the definition of the self. In the second subtype, horror springs from the inability to determine one’s own boundaries, a process opposed by the crushing determinacy of the world. In the third subtype, horror unfolds by means of a substitution of one determinacy by another which is unexpected and ungrounded. In all three subtypes of horror, the disturbance of determinacy deprives the subject, the thinking entity, of its customary foundation for thought, and even of an explanation of how that foundation was lost; at times this can lead to impairment of the perception of time and space. Understood this way, horror comes within a hair’s breadth of madness - and may well cross over into it.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-29
Author(s):  
Nour El Houda Yahiaoui ◽  
Abdelmadjid Ezzine

Corporate governance systems are developed to govern corporations, build trust and create sustainable value for all stakeholders. Paradoxically, in spite of massive efforts in developing governance systems, corporate scandals are persisting. Different studies have strongly recommended business ethics as a solution to this paradox. Thus, this study explores if business ethics supports corporate governance practices in a sample of Algerian corporations. The study used a mixed methodology; qualitative: since this subject is poorly addressed in the Algerian context that requires an exploratory study. Quantitative by developing a structural model demonstrating the relationship between business ethics and corporate governance, Data for the study were collected by means of a questionnaire distributed on an anonymous basis to corporations’ senior managers in Sidi Bel Abbes district. Treatment of collected data is done using two types of analysis: the structural equations modeling approach by using the PLS Path approach (PLS Path Modeling) and linear regression. The study finds out that business ethics leads to better levels of corporate governance and supports its practices; and the reason is mainly due to an implicit involuntary commitment to laws as a minimum required level of compliance, and that the protection of stakeholders’ rights are the most important corporate governance’s dimension affected by business ethics.


Author(s):  
Simon Deakin

The debate over corporate governance is skewed by the common misunderstanding that shareholders are the owners of companies, and are entitled to have them run in their interest. The legal model of the firm is more nuanced, seeing the corporation as a complex entity characterized by co-operation between the suppliers of capital and labour, with a co-ordinating role for management. The elevation of shareholder primacy as a focal point for corporate strategy over recent decades is the result of government deferring to financial interests in the making of rules governing takeovers and board structure. Reversing financialization, and the negative impact it is having on social cohesion and innovation, will require a new legislative framework for corporate governance, with a greater role for employee voice and a reorientation of investment priorities.


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