Environmental Ethics

This chapter begins Part III, which argues that the relational moral theory of rightness as friendliness is a strong competitor to Western principles in many applied ethical contexts. Chapter 8 articulates and defends a novel, relational account of moral status, according to which an entity is owed moral consideration roughly to the degree that it is capable of being party to a communal relationship. One of its implications is that many animals have a moral status but not one as high as ours, which many readers will find attractive, but which utilitarianism and Kantianism cannot easily accommodate. Relational moral status also grounds a promising response to the ‘argument from marginal cases’ that animals have the same moral status as incapacitated humans: even if two beings have identical intrinsic properties, they can differ in the extent to which they can relate and hence differ in their degree of moral status.

Introduction

Chapter 1 explains and motivates the project of advancing an African moral theory, after which it provides an overview of the book. An African moral theory is a basic, comprehensive principle distinguishing right from wrong actions that is informed by mores salient particularly in the sub-Saharan region. It is advanced as a rival to the principles of utility and of respect for autonomy, the primary Western answers to the important question of what all right actions have in common. Part I of the book discusses the meta-ethical issue of how to justify an African moral theory. Part II identifies three major candidates for a moral theory in the African tradition, and argues that one, grounded on communal relationship, is most promising. Part III argues that the relational moral theory does better than the principles of utility and of respect for autonomy at accounting for a wide array of applied controversies.

Communal Relationship

The previous two chapters addressed African moral theories according to which relationality has a merely instrumental status, viz., is good solely as a means to the advancement of either the common good or vital force. Chapter 6 begins to make the case for taking harmonious or communal relationship to be what should be pursued as an end for the African tradition. Drawing particularly on ideas from Desmond Tutu, it provides a detailed reconstruction of sub-Saharan understandings of harmony or communality, and points out that, as the combination of sharing a way of life with others and caring for their quality of life, it is similar to what English-speakers label ‘friendliness’. It also provides reason to reject extant, consequentialist principles according to which such a relationship is a final good (or goal) that is to be promoted, roughly because they cannot ground human rights.

Gut Microbiota and Their Role in Health and Metabolic Disease of Dairy Cow

Ruminants are mostly herbivorous animals that employ rumen fermentation for the digestion of feed materials, including dairy cows. Ruminants consume plant fibre as their regular diet, but lack the machinery for their digestion. For this reason, ruminants maintain a symbiotic relation with microorganisms that are capable of producing enzymes to degrade plant polymers. Various species of microflora including bacteria, protozoa, fungi, archaea, and bacteriophages are hosted at distinct concentrations for accomplishing complete digestion. The ingested feed is digested at a defined stratum. The polysaccharic plant fibrils are degraded by cellulolytic bacteria, and the substrate formed is acted upon by other bacteria. This sequential degradative mechanism forms the base of complete digestion as well as harvesting energy from the ingested feed. The composition of microbiota readily gets tuned to the changes in the feed habits of the dairy cow. The overall energy production as well as digestion is decided by the intactness of the resident communal flora. Disturbances in the homogeneity gastrointestinal microflora has severe effects on the digestive system and various other organs. This disharmony in communal relationship also causes various metabolic disorders. The dominance of methanogens sometimes lead to bloating, and high sugar feed culminates in ruminal acidosis. Likewise, disruptive microfloral constitution also ignites reticuloperitonitis, ulcers, diarrhoea, etc. The role of symbiotic microflora in the occurrence and progress of a few important metabolic diseases are discussed in this review. Future studies in multiomics provides platform to determine the physiological and phenotypical upgradation of dairy cow for milk production.

Love and Time

Although both philosophical and theological traditions have taken a negative view of time, time is understood here as a condition of love that is able to endure. This is again especially clear in Kierkegaard, who understands God’s eternity as God’s power to give time. This makes love essentially hopeful. The chapter shows how ‘kairological’ time-experience is involved in the beginning of love, in its power of ‘abiding’, and in the gift of temporally extended attention that is given in love, attention that is human life’s closest analogy to divine creation. Kierkegaard’s emphasis on the moment is fleshed out with help from Franz Rosenzweig, who highlights the importance of the hour, day, week, and year as forging the communal relationship between divine and human. Edwin Muir is used to further develop these insights and to show the role of eschatology in love.

