Public accounting firms must balance conflicting goals, including returning a profit for their owners (commercialism) and serving the public interest (professionalism). However, little is known about how these firms address this conflict and how it impacts financial performance. This study examines how accounting firms identify themselves in their mission statements through communicating their commercial or professional orientation. Our results suggest mission statements vary based on the service line from which accounting firms derive the majority of their revenue and (...) firm size. The mission statements of Tax and Management Advisory Services-dominant firms include more references to the commercial aspects of the public accounting enterprise, while Auditing and Accounting firms focus more on the professional aspects. Additionally, smaller (_larger_) firms are more likely to have mission statements that use language consistent with a professional (_commercial_) identity. We also find that commercialism-oriented components are positively associated with firm revenue growth and professionalism-oriented components are associated with lower revenue generation. We contribute to the mission statement literature by highlighting the association between mission statements and firm performance and to the accounting literature by providing empirical evidence of the role of mission statements in establishing the tone at the top of public accounting firms. (shrink)

From pluralism to consensus on terms of reference for the philosophy of education -- Approaches to a philosophy of education in the Philippine setting -- A philosophy of education based on a hermeneutics of retrieval -- A philosophy of education based on a hermeneutics of retrieval, the immediate past -- A philosophy of education based on a hermeneutics of the present -- A philosophy of education based on a hermeneutics of the potential, the future -- Integration.

This paper examines the relationship between university mission statements and sustainability practices by institutions of higher education. We examine mission statement constructs and the degree to which higher educational institutions meet specific sustainability criteria in line with the College Sustainability Report Card. Our sample consists of 347 universities from the Sustainable Endowment Institute's (2011) Green Report Card. Previous research suggests that mission statements are essential for superior organizational performance outcomes. We examine the relationship between university (...) class='Hi'>mission statement content and sustainability practices. Findings indicate that the greater the number of specific terms used in the university mission statements, the higher the statistical likelihood that those universities had higher sustainability ratings. Findings also indicate that private institutions and nonreligious‐affiliated institutions are more likely to include sustainability constructs in their mission statements than colleges and universities with religious affiliation and public institutions. Several propositions to guide future research are discussed. (shrink)

This paper seeks to discover whether companies that adopt a stakeholder approach, and thereby demonstrate a wider remit of corporate responsibility, provide inferior returns to those that embrace the shareholder value approach. To classify approaches, mission statements were analysed, the final sample comprising 32 shareholder oriented companies and 48 stakeholder oriented companies. To assess performance both accounting–based and market–based measures were used. A number of moderating variables were taken into account: systematic (beta) risk, gearing (long–term debt to total long–term (...) finance), tax ratios, and firm size. ANOVA and Kruskall–Wallis tests revealed that mission orientation did not affect performance, whether in terms of stock returns or excess returns. Neither were accounting returns on equity different overall, although shareholder oriented companies experienced wider variations in this measure. A number of multiple regressions were also performed. However, the mission dummy was not found to be a significant variable. (shrink)

The accuracy of corporate mission statements has not been well explored. In this study, the authors investigate the relationship between mission statement content and stakeholder management actions. Findings indicate that although social issues such as the environment and diversity are less frequently included, their mention in mission statements is significantly associated with behaviors regarding these issues. The study found no relationship between firms with mission statements that mention specific stakeholder groups (employees, customers, and community) and (...) behaviors regarding these stakeholders. This suggests that the inclusion of specific stakeholder groups in missions is likely the result of institutional pressures, while specifying social issues in missions is related to policy decisions. (shrink)

