Browsing by Subject "Ethics"

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The business of beneficence: the commodification of the patient-health care provider relationship.
(2009-07) Johnson, Britt E.
I claim that the shift from viewing the patient-health care provider relationship from (A) one of a professional advocating for the welfare of his/her patient to (B) a business transaction is immoral because the primary motivations of the health care provider and the business person are fundamentally different. In support of this position, I offer two arguments. First, I argue that the patient-health care provider relationship is not a business relationship. Second, I argue that the patient-health care provider relationship cannot be altered in order to make this relationship into a business relationship without forcing the health care provider to act immorally. In order to make these arguments, I illustrate two major points. First, viewing the patient-provider relationship as a business transaction results from a misunderstanding, either of the nature of a business interaction or of the fundamental principles of medical care. This mistaken understanding of the incapability of the two types of interactions leads to the false conclusion that the patient-provider relationship can be viewed as a business relationship. Second, it is immoral to attempt to alter the patient-provider relationship in order to make said relationship a business relationship because doing so necessarily eliminates the essential virtue involved in patient care, namely beneficence.
Coaches who care: the ethical professional identity development of moral exemplar collegiate coaches
(2015-03) Hamilton, Maya G. B.
Recent media attention has highlighted the commercialization, greed, corruption, abuse, and violence occurring in "big-time" NCAA intercollegiate athletics. While sport has great potential to be a context for moral education and development (e.g., Gibbons, Ebbeck & Weiss, 1995), participation in sport can also undermine athletes' moral judgment and behavior (e.g., Bredemeier & Shields, 1984). As mentors and educators, coaches can contribute to and make a difference in athlete moral development (e.g., Bolter & Weiss, 2012), especially at the collegiate level--an especially powerful time of growth in young adults' lives (Colby, 2008). Unfortunately, big-time intercollegiate athletics has been criticized for its "for-profit" business model, which puts pressure on coaches to place winning ahead of the holistic development of their athletes. While some coaches succumb to these pressures, engaging in unethical actions, others negotiate them and thrive as moral leaders. As central agents in the moral education of their athletes, coaches' own level of moral development and understanding of professionalism is important to consider.The purpose of the present study was to understand the ethical professional identity development of NCAA Division I collegiate head coaches who have made sustained commitments to moral values in their personal and professional lives. In-depth interviews based on moral exemplar (Colby & Damon, 1992) and moral identity development theories (Kegan, 1982, 1998) were conducted with 12 coaches nominated as "moral exemplars" by their peer coaches and athletic directors. Interviews elicited themes of moral exemplarity and professionalism including having an internalized moral compass; a deep responsibility, care, and respect for others; and a high standard of excellence; teaching; engaging in ongoing personal and professional growth; and being able to reconcile conflict in their personal and professional lives. Analyzing interviews using Kegan's (1982, 1998) framework of ethical identity development, 11 of 12 moral exemplar coaches scored above the average adult stage of ethical identity development, demonstrating strong unity of personal, moral, and professional values. Illuminating the mechanisms by which moral exemplar collegiate coaches develop and sustain an ethical professional identity can inform and improve coach education for current and future members of the profession.
A Descriptive Mixed-Methods Examination of Corporate Social Responsibility, Accountability, and HRD in the Access Economy
(2021-04) Hart-Mrema, Tasha
App-based companies have emerged as legitimate forms of business, giving way to gigs, odd jobs, and convenient access to goods, products, or services. As with all business, growth brings the need for socially responsible change. This study presents an original exploration of factors that underlie stakeholder perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the access economy (i.e. gig/sharing economy). The access economy is framed as a complex adaptive system and benefits of platform companies are discussed along with prevalent criticisms regarding worker classifications and unethical business practices. By utilizing a mixed methods survey, empirical evidence is provided that not only identifies a negative association between observed versus expected CSR in the access economy, but also provides insight on the need for four types of platform stakeholder responsibility. Although findings revealed that perceptions on accountability were spread across stakeholder groups, the overarching theme is that more accountability should be allocated to platform companies. The data support the idea that consumers expect platform companies to go beyond mere onboarding and to establish some form of worker protections in line with what would generally be expected from a more conventional business model. Opinions of platform accountability appear to be influenced by expectations associated with specific industries (e.g. transportation vs. tourism) and whether or not workers would have direct contact with consumers. Individual factors such as ethical ideology, risk aversion, desire for certain types of service attributes, and propensity toward social proof techniques are shown to be associated with perceptions of CSR. This study serves as a starting point for the field of HRD to enter the access economy.
