Showing papers on "Value (ethics) published in 1996"

Democracy and Disagreement

Abstract: Acknowledgments Introduction The Persistence of Moral Disagreement The Sense of Reciprocity The Value of Publicity The Scope of Accountability The Promise of Utilitarianism The Constitution of Deliberative Democracy The Latitude of Liberty The Obligations of Welfare The Ambiguity of Fair Opportunity Conclusion Notes Index

Culture: The Missing Concept in Organization Studies.

Abstract: ? 1996 by Cornell University. 0001-8392/96/41 02-0229/$1 .00. Inattention to social systems in organizations has led researchers to underestimate the importance of culture-shared norms, values, and assumptions-in how organizations function. Concepts for understanding culture in organizations have value only when they derive from observation of real behavior in organizations, when they make sense of organizational data, and when they are definable enough to generate further study. The attempt to explain what happened to "brainwashed" American prisoners of war in the Korean conflict points up the need to take both individual traits and culture into account to understand organizational phenomena. For example, the failure of organizational learning can be understood more readily by examining the typical responses to change by members of several broad occupational cultures in an organization. The implication is that culture needs to be observed, more than measured, if organization studies is to advance.

Home and Work: Negotiating Boundaries through Everyday Life

Abstract: This text explores the intricacies and implications of how people draw the line between home and work. Arguing that relationships between the two realms range from those that are highly "integrating" to those that are highly "segmenting," it examines the ways people sculpt the boundaries between home and work. With sensitivity to the symbolic value of objects and actions, the author explores the meaning of clothing, wallets, lunches and vacations, and the places and ways in which we engage our family, friends, and co-workers. Commuting habits are also revealing, showing how the transition between home and work "selves" is made though ritualized behaviour like greetings and farewells, the consumption of food, dress, choices of routes to and from work, and listening, working, and sleeping habits during these journeys.

Creating the Kingdom of Ends

Abstract: Part I. Kant's Moral Philosophy: 1. An introduction to the ethical, political, and religious thought of Kant 2. Kant's analysis of obligation: the argument of Groundwork I 3. Kant's formula of universal law 4. Kant's formula of humanity 5. The right to lie: Kant on dealing with evil 6. Morality as freedom 7. Creating the kingdom of ends: reciprocity and responsibility in personal relations Part II. Comparative Essays: 8. Aristotle and Kant on the source of value 9. Two distinctions in goodness 10. The reasons we can share: an attack on the distinction between agent-relative and agent-neutral values 11. Skepticism about practical reason 12. Two arguments against lying 13. Personal identity and the unity of agency: a Kantian response to Parfit.

Welfare, happiness, and ethics

Abstract: Moral philosophers agree that welfare matters. But they do not agree about what it is, or how much it matters. Wayne Sumner presents an original theory of welfare, investigating its nature and discussing its importance. He considers and rejects all notable rival theories of welfare, both objective and subjective, including hedonism and theories founded on desire or preference. His own theory connects welfare closely with happiness or life satisfaction. Professor Sumner then proceeds to defend welfarism, that is, to argue (against the value pluralism that currently dominates moral philosophy) that welfare is the only basic ethical value, the only thing which we have a moral reason to promote for its own sake. He concludes by discussing the implications of this thesis for ethical and political theory.

The perceived role of ethics and social responsibility: A scale development

Abstract: Marketers must first perceive ethics and social responsibility to be important before their behaviors are likely to become more ethical and reflect greater social responsibility. However, little research has been conducted concerning marketers' perceptions regarding the importance of ethics and social responsibility as components of business decisions. The purpose of this study is to develop a reliable and valid scale for measuring marketers' perceptions regarding the importance of ethics and social responsibility. The authors develop an instrument for the measurement of the perceived role of ethics and social responsibility (PRESOR). Evidence that the scale is valid is presented through the assessment of scale reliability, as well as content and predictive validity. Finally, future research needs and the value of this construct to marketing are discussed.