Does ethical content in organizational mission statements make a difference? Research regarding the effectiveness and results of mission statements is mixed. Krohe (1995, Across the board, 32, 17–21) concluded that much of the good results do not come from the mission statements themselves but from the strategic re-education that happens in producing one. We attempted to discover whether universities that explicitly state their ethical orientation and vision in their mission statements had students with higher perceived character (...) trait importance and activities that reinforce character than universities that did not. While the faculty and administration may receive benefits from mission statement development through strategic re-education as Krohe suggested, do the statements influence the students at the university who may have had no role in its creation? Using a sample of senior business students at 16 universities we found that students at universities with ethical statements in their mission statements had significantly higher perceived character trait importance and character reinforcement than those at universities whose missions lacked ethical statements. This research suggests that schools that explicitly stated ethical content in their␣mission statements do influence student ethical orientation. (shrink)

The vision and mission statements of 24 environmental organisations were analysed under the premise that the language used in these statements reflects and influences the priorities of their operation. A dominant perspective, hinging on the concept of 'sustainable development', merged the profile of government agencies and non-governmental groups. The language reflected an utilitarian ethics: the environment was more generally portrayed as resources than as nature. Aesthetic remarks were exceptional, even among groups focusing on wildlife. Despite a broadly claimed link (...) between human welfare and habitat viability, environmental issues were not broadly referred to by humanitarian organisations, while conservation groups comply with societal priorities and needs. Organisational statements seem more concerned about political legitimation by audiences with specific expectations than about articulating purposes with internal structural consequences or goals that advocate change or reflect organisational uniqueness. (shrink)

Abstract:The mission and value statements of healthcare organizations serve as the foundational philosophy that informs all aspects of the organization. The ultimate goal is seamless alignment of values to mission in a way that colors the overall life and culture of the organization. However, full alignment between healthcare organizational values and mission in a fashion that influences the daily life and culture of healthcare organizations does not always occur. Grounded in the belief that a lack of organizational (...) alignment to explicit organizational mission and value statements often stems from the failure to develop processes that enable realization of the leadership’s good intentions, the authors propose an organizational ethics dashboard to empower leaders of healthcare organizations to assess the adequacy of systems in place to support alignment with the stated ethical mission. (shrink)

This text presents and comments on 80 exemplary ethics statements from leading corporations and organizations worldwide. It offers these seven principles to follow in developing such statements: write it; tailor it; communicate it; promote it; revise it; live it; and enforce/reinforce it.

In this article, we consider a recent trend whereby private equity available from venture capital firms is being deployed toward mission-driven initiatives in the form of impact investing. Acting as hybrid organizations, these impact investors aim to achieve financial results while also targeting companies and funds to achieve social impact. However, potential mission drift in these VCs, which we define as a decoupling between the investments made and intended aims, might become detrimental to the simultaneous financial and social (...) goals of such firms. Based on a content analysis of mission statements, we assess mission drift and the hybridization level of VC impact investors by examining their missions and their investment practices through the criteria of social and financial logic. After examining eight impact-oriented VC investors and their investments in 164 companies, we find mission drift manifest as a disparity between the means and ends in half of the VC impact investors in our sample. We discuss these findings and make suggestions for further studies. (shrink)

In this brief article, essential content from mission statements by three different church groupings is compared and contrasted. Lausanne’s Cape Town Commitment is brought together with the WCC’s Together Towards Life and the Vatican’s Evangelii Gaudium. This article identifies considerable convergences between the three agendas and sees these as grounds not only for general optimism for the future of mission, but also for meaningful dialogue and appropriate strategies for the work.

Many business schools profess a commitment to ethics in their mission statements and focus a spotlight on the intersection between the university’s mission and attention to business ethics. To explore this trend, we analyze a sample of students’ values from two universities with an explicit religious foundation and recognized commitment to ethics against students from another university where this attention is not as explicit. This study identifies the personal values orientations (PVOs) for these students, born between 1980 and (...) 2000, thus millennials, and considers if differences can be attributed to the university’s culture and mission or business school curriculum. We utilize Social Identity Theory as a promising framework for illuminating these considerations. Our results confirm that a religious‐orientation characterizing a university’s mission may influence the business students’ (or millennials’) PVOs. Students at the two religious institutions manifested a stronger social, rather than personal, and moral, rather than competence, value orientation. Only marginal differences were discovered when assessing within group differences in the value orientations among our sample of business students. (shrink)