Educating The Elite: Ethics, Economics, And Inequality In America’S Most Prestigious Business Schools
(2019-10) Shamash, Rebecca
Today the distribution of wealth in the United States has diverged to mirror levels of inequality not experienced since the early 20th century. In addition to overall wealth, the distribution of income has also become increasingly unequal. This trend has resulted in the rise of what Thomas Piketty (2014) calls supermanagers—top executives of large firms who have managed to obtain unprecedented compensation for their labor; and members of the economic elite are now much more likely to be members of the professional elite who tend to eschew a class narrative in favor of identifying as the best and brightest (Ho, 2009; Khan, 2010, Khan, 2012; Rivera, 2016). This explanation for their success, which relies heavily on notions of meritocracy and specific ideas about fairness, reflects a change in the way society determines winners and losers (Guinier, 2015). Institutions of higher education, particularly those that are most elite, play a prominent role in elite reproduction (Khan, 2012a; Khurana, 2010) as well as in the selection of members of the professional elite. This dissertation uses ethnographic methods to explore how prestigious business schools reproduce culture and social class, and how the MBA experience provides students with a worldview that justifies the existence of severe inequality. I draw upon data collected over 14 months, including 34 semi-structured interviews with students and graduates of prestigious business schools, 10 informal but in-depth conversations with business school professors, field notes related to the attendance of MBA class sessions and social events, and promotional and curricular materials. Results provide insights into the ways prestigious business schools train students to explain and justify decisions about business and ethical issues in specific ways through institutional norms related to curriculum and pedagogy; how the institutions understand and deal with diversity; and how the MBA experience beseeches students to value certain professions and lifestyles over others, despite inherent contradictions in this value system. I find that prestigious—and particularly elite—business schools meet student expectations by providing them with clear paths to high-prestige, high-paying jobs through the assignment of credibility via association with a prestigious university, as well as through access to a powerful alumni association and on-campus corporate recruitment. In addition to these transactional benefits, students typically experience a marked increase in self-confidence and make friends who come to comprise a close social network of similarly high-earners that helps to normalize the wealth most MBA graduates acquire and the lifestyles associated with high compensation. I also discuss how diversity is understood in prestigious business schools (typically as centered around national origin and prior professional experience), and how women and students of color experience MBA programs as gendered, raced, and classed individuals. Finally, I examine barriers to critical education and address curricular and pedagogical norms and their implications. Further, I find that the MBA students and graduates I spoke with referred to competing ideas about what it means to be successful; several were particularly ambivalent about the meaning of money, its relationship to their self-worth, and its significance to their professional trajectories.
Episode 1: Investigating Potentially Unlawful Death: the Minnesota Protocol
(2017-01-25) Frey, Barbara; Conners, Kate
In this podcast, Barbara Frey, director of the Human Rights Program in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota, discusses The Minnesota Protocol. The Minnesota Protocol was – and remains – a ground-breaking piece of work with significant impact. However, the time is ripe for revision, to take account of developments in both international law and forensic science. As a key UN text providing guidance on the practical implementation of the duty to protect life and the obligation to investigate potentially unlawful deaths, its updating will ensure its continuing relevance over the coming decades. In a number of resolutions, the UN Commission on Human Rights called for such a revision (also later referenced by its successor, the Human Rights Council).
Episode 3: Predatory Criminal Justice Practices
(2017-02-07) Soss, Joe; Conners, Kate
In March 2015, Americans learned from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) that the city of Ferguson, Missouri had been operating a "predatory system of government." Police officers were acting as street-level enforcers for a program—aggressively promoted by city officials—in which fines and fees were used to extract resources from poor communities of color and deliver them to municipal coffers. In this talk, Joe Soss, professor at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, argues that what the DOJ discovered in Ferguson should not be seen as anomalous, either in relation to U.S. history or contemporary American governance. Based on an ongoing book project with Joshua Page, Soss offers a political analysis of the origins, operations, and consequences of revenue-centered criminal justice practices that have grown dramatically in the U.S. since the 1990s. Under this policy regime, local governments and market firms draw substantial revenue streams from fine-centered policing, court fees, bail systems, prison charges, civil asset forfeiture, and much more.