Social psychological models of interpersonal communication

Abstract: states or predispositions. Any particular behavioral episode can be characterized in a variety of ways at different levels of abstraction: "A Models of Interpersonal Communication page 32 punches B," or "A hurts B," or "A dislikes B." The most abstract way to characterize a behavior would be as evidence of a predisposition: "A is aggressive." Maass et al. found that negatively valent behaviors of outgroup members tend to be characterized at relatively high levels of abstraction, and those of in-group members are characterized more concretely, but for positively valent behaviors the pattern is reversed. Positively valent behaviors of out-group members are characterized as specific episodes, while those of in-group members are characterized abstractly. Maass et al. call this the "linguistic intergroup bias" (see also Hamilton, Gibbons, Stroessner, & Sherman, 1992; Maass & Arcuri, 1992). One consequence of the linguistic intergroup bias is to help make stereotypes resistant to disconfirmation, since behaviors that are congruent with the negative out-group stereotype will tend to be characterized as general properties ("Smith is lazy"), while behaviors that are inconsistent with the stereotype will tend to be characterized in quite specific terms ("Smith painted his house"). Although examining the causal implications of language has yielded fascinating results, there are reasons to be cautious about generalizing these findings to language use. Edwards and Potter (1993) have pointed out that simple, out of context subject-verb-object sentences of the kind typically used in studies of implicit causality are rarely encountered in discourse. Consequently, the judgments subjects make from them may have little to do with the way language normally is processed in communication. Seen in isolation, "Alan desires Jane" may be understood as consequence of Jane's desirability, but in the context of a narrative that depicts Alan as a compulsive womanizer, his desire for Jane may be attributed less as to her desirability than it is to his proclivity. Models of Interpersonal Communication page 33 Is implicit causality really a matter of encoding and decoding? Or, to put it another way, is an interpersonal verb's causal implications part of its linguistic meaning, or is it an inference an addressee will draw in a particular context of usage about what the speaker intended? Semin and Marsman (in press) argue that interpersonal verbs invite inferences about a variety of properties (e.g., the perceived temporal duration of the action or state, how enduring a quality they imply, affective consistency, etc.), causal agency being only one of them. Researchers have assumed that interpersonal verbs automatically trigger inferences about causal agency, but Semin and Marsman suggest that such inferences are themselves a consequence of contextual factors (e.g., the question the subject is asked). Much of the work on implicit causality has approached the phenomenon in linguistic terms, but it may be more readily understood as part of the addressee's attempt to infer an intended meaning. The general question of how addressee's extract intended meanings from messages is discussed in Section 3. 2.3 Issues and Limitations Two features of the Encoder/Decoder model should be highlighted. One is implicit in the very notion of a code, and is illustrated in the early color codability studies. It is that the meaning of a message is fully specified by its elements—i.e., that meaning is encoded, and that decoding the message is equivalent to specifying its meaning. The other feature is that communication consists of two autonomous processes—encoding and decoding. We have tried to illustrate the Encoder/Decoder schematically in Figure 1. Despite the fact that language can in certain respects be regarded as a code, and the fact that both encoding and encoding processes are involved in communication, encoding and decoding do not adequately Models of Interpersonal Communication page 34 describe what occurs in communication, as will be discussed in the next three sections. Here we will just briefly point to some areas where the approach falls short. In the first place, it is often the case that the same message can (correctly) be understood to mean different things in different circumstances. For example, some messages are understood to mean something other than their literal meaning. While there is not universal agreement on the value of the literal vs. nonliteral distinction (Dascal, 1989; Gibbs, 1982, 1984; Katz, 1981; Keysar, 1989; Searle, 1978), it is abundantly clear that the most commonplace utterance (e.g., "You're leaving") can be understood differently in different contexts (e.g., as an observation of a state of affairs, as a prediction of a future state of affairs, etc.). Without making the relevant context part of the code, a model that conceptualizes communication as simply encoding and decoding will have difficulty explaining how the same message can be understood to mean different things at different times. Moreover, even when context is held constant, the same message can mean different things to different addressees. And there is considerable evidence to indicate that speakers design messages with their eventual destinations in mind (Bell, 1980; Clark & Murphy, 1982; Fussell & Krauss, 1989a; Graumann, 1989; Krauss & Fussell, 1991). Similarly, there is growing evidence that nonverbal behaviors are not simply signs that encode internal state in a straightforward way. A facial expression may be related to a person's internal state, but comprehending its significance can require considerably more than simply identifying the expression as a smile, a frown, an expression of disgust, etc. For example, smiles are understood to encode a affectively positive internal state, but they hardly do this in a reflexive fashion. In a series of ingenious field Models of Interpersonal Communication page 35 experiments, Kraut (1979) found smiling to be far more dependent on whether or not the individual was interacting with another person than it was on the affective quality of the precipitating event, and Fridlund (1991) has shown that even for people who were alone, the belief that another person was engaged in the same task (albeit in another room) was sufficient to potentiate smiling. In dyadic conversations, the facial expressions of the listener (i.e., the person not holding the conversational floor at a given moment) may change rapidly. Some of these changes (e.g., smiles) may represent back-channel signals (Brunner, 1979; Chen, 1990), while others (e.g., wincing at the other's pain) may serve to signal the listener's concern (Bavelas, Black, Chovil, Lemery, & Mullet, 1988; Bavelas, Black, Lemery, & Mullet, 1986). Even aspects of voice quality cannot be straightforwardly interpreted. For example, a speaker's vocal pitch range is a consequence of the architecture of the vocal tract. However, social factors can influence how a given speaker places his or her voice within that range. Men seem to place their voices in the lower part of their vocal range, and women do not, which, incidentally helps explain why a man's size can more accurately be predicted from his voice than a woman's (Gradol & Swann, 1983). In addition, a speaker's pitch and amplitude will be influenced by the pitch and amplitude of the conversational partner (Gregory, 1986, 1990; Lieberman, 1967; Natale, 1975). In a similar fashion, a speaker's internal state can induce changes in voice quality, but the relationship is hardly one-to-one. For example, stress profoundly affects voice fundamental frequency, but in any specific instance the effect can vary considerably depending on the conversational partner (Streeter et al., 1983). So, while encoding and decoding may characterize the role of nonverbal behavior is Models of Interpersonal Communication page 36 some communication situations, the applicability of the model is far from universal. 3. INTENTIONALIST MODELS