This article examines the current use of Jesus language in a convenience sample of twenty-five mission statements from Roman Catholic hospitals and health care systems in the United States. Only twelve statements specifically use the words “Jesus” or “Christ” in their mission statements. The author advocates the use of explicit Jesus language and modeling. While the witness of Jesus in the Gospel healing narratives is not the only corrective to current abuses in the health care delivery system, it (...) is foundational to the integrity of Roman Catholic health care identity and mission. An analysis of Gospel healing narratives is used to illustrate the prophetic dimension of Jesus' wisdom, word, and witness. (shrink)

Many journalism organizations have published codes of ethics in recent years. The Association of Newspaper Editors, for example, lists 47 different codes on its website. But an organization of health care journalists felt that none of those codes addressed the unique challenges of covering complex health care topics. The Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ) is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to advancing public understanding of health care issues. Its mission is to improve the quality, accuracy and visibility of (...) health care reporting, writing and editing. AHCJ has written a statement of principles for its 750 members. In it, AHCJ states some of the unique challenges faced by journalists covering health care, and offers suggestions on how to face those challenges. Bioethicists are invited to comment on the statement, and to help generate continued discussion of the issues addressed therein. (shrink)

There is an internal connection between ecclesiology, the teaching about the Church that we call academic ecclesiology, and mission, which is the inner heart of the Church and becomes visible through different practices. For the Orthodox Church involved in the ecumenical movement, there is a struggle to balance ecclesiology (theology) with ecumenical mission and dialogue (practice) in a divided Christian world. Nevertheless, the recent Synod of Crete (June 2016) addressed some important elements of this struggle. I have in (...) mind, for example, the act to accept the historical name of other non-Orthodox Christian Churches and Confessions that are not in communion with it. Also, this is the first Synod of the Orthodox Churches in modern times at which ecumenical dialogue, especially in the World Council of Churches, is officially affirmed. Because of mission dialogue has to continue, “if we wish never to ‘put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ’ (1 Cor 9:12).” The present paper highlights those statements of the Holy and Great Council which have direct relevance for discussing the relation of ecclesiology and mission. I assert that we should understand firstly the document Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the of the Christian World and only then reflect upon The Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today’s World (MOCT). Furthermore, I will make some references to the other texts which were central for this conference: The Cape Town Commitment (CTC), Together Towards Life (TTL) and Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (EG). I conclude by exposing briefly my reflections after reading these mission documents and by formulating some agenda points for further work in theology of mission. (shrink)

The author comments on the Consensus Statement from the point of view of an ethics consultant in Germany. Since many hospitals in Germany are under considerable competitive pressure, mission statements are becoming more and more important in order to draw a distinction between the different hospital types and to convey the meaning of the corporate identity both internally and externally. The Consensus Statement, which provides basic orientation without going into too much detail, can be a helpful initial (...) document. However, it does not deal with two specific problem areas which are examined more closely in the commentary: the application of risk-of-death algorithms in ICUs and the question of church membership of the caregivers to enable a proper preparation for death. The commentary also reveals certain differences in the discussions taking place in Anglo-Saxon countries and Continental Europe. (shrink)

Beginning with the present number of The Pluralist, we commence an association with the well known and widely respected Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, founded in 1972. It is a pleasant circumstance that we can combine our twenty-five-year history of service to pluralistic and personalist philosophies with the admirable mission of the SAAP, which has always stood for openness and responsible philosophical growth with an eye to the lessons of the past and an orientation to a more (...) ideal future for the natural world, its inhabitants, and the role of thought in guiding and evaluating our common direction.Our journal will publish the best and most representative offerings at the annual meeting of .. (shrink)