Episode 4: U.S. History of Immigration and Deportation
(2017-03-17) Lee, Erika; Conners, Kate
As new policies relating to immigration, border enforcement, refugee resettlement, and deportation are being implemented, in this podcast we talk to the director of the Immigration History Research Center, historian Erika Lee, about the origins of U.S. immigration policy and their relevance today.
Episode 5: Jordan's Youth: The Effects of the Syrian Refugee Crisis
(2017-04-17) Assaad, Ragui; Conners, Kate
In this podcast, Ragui Assaad, professor at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, looks more deeply into the needs of Syrian youth refugees in Jordan and the social underpinnings of unrest.
Exploring learning during a business ethics simulation.
(2011-04) Revoir, Richard Leonard
The purpose of this study was to explore a simulation incorporating online collaborative technologies in a business ethics course to examine whether it affects student learning. A qualitative case study method of inquiry was used to develop an in-depth description and analysis of student learning during a business ethics simulation using data collected through a questionnaire, student ratings of the simulation, focus groups, and a review of videos by the researcher. The results of this study provide insight into themes that may affect students' moral sensitivity and judgment. Three key themes emerged during data analysis: 1) working in groups, 2) watching YouTube videos, and 3) experiencing less nervousness. Working in groups appeared to affect moral sensitivity because the students were exposed to more perspectives from classmates who helped them interpret the case simulation and identify ethical issues. The students reported being able to rewind and review the YouTube videos was helpful to learning. The videos also provided more perspectives and multiple approaches for reasoning which may have affected students' moral sensitivity in their effort to interpret the simulations and identify ethical issues. Students reported being less nervous while recording their YouTube video than if they had to complete the assignment in-class in front of their peers. In addition, students came to class with their YouTube video completed, they had time in class to reflect on other students' performances during class time, rather than focus on their impending performance. The findings of this study add to the literature in the area of business ethics by describing how the integration of technology for ethical simulations may affect student learning. With the three themes identified, the results of this study have implications for college instructors who are teaching business ethics courses.
Gaming - The Logic of Corruption
(2020-12) Velasco Lopez, Miguel
Corruption is pervasive in all societies and in all walks of life. Governments, public and private companies, sports, education, religious and charitable organizations: none are untouched by corruption, which seems to be both timeless and universal. We propose that gaming, an unethical behavior on which individual agents can become dependent without being aware of it, is at the heart of corruption. Gaming can become pervasive, and upon discovery forces organizations to either stop the gaming or to engage in deception to cover it up and keep profiting from it, many choosing the latter. We present two cognitive mechanisms for this study of corruption based on gaming that allows us to explain the appearance of gaming in organizations and why it may not be stopped once it is detected, sustaining corruption. We illustrate our framework with an experimental design.
Human rights to the street: Ethical frameworks to guide planning, design, and engineering decisions toward livability, equity, and justice
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2021) Appleyard, Bruce; Riggs, William
Recently, there has been a renewed interest in statements about people’s rights to our streets. Drawing broadly from the literature and from an examination of a comprehensive collection of these rights, this article works toward establishing a comprehensive ethical framework that can be used to guide planning, design and engineering decisions to support pedestrian rights for street and urban livability. To identify and propose these ethical principles and help achieve optimal livability for individuals, groups and society, we: (a) comprehensively examine the literature to clarify the various concepts of street livability and human rights to the street (as related to a collection of various pedestrian rights statements); (b) explore what is being said in these rights to better understand people’s needs and wants; and (c) provide a roadmap for planners, urban designers, and engineers to address these needs in practice. Building on the previous steps and incorporating business practice literature of Functional Area Ethics, relevant functional areas are identified to help professionals act in support of these pedestrian rights.
