商業倫理研究新知

[Daniel_Cheung]

這一條會定期貼出一些新近的商業倫理研究，供各位參考。

[Daniel_Cheung]

See No Evil: When We Overlook Other People's Unethical Behavior
Published: January 11, 2008
Paper Released: January 2008
Authors: Francesca Gino, Don A. Moore, and Max H. Bazerman

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5839.html

Executive Summary:

Even good people sometimes act unethically without their own awareness. This paper explores psychological processes as they affect the ethical perception of others' behavior, and concludes with implications for organizations. First, there is a tendency for people to overlook unethical behavior in others when recognizing such behavior would harm them. Second, people might readily ignore unethical behavior when others have an agent do their dirty work for them. Third, gradual moral decay leads people to grow comfortable with behavior to which they would otherwise object. Fourth, the tendency to value outcomes over processes can lead us to accept unethical processes for far too long. Key concepts include:

* Most people value ethical decisions and behavior, and strive to be good. Yet psychological processes sometimes lead them to engage in questionable behaviors that are inconsistent with their own values and beliefs.
* It is common to fail to notice or act on information when dealing with ethically relevant decisions.
* Organizational leaders must understand these processes and make the structural changes necessary to reduce the harmful effects of human psychological and ethical limitations.

[Daniel_Cheung]

Work Motivations, Work Outcomes, and Health: Passion Versus Addiction
Journal Journal of Business Ethics

Published online: 11 March 2008

Abstract

Individuals in managerial and professional jobs now work long hours for a variety of reasons. Building on previous research on workaholism and on types of passion, the results of three exploratory studies of correlates of work-based Passion and Addiction are presented. Data were collected in three samples using anonymously completed questionnaires: Canadian managers and professionals, Australian psychologists, and Norwegian journalists. A common pattern of findings was observed in the three samples. First, respondents scoring higher on Passion and on Addiction were more heavily invested in their work. Second, respondents scoring higher on Passion also indicated less obsessive job behaviors, greater work satisfactions, and higher levels of psychological well-being. Third, respondents scoring higher on Addiction indicated more obsessive job behaviors, lower work satisfaction, and lower levels of psychological well-being.

有空要看看，他們怎樣定義 passion 和 addiction 。

[Daniel_Cheung]

Eugene J. Kutcher, Jennifer D. Bragger, Ofelia Rodriguez-Srednicki and Jamie L. Masco, "The Role of Religiosity in Stress, Job Attitudes, and Organizational Citizenship Behavior", Journal of Business Ethics, 2010.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/67xl415403384762/

Abstract

Religion and faith are often central aspects of an individual’s self-concept, and yet they are typically avoided in the workplace. The current study seeks to replicate the findings about the role of religious beliefs and practices in shaping an employee’s reactions to stress/burnout and job attitudes. Second, we extend the literature on faith in the workplace by investigating possible relationships between religious beliefs and practices and citizenship behaviors at work. Third, we attempted to study how one’s perceived freedom to express his/her religious identity at work was related to workplace attitudes and behaviors. Mixed results suggest that religiosity can be related to stress and burnout, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and Organizational Citizenship Behavior. More research is needed to further qualify the results and explore the effects of one’s perceived freedom to express his/her religious identity in the workplace.


Discussion

The current study explored the ways in which
religiosity (religious practices, beliefs, motivation,
and well-being) affects job attitudes and behaviors
(OCB, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction),
and stress (and in its extreme form, burnout).
We investigated the direct relationships
between these variables and explored whether
mediating and/or moderating relationships operated
within these associations. In doing so, the goal of the
current study was to further clarify the previously
examined relationship between religion and stress. In
addition, the current study expanded such research
to investigate the relationship between religious
variables and the likelihood of engaging in citizenship
behavior at work, and to explore the effects of
employees’ perceived freedom to express their religion
in the workplace. In our research, we made an
effort to survey individuals of various religious
affiliations, as many previous studies included only
one affiliation, (most often Christianity) (Batson and
Gray, 1981; Hettler and Cohen, 1998; Park et al.,
1990). Therefore, the following results are presumed
to generalize to ‘‘religiosity’’ rather than to one
particular religious affiliation....

Practical Implications

If there is the chance that more religious employees
experience less stress and burnout, experience positive
job attitudes and engage in desirable extra-role
performance, what can managers do to ensure an
optimal context for them? If data show that there is
value to incorporating religion and spirituality in the
workplace, how can managers encourage this?
First, there is value in recognizing that religion is
like any characteristic upon which your human resources
vary. Diversity-related efforts in many
organizations have evolved from the avoidance of
differences to the embracing of differences....

Second, leaders should reflect on values as they
build and foster the culture of the organization.
Kolodinsky et al. (2008) found that workers appreciate
when their organizations embody spiritual
values, even if they were not themselves spiritual.
There are many values in common across otherwise
diverse religious affiliations: servant-orientation,
empathy, and community....