The authors led the development of a framework for ethical decision-making for an Academic Health Sciences Centre. They understood the existing mission, vision, and values statement (MVVs) of the centre as a foundational assertion that embodies an ethical commitment of the institution. Reflecting the Patient and Family Centred Model of Care the institution is living, the MVVs is a suitable base on which to construct an ethics framework. The resultant framework consists of a set of questions for each (...) of the MVVs. Users of the framework are expected to identify two or more possible decisions to address the issue at hand and then, by applying the provided sequence of questions to each, examine these options and determine the overall ethically preferable decision. The construction of such a framework requires the creative involvement of the institution’s staff. Thus the development of the framework can represent a training process in ethical decision-making as well as advance the ethical atmosphere of the institution. This novel approach has the advantage of placing the MVVs on active duty, at the centre of ethical decision-making, and lifts it from its otherwise relative obscurity in most institutions. (shrink)

Although family business comprises the majority of global business, it is significantly under-researched. Yet it is considered to have unique ethical values compared to non-family corporations. This is attributable to its family orientation. Therefore, it is worthwhile to identify and define dominant family business ethics values. The authors compare a sample of the U.S. family business, U.S. corporate entities, and international family business mission statements for frequency of ethics values. The data reveals three primary findings: (1) generally, the U.S. (...) family business expressed a higher frequency of ethical values than its non-family corporate and international counterpart, (2) U.S. family business has a strong lead in “integrity” and “honesty” whereas international family business leads in “environmentalism,” “globalism,” and “social responsibility,” and (3) generally, the frequency of ethics values for all family business globally has increased over time. The family business mission statement continues to provide ethical direction for the majority of global business. The emerging family business values identified in our sample will further impact global business success and promote ethical sustainability world-wide. (shrink)

Yinshun is regarded as one of the most eminent monks in twentieth-century Chinese Buddhism. Previous research has argued that Yinshun especially undertook the mission of writing new commentaries on Madhyamaka texts. His efforts provoked a revival of interest towards the Madhyamaka school among contemporary Chinese Buddhists, and a re-assessment of the position of the writings of N?g?rjuna within the history of Chinese Buddhism. This article focuses on Yinshun’s restatement of the nature of the M?lamadhyamakak?rik?, a text that has always (...) been regarded as fundamental in the Madhyamaka/San-lun tradition in China. The first part analyzes Yinshun’s textual study of the M?lamadhyamakak?rik?, examining his approach to the text, and how he came to terms with previous Chinese traditional textual scholarship and canonical scriptures. The second part discusses Yinshun’s interpretation of the text by moving away from the micro-context of Chinese San-lun scholarship, and addressing the macro-context of the modern Chinese understanding of the Mah?y?na. (shrink)

Every school has a mission statement based on values and ethical beliefs. Ethics for Teachers and Middle Leaders sets out a way of thinking through the key issues of ethics in teaching and shows how a school's ethical values can be translated by students and staff into action. It is designed to help rehearse certain ethical dilemmas and guide teacher leaders in helping others to think through and develop appropriate behaviours. Chapters consider the role of ethics in all (...) aspects of school life including teacher professionalism, teaching methods, lesson planning and assessment. This book not only examines everyday concerns such as class management and presenting curriculum ethically, but also touches upon emerging issues in e-learning, career building, leadership and school governance. Packed full of real examples from schools and opportunities to reflect, the book will help readers to understand how their behaviour, decisions and advice to others might be guided and to avoid some of the common pitfalls in school. This insightful book will instil confidence in teachers and middle leaders as they face such ethical dilemmas in their daily work. (shrink)