From Value Chain to Value Constellation

Abstract: Successful companies increasingly go beyond adding value by reinventing it. Looking at European businesses in Sweden, Denmark, and France, the authors show that a company's strategic challenge is the continuous reconfiguration and integration of its competencies and customers - changing the roles and relationships among its "constellation" of key players.

The impact of corporate behavior on perceived product value

Abstract: This research examines how ethical and unethical corporate behavior influence the perceived value of a firm's products, operationalized as the price consumers are willing to pay for that product relative to the competition. We propose that if consumers expect companies to conduct business ethically, then ethical behavior will not be rewarded but unethical behavior will be punished. The results of the first study confirm this expectation. The second study explored ways a firm can improve the perceived value of its products after an unethical act has been committed. Our results indicate that after a firm has committed an unethical act, consumer's perceptions of that company and its products were positively influenced by ethical behavior, corporate philanthropy, and cause-related marketing. However, our analyses revealed that these different strategies varied in their effectiveness. The third study used a choice task, rather than a judgment task, to confirm the finding that corporate behavior does influence perceived product value and is therefore likely to influence market choices. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Do Small Businesses Have High Failure Rates: Evidence from Australian Retailers

Abstract: Much has been written about small business and in particular about small business failure rates.(1) However, reliable statistics on small business failure are scarce and are often produced or inferred from databases designed for other purposes. As Cochran (1981, p.50) states, "Like the weather, small business failure is the subject of much discussion . . . But unlike the weather. . . there is . . . a dearth of timely, reliable, and relevant information on small business failure rates." The variety of definitions (or proxies) used further confuses the available information. As a result, and in the absence of any contrary evidence, dubious statistics suggesting very high failure rates for small enterprises are frequently quoted and have been allowed to form part of the folklore on this subject.(2) At least part of the confusion over failure rates is the result of misinterpretations of available statistics. For example, Potts (1977, p.2) noted that "In 1973, 57 per cent of all failing concerns in the United States had been in operation five years or less." Potts follows this by saying (1977, p.9), "As has been discussed previously, more than half of all companies fail in the first five years of business." Clearly, the second sentence does not follow from the first. The first sentence is only commenting on the sub-set of business failures. It says nothing about the overall failure rate. The sub-set of business failures may be a very small proportion of the population of all businesses. Scott and Lewis (1984, p.49) stated that "the absence of good statistical evidence leads to the growth of myths and half-truths." Without reliable information on the subject, these half-truths are permitted to continue unchallenged, and the "danger is that believers, acting in the faith, may take actions which have unintended consequences in the real world" (Scott 1982, p.239). Any policy decisions based on such myths would be suspect. For instance, the assumed high risk of small business failure is cited as justification for the high rates of return demanded by bankers and venture capitalists from this sector (Phillips and Kirchoff 1989). This study seeks to clarify the apparent misconception that small businesses have a very high mortality rate. To clarify this misconception, the study was designed to provide some reliable statistical information on the rate of small business failure using a variety of definitions of failure found in the literature. It is hoped that this information will ensure that intending entrepreneurs will be more reliably informed about the risks involved. The results may also help to ensure that future policy decisions made by governments, financial institutions, and other groups with an interest in small business are more soundly based. Defining Small Business Over the years there have been many attempts at defining what constitutes a small business.(3) For example, "A Congressional committee in the USA was presented with 700 definitions of a small business'" (White, Bennett, and Shipsey 1982, p.3). Researchers and policy makers, looking for an objective definition of small business, have used a variety of criteria including: total worth; relative size within industry; number of employees; value of products; annual sales or receipts; and net worth (Cochran 1981). However, the benchmarks vary considerably. Cochran referred to a number of studies in the U.S. that used benchmarks ranging from 100 to 1,500 employees. Bannock and Doran (1980) reported that the definition of small business ranges from up to 50 employees in the Netherlands to 1,000 or more in the United States. Ganguly (1985, p.3) noted that The search for a definition of a "small firm" goes back many years. In 1971, for instance; the report of the committee of inquiry on small firms under John Bolton systematically investigated various ways of defining a small firm. It did not take the committee long to realize that a small business could not be satisfactorily defined in terms of employment, turnover, output, or any other arbitrary single quantity. …

Aesthetic Politics: Political Philosophy Beyond Fact and Value

Abstract: Preface Introduction: against ethics 1. Political representation: the aesthetic state 2. Stoa, aesthetics, and democracy 3. Romanticism, postmodernism, and democracy 4. Politics and irony 5. Politics and metaphor 6. Metaphor and paradox in Tocqueville's political writings Conclusion: democracy in the age of unintended consequences Notes Index.