An Investigation of the Role of Psychological Altruism in Living Kidney Donors
(2015-05) McLaughlin, Michaela
Altruism is the selfless concern for the wellbeing of others. Multiple researchers have investigated altruism in the general population, but altruism has not been measured in living kidney donors. This study assessed the altruism of 168 living kidney donors, a representative sample from the University of Minnesota Kidney Donor Transplant Program. Three scales measured altruism (Helping Attitudes Scale, Self-Report Altruism Scale, and Altruism and Gift Giving Battery). Participants also responded to items eliciting their suggestions about questions to assess altruism in living kidney donors. Statistical analyses revealed the present sample had significantly higher altruism scores than normative samples on the Helping Attitudes Scale and Self-Report Altruism Scale. There were no significant differences in altruism scores for living related donors (n = 86.5, 62.9, 39.4) versus living unrelated donors (n = 88.5, 66.1, 38.5). Factor analysis of responses to items on the altruism scales yielded four factors: Physical help to stranger; Gifts; Volunteerism rewards; and Risk/ sacrifice in helping. Logistic regression indicated likelihood of being a living unrelated donor increased if participants scored lower on Volunteerism rewards, higher on Risk/sacrifice in helping, and they were older. Content analysis of participants’ responses regarding questions to assess altruism yielded six themes: Questions regarding the donor’s cultural ideas of giving; Questions regarding how much risk and discomfort one is willing to endure for another; Comments regarding personal family obligation or selfish motivation; Questions regarding the donor’s emotional expectations post-donation; Questions regarding the financial and long-term health cost to the donor; and Questions will not capture the true motivation as the decision to donate comes without hesitation. Additional findings and practice, policy and research directions are presented.
Les frontières de l'exil: figures et territoires de l'étranger
(2019-08) Rauer, Selim
My doctoral dissertation entitled The Borders of Exile: Figures and Territories of Foreignness, reinterprets the notion of the border as an expanding territory of estrangement and seclusion in the aftermath of colonialism and the Shoah, in an era characterized by global market economies. While allegedly situated beyond racial and sexual hegemonic claims, I show how this globalized economy in fact recreates or intensifies a concept of “zone(s)” --as defined by Frantz Fanon in Les damnés de la terre, 1961--that draws centers and margins, and establishes sites of domination structured by a historical and political unconscious. At the core of this unconscious lies the figure of the enemy or the adversary. The latter is an essential biopolitical and theological representation of otherness and foreignness through which a specific border definition can be established as limit rather than hyphen. Thus, in my project, I scrutinize a multidimensional literary corpus comprised of works by figures such as Jean Genet (1910-1986), Patrick Modiano (1945), Bernard-Marie Koltès (1948-1989), Koffi Kwahulé (1956), Marie NDiaye (1967), Wajdi Mouawad (1968), and Léonora Miano (1973), each of whose works investigate a certain definition and practice of power and sovereignty as part of an ethical and moral reflection on “evil,” or as Rüdiger Safranski defined it, as the moral and ethical burden that accompanies the practice of freedom (Evil, or the Drama of Freedom, 1997).
Moral intuitions in reflective equilibrium: applying scientific methodology to ethics.
(2009-10) Brophy, Matthew E.
In this dissertation, I examine the credibility of moral intuitions and their relation to moral principles and background theories, as represented in the method of reflective equilibrium (MRE) originally set out by Rawls in A Theory of Justice. As part of elucidation and justification of this method, I make frequent comparisons to scientific methodology, which shares close similarities to the method of reflective equilibrium. I argue that MRE provides a non-foundationalist moral methodology which appears to be a promising approach to moral justification and moral adjudication. Moral intuitions are a crucial feature of MRE: they serve as the starting points of moral theory construction and testing in a similar way as empirical data serve as the starting points of scientific hypothesis construction and testing. Moral intuitions - just as any data - can sometimes be mistaken, however. Upon what basis can the credibility of a moral intuition be determined? I examine how the credibility of an intuition can be determined by examining its "etiology." The etiology of a moral intuition is its causal origin, which includes sociological, psychological, evolutionary and biological factors, some of which might impugn its credibility. Since intuition credibility determination is essential to the methodology of reflective equilibrium, I endeavor to show that moral intuitions can be vetted in nontrivial and noncircular ways. This filtration process discredits those initial moral judgments that are determined to be error-disposed. These resulting noncredible intuitions are then excluded from the set of considered judgments, which serve as the provisional starting points for ethical theory construction and testing. Ultimately, I will show that the moral methodology of reflective equilibrium, when theoretically developed and empirically substantiated, provides a significant contribution to moral philosophy. In particular, this fortified methodology provides further traction in ethical debate and adjudication. I exemplify this point in the final chapter, demonstrating how intuition credibility determination lends defense to a certain form of utilitarianism against certain traditional intuition-based attacks, and I show how the triple adjustment between intuitions, moral principles and background theories, understood in the context of wide reflective equilibrium, can assuage such objections.
