Ethical Commitment Research Articles

The Socialist Bratwurst: East German Urbanism and Its Reemergence in the Present

This article examines defining features of East German urban planning—primarily the housing complex and the city/settlement binary—and their relationship to Eisenhüttenstadt, a city founded in 1950 as Stalinstadt, an East German socialist utopia. Today Eisenhüttenstadt is home to a novel form of urban renewal in which architects and planners look to the socialist past for inspiration as they imagine a new urban future. I examine the history of socialist urbanism as it was implemented in Eisenhüttenstadt, as well as how residents and urban planners came to understand socialist urbanism in the years immediately following German reunification. I then examine an urban renewal program, started in 2014, that explicitly draws on the socialist past. In doing so, I aim to consider the socialist city not as an architectural form but as a set of practices, spatial imaginations, and ethical commitments that can be reanimated even in a capitalist sociopolitical context.

A public-private partnership for dialysis provision in Ethiopia: a model for high-cost care in low-resource settings.

Our purpose was to explore whether private-public partnerships (PPPs) can serve as a model for access to high-cost care in low-resource settings by examining a unique PPP providing haemodialysis services in a remote setting, investigating challenges and enablers. The study setting is a 500-bed teaching hospital serving a catchment population of 8 million in Northern Ethiopia. Based on local data collection, observation and in-depth interviews, we identified the impetus for the PPP, described the partnership agreement, reported outcomes after 6 years of activity and examined challenges that have arisen since the programme's inception, including funding sustainability. The PPP was established in 2013 based on a decision by local leadership that treatment of patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) is a necessity rather than a luxury. A private partner was sought who could ensure service delivery as well as a reliable supply of consumables. The hospital contributions included infrastructure, personnel and sharing of maintenance costs. The partnership has facilitated uninterrupted haemodialysis service to 101 patients with AKI and 202 with chronic kidney disease. The former (>50% cured) were mainly supported by charitable donations procured by the hospital's leadership, while the latter were self-funded. The local university and community contributed to the charity. Utilization has increased yearly. Funding and logistical issues remain. In conclusion, this PPP enabled access to previously unavailable lifesaving care in Northern Ethiopia and could serve as a model for potential scale-up for haemodialysis provision in particular, and more broadly, high-cost care in low-resource settings. An ethical commitment to provide the service, combined with ongoing administrative and community involvement has contributed to its sustained success. Lack of affordability for most patients requiring chronic haemodialysis and reliance on charitable donations for treatment of patients with AKI pose challenges to long-term sustainability.

Organisations Ethical environment, Change Management and Commitment: The Role of Change Readiness, Resistance, and Employees’ Withdrawal

To deal with the cynicism in the process of organizational change is always a big challenge to the change managers. To overcome this, managers have to figure out Change Resistance tendencies that would lead to Employees’ Withdrawal. This study investigated the consequences which organization have to face as a result of employees’ resistance during the change process and how to change process affect the employees’ performance and their emotions. In this regard, we proposed a theoretical framework, arguing the role of Organisations Ethical environment in enabling Change Readiness and curbing Resistance to change. Lower resistance would decrease employee’s withdrawal from the change progress and ultimately leads to organizational commitment and effectiveness. For this, we modified Aslam et. al. (2015) model of organizational cynicism, and integrate the perceived organization effectiveness model of Jones and Ven (2016). The ethical environment was measured by Supportive Leadership, Organization Fairness, and Employee Participation. Change Readiness was measured by Dispositional Resistance to Change, Trust in Change Leaders, Job Insecurity. Dimensions of Resistance included Behavioral Resistance and Affective Resistance. Empirical validity was established by conducting a survey using a close-ended questionnaire. Data were collected from 229 respondents mainly from financial institutions of Karachi, which includes top banks and financial services provider firms. Data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structured equation modeling. The result suggested that Supportive Leadership has a significant and positive effect on both Dispositional Resistance to Change (DRC) and Job Insecurity. Similarly, Organization Fairness also seems to impact DRC. Organization Fairness along with participation also positively affects Trust in Change Leaders. Both DRC and Trust in Change Leaders positively and significantly affect both Affective, and Behavioral Resistance to change. Similarly, Job Insecurity also leads to Affective Resistance. Consequently, Behavioral and Affective Resistance affect Job Satisfaction. Interestingly, Affective Resistance in a positive way. Affective Resistance also leads to Employees’ Withdrawal Behavior that subsequently affects job satisfaction. Lastly, both forms of resistance along with job satisfaction, also have a significant positive effect on both Organizational Commitment and effectiveness. The findings would help us is able to know the reasons for employee’s resistance and its impact on the organization and employees.