The first editorial in the Journal of Medical Ethics described an ambition to be a ‘forum for the reasoned discussion of moral issues arising from the provision of medical care’.1 While that statement of intent might seem broad, it is one that has been reaffirmed by successive editors of the journal.2–4 It is an aim that aligns with the mission statement of JME and The Institute of Medical Ethics, to promote ‘ethical reflection and conduct in scientific research (...) and medical conduct.’ It is an end worthy of some reflection because it illuminates how the journal has developed and implies a conception of what good medical ethics is. During his time as editor, Raanan Gillon was a champion for philosophical medical ethics and he wrote an excellent and influential book on that topic.5 In the July issue of JME, Julian Savulescu, Tom Douglas and Dominic Wilkinson affirm the importance of philosophical medical ethics and ably demonstrate why it matters in the Charlie Gard case.6 Does that mean papers published in the JME must be philosophical? In one sense, clearly no and in another yes. Good medical ethics is not philosophy. The degree of scepticism, the narrow focus on a search for truth, the technical nature of some philosophy and it not needing to deliver normative or practical ethical conclusions mean that a narrowly philosophical approach is unlikely to be good medical ethics. JME has never been a narrowly philosophical journal and the perils of this were described well by its first editor: > We therefore intend to put editorial weight behind what we consider to be carefully argued and well informed judgments and not to allow every value …. (shrink)

Within contemporary health care, many of the decisions affecting the health and well-being of patients are not being made by the clinicians or health professionals, but by those involved in health care management. Existing literature on organizational ethics provides insight into the various structures, processes and strategies - such as mission statement, ethics committees, ethical rounds … - that exist to create an organizational climate, which fosters ethical practices and decision-making It does not, however, show how health care (...) managers experience their job as being intrinsically ethical in itself. In the present article, we investigate the way in which ethical values are present in the lived experiences and daily practice of health care management. What does it imply to take up a managing position within a health care institution and to try to do this in an ethically inspired way? We carried out a qualitative study (Grounded Theory Approach) to explore the essence of values-based leadership in health care. We interviewed 15 people with extensive experience in health care management in the fields of elderly care, hospital care and mental health care in the various regions of Flanders, Belgium. Six predominant themes, presented as metaphors, illustrate the essence of values-based leadership in health care management. These are: (1) values-based health care management as managing a large garden, (2) as learning and using a foreign language, (3) going on a trekking with an ethical compass, (4) embodying integrity and authenticity in a credible encounter with everyone, (5) being a present and trustworthy leader during sun and storm, and (6) contributing to human flourishing by giving people wings to fly. Notwithstanding the importance of organizing a good ethics infrastructure, values-based leadership in health care entails much more than that. It is about the co-creation of an integrated and comprehensive ethical climate of which community-model thinking and authentic leadership are essential components. As a never-ending process, the six metaphors can help leaders to take substantive proactive steps to shape a fruitful ethical climate within their organization. (shrink)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced recently that food products derived from some animal clones and their offspring are safe for human consumption. In response to criticism that it had failed to engage with ethical, social, and economic concerns raised by livestock cloning, the FDA argued that addressing normative issues prior to issuing a final ruling on animal cloning is not part of its mission. In this article, the authors reject the FDA's claim that its mission (...) to protect and advance public health can be accomplished without considering ethical issues or without making value judgments. The authors offer two arguments in support of their position. First, the agency's mission statement presupposes significant normative commitments and judgments. Second, the FDA's risk assessment of food products from cloned animals and their offspring is itself clearly shaped by a variety of normative commitments. (shrink)

Today's complex and decentralized organization gives rise to organizational needs for both loyalty and institutionalized whistle blowing. However, ethicists see a contradiction between both needs. This paper argues there is no such contradiction. It shows why earlier attempts to go beyond the dilemma are not satisfying. The solution proposed in this paper starts from an organizational perspective instead of an individual one. It does so by reframing the concept of loyalty into rational loyalty. This means that the object of loyalty (...) is not the physicality of an organization, but its corpus of explicit mission statement, goals, value statement and code of conduct. An implication is that organizations are – as their side of the duty of loyalty – obliged to institutionalize whistle blowing. (shrink)

