Internet e-ethics in confrontation with an activists' agenda: Yahoo! on trial

A prolonged confrontation between Yahoo! Inc. and French anti-racismactivists who ask for the removal of Nazi items from auction sitesas well as restricted access to neo-Nazis sites is analyzed. We presentthe case and its development up to the decision of Yahoo! Inc. to removethe items from yahoo.com following a French court s verdict against thefirm. Using a business ethics approach, we distinguish the legal,technical, philosophical and managerial issues involved in the case andtheir management by Yahoo! We conclude on the difficulty of governingrelations with society from corporate and legal affairs departments atthe headquarters level, and on the clash of two visions over theregulation of social freedom.

Peut-on accepter les progrès en sciences biomèdicales sans progrès en éthique ? [Can we take for granted medical progress without progress in ethics ?].

Since the mid 20th century progress in biomedical science has been punctuated by the emergence of bioethics which has fashioned the moral framework of its application to both research and clinical practice. Can we, however, consider the advent of bioethics as a form of progress marking the advances made in biomedical science with an adequate ethical stamp? The argument put forward in this chapter is based on the observation that, far from being a mark of progess, the development of bioethics runs the risk of favouring, like modern science, a dissolution of the links that unite ethics and medicine, and so of depriving the latter of the humanist dimensions that underlie the responsibilities that fall to it. Faced with this possible pitfall, this contribution proposes to envisage as a figure of moral progress, consubstantial with the development of biomedical science, an ethical approach conceived as a means of social intervention which takes the first steps towards an ethics of responsibility integrating the bioethical perspective within a hermeneutic and deliberative approach. By the yardstick of a prudential approach, it would pay particular attention to the diverse sources of normativity in medical acts. It is suggested that this ethical approach is a source of progress insofar as it constitutes an indispensable attitude of watchfulness, which biomedical science can lean on as it advances, with a view to ensuring that the fundamental link uniting ethics and medicine is maintained.

Development process and initial validation of the ethical conflict in nursing questionnaire-critical care version

Background: Ethical conflicts are arising as a result of the growing complexity of clinical care, coupled with technological advances. Most studies that have developed instruments for measuring ethical conflict base their measures on the variables"frequency" and"degree of conflict". In our view, however, these variables are insufficient for explaining the root of ethical conflicts. Consequently, the present study formulates a conceptual model that also includes the variable"exposure to conflict", as well as considering six"types of ethical conflict". An instrument was then designed to measure the ethical conflicts experienced by nurses who work with critical care patients. The paper describes the development process and validation of this instrument, the Ethical Conflict in Nursing Questionnaire Critical Care Version (ECNQ-CCV). Methods: The sample comprised 205 nursing professionals from the critical care units of two hospitals in Barcelona (Spain). The ECNQ-CCV presents 19 nursing scenarios with the potential to produce ethical conflict in the critical care setting. Exposure to ethical conflict was assessed by means of the Index of Exposure to Ethical Conflict (IEEC), a specific index developed to provide a reference value for each respondent by combining the intensity and frequency of occurrence of each scenario featured in the ECNQ-CCV. Following content validity, construct validity was assessed by means of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), while Cronbach"s alpha was used to evaluate the instrument"s reliability. All analyses were performed using the statistical software PASW v19. Results: Cronbach"s alpha for the ECNQ-CCV as a whole was 0.882, which is higher than the values reported for certain other related instruments. The EFA suggested a unidimensional structure, with one component accounting for 33.41% of the explained variance. Conclusions: The ECNQ-CCV is shown to a valid and reliable instrument for use in critical care units. Its structure is such that the four variables on which our model of ethical conflict is based may be studied separately or in combination. The critical care nurses in this sample present moderate levels of exposure to ethical conflict. This study represents the first evaluation of the ECNQ-CCV.