A Dream of a Stone: The Ethics of De-anthropocentrism

AbstractDe-anthropocentrism is the leitmotif of philosophy in the twenty-first century, encouraging diverse and competing thoughts as to how this goal may be achieved. This article argues that the method by which we may achieve de-anthropocentrism is ethical rather than metaphysical – it must involve a creation of the self, rather than an interpretation of the given human conditions. Through engagements with the thought of Nietzsche, Levinas, and Foucault, and a close reading of Baudelaire’s poem “La Beauté,” I will illustrate three ethical commitments essential to de-anthropocentrism: to abandon the claim to knowledge associated with human reason, to remain in perpetual quest of an object, and to transgress the given perceptual structure through aesthetic experience. In contrast to Kantian philosophy built upon universal human reason, art is the ethical arena where each artist creates their own way to relate to the object, while de-anthropocentrism occurs – this article argues – when the artist includes the self as the field of creation. Object-Oriented Ontology in my assessment is the only branch of philosophy that truly achieves de-anthropocentrism.

Racial burdens, translations, and chance

Racial burdens, translations, and chance

Of wine and whiteboards: Enacting feminist reflexivity in collaborative research

Reflexivity is considered a hallmark of qualitative research. With the continued growth in team-based research, more attention is needed to what it means to practice reflexivity within the context of these research collaborations. In this article, we draw upon scholarship on reflexivity and our own experiences to develop what we term ‘collaborative feminist reflexivity’ (CFR). CFR represents a form of reflexivity that is distinctly collaborative in how it is enacted, grounded in feminist epistemological and ethical commitments, holistically engaged throughout the research process, and multifaceted, involving multiple formal and informal practices. In critically analyzing our own reflexive practices in the context of an interdisciplinary, multi-method study on hashtag activism related to domestic violence, we seek to identify specific practices for research teams as well as interrogate the potentials and limitations of these practices for enacting feminist reflexivity.

A (in)eficácia da formação dos magistrado brasileiros em direitos humanos e controle de convencionalidade

A pesquisa que fundamenta este artigo investiga a eficácia dos cursos de formação em direitos humanos e controle de convencionalidade ministrados pela ENFAM e Escolas judiciais e verificar se os magistrados estão aplicando as normas de DDHH e realizando o controle de convencionalidade. A pesquisa apresenta resultados de um estudo sobre as sentenças proferidas em Campinas, de 2015 a 2019, verificando a abordagem ou referências feitas nessas decisões sobre “direitos humanos” e “controle de convencionalidade”. Foram verificadas todas as sentenças proferidas em 33 varas judiciais. Os resultados indicam que as Escolas judiciais devem ampliar, intensificar e aprofundar o seu compromisso ético, estético e político de formação para garantir a dignidade humana e os direitos humanos no sistema jurisdicional.

Ethics in Islamic economics: microfoundations for an ethical endogeneity

PurposeThis paper aims to explore ethics in Islamic economics by establishing the micro-foundations of Islamic economics. This is done by conceptualizing the behavioural assumptions of the individual in an Islamic framework. It also argues that ethical positions that attached endogenously in individual behaviour would have implications in the macro-socio realm influencing society, institution and organization in an Islamic economic system.Design/methodology/approachThe study is qualitative-based research. It explores the literature on ethics in Islamic economics to understand and analyse the concept of individual behaviour in the Islamic perspective that will be the micro-foundations of Islamic economic analysis.FindingsIt is found that the ethical commitment of individuals (as envisaged in the micro-foundations of Islamic economics) would bring socio-macro implications in the practical realm. The micro-foundations of Islamic economics would function as the basis of the economic explanation of the aggregate relationship of individual, state and society. It also serves as the basis in explaining socio-macro dynamics influencing individuals, society, as well as organizations and institutions.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper limits its analysis of developing the concept of ethical endogeneity in Islamic man behaviour to be the micro-foundations of Islamic economics and its macro-implications.Originality/valueThis study attempts to show that ethics should not only be inseparable in an economic framework but also an endogenous dimension in individual behaviour. The micro-foundations of Islamic economics are developed based on Islamic values on the characteristics and behaviour of an individual that would not only describe the true nature of man but also support his well-being.

The tyranny of distance: The social effects and practice adaptations resulting from Covid-19 lockdown rules

This reflective commentary identifies and discusses the effects of the social distancing rules required by the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowni. The rules required rapid adaptation that many found challenging, creating new norms for behaviour that were governed by both the state and many citizens. These rules changed patterns of social interaction, attitudes towards others and how families and communities were defined. Existing inequities relating to class were exacerbated, and inequities relating to gender and childcare made more visible. Those with more resources and secure jobs that could be undertaken “from home” were less exposed to the economic fallout and the virus itself. Attitudes towards the body and its physicality were heightened as the body became the target for intervention and isolation. Place-based communities of the neighbourhood were strengthened while other types of physical communities diminished.All these changes created new opportunities for accelerating the morphing of people with the digital world, intensifying the use of online technologies to mediate the self, and shape employment practices, social work provision, and personal relationships. While some experienced this rapid transition online as a barrier to relationships, others, especially those already proficient in online technologies, experienced areas of improved functionality and efficiencies. Social work practice also adapted to this environment, finding new ways to meet the practice, support and ethical commitments of the profession.

