Labor Ethics Research Articles

Social sustainability in action: An explorative study of practices in construction project management

The significance of recognizing social sustainability practices for the successful management of projects is increasingly acknowledged. However, to what extent these practices are actually implemented within project management has not been sufficiently addressed in the literature. To address this gap, an empirical study was conducted to investigate the usage of social sustainability practices and explore any disparities in their implementation between domestic and international construction firms in the United Arab Emirates. This study employed a mixed-methods approach, combining interviews and a structured questionnaire. Through the interviews, 32 social sustainability practices were identified. Subsequently, a questionnaire was used to collect data from project managers representing 259 firms. The analysis revealed several key findings: 1) social sustainability practices are adopted at varying rates; 2) twelve practices, primarily concerning fundamental human rights and labor ethics, are uniformly employed by both domestic and international firms; and 3) international firms are more likely than their domestic counterparts to regularly implement the other 20 social sustainability practices. These findings develop new knowledge on the implementation of social sustainability practices and advance the understanding of how firm origin influences the adoption of these practices. Additionally, the findings and their implications provide valuable guidance for policymakers and project leaders looking to incorporate social sustainability practices into their operational strategies.

Хозяйственно-управленческая этика советских руководителей предприятий 1930–1940-х гг. По источникам личного происхождения

This article, for the first time in domestic historiography, scrutinizes the ethical principles guiding the managerial activities of directors in Russian enterprises during the 1930s and 1940s. To address this issue, a selection was made from sources of personal origin, consisting of expressions concerning the principles of managerial ethics, followed by a structured description of these principles. The study employs historical-comparative and historical-genetic methods. The significance of the economic-ethical aspect of the soviet leaders mentality allows for a fresh understanding of the genesis of the soviet elite and its role in the transformation of the socio-economic structure of the country. Furthermore, the examination of the labor ethics of soviet leaders based on personal origin sources is undertaken by the author for the first time in historiography. Additionally, the article introduces a novel approach by applying a systematic structuring method to the managerial-ethical principles of enterprise leadership. The study of managerial ethics is conducted based on personal origin sources, such as memoirs and diaries of enterprise directors. The primary portion of the source complex is extracted from the archives of the Russian State Archive of Economics (memoirs of A. L. Kozlov, A. M. Kontorshchikov, Yu. N. Kozhevnikov, and the diary of M. V. Yasvoin), the majority of which remain unpublished and minimally incorporated into scholarly discourse. The methodological foundation for studying these sources is rooted in A. Rikh's works on the understanding of economic ethics, as well as contemporary Russian historians works on new property relations in the soviet economy of the 1930s to the early 1950s. The author concludes that the fundamental ethical principles adhered to by enterprise leaders in their managerial activities consisted of an «oath» to the fundamental postulates of soviet authority and the requirements formulated by the state. The leaders deemed the principles of centralized command and personal labor participation in enterprise affairs as correct. Regarding moral norms of management, the leaders considered personal gain, nepotism, and favoritism, among other practices, as unacceptable. However, the principles of economic-labor ethics identified through published sources do not encompass the latent stratum of the soviet economic model, where deviations from certain economic-ideological norms, disregard for subordinates, «everyday» norms of managerial material support, etc., were deemed acceptable. The article concludes that a significant portion of soviet enterprise leaders in the 1930s and 1940s adhered to the proposed soviet ideological system of ethical values, striving to uphold and cultivate «socialist» ethical parameters.