Development process and initial validation of the ethical conflict in nursing questionnaire-critical care version

Background: Ethical conflicts are arising as a result of the growing complexity of clinical care, coupled with technological advances. Most studies that have developed instruments for measuring ethical conflict base their measures on the variables"frequency" and"degree of conflict". In our view, however, these variables are insufficient for explaining the root of ethical conflicts. Consequently, the present study formulates a conceptual model that also includes the variable"exposure to conflict", as well as considering six"types of ethical conflict". An instrument was then designed to measure the ethical conflicts experienced by nurses who work with critical care patients. The paper describes the development process and validation of this instrument, the Ethical Conflict in Nursing Questionnaire Critical Care Version (ECNQ-CCV). Methods: The sample comprised 205 nursing professionals from the critical care units of two hospitals in Barcelona (Spain). The ECNQ-CCV presents 19 nursing scenarios with the potential to produce ethical conflict in the critical care setting. Exposure to ethical conflict was assessed by means of the Index of Exposure to Ethical Conflict (IEEC), a specific index developed to provide a reference value for each respondent by combining the intensity and frequency of occurrence of each scenario featured in the ECNQ-CCV. Following content validity, construct validity was assessed by means of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), while Cronbach"s alpha was used to evaluate the instrument"s reliability. All analyses were performed using the statistical software PASW v19. Results: Cronbach"s alpha for the ECNQ-CCV as a whole was 0.882, which is higher than the values reported for certain other related instruments. The EFA suggested a unidimensional structure, with one component accounting for 33.41% of the explained variance. Conclusions: The ECNQ-CCV is shown to a valid and reliable instrument for use in critical care units. Its structure is such that the four variables on which our model of ethical conflict is based may be studied separately or in combination. The critical care nurses in this sample present moderate levels of exposure to ethical conflict. This study represents the first evaluation of the ECNQ-CCV.

Development process and initial validation of the ethical conflict in nursing questionnaire-critical care version

Background: Ethical conflicts are arising as a result of the growing complexity of clinical care, coupled with technological advances. Most studies that have developed instruments for measuring ethical conflict base their measures on the variables"frequency" and"degree of conflict". In our view, however, these variables are insufficient for explaining the root of ethical conflicts. Consequently, the present study formulates a conceptual model that also includes the variable"exposure to conflict", as well as considering six"types of ethical conflict". An instrument was then designed to measure the ethical conflicts experienced by nurses who work with critical care patients. The paper describes the development process and validation of this instrument, the Ethical Conflict in Nursing Questionnaire Critical Care Version (ECNQ-CCV). Methods: The sample comprised 205 nursing professionals from the critical care units of two hospitals in Barcelona (Spain). The ECNQ-CCV presents 19 nursing scenarios with the potential to produce ethical conflict in the critical care setting. Exposure to ethical conflict was assessed by means of the Index of Exposure to Ethical Conflict (IEEC), a specific index developed to provide a reference value for each respondent by combining the intensity and frequency of occurrence of each scenario featured in the ECNQ-CCV. Following content validity, construct validity was assessed by means of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), while Cronbach"s alpha was used to evaluate the instrument"s reliability. All analyses were performed using the statistical software PASW v19. Results: Cronbach"s alpha for the ECNQ-CCV as a whole was 0.882, which is higher than the values reported for certain other related instruments. The EFA suggested a unidimensional structure, with one component accounting for 33.41% of the explained variance. Conclusions: The ECNQ-CCV is shown to a valid and reliable instrument for use in critical care units. Its structure is such that the four variables on which our model of ethical conflict is based may be studied separately or in combination. The critical care nurses in this sample present moderate levels of exposure to ethical conflict. This study represents the first evaluation of the ECNQ-CCV.

