Situational ethics

Abstract: This article describes the development of a new sex-role inventory that treats masculinity and femininity as two independent dimensions, thereby making it possible to characterize a person as masculine, feminine, or "androgynous" as a function of the difference between his or her endorsement of masculine and feminine personality characteristics. Normative data are presented, as well as the results of various psychometric analyses. The major findings of conceptual interest are: (a) the dimensions of masculinity and femininity are empirically as well as logically independent; (6) the concept of psychological androgyny is a reliable one; and (c) highly sex-typed scores do not reflect a general tendency to respond in a socially desirable direction, but rather a specific tendency to describe oneself in accordance with sex-typed standards of desirable behavior for men and women. Both in psychology and in society at large, masculinity and femininity have long been conceptualized as bipolar ends of a single continuum; accordingly, a person has had to be either masculine or feminine, but not both. This sex-role dichotomy has served to obscure two very plausible hypotheses: first, that many individuals might be "androgynous" ; that is, they might be both masculine and feminine, both assertive and yielding, both instrumental and expressive—depending on the situational appropriateness of these various behaviors; and conversely, that strongly sex-typed individuals might be seriously limited in the range of behaviors available to them as they move from situation to situation. According to both Kagan (1964) and Kohlberg (1966), the highly sex-typed individual is motivated to keep his behavior consistent with an internalized sex-role standard, a goal that he presumably accomplishes by suppressing any behavior that might be con

Abstract: An interactionist model of ethical decision making in organizations is proposed. The model combines individual variables (moral development, etc.) with situational variables to explain and predict the ethical decision-making behavior of individuals in organizations. A major component of the model is based on Kohlberg's cognitive moral development model which provides the construct definition, measurement tools, and theory base to guide future business ethics research. Research propositions are offered and practical implications are discussed.

Abstract: List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Prologue: Regrounding Grounded Theory 1. Pushing and Being Pulled Around the Postmodern Turn Grounded Theory/Symbolic Interactionism as a Theory/Methods Package Grounded Theory/Symbolic Interactionism as Always Already Around the Postmodern Turn Grounded Theory as Recalcitrant Against the Postmodern Turn Pushing Grounded Theory Around the Postmodern Turn Reflections and Anticipations 2. From Chicago Ecologies to Situational Analysis Root Metaphors: From Chicago School Social Ecologies to Social Worlds/Arenas/Discourses New Roots I: Foucault and the Interactionist Project New Roots II: Taking the Nonhuman Explicitly Into Account New Roots III: From Social Worlds/Arenas to Situational Maps and Analysis Project Design, Data Gathering, and Accountability Temporary Closures 3. Doing Situational Maps and Analysis Doing Situational Maps Doing Social Worlds/Arenas Maps Doing Positional Maps Final Products: Project Maps Provisional Conclusions 4. Turning to Discourse(s) Introducing Discourse Analysis Multisite/Multiscape Research Issues in Situational Analysis of Discourse(s) Turnings 5. Mapping Narrative Discourses Designing a Narrative Project Doing Situational Maps of Narrative Discourse Doing Social Worlds/Arenas Maps of Narrative Discourse Doing Positional Maps of Narrative Discourse Final Comments: Situational Analysis of Narrative Discourse 6. Mapping Visual Discourses Entering Visual Discourse Doing Situational Analysis of Visual Discourse Visual Discourse Exemplars: Moore and Clarke's Anatomies Final Comments: Situational Analysis of Visual Discourse 7. Mapping Historical Discourses Designing Historical and Historicizing Projects Doing Situational Maps of Historical Discourse Doing Social Worlds/Arenas Maps of Historical Discourse Doing Positional Maps of Historical Discourse Project Map of Historical Discourse Final Comments: Situational Analysis of Historical Discourse Epilogue: FAQs and Conversations References Index About the Author

Abstract: In this article I elaborate and codify the extended case method, which deploys participant observation to locate everyday life in its extralocal and historical context. The extended case method emulates a reflexive model of science that takes as its premise the intersubjectivity of scientist and subject of study. Reflexive science valorizes intervention, process, structuration, and theory reconstruction. It is the Siamese twin of positive science that proscribes reactivity, but upholds reliability, replicability, and representativeness. Positive science, exemplified by survey research, works on the principle of the separation between scientists and the subjects they examine. Positive science is limited by “context effects” (interview, respondent, field, and situational effects) while reflexive science is limited by “power effects” (domination, silencing, objectification, and normalization). The article concludes by considering the implications of having two models of science rather than one, both of which are necessarily flawed. Throughout I use a study of postcolonialism to illustrate both the virtues and the shortcomings of the extended case method. Methodology can only bring us reflective understanding of the means which have demonstrated their value in practice by raising them to the level of explicit consciousness; it is no more the precondition of fruitful intellectual work than the knowledge of anatomy is the precondition of “correct” walking.

Abstract: Conventional ways of viewing the social aspects of entrepreneurship are considered unsatisfactory; hence, this emphasis is recast in terms of the "entrepreneurial event." The entrepreneurial event is shaped by groupings of social variables (such as ethnic groups) and the social and cultural environment. The entrepreneurial event is denoted by initiative-taking, consolidation of resources, management, relative autonomy, and risk-taking. The proposed paradigm attempts to include all versions of the entrepreneurial event and all variables (situational, social, and individual) identified with the event. The paradigm will answer two basic questions: what brought about the life-changing event? and why this particular event? Negative information, events, or displacements often lead to entrepreneurial events. The particular action taken depends upon (1) perceptions of desirability (values), and (2) perceptions of feasibility. The utility of the paradigm lies in its application to questions of policy, historical examples, and future research. (TNM)