The dramatic increase in the number of corporate ethical codes over the past 20 years has been attributed to the Watergate scandal and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Ethical codes differ somewhat from profesional codes and mission statements; yet the terms are frequently interchanged and often confused in the literature. Ethical code studies are reviewed in terms of how codes are communicated to employees and whether implications for violating codes are discussed. Most studies use content analysis to determine subjects (...) in codes. Little information is available about how codes are communicated, whether they are accepted and used by employees, and whether they affect employee/corporate behavior. More research on ethical codes is needed to answer some of these questions. (shrink)

One’s philosophical points of view, which form the bases for assumptions that we bring to management theory and practice matter, and matter deeply, to management thinking and corporate behavior. In this paper I outline three related threads of philosophical conversations and explain how they are important in management theory and practice: the “linguistic turn” in philosophy, deriving from the later writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein, a social constructionist perspective: a set of theories at least implicitly derived from the linguistic turn in (...) philosophy, and the notion of the impartial spectator. I then use these three theories to analyze the idea of the corporation, corporate cultures and corporate mission statements, stakeholder theories and their differences, and the limitations of the popular notion of “corporate social responsibility.” I conclude that how one frames these management ideas makes a difference, a difference in theory and in practice. (shrink)

This paper acknowledges the paucity of attention regarding the development of ethics programs within an academic environment and describes in a case study how the Duquesne University schools of business attempted to introduce, integrate and promote its own ethics program. The paper traces the business school’s attention to mission statements, curriculum development, ethics policy, program oversight and outcome assessment. Lessons learned are offered as suggestions for others seeking to develop and implement an ethics program in their school.

Art can be addressed, not just to individuals, but to groups. Art can even be part of how groups think to themselves – how they keep a grip on their values over time. I focus on monuments as a case study. Monuments, I claim, can function as a commitment to a group value, for the sake of long-term action guidance. Art can function here where charters and mission statements cannot, precisely because of art’s powers to capture subtlety and emotion. (...) In particular, art can serve as the vessel for group emotions, by making emotional content sufficiently public so as to be the object of a group commitment. Art enables groups to guide themselves with values too subtle to be codified. (shrink)

This paper will examine the topic of identity in Roman Catholicism from the perspective of topics contained in or absent from mission statements of 25 Catholic health care institutions. In particular, I will look at these from the perspective of social justice as well as how this and other topics such as human dignity, the sanctity of life, stewardship, pastoral care and the likelihood of mergers with other institutions will affect the healing ministry of Catholic health care providers. The (...) article will conclude that there are three key dimensions to Catholic health care: leadership in advocating reform of the current health care system, care for the marginalized and under-insured, and the provision of pastoral care in all institutions. (shrink)

When the Federal Communications Commission considered revamping its policies, many political activists argued that media conglomerates had failed to meet their duties to protect freedom of speech. Moveon's dispute with CBS over its proposed Superbowl advertisement and Michael Moore's quarrel over distribution of his documentary, Fahrenheit 911, are cases in point. In matters of pure entertainment, the public expect companies to avoid offensive programming. The press, on the other hand, may well be forced to offend some audience members in order (...) to create a viable forum for political dissent. As journalism and entertainment are increasingly inter-linked, an in depth moral analysis of the media corporation and its obligations becomes increasingly important. I explore Kantian, Utilitarian, and Rawlsian analyses of corporate obligation in the aforementioned cases. I then examine whether or not these results suggest anything more generally about the sorts of mission statements and ethical policies that ought to be endorsed by media conglomerates and whether non-business institutions also require changes. Ultimately, I suggest that at a minimum, media institutions should view the duty to promote the representation of diverse views in a democracy as an imperfect moral and civic duty rather than making programming decisions solely by reference to profit. Ideally, greater access to media access should not be increased for the most powerful unless doing so at the same time increases free speech opportunities for those who currently have the least access. (shrink)