Ціннісна мотивація праці: східноазійський досвід

The article examines the experience of value-based work motivation in modernized East Asian societies and economies of the Confucian tradition. The author considers the ontological, anthropological, civilization-cultural, socio-psychological, political-economic and applied (on the cases of Japan and China) aspects of the above mentioned problem. Performed an interdisciplinary analysis of the worldview and value-based foundations of work motivation, and various characteristic features of the labor and corporate ethics of the Confucian-tradition countries, which contributed to the phenomenal success of their post-war reconstruction, and economic and social modernization. Applied the fractal-synergistic method developed by the author, along with various tools of social philosophy, political economy, psychology, and modernization theory. The author shows that the present mode of thinking (and the corresponding value-based motivation) of a typical Western person, based on the dichotomy of the individual “I” and the outside world, turns out to be significantly more conservative and resistant to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, associated with the widespread introduction of artificial intelligence and the blurring of boundaries between inorganic, living and digital realities, than the traditionally holistic consciousness of China and the “Confucian tigers”, which perceives nature, society and human in an organic unity. This phenomenon is in sharp contrast to the eras of the first three industrial revolutions, when the West, primarily the Protestant West was the undisputed global leader in technological progress, the introduction of innovations, and the intensive growth of labor productivity. It is proved that in the newly industrialized countries of East Asia, the reformed and modernized Confucianism actually acts as a consolidating positive civil religion and a value-motivational driver of dynamic socio-economic development. The author evaluates the relevance of the East Asian experience of the value-based work motivation in the context of the transformation of societal values in Ukraine and the imperatives of the post-war reconstruction of this country’s economy. It is concluded that the communitarian-solidarist system of labor ethics inherent in East Asian countries has a significant potential for its implementation in Ukraine.

Homo irretitus & homo faber: человек трудящийся в зоне риска

The development of labour in its classical sense over the centuries was accom­panied by philosophical reflection, which took shape in the 19th century into the “philosophy of labour” as a direction of interdisciplinary thought, based on the postulates of the relevant culture and ethics of labour, which evolve and come into conflict with the emerging philosophy of life, experiencing a concep­tual crisis in the crisis of European culture. In the article, we turn to current la­bour paradigm and its foundations in the era of mass automation and digitaliza­tion of human activities. Our focus is on the emerging anthropological type – a new subject of employment in the digital age – “homo irretitus / a person in the network”, which opposes not only the classical model “homo faber / a person creating the world with the help of tools”, but also a representative of the “crea­tive class”, non-material labour worker. The analysis showed that, insisting on the need to free from labour, theorists of the digital economy do not answer the questions of what will replace labour in its meaningful position in life, and what activity will replace labour.

The Practice of Cultivating Marxist Education and Labor Ethics in Higher Education

The Practice of Cultivating Marxist Education and Labor Ethics in Higher Education

Poor Man's Fortune: White Working-Class Conservatism in American Metal Mining, 1850–1950

Poor Man's Fortune: White Working-Class Conservatism in American Metal Mining, 1850–1950

Critiques of Appropriation and Transnational Labor Ethics

Ideas and concepts have their own lives and resilience, to which one should be sensitive. This article focuses on the ways in which a group of Indian artisan organizations and collectives deploy—in their critical exchange with a designer and retailer that have privileged access to the transnationally circulating capital—the concept of appropriation as a tool to confront the hierarchical divisions of labor, and the unequal distribution of capital, within the globalized circuits of transnational fashion production. In bringing together Karl Marx’s critique of the appropriation of living labor by objectified labor and David Harvey’s critical exposé of the new mechanisms of “accumulation by dispossession,” and connecting these labor-focused perspectives on appropriation to the phenomenon of so-called cultural appropriation, the following investigates the potentiality of appropriation in facilitating a transnational labor ethics that defies the problematic segregation of the “design” and “creative” processes from the increasingly alienated and absorbed productive forces of the dispossessed artisan and craft communities.

The Expansion of the Scope of Non-Competition and Its Judicial Countermeasures

At present, there are expansion issues of the non-competition system in practice, especially the expansion of the scope of the non-competition agreement and the abuse of the system by the employer, which has brought many adverse effects. In essence, the rationality of the system lies in the maintenance of labor ethics with capital, with the dual nature of labor relations and civil relations, and its system design is more beneficial to employers, which leads to excessive autonomy and arbitrariness of employers. Drawing on foreign experience and other departmental laws, at the judicial level, attention should be paid to introducing the concept of “relevant market” and initiation of joint and several liability reviews on new employers to limit the scope of non-competition and to curb the abuse of non-competition by employers.

