Monkey Business and Business Ethics

ruffin_darden ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 7-41
Author(s):  
Jessica C. Flack ◽  
Frans B. M. De Waal ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Business Ethics ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Conflicts Of Interests ◽  
Concerted Effort ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Moral Systems ◽  
Moral Conduct ◽  
Modus Vivendi ◽  
Conflict Intervention

To what degree has biology influenced and shaped the development of moral systems? One way to determine the extent to which human moral systems might be the product of natural selection is to explore behaviour in other species that is analogous and perhaps homologous to our own. Many non-human primates, for example, have similar methods to humans for resolving, managing, and preventing conflicts of interests within their groups. Such methods, which include reciprocity and food sharing, reconciliation, consolation, conflict intervention, and mediation, are the very building blocks of moral systems in that they are based on and facilitate cohesion among individuals and reflect a concerted effort by community members to find shared solutions to social conflict. Furthermore, these methods of resource distribution and conflict resolution often require or make use of capacities for empathy, sympathy, and sometimes even community concern. Non-human primates in societies in which such mechanisms are present may not be exactly moral beings, but they do show signs of a sense of social regularity that—just like the norms and rules underlying human moral conduct—promotes a mutually satisfactory modus vivendi.

scholarly journals Perspectives on Leadership in Early Childhood Education and Care Centers Through Community of Practice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsi-Marja Heikkinen ◽  
Raisa Ahtiainen ◽  
Elina Fonsén
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Analysis Design ◽  
Joint Enterprise

<p>In this article we focus on the perceptions of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) directors, leaders on leadership through the concept of community of practice and examine how it could be applied in the Finnish context during times of change. Data on the perceptions of 15 ECEC centre directors were collected via a focus group interview. The study employed qualitative content analysis design. The results indicate that the formal leader has an important role in leading the community. Moreover, building flexible leadership structures and supporting all community members in developing the shared pedagogical leadership are the building blocks of the future leadership as a joint enterprise. </p>

scholarly journals Light-Induced Stress as a Primary Evolutionary Driver of Eye Origins

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew J. M. Swafford ◽  
Todd H. Oakley
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Complex Traits ◽  
Light Stress ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Morphological Variations ◽  
Stress Prevention ◽  
Eye Evolution ◽  
Genetic Components ◽  
Induced Stress ◽  
Plastic Responses

Eyes are quintessential complex traits and our understanding of their evolution guides understanding of trait evolution in general. A long-standing account of eye evolution argues natural selection favors morphological variations that allow increased functionality for sensing light (Darwin 1859; v. Salvini-Plawen and Mayr 1977; Nilsson and Pelger 1994; Nilsson 2013). While certainly true in part, this focus on visual performance does not entirely explain why diffuse photosensitivity persists even after eyes evolve, or why eyes evolved many times, each time using similar building blocks. Here we briefly review a vast literature indicating most genetic components of eyes historically responded to stress caused directly by light, including UV damage of DNA, oxidative stress, and production of aldehydes. We propose light-induced stress had a direct and prominent role in the evolution of eyes by bringing together genes to repair and prevent damage from light-stress, both before and during the evolution of eyes themselves. Stress-repair and stress-prevention genes were perhaps originally deployed as plastic responses to light and/or as beneficial mutations genetically driving expression where light was prominent. These stress-response genes sense, shield, and refract light but only under UV exposure. Once under regulatory-genetic control, they could be expressed before UV stress appeared, evolve as a single unit, and be influenced by natural selection to increase functionality for sensing light, ultimately leading to complex eyes and behaviors. Recognizing the potentially prominent role of stress in eye evolution invites discussions of plasticity and assimilation and provides a hypothesis for why similar genes are repeatedly used in convergent eyes. Broadening the drivers of eye evolution encourages consideration of multi-faceted mechanisms of plasticity/assimilation and mutation/selection for complex novelties and innovations in general.

scholarly journals Light-Induced Stress as a Primary Evolutionary Driver of Eye Origins

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew J. M. Swafford ◽  
Todd H. Oakley
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Complex Traits ◽  
Light Stress ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Morphological Variations ◽  
Stress Prevention ◽  
Eye Evolution ◽  
Genetic Components ◽  
Induced Stress ◽  
Plastic Responses

Eyes are quintessential complex traits and our understanding of their evolution guides models of trait evolution in general. A long-standing account of eye evolution argues natural selection favors morphological variations that allow increased functionality for sensing light (Darwin 1859; v. Salvini-Plawen and Mayr 1977; Nilsson and Pelger 1994; Nilsson 2013). While certainly true in part, this focus on visual performance does not entirely explain why diffuse photosensitivity persists even after eyes evolve, or why eyes evolved many times, each time using similar building blocks. Here we briefly review a vast literature indicating most genetic components of eyes historically responded to stress caused directly by light, including UV damage of DNA, oxidative stress, and production of aldehydes. We propose light-induced stress had a direct and prominent role in the evolution of eyes by bringing together genes to repair and prevent damage from light-stress, both before and during the evolution of eyes themselves. Stress-repair and stress-prevention genes were perhaps originally deployed as plastic responses to light and/or as beneficial mutations genetically driving expression where light was prominent. These stress-response genes sense, shield, and refract light but only as reactions to ongoing light stress. Once under regulatory-genetic control, they could be expressed before light stress appeared, evolve as a module, and be influenced by natural selection to increase functionality for sensing light, ultimately leading to complex eyes and behaviors. Recognizing the potentially prominent role of stress in eye evolution invites discussions of plasticity and assimilation and provides a hypothesis for why similar genes are repeatedly used in convergent eyes. Broadening the drivers of eye evolution encourages consideration of multi-faceted mechanisms of plasticity/assimilation and mutation/selection for complex novelties and innovations in general.