The politics of ethical witnessing: the participatory networks of 9/11 Media Culture
(2010-09) Wessels, Emanuelle
This dissertation examines the politics of ethical witnessing in three genres of convergent media that overtly or allegorically address the events of September 11th. These include a conspiracy theory documentary, the Hollywood monster movie Cloverfield, and the documentary film Control Room. Using a combination of psychoanalytic film and political theory, ethical philosophy, and scholarship on mediated networks and media convergence; I argue, through these case studies, that the ways in which films today interact with participatory media such as websites and video playlists carry particular implications for the ethical and political aspects of how spectators are positioned to watch, interact with, and "talk back" to the media they consume.
Pragmatic ecocriticism and equipments for living.
(2010-02) Werner, Brett Alan
Over the last two centuries, books by American nature writers such as Henry David Thoreau, Aldo Leopold, and John Muir have shaped individual behavior, inspired the creation of environmental organizations, and influenced public policy. Ecocritical scholars have shown how such texts encourage non-anthropocentric values and awareness of nature. Yet these classics of environmental literature, and subsequent ecocritical scholarship, have unintentionally promoted absolutist views of nature that entrench environmental conflicts and shut down communication, a problem rhetorical scholars call "ecospeak." In this dissertation I examine how writers might overcome ecospeak. I not only argue for alternative environmental narratives, but also propose a new approach to reading all environmental texts. I call this approach "pragmatic ecocriticism" as it draws significantly on John Dewey's philosophical pragmatism, by weakening dualist understandings such as that of "humans and nature"; by examining value pluralism; and by focusing on narratives in which writers make decisions and take action in the face of complex and uncertain social-environmental situations. Such a rhetorical approach draws heavily on Kenneth Burke's notion that literary texts serve as equipment for living through dramatic rehearsal's role in moral imagination. I examine whether and how three recent texts avoid the problem of ecospeak by offering more pragmatic narratives: The Pine Island Paradox by Kathleen Dean Moore (2004); Hunting for Hope by Scott Russell Sanders (1998); and Having Faith by Sandra Steingraber (2001). Although all of these books are part of the larger genre of environmental writing and literature, they pragmatically engage the complexity of contemporary social and environmental issues facing readers today. Moore links human-centered and nature-centered ethics and values in the context of decisions Moore encounters daily. Sanders emphasizes social hope and bounded conflict rather than despair and divisiveness in the face of social-environmental crisis. Steingraber addresses the relationship between human health and environmental pollution in the context of pregnancy and childbirth. As a result, these texts constitute a sub-genre of environmental writing, representing more pragmatic texts able to move beyond ecospeak and encourage readers to engage each other in more productive ways.
Rhetorical Ethics in the Comedy of Aristophanes
(2014-05) Larson, Sean
Understanding the role of the comic playwright Aristophanes in the history of persuasive speech and performance is no small task. Rhetoric scholars and classicists often consider his plays testimonial documents for the origins and practice of oratory in the late 5th century BCE in Athens; "Clouds" in particular is regularly treated as contemporary evidence that the sophists were peddlers of logical snake-oil, teaching unscrupulous students how to take advantage of their fellow citizens purely for selfish ends. This point of emphasis reduces Aristophanes to the role of historical witness without giving him credit for his own acts of social commentary and intellectual contributions to the polis. Other attention is given to Aristophanes as pandering moralist, decrying the outrageous and inimical behaviors corrupting a once prosperous city and its many institutions. This avenue of research routinely minimizes the playwright's influence because his anti-war plays appear to have little practical effect on Athenian politics, and focuses mainly on institutional critique without solutions for the audience to consider. My purpose in this dissertation is to draw attention to Aristophanes as an ethicist who uses comedy to reorient audience values and behaviors. Using Kenneth Burke's theory of the hortatory negative, I argue that Aristophanes depicts his characters as abhorrent models for oratorical behavior, suggesting implicitly to the audience via inference that an alternative type of speaker may engage in more ethical oratory and thereby provide more effective and beneficial leadership in the polis.