“It’s the World We Got to Deal With”: The Exasperated Ethics of Graham Greene’sBrighton Rock

AbstractThis article is concerned with the conflict between a preoccupation with one’s individual existential fate and a commitment to one’s ethical obligation to the Other in Graham Greene’s 1938 novel, Brighton Rock. It contextualizes this conflict in relation to the contemporaneous ethical response of Emmanuel Levinas to Martin Heidegger’s ontological philosophy, which Heidegger employed to endorse the fascist politics of National Socialism in the 1930s. The novel’s argumentative opposition between Pinkie Brown as an implicitly fascistic and nihilistic existential antihero and Ida Arnold as a self-satisfied secular and ethical exemplar serves as a revealing anatomy of the period’s conflicting paradigmatic values systems. The novel also expresses the evolving conflict in Greene’s work between a religious concern with one’s individual salvation and an ethical commitment to justice for the vulnerable, an ethical commitment that may be traced from the beginning to the end of Greene’s long career in fiction.

The Effect of Planned Behavior Theory, Ethical Commitment, and Perceived Risk on Corporate Sustainability Accounting and Reporting

The Effect of Planned Behavior Theory, Ethical Commitment, and Perceived Risk on Corporate Sustainability Accounting and Reporting

Editor’s Introduction

Editor’s Introduction

La formación en valores ante la crisis del COVID-19: retos para la Educación Media Superior en México

La crisis civilizatoria urge la necesidad de promover las actitudes y valores que pueden sensibilizar a los estudiantes a identificarse con su entorno social y ambiental. El objetivo fue realizar un estudio cualitativo mediante la metodología del registro documental para determinar la importancia de la formación en valores en Educación Media Superior ante la pandemia del COVID-19. Los resultados arrojaron que la formación en valores no está estructurada. Se requieren más estudios sobre formación valoral. Las reflexiones se centraron en el enfoque pedagógico socioformativo como una estrategia que vincula los valores como comportamientos concretos que fomentan el desarrollo integral en armonía con el desarrollo sostenible. En este momento de la pandemia del COVID-19 toma más relevancia un comportamiento ético para rectificar las formas de entender y situarnos en el mundo, una labor con ineludibles repercusiones para la educación y la pedagogía. Se llega a la conclusión que es necesaria una educación enfocada en vivir valores para el bienestar común con compromiso ético para hacer frente a la pandemia COVID-19.

TRAZAS DE UNA PROPUESTA EDUCATIVA Y ARTÍSTICA EN CÁRCELES

En este artículo se interroga sobre qué es lo que pasa con aquello que la universidad ofrece, aquello que se despliega como propuesta en espacios carcelarios. ¿Podemos identificar cambios en quienes transitan por las propuestas de la Universidad? Esperamos poder dar cuenta del alcance de las prácticas educativas y artísticas de la Universidad en la cárcel recuperando el valor de la educación como transmisión y recreación del saber acumulado pero especialmente como posibilidad de modificación de otros y el compromiso ético que esto implica. Esto conlleva dejar de buscar resultados medibles exclusivamente como política de evaluación de resultados de la Universidad para interrogarnos sobre las oportunidades de incidir en la formación ciudadana de quienes transitan los espacios que ofrece la academia en contextos de privación de libertad ambulatoria. Es por ello que elegimos nombrar esta idea como traza ya que se trata de una “huella, vestigio o rastro de una cosa o persona” deja en otra. Se busca poder dar cuenta de algunas de esas trazas a partir de la voz de quienes participan en este encuentro; educadores y personas privadas de libertad.

Toward Ethical Commitment: Avoiding MNC Entanglement in Modern Slavery

Multinational corporations are at risk of being connected to modern slavery because of their strategic choices related to outsourcing. The slave labor supply is affected by myriad, localized structural injustices in which weak, ineffective, or corrupt but also well-functioning governments fail to provide for either protection of their constituents against exploitation or for a decent standard of living that would alleviate the human desperation associated with modern slavery. In this article, we highlight three types of responsibility-related reactions to entanglement in modern slavery (implausible deniability, plausible deniability, and ethical commitment) that function as a differentiator between business leaders and laggards.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical assistance in dying in Canada and the relationship of public health laws to private understandings of the legal order.