Country-of-Origin and Brand Effects:

Abstract: The data for this research were collected from 365 male respondents through two separate studies at two different time periods using two different formats. Results indicated that the combined effects of country of design and country of assembly cues has a stronger impact than brand name on consumer evaluation of quality and purchase value of automobiles, VCRs and shoes. Magnitude of a priori cue differentiation played a strong role in product evaluation. Favorableness of a brand or country-of-origin cues is considerably modified when a consumer is provided with additional product-related information.

Value-Affirmative and Value-Protective Processing of Alcohol Education Messages That Include Statistical Evidence or Anecdotes:

Abstract: This study of persuasion processes in a value-relevant context tests effects of the presence or absence of statistical evidence and the presence or absence of anecdotal evidence, crossed across three base messages regarding different alcohol use issues. Results suggest that a variant of central processing as described by Petty and Cacioppo (1986) was used: Involvement predicted greater message-relevant responses only when the message was congruent with recipients' own values regarding alcohol use. Among recipients for whom the message was value-congruent, messages with statistical evidence were rated more persuasive, more believable, and better written; anecdotal evidence had no effect. Among recipients for whom the message was value-discrepant, messages with anecdotal evidence were rated more persuasive, more believable, and (marginally) better written, and statistical evidence had no effect. Path analyses also suggest that peripheral-processing strategies are employed when the message is value-discrepan...

The Decline of Deference: Canadian Value Change in Cross National Perspective

Abstract: Part I: Setting the Stage Chapter One: A Decade of Turmoil Interpreting Turmoil Canada as One Stage Three Perspectives on Canadian Value Change: 1. Canada as an Advanced Industrial State 2. Canada as a North American State 3. Canada as an Immigrant Society Chapter Two: Setting the Stage Structural Shifts in Context From Structural Change to Value Change Public Priorities and Orientations Towards Authority Conclusions Part II: Political Value Change Chapter Three: A Changing Political Culture Interest in Politics Confidence in Governmental Institutions Confidence in Non-Governemtnal Institutions The Rise of Cosmopolitanism Conclusions Chapter Four: Changing Patterns of Political Participation The Rise of Protest Behaviour New Movements The Case of Environmentalism Civil Permissiveness Orientations Towards Change Challenging Public Authority Conclusions Part III: Economic Value Change Chapter Five: Changing Economic Cultures Support for the Free Market Why do People Live in Need When Jobs are Scarce Free Markets and Free Trade: The Case of NAFTA Conclusions Chapter Six: A Changing Work Culture The Work Ethic and Pride in Work Why do People Work? Elaborating Canadian-U.S. Comparisons Workplace Participation Conclusions Part IV: Primary Relations Chapter Seven: Moral Outlooks Shifting Religious Orientations Moral Permissiveness Tolerance Situation Tolerance Conclusions Chapter Eight: Family Values, Stability and Change The Family and Marriage Women and Men, Family and Work Parents and Children Connecting Authority Orientations: The Family, Work, and the Polity Conclusions Part V: Conclusions Chapter Nine: Patterns of Change Canada as an Advanced Industrial State: Perspective 1 Canada as a North American State: Perspective 2 Canada as an Immigrant Society: Perspective 3 Revisiting Authority Orientations Authority Orientations and the Status Quo Appendix: World Values Survey Index

When the First Voice You Hear Is Not Your Own.

Abstract: amine closely moments of personal challenge that seem to have import for crossboundary discourse. These types of moments have constituted an ongoing source of curiosity for me in terms of my own need to understand human difference as a complex reality, a reality that I have found most intriguing within the context of the academic world. From a collectivity of such moments over the years, I have concluded that the most salient point to acknowledge is that "subject" position really is everything. Using subject position as a terministic screen in cross-boundary discourse permits analysis to operate kaleidoscopically, thereby permitting interpretation to be richly informed by the converging of dialectical perspectives. Subjectivity as a defining value pays attention dynamically to context, ways of knowing, language abilities, and experience, and by doing so it has a consequent potential to deepen, broaden, and enrich our interpretive views in dynamic ways as well. Analytical lenses include the process, results, and impact of negotiating identity, establishing authority, developing strategies for action, carrying forth intent with a particular type of agency, and being compelled by external factors and internal sensibilities to adjust belief and action (or not). In a fundamental way, this enterprise supports the sense of rhetoric, composition, and literacy studies as a field of study that embraces the imperative to understand truths and con-

