Suchergebnisse

pt. I. The field of development ethics : history and agenda -- pt. II. Development and underdevelopment : experiences, meanings and evaluations -- pt. III. Ethical principles : needs, capabilities, rights -- pt. IV. Methodologies -- pt. V. Ethical development policy and practice.

Breaches of ethics and social responsibility in domestic and international business are typically thought to be anchored in such phenomena as greed, dishonesty and conflict of interest. While these forces are frequently at work in international business transactions, there is often another major force at work when failures of ethics and social responsibility occur. This article addresses the question of what is it about the way that transnational company managers and government officials think or don't think that leads to breaches of ethics and social responsibility - breaches that often result in major health, environmental and social tragedies. The article considers several cases of breaches in ethics and social responsibility: Texaco's and Shell's oil exploration and development in Ecuador and Nigeria, the Bhopal gas plant explosion in India, Wal-Mart's sourcing of timber from China for manufacture of wood products, the trade in biofuels, the trade in toxic financial instruments, and the China milk crisis. The article discusses the roles of a variety of thoughtprocesses in corporate and governmental decision-making and raises the question of whether we do enough in law schools and in business schools and school of public administration to address how companies and governments and their advisors think.

Since the middle of the 20th century concern about ethics in organisations, corporate responsibility (CSR) and environmental sustainability have been articulated by political, business, academic and other 'thought leaders'. However, in spite of regular and high profile global conferences and increasingly strident rhetoric in the professional and popular press, progress in these areas has been patchy. In a context of economic challenges and political vicissitudes the engine of change, it seems, has 'stalled'. Scholars and practitioners within the HRD field are well aware of the persistent and seemingly intractable consequences in relation to these issues associated with unitarist short-term market-facing organizational agendas fostered by a preoccupation with performance and profitability. In addressing these issues HRD scholars have traditionally made use of either functional, managerialist and instrumental approaches to learning and organizational development or have promoted humanist agendas which focus attention on the importance of individual development and transformation. A key theme of this special issue is that both are necessary but neither is sufficient of itself.