The Effect of Compensation on Loyalty, Work Ethics, and Productivity of Contract Labour (Case Study on Polinema)

This study aims to analyze the direct and indirect effects of compensation on loyalty, work ethic, and productivity of contract workers (a case study on Polinema). The population in this study were all administrative staff of the academic section of Polinema, which amounted to 209 employees. The sampling technique used in this study was purposive sampling with a total sample of 39 respondents. The data analysis used is path analysis with the help of Smart Partial Least Square (PLS) software. The results of this study indicate that 1) Compensation has a positive and significant effect on productivity. 2) Compensation has a positive and insignificant effect on loyalty. 3) Compensation has a positive and significant effect on work ethic. 4) Loyalty has no significant effect on productivity. 5) Work ethic has a positive and significant effect on productivity. 6) Loyalty does not mediate the relationship between compensation and productivity. 7) Work ethic mediates the relationship between compensation and productivity.

MODERNIZATION OF SOUTH KOREA: ORIGINS, ACHIEVEMENTS, AND THE EXPERIENCE FOR UKRAINE

Considered the causes and results of the economic achievements of South Korea, which for one generation’s lifetime had managed to leapfrog from poverty to the top of the world’s advanced economies. Analyzed the similarity between the problems of the Republic of Korea, which has been at war with its northern neighbor for more than 70 years, and Ukraine since 2014, as both countries are at the epicenter of strategic conflicts in Eurasia, in which basic interests of world powers collide. Confucianism is analyzed as a model of social and personal relations that has absorbed the wisdom and experience of the millennia-old civilization, demonstrated its exceptional viability, capacity to dynamically modernize and creatively assimilate the achievements of other cultures and civilizations. There is a unique synthesis of values of the two most competitive systems of work ethic in the modern world – Confucianism and Protestantism, which ensured the phenomenal success of the South Korean modernization. It is argued that the very combination of strong socially responsible state, competitive structural democracy and social and labor ethics based on the amalgam of Confucian and Christian values gave effect to the “Miracle on the Han River.” It is shown that Ukraine and South Korea have a common position on the key issues of world order as well as promising bilateral relations, whereas the South Korean experience of economic modernization and development is of interest to Ukraine. Promising areas of Ukrainian-South Korean economic cooperation, such as electronics and IT technologies, renewable energy, aerospace and aviation industry, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and healthcare are substantiated. Ukraine may benefit from the ROK’s positive experience in developing such areas as private entrepreneurship, small and medium business support, that would help practically solve the problem of microcredit and attract investment in the real sector of Ukraine's economy.

Духовность общества и духовная экономика

The article examines the history of the formation of spirituality in the East and West and examines modern problems of spirituality in society. The compatibility of the values of the West and the East is studied and the composition of the key laws and principles of the main religions of the world in the life of society is integrated. The combination of secular and religious spirituality is studied. The basics and provisions of labor ethics in the countries of the East and West are considered, and the attitude of the main religions to labor, wealth, property, and the economy is compiled. The definition of spiritual economy is proposed, and evaluation criteria are given, as well as an introductory composition of its characteristics is formed.

Child Labour Ethics through the Prism of Utilitarianism and Deontology

Purpose: Grounded in the theoretical concepts of utilitarianism and deontology, this paper aims to evaluate the issue of child labour from an ethics perspective. By linking utilitarianism with normative stakeholder theory, relevant stakeholder groups are being identified in order to examine their influence on and role in the occurrence of child labour allowing for a practical reference. The findings may serve companies in particular as a basis for decision-making in the development of their value chains. Design/Methodology/Approach: The author uses a literature review in order to analyze the findings of existing literature on the topic of child labour in an ethics context, thereby drawing on literature, indexed in Web of Science and Google Scholar by employing forward and backward citation analysis. Findings: The investigation of child labour in terms of ethics yields conflicting results. From a deontological perspective, child labour can never be ethical and should always be rejected as it is not wanted to become a general law. In contrast, according to a utilitarian sentiment, child labour is ethically justifiable as long as the beneficiaries of the labour are greater in number than the children working or suffering. Originality/Value: The examination of child labour from the perspective of deontology and utilitarianism in conjunction with normative stakeholder theory constitutes a novelty in the ethics literature. The integration of theoretical findings into a practical business context provides additional value for managers and global supply chain managers.