Models of Value: Eighteenth-Century Political Economy and the Novel

Abstract: James Thompson examines the concept of value as it came to be understood in eighteenth-century England through two emerging and divergent discourses: political economy and the novel. By looking at the relationship between these two developing forms - one having to do with finance, the other with romance - Thompson demonstrates how value came to have such different meaning in different realms of experience. A highly original rethinking of the origins of the English novel, "Models of Value" shows the novel's importance in remapping English culture according to the separate spheres of public and domestic life, men's and women's concerns, money and emotion. In this account, political economy and the novel clearly arise as solutions to a crisis in the notion of value.Exploring the ways in which these different genres responded to the crisis - political economy by reconceptualizing wealth as capital, and the novel by refiguring intrinsic or human worth in the form of courtship narratives - Thompson rereads several literary works, including Defoe's "Roxana", Fielding's "Tom Jones", and Burney's "Cecilia", along with influential contemporary economic texts. "Models of Value" also traces the discursive consequences of this bifurcation of value, and reveals how history and theory participate in the very novelistic and economic processes they describe. In doing so, this book bridges the opposition between the interests of Marxism and feminism, and the distinctions which, newly made in the eighteenth century, continue to inform our discourse today. An important reformulation of the literary and cultural production of the eighteenth century, "Models of Value" will attract students of the novel, political economy, and of literary history and theory.

Service value determination: an integrative perspective.

Abstract: The authors investigate the efficacy of an integrated perspective on perceived service value, derived out of bringing together two consumer behavior research streams, those of utilitarian and behavioral theories. Theoretical, arguments and empirical evidence are used to show that the integrative perspective provides a better representation of perceived value than either the utilitarian or the behavioral perspective alone. Additionally, acquisition utility is shown to be similar to perceived quality, suggesting that a more parsimonious representation of perceived value entails the use of transaction utility and perceived quality as predictor variables. Finally, the authors argue that within a service encounter context, perceived quality of the service assumes more importance than price perceptions in explaining perceived value. Managerial implications and future research directions are discussed.

The Sense of Beauty; Being the Outline of Aesthetic Theory

Abstract: Published in 1896, "The Sense of Beauty "secured Santayana's reputation as a philosopher and continued to outsell all of his books until the publication of his one novel, "The Last Puritan. "Even today, it is one of the most widely read volumes in all of Santayana's vast philosophical work.It is a large irony that Santayana disowned "The Sense of Beauty "from the beginning, and wrote it only to keep his job teaching at Harvard. In 1950 he met with the philosopher Arthur Danto in the Roman convent clinic where he passed his final years, and reminisced that "they let me know through the ladies that I had better publish a book." "On what?" "On art, of course. So I wrote this wretched potboiler"In fact, the book was based on a well known course on the theory and history of aesthetics that Santayana gave at Harvard College from 1892 to 1895. Santayana approaches the study of aesthetics through a naturalistic basis in human psychology: "Beauty is pleasure regarded as the quality of a thing." As such, he observes, beauty does not reside in the object but in the individual's sense of beauty. This in no way reduces the importance or the value of art or aesthetic experience. For Santayana, beauty is not relegated to museum art or to some limited arena of aesthetic experience; rather, beauty informs the whole of human existence.Herman J. Saatkamp, Jr, heads the Department of Philosophy and Humanities at Texas A&M University. William G. Holzberger is a Professor of English at Bucknell University. Arthur C. Danto is a Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University.

The psychology of values

Abstract: Contents: Preface. S. Schwartz, Value Priorities and Behavior: Applying a Theory of Integrated Value Systems. P.E. Tetlock, R.S. Peterson, J.S. Lerner, Revising the Value Pluralism Model: Incorporating Social Content and Context Postulates. C. Seligman, A.N. Katz, The Dynamics of Value Systems. C.M. Kristiansen, A.M. Hotte, Morality and the Self: Implications for the When and How of Value-Attitude-Behavior Relations. S.L. Murray, G. Haddock, M.P. Zanna, On Creating Value-Expressive Attitudes: An Experimental Approach. L.R. Kahle, Social Values and Consumer Behavior: Research from the List of Values. M. Biernat, T.K. Vescio, S.A. Theno, C.S. Crandall, Values and Prejudice: Toward Understanding the Impact of American Values on Outgroup Attitudes. J. Lydon, Toward a Theory of Commitment. N.T. Feather, Values, Deservingness, and Attitudes Toward High Achievers: Research on Tall Poppies. M.J. Rohan, M.P. Zanna, Value Transmission in Families. S.J. Ball-Rokeach, W.E. Loges, Making Choices: Media Roles in the Construction of Value-Choices. D. Baer, J. Curtis, E. Grabb, W. Johnston, What Values Do People Prefer in Children? A Comparative Analysis of Survey Evidence From Fifteen Countries.