Third, managers must be aware of the sensibilities
of workers who may not be religious and may even
be hostile toward any efforts that an organization
might make to encourage religious expression at
work. That said, the current research indicated the
comfort in expressing one’s religious identity, which
includes the freedom to express that one was not
religious, was related to lower stress levels and more
OCB....

[Daniel_Cheung]

Most Popular Articles of 2010 of Harvard Business Review
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6557.html

[Daniel_Cheung]

本來這只是芸芸眾多基督徒談商業倫理的文章，但因為我之前剛申請那作者任教的大學的職位（但不成功），所以有興趣看一看，看後，自然地有點意見。

The Meaning of Business
Christians in the marketplace, says Jeff Van Duzer, are not second-class citizens of the kingdom.
(http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/january/21.24.html)


基本上，我認為這類看商業倫理的基督教進路仍有點講得太空洞和太理想化。例如說，商業的意義在於創造工作，或讓人在工作裡 be creative 。然而，這如何 justify 公司有時有必要裁員？如何 justify 一些十分沉悶的重重覆覆的工作？

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採訪的編輯也十分尖銳，他問：

Haven't we seen a flood of books over the past decade arguing that business is not only a legitimate calling for Christians but even a high calling? Why the need to continue highlighting this theme?

受訪者回答：

There has been emphasis on the broader understanding of vocation and calling, and a broader concern about a dualistic—Monday through Friday versus Sunday—Christianity. Even in our church, every now and then we will hear that someone is being called to "Christian ministry," and you know they are not talking about accounting.

我會認為，理念本身的確有點被 exhausted 。用另一角度說，基督教對商業的確沒有很多理念上的 inspiration 可言。當然，這樣的話在一個 pro-Christianity 的圈子是很難說出口的。只是，我太學術型了。有時候，能夠如此對自身不足有深入認識和正視，才有可能面對現實和超越問題。

反而，我會建議，既然在思想上要做的都做得七七八八，現在要做的是如何在教會裡落實這些思想。只不過，這樣又會令「基督教商業倫理」這「學術玩意」失去了它的吸引力。

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另一對答：

問：You say that the free market is in the best position to deliver goods and services. In today's economy, can we be so confident that this is still true?

答：Don't make my claim stronger than it is. I certainly don't claim godlike status for markets. In fact, I think the free market is one of the great idols of our age, particularly among Christians in business. The market's claim is to send price signals to allocate resources. That is just one of a number of goods that society should hope to have, and it's a long distance from shalom. Government should play a significant role in creating some protections against bubbles and other things that distort market signals. However, relative to state-directed economies, the free market is more efficient at allocating resources.

Some socialist democracies, like the Scandinavian countries, have managed to produce goods and services as well as further the common good, offering an array of social services like free health care and free education. Isn't this a better economic model for society, given your ideas?

I sometimes get accused of being a socialist. But there is a fundamental difference between the view of business I argue for and a socialist economy. In a socialist system, the government is directing the economy. I'm not talking about that. What I'm saying is that individual Christians should align their vocations toward godly desires.

美國基督徒談商業倫理，總有意無意避談資本主義或自由市場的缺點。其實，正因如此，他們弄出來的商業倫理就顯得空洞。按這教授 (http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/business/conference/presentations/business-ethics-history.html)所說，在歐州的商業倫理討論，人們卻會多談不同的經濟制度的優劣。

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另一對答：

問：Would someone following this model be at a competitive disadvantage?

答：I don't ever want to suggest that doing the right thing will always redound to the bottom line. The phrase "good ethics is good business" is true most of the time. If all ethics made money, we would never teach ethics at business school. Increasingly the value and wealth of a company is tied up in the creativity of employees. Even if the only thing you care about is making money, you want to unleash those creative juices. The best way you can unleash creative juices is to help employees understand that their work connects to something bigger, something that has long-term value. A model that tells you to think about how your company can best serve the community is also the model that's most likely to tap into employees' creativity.

創意的問題上文已談了，不贅。這個回答有一地方令我頗感意外， if all ethics made money ，自然後果應該會是： we would always teach ethics at business schools ！但他卻說： we would never teach ethics at business school.

我說的那個自然後果，背後的意思是，商業總有責任追求更大利益，儘管你如何認為這是邪惡的，其實你只不過是同時還有別的要求，若你連追求更大利益的目標都去除掉，那就不是商業罷！？然而，他的講法卻似有去除掉追求更大利益的商業目標的含意。正如我在《經濟商業生活與基督教倫理》第一章裡說，我們應該把（至少某部份）商業倫理規範視作為與這個商業目標相輔相成的。如此，以誠實為例，研究者可以考慮思考的，是誠實在這個商業目標有甚麼重要性，若證明到是有，且是很大的，那麼人們自然會想誠實一點。