Medical Culture of Volga Protestant Communities (Second Half of 18th – Early 20th Centuries): Religious and Ethical Aspects

Introduction. The authors proceed from the understanding that medical culture is a complex of factors contributing to the preservation of health, and these positions analyze the culture of the German Protestant communities (Lutherans, Hernguthers, Mennonites) inhabiting the Povolzhye (Volga region) in the second half of 18th – early 20th centuries. The study of cultural contexts of health, including religious ethical norms, is key to analyzing health and well-being of a population. Methods and materials. Materials for the study were statutes of Protestant communities, data of zemstvo medical statistics, publications in central and local periodicals, as well as eyewitness accounts of visitors of German colonies. The comparison of ethical standards contained in the statutes and recorded by witnesses with data on morbidity and mortality allow us to estimate the role of religious and ethical views in the medical culture of Volga Protestants. Analysis and results. The authors have found that the conditions for maintaining health in German colonies, including the availability of high-quality medical care, were directly related to the labour ethics of Protestantism and the high level of dwellers welfare. Labour ethics determined importance to keep fit, influenced nutritional culture and the perception of medical care. The total literacy of colonists contributed to the spread of advanced medical practices among them (for example, vaccination). Protestant virtues of diligence and order became the basis for the development of hygienic skills – an important factor in the prevention of infectious diseases. The ideals of marital fidelity and family values promoted health maintenance. Self-government characteristic of Protestant communities made it possible to quickly respond to the challenges posed by threats to health.

Is the Christian evangel ‘a evangel of labor’? ‘Education to labor’ and ‘education by labor’ of the natives in German East Africa by German missionaries in 1885-1914