Civilising barbarians : missionary narrative and African textual response in nineteenth-century South Africa

Abstract: This is the story of how allegories of human value, cast in narrative dualities based on "civilization" and "barbarism", were prescribed, reified and denied in the 19th-century's struggles over human identity in South Africa. As fluid forms of subjectivity and pre-national persuasion slowly emerged into the stratifications, boundaries and principalities later to become "South Africa", a battle was waged to give textual form and narrative shape to conceptions of "proper" human presentation. This process, illustrating how pervasive a broad sense of textuality may have been in the settling of material destinies, coincided with the supremacy of the book and the printed text as ultimate media for resolving questions of all kinds, from the mundane to the transcendental. The book takes a view of colonialism in South Africa - missionary colonialism in particular - as a discursive process rather than "realpolitik" primarily, and in so doing tells an important tale about the stories which were partly responsible for delivering South Africa into the paradoxical "modernity" of segregation and apartheid.

Values in Life Role Choices and Outcomes: A Conceptual Model

Abstract: Values are widely viewed as central to the selection of, and subsequent satisfaction with, life roles. But because no conceptual framework has been advanced to guide the work of practitioners and researchers, values are widely ignored by both groups. This article sets forth several propositions aimed at remedying this oversight by clarifying the importance of values in both decision making and life satisfaction. Considerable evidence suggests that values influence career and other life role decisions (Dawis & Lofquist, 1984; Judge & Bretz, 1992; Knoop, 1991; Ravlin & Meglino, 1987). Nevertheless, values have not received the same attention from researchers that interests have (Feather, 1992). This article sets forth a series of propositions regarding the influence of values in the choice of life roles and presents evidence to support them. In this presentation, some of the assumptions made by others such as Dawis and Lofquist (1984) and Bandura (1986) are discussed, but only to the extent that they converge or diverge from the propositions being advanced. Before considering these propositions, values are defined. VALUES DEFINED Values are cognized representations of needs that, when developed, provide standards for behavior, orient people to desired end states (Rokeach, 1973), and form the basis for goal setting. Values are the major factor in motivation because they form the basis for attributing worth to situations and objects (Feather, 1992; Rokeach, 1973). Moreover, values serve as the basis for self-regulating cognitions and provide the basis for judging the utility of extrinsic reinforcers. A subset of values "represent these perspectives as applied to work settings" (Judge & Bretz, 1992, p. 261), which suggests that not all values should be classified as work values. Values determine the way needs are met in the family, at work, and in the community. As individuals develop values, they store them in their memories as interrelated (Anderson, 1984), hierarchically arranged entities that a dynamically reorganized depending on environmental circumstances (Chusmir & Parker, 1991). Values function to ensure that biological needs are met and to facilitate human interaction (Rokeach, 1973). Values are tied to the normative structure of the social institutions (e.g. family, school) where they were acquired, which is one feature that distinguishes them from needs. Moreover, unlike needs, which can be situational and transitory, values transcend objects and situations (Rokeach, 1973). For example, altruism, a widely held value among school counselors, will influence counselors' functioning in many situations and with various objects. Interests may also become cognized representations of needs, may provide a guide to action, and may allow people to compare themselves with others. But interests cannot be viewed as internalized standards against which people may judge their own actions or their attainment of idealized end states or goals (Rokeach, 1973). Additionally, each person develops a relatively small number of values but may develop dozens of interests (Feather, 1992; Rokeach, 1973). Propositions About Values The following propositions outline the function of values in the decision-making process and their impact on the outcomes of those choices. They are a synthesis of others' theories, the research data available regarding values, and, in some instances, our own speculation. They are meant as a guide for empirical investigations and to stimulate the thinking of practitioners who wish to incorporate values concepts into their work. 1. Values with high priorities are the most important determinants of choices made, providing that the individuals have more than one alternative available that will satisfy their values. If this is not the case, people will make choices on the basis of the option that least conflicts with their values. In the event that values are not fully crystallized or the outcomes are not fully known, choices will be made that leave final decisions open. …

[The Implications of Knowledge-Based Growth for Micro-Economic Policies]