The Many Faces of Integrity

2006 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Audi ◽  
Patrick E. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Business Ethics ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Corporate Ethics ◽  
Ethical Reflection ◽  
Moral Conduct ◽  
The World ◽  
Ethical Work ◽  
The Many ◽  
Desirable Trait

Abstract:Integrity is a central topic in business ethics, and in the world of business it is quite possibly the most commonly cited morally desirable trait. But integrity is conceived in widely differing ways, and as often as it is discussed in the literature and given a central place in corporate ethics statements, the notion is used so variously that its value in guiding everyday conduct may be more limited than is generally supposed. Two central questions for this paper are what work the notion does and whether it does any ethical work that is not done better by other concepts. In pursuing these questions the paper explores the most plausible range of understandings of integrity found in recent literature, considers in what sense it is a virtue, and proposes a strategy of clarification and interpretation that can facilitate both ethical reflection and the guidance of moral conduct in business.

scholarly journals A Curriculum for Achieving Universal Health Care: A Case Study of Ateneo de Zamboanga University School of Medicine

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monserrat Guignona ◽  
Servando Halili ◽  
Fortunato Cristobal ◽  
Torres Woolley ◽  
Carole Reeve ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Systems ◽  
Community Service ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Local Health ◽  
Community Members ◽  
School Of Medicine ◽  
Health Infrastructure ◽  
Qualitative Evidence ◽  
Quality Health ◽  
Universal Health

Introduction: Universal Health Care requires equal distribution of a health workforce equipped with competencies appropriate for local population needs. While health inequities persist in the Philippines, the Ateneo de Zamboanga University School of Medicine (ADZU-SOM) in Zamboanga Peninsula – an impoverished and underserved region – has demonstrated significant success retaining graduates and improving local health statistics. This study describes the qualitative evidence of ADZU-SOM students and graduates having positive impacts on local health services and communities, and the contextual factors associated with the school's socially-accountable mission and curriculum that contribute to these impacts.Methods: This qualitative study involved 41 one-on-one or group interviews conducted across seven participant groups (faculty, graduates, final-year students, health professionals, health workers, community members, community leaders). Gale et al's method for analyzing qualitative data in multi-disciplinary health research, WHO's “6 Building Blocks for quality health systems” framework and THEnet's social-accountability framework were used to organize and interpret data.Results: Local community members, community leaders, and health staff consistently reported examples of ADZU-SOM students and graduate doctors developing health infrastructure and providing health education, health promotion, and disease prevention activities accessible to all population groups. Students and graduates suggested these impacts were due to a number of factors, including how ADZU-SOM's sandwich model of longitudinal community-engagement culminating in 10-months continuous community placement in the final year helped them develop a strong motivation for community service, the teachings and curriculum activities that focused on public health and the social determinants of health, and faculty's commitment and ability to operationalize ADZU-SOM's mission and values. Staff also reported impacts were driven by integration of regional and national health priorities as core curriculum, and involving local stakeholders in curriculum development.Conclusions: This study provides qualitative evidence that ADZU-SOM's curriculum content and immersive community placements are training a medical workforce that is strengthening local health systems and health infrastructure across all 6 WHO “Building Blocks for quality health systems.” These findings suggest ADZU-SOM has managed to evolve a consciousness toward community service among final year students and graduates, adding evidence to the assertion it is a fully socially-accountable health professions institution.

scholarly journals Perspectives on Leadership in Early Childhood Education and Care Centers Through Community of Practice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsi-Marja Heikkinen ◽  
Raisa Ahtiainen ◽  
Elina Fonsén
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Analysis Design ◽  
Joint Enterprise

<p>In this article we focus on the perceptions of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) directors, leaders on leadership through the concept of community of practice and examine how it could be applied in the Finnish context during times of change. Data on the perceptions of 15 ECEC centre directors were collected via a focus group interview. The study employed qualitative content analysis design. The results indicate that the formal leader has an important role in leading the community. Moreover, building flexible leadership structures and supporting all community members in developing the shared pedagogical leadership are the building blocks of the future leadership as a joint enterprise. </p>

The Biology of Morality

1992 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 268-268
Author(s):  
Michael Krage ◽  
Christopher Daood
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Moral Systems ◽  
Bethel College

A conference titled “The Biology of Morality: A Multidisciplinary Dialogue” was held at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota, on March 13 and 14, 1992. Organizers James Hurd (anthropology) and Carole Young (psychology) focused the conference around the question, “Are adaptation and natural selection sufficient explanations for the rise of morality and moral systems, or must we seek explanation beyond the natural sciences?” The presenters came from a variety of fields, including biology, theology, psychology, philosophy, and anthropology.

scholarly journals Reflections on Teaching Business Ethics

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Ambika Zutshi ◽  
Greg Wood ◽  
Leanne Morris
Keyword(s):  
Business Ethics ◽  
Baby Boomers ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Generation Y ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
First Century ◽  
Ethical Awareness ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Senior Managers ◽  
Teaching Business

The start of the twenty-first century witnessed a number of company scandals and ethical breaches that have brought to the forefront community feelings of anguish and disgust towards large companies in addition to spawning more legislation aimed at avoiding a repeat of these collapses. The question that arises is whether the past measures (including legislation) have worked, given the recent Global Financial Crisis (GFC) as it has raised more questions than it has answered. Against this backdrop, we need to consider whether business ethics can be taught to a person irrespective of their age? Should we as community members, customers, shareholders of today give up on the current senior managers who are mostly representatives of the baby boomers and concentrate on increasing ethical awareness of our current undergraduate students (at least of Generation Y and Z)? If we proceed with this argument as being both valuable and also possible, the next step is to consider the ways by which to teach business ethics to a group of students and this aim is the focus of the chapter.

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