식민지에서 ‘원주민의 노동으로의 교육’과 관련하여 식민주의자들과 일정 부분 목표를 공유했던 기독교 선교사의 활동을 중심으로 이들이 원주민에게 전달하고자 했던 ‘기독교의 복음’이 ‘노동의 복음’이었는지, 만약 그렇다면 어떤 의미에서 그렇다고 할 수 있는 지를 독일령 동아프리카에서 활동했던 독일 선교사들을 중심으로 검토해 보고자 했다. ‘원주민의 노동으로의 교육’과 관련해서 신속한 시간 안에 경제적인 이익을 내고자 했던 식민주의자들과 시간이 걸리더라도 원주민의 내면 변화를 통한 교육을 추구했던 선교사들은 상이한 방법을 옹호했다. 식민주의자들이 식민정부의 권위에 기대어 노동의 의무와 같은 ‘직접적인’ 강제노동을 주장했던 데 대해서, 선교사들은 대체로 ‘직접적인’ 강제노동에 반대하고 세금과 같은 ‘간접적인’ 강제노동을 옹호했다. 하지만 선교사들 중 소수는 식민주의자와 같은 목소리를 내는 경우도 없지 않았다. 선교사들이 원주민의 내면 변화를 통한 노동교육에 사용한 방법은 가톨릭과 개신교 모두 ‘기도하고 일하라(ora et labora)’였다. 선교사들 자신들이 ‘기도와 노동’하는 삶을 본보기로 보였고, 선교학교는 지적 교육과 노동교육을 병행함으로써 ‘노동학교’ 역할을 했다. 이때 식민정책 관련자들은 특히 가톨릭 선교회의 활동을 ‘labora et ora’로 이해하면서 칭찬했으며, 개신교 선교회의 활동 ‘ora et labora’를 비난하는 근거로 사용하기도 했었다. 하지만 실제로는 양 교파 모두 선교활동에서 ‘labora et ora’를 실천했던 것으로 평가된다. 독일 가톨릭과 개신교 선교사들이 선교활동에서 원주민의 ‘노동으로의 교육’을 통해서 추구한 목표는 식민주의자와 차이가 있었다. 이들의 최종 목표는 원주민의 ‘문명화’라기보다는 ‘기독교화’였다. 이때 원주민의 경제적 자립이 중요했는데, 이것은 원주민이 선교회와 본국 독일제국을 위해 경제적 자립을 해야 하기도 했지만, 대부분의 선교사들은 아프리카 원주민 자신들을 위해서 경제적 자립을 주장했다. 원주민의 경제적 자립 없이는 아프리카에서 장기적인 기독교 선교의 성공을 보장할 수 없다고 생각했기 때문이었다. 독일령 동아프리카에서 활동했던 독일 가톨릭과 개신교 선교회가 ‘원주민의 노동으로의 교육’을 통해서 도달하고자 한 궁극적인 목표가 유사했던데 대해서, 그 과정에 대해서는 조금 달랐다. 가톨릭 선교회가 노동으로의 교육을 아프리카인을 보다 높은 문화 수준으로 교육시키는 수단으로 간주한데 대해서, 개신교 선교회는 도덕을 향상시키는 이교도 선교의 결과가 노동으로의 교육이라고 보았던 것이다. 따라서 독일령 동아프리카에서 활동한 독일 양 교파 선교사들이 전하고자한 ‘기독교의 복음’은, 식민주의자가 선교회에 요구한 그들의 ‘노동의 복음’과는 일정 부분 달랐지만, 역시 ‘노동의 복음’이었다고 할 수 있겠다. 선교사들의 ‘노동의 복음’의 핵심은 기독교의 ‘노동윤리’에서 나온 것으로서, 원주민의 기독교로의 개종과 기독교인으로서의 자립경제를 목표로 제시했다. 그들의 ‘노동의 복음’은 가톨릭 선교회의 경우에는 ‘모든 사람의 의무’와, 개신교 선교회의 경우에는 온 인류의 ‘직업’ 혹은 ‘소명’과 연결되어 설명되었다.This study wants to investigate that it was ‘a evangel of labor’ for German Catholic and Protestant missionaries to preach to the natives of Africa while they evangelized them in German East Africa from 1885 to 1914. If so, in what sense can it be said so? When it comes to educating the natives of East Africa to labor, the colonialists and the missionaries used different methods. While the former advocated a direct forced labor like a compulsory labor duty, the latter an indirect like charging taxes on the Africans. But there were a few missionaries who spoke with one voice on this subject with the colonialists. In general, the German Catholic and Protestant missionaries used ‘pray and labor (ora et labora)’ to educate them to labor in their missionary stations. But their education strategies of both were estimated as ‘labor and pray (labora et ora)’ by historians. As far as the goals of educating the African natives to labor concerned, they tried to achieve different ends. The colonialists aimed at civilizing the Africans in order to obtain economic profit from them. For the German missionaries was their Christianization most important. On the whole they pursued their economic independence for their own missionary societies and their homeland, German Empire. But first of all for the natives in East Africa themselves. Because they thought that it could not promise a success of a longtime mission without their economic self-supporting. The gospel which the German Catholic and Protestant missionaries preached to the natives of German East Africa was a gospel of labor also. But it was different from that of the colonialists. The essence of their gospel of labor came from the Christian labor ethics and aimed at the economic independence of the natives as Christians.

Do public sector organizations ensure labor ethics? Perspectives from ethics and workplace spirituality in Bangladesh's garment sector

SummaryThe suppression of labor rights is a matter of serious concern in developing countries. Yet little is known about the role of public agencies in protecting the rights of underprivileged employees. Hence, this study aims to examine the reasons behind the persisting labor exploitation in private enterprises despite the presence of public governance and labor codes. Data was collected through in‐depth interviews as well as archives from different external and internal agencies of privately owned garment enterprises in Bangladesh including public administrators and multinational retailers. Kantian ethics and Islamic moral principles were used as theoretical lens to evaluate the labor practices of enterprises. This study contributes to the existing literature by introducing a process model of labor exploitation that depicts multinational power and poor governance to be the main drivers for the abuse of labor ethics. Specifically, political influence and institutional corruption drive poor governance. Public power is exercised to suppress marginalized labor institutions rather than enact labor codes. We found that ethical and spiritual values are not reflected in labor practices and practical suggestions on enacting labor ethics through which the fair enforcement of public power is offered.