Development process and initial validation of the ethical conflict in nursing questionnaire-critical care version

Background: Ethical conflicts are arising as a result of the growing complexity of clinical care, coupled with technological advances. Most studies that have developed instruments for measuring ethical conflict base their measures on the variables"frequency" and"degree of conflict". In our view, however, these variables are insufficient for explaining the root of ethical conflicts. Consequently, the present study formulates a conceptual model that also includes the variable"exposure to conflict", as well as considering six"types of ethical conflict". An instrument was then designed to measure the ethical conflicts experienced by nurses who work with critical care patients. The paper describes the development process and validation of this instrument, the Ethical Conflict in Nursing Questionnaire Critical Care Version (ECNQ-CCV). Methods: The sample comprised 205 nursing professionals from the critical care units of two hospitals in Barcelona (Spain). The ECNQ-CCV presents 19 nursing scenarios with the potential to produce ethical conflict in the critical care setting. Exposure to ethical conflict was assessed by means of the Index of Exposure to Ethical Conflict (IEEC), a specific index developed to provide a reference value for each respondent by combining the intensity and frequency of occurrence of each scenario featured in the ECNQ-CCV. Following content validity, construct validity was assessed by means of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), while Cronbach"s alpha was used to evaluate the instrument"s reliability. All analyses were performed using the statistical software PASW v19. Results: Cronbach"s alpha for the ECNQ-CCV as a whole was 0.882, which is higher than the values reported for certain other related instruments. The EFA suggested a unidimensional structure, with one component accounting for 33.41% of the explained variance. Conclusions: The ECNQ-CCV is shown to a valid and reliable instrument for use in critical care units. Its structure is such that the four variables on which our model of ethical conflict is based may be studied separately or in combination. The critical care nurses in this sample present moderate levels of exposure to ethical conflict. This study represents the first evaluation of the ECNQ-CCV.

Nursing Ethics Education in Finland from the Perspective of Codes of Ethics

The purpose of this study was to analyze nursing ethics education from the perspective of nurses’ codes of ethics in the basic nursing education programmes in polytechnics in Finland with the following research questions: What is known about nurses’ codes in practice and education, what contents of the codes are taught, what teaching and evaluation methods are used, which demographic variables are associated with the teaching, what is nurse educators’ adequacy of knowledge to teach the codes and nursing students’ knowledge of and ability to apply the codes, and what are participants’ opinions of the need and applicability of the codes, and their importance in nursing ethics education. The aim of the study was to identify strengths and possible problem areas in teaching of the codes and nursing ethics in general. The knowledge gained from this study can be used for developing nursing ethics curricula and teaching of ethics in theory and practice. The data collection was targeted to all polytechnics in Finland providing basic nursing education (i.e. Bachelor of Health Care). The target groups were all nurse educators teaching ethics and all graduating nursing students in the academic year of 2006. A total of 183 educators and 214 students from 24 polytechnics participated. The data was collected using a structured questionnaire with four open-ended questions, designed for this study. The data was analysed by SPSS (14.0) and the open-ended questions by inductive content analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data. Inferential statistics were used to estimate the differences between the participant groups. The reliability of the questionnaire was estimated with Cronbach’s coefficient alpha. The literature review revealed that empirical research on the codes was scarce, and minimal in the area of education. Teaching of nurses’ codes themselves and the embedded ethical concepts was extensive, teaching of the functions of the codes and related laws and agreements was moderate, but teaching of the codes of other health care professions was modest. Issues related to the nurse-patient relationship were emphasised. Wider social dimensions of the codes were less emphasized. Educators’ and students’ descriptions of teaching emphasized mainly the same teaching contents, but there were statistically significant differences between the groups in that educators assessed their teaching to be more extensive than what students had perceived it had been. T he use of teaching and evaluation methods was rather narrow and conventional. However, educators’ and students’ descriptions of the used methods differed statistically significantly. Students’ knowledge of the codes and their ability to apply them in practice was assessed as mediocre by educators and by students themselves. Most educators assessed their own knowledge of the codes as adequate to teach the codes, as did most of the students. Educators who regarded their knowledge as adequate taught the codes more extensively than those who assessed their knowledge as less adequate. Also students who assessed their educators’ knowledge as adequate perceived the teaching of the codes to be more extensive. Otherwise educators’ and students’ demographic variables had little association with their descriptions of the teaching. According to the participants, nurses need their own codes, and they are also regarded as applicable in practice. The codes are an important element in nursing ethics education, but their teaching needs development. Further research should focus on the organization of ethics teaching in the curricula, the teaching process, and on the evaluation of the effectiveness of ethics education and on educators’ competence. Also the meaning and functions of the codes at all levels of nursing deserve attention. More versatile use of research methods would be beneficial in gaining new knowledge.