ABSTRACTDrawing on interviews we conducted with 15 medical assistance in dying (MAiD) providers from across Canada, we examine how physicians and nurse practitioners reconcile respect for the new, changing rules brought upon by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, along with their existing legal obligations and ethical commitments as health care professionals and MAiD providers. Our respondents reported situations where they did not follow or did not insist on others following the applicable public health rules. We identify a variety of techniques that they deployed either to minimize, rationalize, justify or excuse deviations from the relevant public health rules. They implicitly invoked the exceptionality and emotionality of the MAiD context, especially in the time of COVID, when offering their accounts and explanations. What respondents relate about their experiences providing MAiD during the COVID pandemic offers occasion to reflect on the role actors themselves play in giving meaning (if not coherence) to the potentially conflicting normative expectations to which they are subject.

Narrating values-based entrepreneurs in tourism

ABSTRACT This paper adds to previous conceptualisations of lifestyle entrepreneurship in tourism by framing the identity construction of such enterprises in terms of their ethical commitment to global issues, social and economic inequalities, and radical criticism of neoliberal capitalism. The study addresses a gap in the tourism studies literature which usually conceptualises entrepreneurs as either commercially oriented or lifestyle oriented. Such dichotomies do not easily accommodate entrepreneurs who are driven by a set of values associated with ‘doing good’. A linguistic narrative analysis – combined with features of structural narrative analysis – is used to reveal three prominent entrepreneurial identities among a group of values-based Italian entrepreneurs: the intellectual and educational, the professional and entrepreneurial, and the empathic ‘free speech’. These entrepreneurial identities challenge several assumptions about entrepreneurship in small non-commercially oriented tourism firms, thereby revealing some key theoretical and practical insights.

Terapia Ocupacional en la ruralidad: una experiencia en La Macarena, Meta

La firma del Acuerdo de Paz entre el Gobierno Nacional y las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP) abrió una ventana de oportunidad para contribuir en la transformación de las condiciones de vida y salud de las comunidades rurales. Este artículo presenta la experiencia de un grupo de terapeutas ocupacionales quienes, como parte de un proyecto de extensión universitaria, se propusieron aportar al fortalecimiento de las capacidades comunitarias para la atención primaria en salud de comunidades y organizaciones sociales del municipio de La Macarena (Meta, Colombia). La sistematización, como camino metodológico, hizo posible reconstruir la experiencia vivida en el territorio, en diálogo con la apuesta política del proyecto. Las reflexiones emergentes alrededor de la vida cotidiana y del lugar de la Terapia Ocupacional comunitaria mostraron desafíos y aprendizajes sobre el tiempo, el espacio y las identidades de la profesión en este campo. Los resultados de la puesta en acción de estrategias desde Terapia Ocupacional reafirman el compromiso ético para aportar en la disminución de las inequidades sociales.

Post-study work for international graduates in Australia: opportunity to enhance employability, get a return on investment or secure migration?

ABSTRACT In a competitive international education market, the opportunity to gain post-study work experience in the host country is one of the key drivers of international students’ decision making and critical to education export, especially in top destination countries, such as Australia, Canada, the UK and US. Understanding the impacts of post-study work for international graduates is crucial for both host countries’ international student recruitment and employment agendas and their ethical commitment to delivering on promise to the international cohort. Drawing on analysis of government policies and in-depth interview data, this study provides evidence about the effects of the post-study work policy in Australia. The overarching view from international graduates indicates that the temporary graduate visa does not seem to provide them with a competitive advantage in the Australian labour market as employers either are unclear about this visa or hesitate to recruit those on this visa. However, the visa brings multiple side benefits, including the chance to round off their employability skills, improve their English proficiency, and get a return on investment in overseas study. Many international graduates see the post-study work visa as a pathway to permanent residency despite the fact that visa reforms have broken the direct education-migration pathway.

Achievements and challenges in learning analytics in Spain: The view of SNOLA

Tal y como ocurre en otros campos de investigación, el desarrollo de la analítica del aprendizaje está influido por las redes de investigadores que contribuyen al mismo. Este artículo describe una de estas redes: la Red Española de Analítica de Aprendizaje (SNOLA). El artículo presenta las líneas de investigación de los miembros de SNOLA, así como los principales retos que la analítica del aprendizaje tiene que afrontar en los próximos años desde la visión de estos investigadores. Este análisis está basado en datos de archivo de SNOLA y en una encuesta realizada a los actuales miembros de la red. Aunque esta aproximación no cubre toda la actividad relacionada con analítica del aprendizaje en España, los resultados proporcionan una visión general representativa del estado de la investigación relacionada con analítica del aprendizaje en dicho contexto. El artículo muestra cuáles son estas tendencias y los principales retos, entre los que se encuentran la necesidad de adoptar un compromiso ético con los datos, desarrollar sistemas que respondan a las necesidades de los usuarios y alcanzar mayor impacto institucional.