Abstract: The Implications of Knowledge-based Growth for Micro-economic Policies. Peter Howitt. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 1996.Attention to the problems which social science addresses tells us a great deal about the nature of the Canadian economy and the national identity, about not only material realities but also Canadian values.Values are ever present in the lexicon of economics. They penetrate economics at a level of vocabulary, perceptional selectivity, definition of the problem, choice of subject matter, rationalization and normative certitude. Values serve as a filtration system governing the formulation and evolution of ideas. They can take the form of some notion of human nature, a partial theory knowledge or a specific conception of reality. Whatever form they take, values determine how scholars order the world around them. Of course -- as the books under review demonstrate -- at any one time a plurality of values exists and these values compete in the formulation of theory, the direction of public policy and our understanding of the immediate and distant past.The six works under review are diverse in both method and scope. Diversity is part of the Canadian condition. Indeed -- as Robin Neill has demonstrated in his classic study -- the history of Canadian economic thought is one of contradiction, paradox and heterogeneity.(f.1) The fact that the Canadian nation is made up of five distinct regions, each displaying its own pace and pattern of economic growth, has contributed to the assortment of competing economic discourses and paradigms. Yet such variance need not be problematic. On the contrary, states the intellectual historian A.B. McKillop, our national identity is based on the existence of diversity.(f.2)Despite their differences, the books under review are similar in the matters to which they attend. Two books analyze the nature of the debt and debt discourse (albeit in very different ways). Two others -- utilizing dissimilar methodologies -- attempt to account for the role of innovation and invention in economic growth. A fifth questions the value of the quintessentially Canadian programme of equalization payments while the sixth seeks to understand the economic and political forces involved in the recent neo-conservative transformation of Canadian society.In the first section of this review, the choice of subject matter, the arguments of the authors, as well as the political-valuational judgments that colour their reasoning, will be identified and compared. In the second and third sections, a closer examination of some of their metaphysical preconceptions will be undertaken, specifically of the authors' perceptions of human nature and conceptions of reality. The last section is dedicated to an analysis of methodology and the role of the historical method in economics.The Matters to Which We AttendEach way of ordering -- or interpreting -- postmodern life starts with an implicit or explicit decision about priority. When dealing with economic phenomena the tendency in the discourse of social science has generally been to pick one main topic of interest and regard the rest as secondary, indeed, epiphenomenal. To do so is to manifest one's perception of what things are good, important, and desirable in the world.Three of the books under review deal with public finance. In The Uneasy Case for Equalization Payments, Dan Usher calls into question the belief that equalization payments from Ottawa to the provinces redistribute income, increase GNP and further equality. He uses arithmetical examples to illustrate the potential inequalities (Part II), inefficiencies (Part III) and inequities (Part IV) in the existing system. Having made his case, Usher concludes that the subsidization of have-not provinces is not necessarily beneficial to the poor nor is it necessarily favourable to general prosperity. Indeed, it is just as likely, Usher maintains, that intergovernmental transfers have simply shifted income from one group of affluent people to another, with little -- and only incidental -- benefit to the poor. …

Species redundancy: a redundant concept?

Abstract: The concept of 'species redundancy' (or 'ecological redundancy') has recently been applied to community and conservation ecology. The suggestion is that, in some communities, some species are 'redundant', i.e. they could be lost without much effect on the structure and functioning of the whole community. In this paper, we have three aims. Firstly we explore the history: the origin and use of the concept. Then we ask what redundancy means in practice: what has to remain constant before we can declare 'redundancy', and how should redundancy be determined? Finally we discuss the value of the concept of 'redundancy' in conservation.

The age of heretics : heroes, outlaws, and the forerunners of corporate change

Abstract: This is a cultural history of postwar business It shows how the corporate mavericks of the 1950s, 60s and 70s pioneered self-managing work teams, responsiveness to customers, grassroots organizing and other ways to imbue corporations with a sense of the value of human relationships Starting with British management scientist Eric Trist, whose experiments in industrial democracy in the 1940s laid the groundwork for US managerial innovations of the 1980s, the book then profiles General Foods manager Lyman Ketchum, who launched the work-team concept at a Topeka pet-food plant in the early 1970s There is a discussion of how Royal Dutch/Shell in England switched from rigid numbers-based forecasting to "scenario planning", a method of predicting alternative patterns of global energy demand Also spotlighted are MIT computer scientist Jay Forrester's design of the "limits to growth" model of the world's economic future, community/labour organizer Saul Alinsky's drive to change Kodak's hiring policies, and Stanford Research Research Institute engineer Willis Harman's parapsychological experiments and his campaign urging the federal government to adopt an ecological ethic Although these heretics were underappreciated in their time- and often fired or demoted for their radical ideas - the ideas they fought for live on in the ever-changing corporation Only by understanding their struggle can today's corporate leaders succeed in changing business for the better Art Kleiner is the co-author of "The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook"

Predicting Preferences: An Examination of Agent Learning

Abstract: Agent decision making occurs when an individual acts as a purchasing agent for another. Effective agent decision making requires that the agent learn to predict the target's preferences. Two experimental studies demonstrate the impact of providing agents veridical feedback. The results further our understanding of interpersonal prediction and learning from experience. Agents who are given the opportunity to learn from their own successes and failures do not exhibit the false consensus effect, or projection, that has been demonstrated in previous research. Any facilitative effect of similarity in tastes on predictive accuracy disappears when feedback is provided. Information theory is used to establish the informational value of individual instances, as well as an overall distribution of feedback. The results of the studies reported in the present article indicate that agents spend significantly more time considering informative than uninformative feedback, which improves their predictive accuracy.

Value Judgement: Improving Our Ethical Beliefs

Abstract: James Griffin asks how, and how much, we can improve our ethical standards - not lift our behaviour closer to our standards, but refine the standards themselves. To answer this question it is necessary to answer most of the questions of ethics. So Value Judgement includes discussion of what a good life is like, where the boundaries of the 'natural world' come, how values relate to the world, how great human capacities - the ones important to ethics - are, and where moral norms come from. Throughout, the question of what philosophy can contribute to ethics repeatedly arises. Philosophical traditions, such as most forms of utilitarianism and deontology and virtue ethics, are, Griffin contends, too ambitious. Ethics cannot be what philosophers in those traditions expect it to be because agents cannot be what their philosophies need them to be. This clear, compelling, and original account of ethics will be of interest to anyone concerned with thinking about values: not only philosophers but also legal, political, and economic theorists.