Universities want to prepare students intellectually so that they might eventually find successful, fulfilling work. Since work is synonymous with business – no work ever exists outside of business – one of the academy's primary goals is to help students enter the world of business, regardless of their majors. Many universities also declare within their mission statements a desire to cultivate a student body capable of making ethically informed decisions. Consequently we might conceptualize "business ethics" as not simply one (...) field within the academic constellation, but rather the conceptual glue holding together the curriculum. And since the most significant new development in business within the past decade is arguably the emergence of theories of sustainable business practice, we would do well to consider the role business ethics can play in the creation of a new "sustainable curriculum.". (shrink)

Many Faculties of Education in the UK and elsewhere have ‘social justice’ written into their mission statements. But are they concerned by questions of social justice in education, or has the term become somewhat vacuous and devoid of substantive meaning? The present article subjects recent discourses about social justice in education to scrutiny and finds them wanting in various respects, in particular when juxtaposed with historical accounts of justice by philosophers such as Aristotle or Aquinas. Among the complaints made (...) here is that most educational accounts (a) make do with a ‘negative’ conception of social justice as focused on specific cases of injustices without any positive conception of what social justice means in its entirety, (b) foreground institutional justice at the expense of justice as a moral or civic virtue, (c) fail to connect the identification of justice or injustice to an account of phronesis or practical wisdom for integrating values, (d) shy away from associating social justice with the ‘common good’ and (e) fail to get to grips with some thorny normative questions about the role of justice in the ordering of goods in a hierarchy towards the highest good. Along the way, various remedies are suggested. (shrink)

Despite the moral aspirations of their mission statements, universities often base technology decisions on technical and financial considerations. This paper will explore what it would be like to prioritize ethical considerations in the selection and deployment of technology in higher education. Using the example of a mission grounded in the principles of integral human development and justice (drawing on sources in the Catholic tradition), it will sketch out a six-point framework for considering technologies: enhancement of access to educational (...) opportunities; implementation of structures to support teaching and learning; persistence of embodied corporate interaction; upholding the dignity of work and workers (students, faculty, administrators, and staff); transparency; and maintaining free spaces for exploration and innovation. (shrink)

Declarations of the importance of dignity in health care are commonplace in codes of practice and other mission statements, yet these documents never clarify dignity’s meaning. Their vague aspirations are compared to comments from staff and patients about opportunities for and barriers against the promotion of dignity in elderly care institutions. These suggest that while nurses and health care assistants have an intuitive understanding of dignity, they either do not or cannot always bring it about in practice. Thus, despite (...) stated intentions to promote dignity, it appears that the circumstances of at least some elderly care institutions cause patients to experience avoidable indignities. Such institutions are “undignifying institutions” because they fail to acknowledge dignity’s basic components, focus excessively on quantifiable priorities, and have insufficient resources available to assure consistently dignifying care. As a partial solution, we argue that health workers should be taught to understand and specify the components of dignity, which will better prepare them to challenge undignifying practices and to recognise opportunities for dignity promotion. (shrink)

While the consequences of mathematically-based software, algorithms and strategies have become ever wider and better appreciated, ethical reflection on mathematics has remained primitive. We review the somewhat disconnected suggestions of commentators in recent decades with a view to piecing together a coherent approach to ethics in mathematics. Calls for a Hippocratic Oath for mathematicians are examined and it is concluded that while lessons can be learned from the medical profession, the relation of mathematicians to those affected by their work is (...) significantly different. There is something to be learned also from the codes of conduct of cognate but professionalised quantitative disciplines such as engineering and accountancy, as well as from legal principles bearing on professional work. We conclude with recommendations that professional societies in mathematics should sponsor an (international) code of ethics, institutional mission statements for mathematicians and syllabuses of ethics courses for incorporation into mathematics degrees. (shrink)

The Third Revolution is an examination of the historic transformations in contemporary China. Elizabeth C. Economy is director for Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. According to its mission statement, the CFR is a think tank “dedicated to being a resource for … government officials, business executives, journalists, educators and students … to help them better understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States.” The Third Revolution is about the societal, economic, and (...) political changes under the administration of General Secretary Xi Jinping. Published by Oxford as a CFR Book, the study is written from a foreign policy perspective with regard to strategic U.S.... (shrink)

