Beyond codes of ethics : an integrated framework for stimulating morally responsible behaviour in organisations

This paper contributes to the study of ethics programmes by the building of a theoretical model for implementing an ethics programme and examining the application of this model to an actual implementation case study. Ethics programmes aim at stimulating ethical behaviour in the organisation and assisting employees to act in a morally responsible way. It is proposed that for an organisational ethics programme to be effective, five dominant conditions are necessary: awareness of formal organisational goals and corresponding informal norms; suitable procedures for decision making; correct distribution of resources; presence of necessary skills; and personal intentions for ethical behaviour. Following detailed discussion of each condition, and with reference to an actual case example, the conditions will be further developed and supplemented with suggested organisational activities that could be used to support these conditions.

On strangers, ‘moral panics’ and the neo-liberalization of teacher education

This paper explores the convergence of neo-liberal managerialism with the neo-conservative technologies of creating ‘moral panics’ about teacher education, English language and literacy curriculum and traditional values that allegedly fail to address the issues of public safety and cultural integration in the post- September 11th world. It problematises the neo-conservative vision of managing ‘strangers’ and public risks through dominant cultural literacy. The paper counters the neo-conservative backlash with a framework that emphasizes dialogical ethics in teaching for difference and conceptualizes transcultural literacy as an alternative model of education in multicultural conditions. This model is presented both as a way of resisting the subliminal infiltration of neo-conservative thinking in teacher education today and as a way of imagining a ‘cosmopolitan’ professional.

The moral reasoning abilities of Australian and Malaysian accounting students : a comparative analysis

If national culture is a significant determinant of ethical attitudes, it is not unreasonable to expect ethical decision-making to be influenced by one's culture. However, problems arise when the notion of right differs from one culture to another. The question addressed in this paper is whether the moral reasoning abilities of Australian and Malaysian accounting students in their final year of study differ because of their cultural upbringing. This study uses primary data collected from 34 final year accounting students (12 Australian and 22 Malaysian) enrolled in an Australian degree program. The test scores collected at the beginning and end of the academic year indicate that culture and other explanatory variables do not have an affect on students' moral judgment. The findings in this study suggest that culture as an independent variable does not influence the way accounting students analyse and resolve ethical dilemmas.

Population norms and meaningful differences for the Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL) measure

Objective: The Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL) instrument is widely used in Australian health research. To assist researchers interpret and report their work, this paper reports population and health status norms, general minimal important differences (MIDs) and effect sizes.

Method: Data from the 1998 South Australian Health Omnibus Survey (n=3,010 population-based respondents) were analysed by gender, age group and health status. Data from four other longitudinal studies were analysed to obtain estimated MIDs.

Results: The mean (SD) AQoL utility score was 0.83 (0.20). Gender and age subgroup differences were apparent; the mean scores for women were consistent until their 50s, when scores declined. Greater variability was observed for males whose scores declined more slowly but consistently between 40–80 years. For both genders, those aged 80+ years had the lowest scores When assessed by health status, those reporting excellent health obtained the highest utility scores; progressive declines were observed with decreasing health status. Effect sizes of 0.13 or greater may reflect important differences between groups A difference in AQoL scores of 0.06 utility points over time suggests a general MID.

Conclusions: AQoL population norms, MIDs and effect sizes can be used as reference points for the interpretation of AQoL data. These findings add to the growing evidence that the AQoL is a robust and sensitive measure that has wide applicability.

Implications: The availability of population norms will assist researchers using the AQoL to more easily interpret and report their work.

Age-specific norms and determinants of anxiety and depression in 731 women with breast cancer recruited through a population-based cancer registry

The aim of this study was to determine population norms and determinants of anxiety and depression in a population-based sample of 731 women with breast cancer (aged 23–60 years) with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS). The prevalence of ‘probable’ psychological morbidity due to anxiety was 23% and due to depression was 3%. When the women identified as ‘possible’ cases were included, the respective proportions were 45 and 12%. Higher anxiety was present in younger, less educated women not born in Australia. There was no clear pattern of risk factors for depression. These population-based findings highlight the need for clinicians to be aware that age, education and country of birth may identify a particularly vulnerable subgroup. While brief scales such as the HADS are limited in their ability to accurately predict a clinical diagnosis, high scores identify those who may warrant referral for clinical evaluation.

Media reports of heroin overdose spates: public health messages, moral panics or risk advertisements?

This article reports on an investigation of the public health utility of media messages concerning spates (temporal clusters) of heroin-related overdose (HOD) from the perspective of some injecting drug users (IDUs). In-depth qualitative interviews were carried out with a convenience sample of 60 IDUs, in the setting of two Needle and Syringe Programs in an Australian regional city (Geelong) between April and May 2000. Very few interviewees reported that they had personally experienced a spate of overdoses. None of the interviewees reported communicating the existence of a killer batch to other IDUs. No interviewees reported having changed either their injecting practices or the amount of heroin they used following such a media alert. Indeed, a substantial minority of the interviewees reported seeking out these stronger batches and participant narratives illustrate that, for a substantial group of interviewees, the media reporting of a hypothetical 'killer batch' of heroin may have implications for their drug-seeking and health-related behaviour. It was found that the accuracy of information available to IDUs is mixed and that the flow of information within this social network was slow. Findings demonstrate that media reporting of killer batches of heroin has little value as a public health strategy and provide an example of how some activities that are proposed as public health measures may in fact have the opposite effect.

Harmony in and between aesthetic experience and moral experience

The thesis finds that the notion of harmony has been integral to the concepts of beauty and goodness from the earliest times, in Eastern and Western philosophy. It also argues that the experience of beauty and the experience of goodness are related through the human propensity to avoid disorder.

The influence of need-for-cognition on ethical decision-making in marketing

The research established that the work-related norms of marketers and their socialisation into the marketing profession are influenced beneficially by their need-for-cognition. The research revealed contradictions between corporate codes of ethics and the values espoused by professional associations. Better ways of managing corporate ethical standards and behaviour are suggested.

Construction of k-Lipschitz triangular norms and conorms from empirical data

This paper examines the practical construction of k-Lipschitz triangular norms and conorms from empirical data. We apply a characterization of such functions based on k-convex additive generators and translate k-convexity of piecewise linear strictly decreasing functions into a simple set of linear inequalities on their coefficients. This is the basis of a simple linear spline-fitting algorithm, which guarantees k-Lipschitz property of the resulting triangular norms and conorms.

Investigating socialization, work-related norms and the ethical perceptions of marketing practitioners

This study examines the influence of socialization on work-related norms (WORKNORM). We tested the hypothesis that organizational (ORGSOC) and professional socialization (PROFSOC) are antecedent influences on WORKNORM, employing a sample of 339 marketing practitioners. The results of covariance structural analysis indicate that ORGSOC and PROFSOC and WORKNORM are discriminant constructs within the tested model. The study also reveals that the influence of ORGSOC on WORKNORM is stronger than the influence of PROFSOC on these same norms. Because this social learning occurs in work-related activities, in organizations, and in professional life, it is important that managers appreciate that these three separate domains influence decision making under ethical conditions. The limitations of the study and future research directions are discussed.