Dilemma

About: Dilemma is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 16202 publications have been published within this topic receiving 250251 citations. The topic is also known as: Dilemna.

Processes and Consequences in Business Ethical Dilemmas: The OilIndustry and Climate Changes

Abstract: This paper proposes a framework to examine business ethical dilemmas and business attitudes towards such dilemmas. Business ethical dilemmas can be understood as reflecting a contradiction between a socially detrimental process and a self-interested profitable consequence. This representation allows us to distinguish two forms of behavior differing by whether priority is put on consequences or on processes. We argue that these forms imply very different business attitudes towards society: controversial or competitive for the former and aligned or cooperative for the latter. These attitudes are then analyzed at the discursive level in order to address the question of good faith in business argumentation, i.e. to which extent are these attitudes consistent with actual business behaviors. We argue that consequential attitudes mostly involve communication and lobbying actions aiming at eluding the dilemma. Therefore, the question of good faith for consequential attitudes lies in the consistency between beliefs and discourse. On the other hand, procedural attitudes acknowledge the dilemma and claim a change of the process of behavior. They thus raise the question of the consistency between discourses and actual behavior. We apply this processes/consequences framework to the case of the oil industry's climate change ethical dilemma which comes forth as a dilemma between 'emitting greenhouse gases' and 'making more profits'. And we examine the different attitudes of two oil corporations - BP Amoco and ExxonMobil - towards the dilemma.

Social Projection Can Solve Social Dilemmas

Abstract: Evidence for cooperation in social dilemmas is empirically robust, socially desirable, and theoretically controversial. We review theoretical positions offering normative or descriptive accounts for cooperation and note the scarcity of critical tests among them. We then introduce a modified prisoner's dilemma to perform a critical test of the social projection hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, people cooperate inasmuch as they believe others respond to the situation as they themselves do. The data from three illustrative studies uniquely support the projection hypothesis. We make the analytical case for the social projection hypothesis in the context of the theory of evidential decision making. We review and rebut critical arguments that have been leveled against this theory. We note that a meta-theoretical benefit of evidential decision making is that the rationality of cooperators in social dilemmas is restored without appeals to murky notions of “collective rationality.”

The dilemma of the European Union’s Roma policy

Abstract: Roma are one of the most discriminated and marginalized groups in the European Union (EU). The EU has emerged as a potential ally for the transnational Roma community as it possesses normative power when espousing values such as inclusion, yet is able to elaborate policy at a supranational level which has supremacy over domestic policy. Thus far EU Roma policy has failed to address the complex issues facing Roma owing to inadequate policy interventions. This can be explained by the policy choices open to the EU which appear to be built on diametrically opposed foundations, posing a dilemma for EU policy-makers. This article focuses on the redistribution/recognition dilemma which EU institutions must negotiate in order to address economic and cultural injustices. For their part, transnational Roma activists have demanded the creation of an EU Roma Strategy which could address the needs and interests of Roma across the Union.

The dilemma of recognition: Administrative categories and cultural diversity

Abstract: Governments around the world combat inequality by means of group-specific redistribution. Some pursue redistribution that benefits groups, but also wish to avoid accentuating or even recognizing group distinctions. This poses a dilemma that they try to resolve by adjusting the category system used to target redistribution. There are three types of adjustment: accommodation (the multicultural approach), denial (the ideal-typical liberal solution), and replacement (a compromise). In replacement the targets of redistributive policies are constructed to avoid accentuation or recognition of inconvenient group distinctions, but still allow redistribution that benefits these groups. Replacement is increasingly in demand around the world because the disadvantages of multiculturalism are becoming apparent while denial is hard to sustain in the face of group inequality. The actual effect of replacement is little researched and less understood, however. Does it resolve the dilemma of recognition? Two examples–India and Nigeria–where replacement has been tried ever since the 1950s cast doubt on its viability.

Through Western Eyes: Insights into the Intercultural Training Field:

Abstract: Intercultural corporate training is a growing branch of the coaching and consulting industries and it appears to be both theory and practice driven. The growth of the relevant academic literature reveals a focus on the successful adaptation to host cultures and organizations, but little attention to the ethical dimensions of newly learned rules and newly accepted values. This article introduces a number of concerns related to ethical principles within this growing industry. The issues of profit-maximization, knowledge-access inequalities, the authenticity dilemma and the in-built Western bias of cross-cultural research are presented. Triggered by the author’s experiences in the intercultural corporate training industry and inspired by participation in a number of field-specific training-for-trainers events, this essai is an opening statement in a long-overdue discussion on ethics in intercultural training.