Essays on Business and Leadership Ethics

As this is a dissertation, an academic thesis, it is important to define the objectives of my research, even if ex post facto, explicitly: - To define, develop and study the concept of business and leadership ethics. - To empirically study the phenomena associated with business and leadership from an ethical perspective. - To create a new framework for the development of responsible business. - To create an “acid test” for my body of works, i.e. a test and an evaluation on how well my research and ideas hold up under academic philosophical reflection. The utilitarian reasoning had the most support when the actors justified their actions regarding economic benefit. (=instrumental good). Duty and benefit were often mixed up in people’s speech. Their meaning contents were blurred and the argumentation lines created by the actors were broken. This can be interpreted in a way that supports Frankena’s mixed deontological philosophy as a frame of reference. Deontologica reasoning was used e.g. in describing the personnel management processes of a company. Virtue ethics is a favourable starting point for studying management and leadership ethics. All the actors studied could name virtues for their operations, towards which to aspire to. They also named professional practices already in use that they considered to be virtuous. Finally, I wish to state that normative ethics is an important branch of philosophical ethics, if also very important in applied ethics especially. From the normative standpoint, the results of this dissertation want to lead nations, communities and individuals towards the virtues of democratic leadership and sustainable economic development.

Sustainable Development – the Key to Competitiveness CSR as an added value to Alstom’s corporate performance

Corporate social responsibility or CSR is today a widely recognized concept which is receiving in- creasing popularity extremely rapidly, especially in the business world. The pressure on companies to carry out their business practices in ethical manners, which promote the wellbeing of the environment and society, is coming from all directions and all stakeholders. Alstom, a French multinational conglomerate operating in the rail transport and energy industry, is no exception to this norm. This company, which will be used as the case example in this thesis, is being brought to bay in terms of engaging in CSR practices and practicing business with high ethics. It is surely not a negatively conceived phenomenon that CSR is being put on a pedestal – quite the opposite. Instead of corporations practicing CSR only to meet their stakeholder requirements through practicing window dressing, many corporations actually strive to benefit from the practice of corporate social business. In addition to bringing benefit to externals a corporation such as Alstom itself can benefit from being involved in CSR. The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the current strategic values and the future perspectives of CSR at Alstom and moreover the added value which the practice of CSR could bring Alstom as a business. A set of perspectives from a futures studies viewpoint is looked at, with critical examination of the company’s current corporate practices as well as the CSR related studies and theories written for corporations. Through this, some solutions and practices will be suggested to Alstom in order for it to fully utilize the potential of corporate social business and the value it can bring in the most probable futures that the company is expected to face. By utilizing the Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), a method mainly used in organizations to solve problematic issues in management and policy contexts, a process is developed to see what improvements could be of help in improving Alstom and its way towards involving CSR in its business practices even more than it currently does. Alstom is already deeply involved in the practicing of CSR and its vision has a strong emphasis on this popular concept of today. In order to stay in the game and to use CSR as a competitive advantage to the company, Alstom ought to embed corporate social practices even deeper in its organizational culture by using them as a tool to reduce risk and costs, increasing employee commitment and customer loyalty and to attract socially responsible investors, just to name a few. CSR as a concept is seen to have great potential in the future, an opportunity Alstom will not miss.