The Sources of Ethical Decision Making for Individuals in the Public Sector

Abstract: What was the value in changing ASPA's Code of Ethics? Until recently, the Code of Ethics of the American Society for Public Administration symbolized the confusion in the field rather than its insights. The fine content of the former code was lost in numerous, unequal categories and discursive language. The new code has five principles or decision-making sources upon which public administrators should draw. This article demonstrates how the five sources are prominently discussed in the literature and arc useful for practitioners. Even more, the new code should provide an authoritative framework for the field. At an elementary level, the code prohibits egregiously unethical behavior. At a more sophisticated level, the code recognizes that the really tough administrative decisions occur when two or more of the legitimate decision-making sources compete. Thus the code is far more than a list of legalistic prohibitions. It is a powerful tool for decision analysis on the one hand and an aspirational call for excellence in the profession on the other. The American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) recently streamlined and substantially revised its Code of Ethics so that it would be more useful for practitioners and better reflect the literature on public sector ethics. The new code collapses 12 categories of unequal importance into 5 overarching principles. In this article I provide the intellectual and scholarly background used in the selection of those five organizing principles. Historical Background of ASPA's Code of Ethics ASPA adopted a loose set of ethical principles in 1981. In 1984, ASPA approved a formal Code of Ethics which was expanded the next year to include implementation guidelines. When published in small type, the Code and Implementation Guidelines were two full pages. In 1993, ASPA's leadership encouraged the Professional Ethics Committee to revise the Code of Ethics. Although no specific charge was given, the following complaints were noted by the committee: 1. The highlighted principles did not distinguish between overarching principles and subordinate concepts and were too numerous to remember easily. 2. Despite good content, the code rambled and had inconsistent styles. 3. Because of the weak organization, it was difficult to find a specific point without reading the document from the beginning. The Professional Ethics Committee drew heavily on the previous 1985 code in its revision but decided to (1) use broader categories that would be recognizable to the scholarly community and memorable for the practitioner community; (2) consolidate the code into a dense, one-page document; and (3) number and display principles and points for ease of use. A subcommittee redrafted the code in the spring of 1994, then the full committee edited it, and a preliminary draft was shared with the National Council. In the fall, a draft was published in PA Times with a request for comments. After revising it based on the comments received, the revised Code of Ethics was unanimously adopted at the 1994 December meeting. Problems in Identifying Sources of Decision Making Which Are the Key Sources or Roles? One of the most commonly agreed-upon notions in the field is that administrators have numerous roles, or value sets, which are sources for the decisions they make. For example, an administrator may concentrate quite appropriately on legal issues at one point, organizational issues at another, and personal interests at still another. Although there is widespread agreement that these roles and their concomitant value sets exist, that agreement quickly dissipates when one tries to identify and name which roles or value sets are crucial for public administrators. Researchers have divided up an administrator's major roles in many ways. Some researchers are famous for specializing in a single area, even though their views are broad, such as Rohr's (1989) concentration on regime values (law and legal tradition) and Frederickson's (1990) attention to social equity (public interest), but many researchers have consciously divided the roles to cover all the major decision-making bases. …

How should one live? : essays on the virtues

Abstract: 1. Introduction. Modern moral philosophy and the virtues 2. Practical Ethics. Normative virtue ethics 3. Ancient Views. The virtues: theory and common sense in Greek philosophy 4. Impartiality and Partiality. Partiality and the virtues 5. Kant. Kant's virtues 7. Human Nature. The virtues and human nature 8. Natural and Artificial Virtues. A vindication of Hume's scheme 9. Virtues and the Good. Does moral virtue constitute a benefit to the agent? 10. Vices. Deadly vices? 11. Emotions. How emotions reveal value and help cure the schizophrenia of modern ethical theories 12. Politics. MacIntyre on modernity and how it has marginalized the virtues 13. Feminism and Moral Education. Feminism, moral development, and the virtues 14. Community. Community and virtue

Ethical theory, codes of ethics and IS practice

Abstract: . Ethical issues, with respect to computer-based information systems, are important to the individual IS practitioner. These same issues also have an important impact on the moral well-being of organizations and societies. Considerable discussion has taken place in the Information Systems (IS) literature on specific ethical issues, but there is little published work which relates these issues to mainstream ethical theory. This paper describes a range of ethical theories drawn from philosophy literature and uses these theories to critique aspects of the newly revised ACM Code of Ethics. Some in the IS field on problematic ethical issues which are not resolved by the Code are then identified and discussed. The paper draws some implications and conclusions on the value of ethical theory and codes of practice, and on further work to develop existing ethical themes and to promote new initiatives in the ethical domain