Silha Bulletin Summer 2009
(University of Minnesota, 2009) University of Minnesota: Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law
Taking relationships seriously: the place of personal relationships in Kantian moral theory
(2008-12) Bramer, Marilea Elizabeth
Our personal relationships with intimates--family, friends, and significant others--are an important part of our lives. This intuitive importance gives rise to a tension between moral theory and personal relationships that such theories should respect and, ideally, resolve. An adequate moral theory should acknowledge the value we place on personal relationships while also recognizing their limits. This requires that a moral theory be able to explain both of the following: 1) our obligations to intimates and to strangers, and 2) the moral failings particular to personal relationships, such as domestic violence. Though they meet these requirements, impartial moral theories like Kantian moral theory have been criticized for failing to account for the value we place on personal relationships and actions done for intimates. As an alternative, some philosophers have turned to an ethic of care, where the central value is the care given in personal relationships. Against critics of impartiality, Kantians have responded that Kantian moral theory does not exclude personal relationships and that we are permitted to act for reasons that come from personal relationships, like love. In this dissertation, I argue that their defense does not show the true importance of personal relationships in Kantian moral theory. After closely examining the Categorical Imperative as explained in the Formulation of Humanity as an End and the Kantian concept of respect, I argue that Kantian moral theory in fact requires us to give intimates special consideration. With this understanding of Kantian moral theory, I defend a general duty of beneficence. The special consideration we give to intimates does not, under Kantian theory, come at the expense of our obligation to strangers, as it does in an ethic of care. Fruthermore, Kantian moral theory can account for the difference between the types of domestic violence outlined in the sociological literature. An ethic of care cannot give such an account. Because of this, Kantian moral theory offers more guidance regarding our moral responsibility as a society to stop domestic violence. Thus, Kantian moral theory more adequately explains our obligations to intimates and strangers than does an ethic of care.
Understanding Ethical Concerns in the Design, Application, and Documentation of Learning Analytics in Post-secondary Education
(2015-08) Swenson, Jenni
The practice of predicting a student's level of success in order to provide targeted assistance, termed "learning analytics,"� emerged from a well-established business intelligence model popularly called "Big Data"�. The ethical impact of Big Data on business practices has been undeniable, however, the ethical concerns of Big Data methodology in academia have yet to be explored, as research in this emerging discipline is relatively new. Thus, the overarching question for this study is as follows: How can we use rhetorical, scientific, and technical communication perspectives to understand ethical concerns in the design, application, and documentation of learning analytics in post-secondary education? To investigate this question, I conducted a five-stage study using a cross-disciplinary perspective based on existing frameworks in rhetoric and scientific and technical communication, united by their ethical lens, from genre, persuasion, human-computer interaction, social power, semiotics, visual design, new media literacy, and pedagogy to create a matrix for understanding ethical concerns in learning analytics in post-secondary education. During this study, the inability of students to provide input into the learning analytics process was the concern most often revealed, followed by a lack of context for interpreting the data by both institutional users and students, and the potential inaccuracies in the predictive model caused by inaccurate or incomplete data. Secondary concerns included an undefined institutional responsibility to act on data, which could put the institution at risk for legal action, as well as the possibility for discrimination to occur during the learning analytics process. I provide strategies and responses to address ethical concerns in the design and documentation of learning analytics that should constitute a minimum level of ethical action. This minimal implementation would ensure that students are shown goodwill by the institution (design), and that institutions are properly implementing learning analytics in terms of transparency of process and equality of benefit to the student (documentation). The strategies and responses to address ethical concerns in the application of learning analytics would be more complex for each situation and type of learning analytics used, but should always consider student engagement and success as the priority.

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