Kierkegaardian intersubjectivity and the question of ethics and responsibility

Kierkegaardian Intersubjectivity and the Question of Ethics and Responsibility By Kevin Krumrei. Kierkegaard's contributions to philosophy are generally admitted and recognized as valuable in the history of Western philosophy, both as one of the great anti-Hegelians, as the founder (arguably) of existentialism, and as a religious thinker. However valid this may be, there is similarly a generally admitted critique of Kierkegaard in the Western tradition, that Kierkegaard's philosophy of the development of the self leads the individual into an isolated encounter with God, to the abandonment of the social context. In other words, a Kierkegaardian theory of intersubjectivity is a contradiction in terms. This is voiced eloquently by Emmanuel Levinas, among others. However, Levinas' own intersubjective ethics bears a striking resemblance to Kierkegaard's, with respect to the description and formulation of the basic problem for ethics: the problem of aesthetic egoism. Further, both Kierkegaard and Levinas follow similar paths in responding to the problem, from Kierkegaard's reduplication in Works of Love, to Levinas' notion of substitution in Otherwise than Being. In this comparison, it becomes evident that Levinas' reading of Kierkegaard is mistaken, for Kierkegaard's intersubjective ethics postulates, in fact, the inseparability and necessity of the self s responsible relation to others in the self s relation to God, found in the command, "you shall love your neighbour as yourself."

The Perceptions of Kinesiologists of Ethics and Professionalism as Established by the College of Kinesiologists of Ontario

As of April 1, 2013 kinesiology became a regulated health profession in Ontario. With its own governing body, the College of Kinesiologists of Ontario (CKO), there are new ethical and professional standards to which kinesiologists must adhere. The purpose of this study is to investigate kinesiologists’ thoughts and perceptions regarding the CKO’s Practice Standards, Guidelines and Code of Ethics, and their level of ethical knowledge and training. Eleven semi-structured interviews were carried out with kinesiologists. Interview data was analyzed through the development of general themes. Findings revealed that kinesiologists are confident of their ethical decision making skills but are in need of more ethical and professional education and training in order to become respected healthcare professionals in the healthcare community and in the eyes of the public. Furthermore, there were key areas identified in need of improvement regarding the quality of the Practice Standards, Guidelines and Code of Ethics. Additional findings, implications and recommendations for future research were also discussed.

Christian Education and the Ethics of Authenticity

A qualitative study was undertaken to explore the concept of authenticity in Christian education. The study was situated in the context of Christian schools in Ontario. Some of these schools have experienced declining enrolment and all of these schools face the challenge of being distinctive in a secular culture. To investigate the potential of the concept of authenticity for reclaiming the vision of Christian education, interviews were conducted with 3 experienced principals of Christian schools. Data analysis yielded an emergent conceptual framework of authenticity consisting of 5 concepts: authorship, relatedness, reflection, autonomy, and excellence. Authenticity was found to be a useful tool for school analysis of both the deep structures and the surface structures within Christian schools. To offset unauthentic tendencies that can arise within these schools, this study calls for an intentional use of the lens of authenticity to expose these tendencies and revitalize core expectations. Through the narratives shared by the Christian school principals, the study also develops a picture of the role of authentic Christian education in the development of the authentic Christian person.

Implementing the Precautionary Principle through Stakeholder Engagement for Product and Service Development

Section des étudiants

Everyday Ethics: Framing youth participation in organizational practice

Much of the literature on ethical issues in child and youth participation has drawn on the episodic experiences of participatory research efforts in which young people’s input has been sought, transcribed and represented. This literature focuses in particular on the power dynamics and ethical dilemmas embedded in time-bound adult/child and outsider/insider relationships. While we agree that these issues are crucial and in need of further examination, it is equally important to examine the ethical issues embedded within the “everyday” practices of the organizations in and through which young people’s participation in community research and development often occurs (e.g., community-based organizations, schools and municipal agencies). Drawing on experience from three summers of work in promoting youth participation in adult-led organizations of varying purpose, scale and structure, a framework is postulated that presents participation as a spatial practice shaped by five overlapping dimensions. The framework is offered as a point of discussion and a potential tool for analysis in ecipation in relation to organizational practice.

Allergies and asthma: employing principles of social justice as a guide in public health policy development

This article is an excellent example of applied ethics in public health policy development.