The effect of organization-public relations on sports fan loyalty

Public relations practitioners are obliged to facilitate the dialogue between the organization and public. Dialogue plays an important role in sports clubs because the gathering of people from different perspectives and opinions formed by fan groups for a common goal is based on dialogue and tolerance. Public relations theories have important applications for sports clubs to improve their relations with their fan groups. Linking the relational results to the public relations process can contribute to a better understanding of the mission and vision of sports clubs by fan groups and to measure their support. Within the scope of the research, it was aimed to determine the effective strategies necessary for sports clubs to increase the number of fans and their support. In this context, as a result of the research conducted on 176 sports fans, it has been found out that public relations strategies (control mutuality, trust, satisfaction) are the pioneers of fans loyalty. Also, public relations perceptions were found to be a determining factor in supporting behaviors towards sports clubs. Sports fans define their relationship with sports organizations as a communal relationship based on one-sided support rather than an exchange based on mutual benefits. As a result of the research, some suggestions are made for sports clubs to improve the quality of their relations with their supporters’ groups.

Bridging employee advocacy in anonymous social media and internal corporate social responsibility (CSR)

PurposeThis study explores the link between internal corporate social responsibility (CSR) and employee advocacy intention in the anonymous online environment, viewing the positive behavior of employees in anonymous social media as discretionary and altruistic efforts for their organization. Guided by social exchange theory (SET) and relationship management theory, the role of a communal relationship and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is likewise explored.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was conducted with 405 full-time employees in the US.FindingsResults showed that internal CSR positively influences the organization–employee communal relationship as well as OCB. Results further show that the employee-oriented communal relationship plays an important role in increasing OCB, which in turn enhances employee advocacy intention in anonymous social media.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first attempts to conceptualize employees' advocative behaviors in anonymous websites (e.g. Glassdoor) and to explore the antecedents of advocative behaviors, drawing insights from human resources management and internal relations.

The impact of communication models of public relations and organization–public relationships on company credibility and financial performance

The paper presents the results of the study of the impact and effects of communication models of public relations and organization–public relationships on company credibility and financial performance in companies in Serbia. The data were obtained by interviewing 415 respondents (PR managers, PR practitioners and marketing experts) working in 93 companies in Serbia. The dimensions of the organization–public relationships have stronger positive influences and effects on company credibility and financial performance than the dimensions of communication models of public relations. The influence of the dimensions of trust, commitment, satisfaction and communal relationship is particularly emphasized. Of the four communication models, the strongest positive impact on company credibility and financial performance is achieved by the two-way symmetrical dimension, and then the two-way asymmetrical dimension. The dimensions of communication models of public relations and organization–public relationships have the greatest influence and predictive effect on the dimension of trustworthiness, followed by the dimension of expertise, and finally the dimension of financial performance. Therefore, a greater impact exists on company credibility than on financial performance.

Transformational leadership and employee communication behaviors: the role of communal and exchange relationship norms

PurposeThis study aims to examine the effects of transformational leadership on employees' internal (i.e. voice) and external (i.e. megaphoning) communication behaviors and to explore the mediating role of employees' communal and exchange relationship norms with their organization.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was conducted with full-time employees working in various industry sectors in the USA.FindingsTransformational leadership significantly increased employees' voice behaviors and their positive and negative megaphoning behaviors. Communal relationship norms exerted a significant mediation effect on employees' communicative behaviors and exchange relationship norms had positive impacts on employees' megaphoning behaviors.Originality/valueThis study is among the first attempts to test the effect of transformational leadership style on employees' communicative actions within and outside of a company and the mediating role of exchange-communal relationship norms.

On Evolving Nature of Relationship by Perspective Mutuality: Reconceptualizing Relationship Typology Between Organization and Its Publics

To address conceptual and methodological issues regarding the exchange–communal relationship typology in public relations scholarship, this study reconceptualizes and validates three relationship types—egoistic, provident, and communal relationships. Two distinct relationship perspectives, organization-oriented and public-oriented, are also explored. The results of the two studies, focusing on an organization’s respective relationships with internal (i.e., employees) and external (i.e., consumers) publics, demonstrate the construct reliability and validity of newly conceptualized relationship types. The association between relationship types and relationship quality—trust, control mutuality, commitment, and satisfaction—is examined with structural equation modeling (SEM) and each path of two studies was compared through multigroup analysis. Theoretical and practical implications for public relations disciplines are discussed.