‘Foucault se sodomiet’: Damianus se Liber gomorrhianus (1049) heropen

Foucault’s sodomite’: Damian’s Liber gomorrhianus (1049) reopened. Taking Michel Foucault’s famous statement about the difference between the ‘Medieval sodomite’ and the heteronormative ‘19th century homosexual’ as its cue, this article surveys the discursive source of that statement in the work of Peter Damian (1007–1072) with regard to his obscure, yet consequential text, Liber gomorrhianus (presented in 1049 to Pope Leo IX, preceding the Council of Reims). Drawing on the recent research by Ranft and because Damian is such an understated figure in the corpus of Medieval philosophy, an overview of Damian’s life and work is presented, especially in terms of Damian’s 11th century reforming labour ethics. Only then the article proceeds to reopen Damian’s text, indicating that the ‘Medieval sodomite’ is far removed from an elementary precursor to the modern scientia sexualis homosexual , but is indeed presented by Damian as a complex and gender-inclusive licentious person, within the context of the disintegration of sexual morality (especially within the domains of celibacy and confession) in the middle to late 11th century church and monasteries. Cross-referencing the own translation of the Latin text with the translation of Payer, the article disseminates and critiques the key concepts in Damian’s argument for the summarily deposition of lapsi [fallen priests] and the expulsion of promiscuous monks (and nuns) from the orders, especially with regard to Damian’s concepts of contra-natural and irrational fornication. Pope Leo’s deeply pastoral and insightful answer to Damian ( Ad splendidum nitentis ) is presented in the last part of the article, including his sanctioning of Damian’s complex concept of sodomy, which on that ground, became the conceptual source for the council of Reims (1049), and subsequent Medieval councils dealing with the ‘problem of sodomy’ in the church and monasteries. The canons of those councils were indeed the source of Foucault’s analysis of Medieval sexuality – yet the more fundamental source was Damian’s obscure text.

КОДЕКС ЖИЗНИ ЯПОНСКОГО КУПЦА НАЧАЛА XVII ВЕКА

The article considers ethical admonitions of the Japanese merchant of the beginning of the XVII century Shimai Soshitsu who, having followed the example of samurai warlords, decided to pass wisdom to his descendants. This source is one of the first spiritual testaments of the Japanese merchant community representative, it describes the merchants and the money lenders’ value system. The authors believe that these principles laid the foundation of the Japanese entrepreneurial and labour ethics, which are so relevant nowadays. The analysis of the Japanese merchants’ business ethics is conducted on the basis of the Japanese historical and sociocultural reality of the turn of the XVI-XVII centuries.

4차 산업 혁명과 노동윤리

4차 산업 혁명과 노동윤리

호모 파덴스의 시대, 새로운 노동의 모색 : 스티븐 스필버그의 ≪레디 플레이어 원≫을 중심으로

My paper will focus on the changes and extinction of traditional labors in the present and future. For more effective studies, I would like to bring a brand-new concept, that is Homo Fadens. It is a compound idea of Homo Faber and Homo Ludens. Homo Faber means humans who can use tool for physical works and Homo Ludens means humans who can find pleasure by play and game. Homo Fadens is people who can find a goal not only with physical labors but also play and games, and then I must focus on VR technology which makes us using physical bodies and minds in both real and virtual worlds. For the deeper studies, I will bring Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One, which is dramatized Ernest Cline’s the same title novel. The background of Ready Player One is a highly developed society and people use VR machines in every day. In my studies, I would like to analyze the film deeply and how the traditional labor will be changed and extinct in the future, and also I will study about what kinds of new and righteous labor ethics can be generated in the future society where daily lives with VR technology is generally accepted.

Gender and labor ethics in aesthetic labor: Female students of specialized vocational home economics high schools in Korea

ABSTRACTThis study begins by asking why the aesthetic labor industry in Korea has been in the limelight, and related disciplines have been on the rise in secondary and higher education as of the mid-2000s. This has happened along with the popularization of digital media and the expansion of the ‘Korean wave’ as of the 2010s. This study focuses on the common practice for female students from specialized vocational high schools to work in aesthetic labor today, such as the cosmetics, fashion or beauty business. It seeks to examine the phenomenon of female students who enter these schools in order to work in the fashion and beauty industries and understand the relationship between the educational system and the cultural meanings they assign to aesthetic labor. It will also explore the correlation between their motivation to undertake such labor and the gendered policy of specialized vocational high school education. This work thereby examines the intersection of neo-liberal labor ethics and gender in Korean society.