Today's complex and decentralized organization gives rise to organizational needs for both loyalty and institutionalized whistle blowing. However, ethicists see a contradiction between both needs. This paper argues there is no such contradiction. It shows why earlier attempts to go beyond the dilemma are not satisfying. The solution proposed in this paper starts from an organizational perspective instead of an individual one. It does so by reframing the concept of loyalty into “rational loyalty”. This means that the object of loyalty (...) is not the physicality of an organization, but its corpus of explicit mission statement, goals, value statement and code of conduct. An implication is that organizations are – as their side of the duty of loyalty – obliged to institutionalize whistle blowing. (shrink)

The European Universities Initiative (EUI), created by the European Commission in 2017, is a recent novel phenomenon within the European Union policy toolkit that explicitly targets the development of transnational cooperation in higher education (HE). To date, the EUI counts 44 European university alliances, involving around 340 HE institutions. In this paper, we argue that the EUI can be seen as a case of a transnational institution building process representing a potentially significant structural reform for European higher education. Anchored in (...) new institutionalism, we explore the regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive dimensions of the EUI. Methodologically, this study analyzes the perspectives of European policy actors (n = 4), a set of policy documents (n = 13) and the mission statements of the EUI’s partnerships funded before 2022 (n = 41). The results show that the EUI emerges as the ‘next level of cooperation’ in European HE since it aims to transform European cooperation (regulative dimension), to create and diffuse a new model for European HE following a challenge-based approach (normative dimension), and to work as a way to reinforce and institutionalize European and global scripts for European HE (cultural-cognitive dimension). (shrink)

Policy statements on ethical issues abound. If all organisations which produce mission statements, codes of practice or ethical codes were, therefore, ethical in conduct and performance, business ethics would be non-problematic. However, the effectiveness of corporate codes of ethics is dependent, inter alia, on the day-to-day behaviour of managers.Interest in the impact of ethical codes and mission statements on managerial behaviour has grown in recent years. The assumption underlying this paper is that one way of enriching our understanding (...) of the ethical behaviour of managers is to focus on actual behaviour in real organisations. (shrink)

This paper reports on a study of the largest Spanish corporations concerning the status of corporate ethics policies. The research project, the first of its kind in Spain, has two parts. First, the types of formal documents the companies use are analysed, including those dealing with ethical values or norms. Three groups of companies are distinguished: the first group has no formal documents dealing with ethical values, and the reasons given for not having any ethical statement are discussed. A (...) second group has one document mentioning ethical values (generally the vision and/or mission statement), and a third group has in place two or more documents (one generic and the other more detailed, such as a code of conduct). The findings show that the latter group is more proactive than the former in implementing measures for promoting business ethics throughout the organisation. In the second part of the research, the study analyses the differences between companies whose headquarters are in Spain, Europe and USA regarding the arguments, the focus and the practices used to formalise business ethics. (shrink)

As a result of a gradual shifting of the resourcing of universities from the public to the private sector, the academic institution has been required to acquire some of its additional funding from industry via partnerships based on research and development. This paper examines this new condition and asks whether the different mission statements or modi operandi of the university vis à vis industry throws up additional ethical issues. While there are conditions where the interactions between industry and the (...) university may be seen to be between partners with some degree of equivalence, many such interactions, lacking this balance, are in danger of generating more concerns. It should also not be forgotten that independent publicly funded research establishments may also play an important role in the production of the innovation and development needed to maintain the strength of an industrial economy. (shrink)

The emergence of postdenominational identities has been recognised as a significant development in approaches to mission. These contribute to a deeper form of ecumenism in the way they integrate different traditions in themselves rather than starting from a confessional or correlational outlook. They also seek to develop over time through ongoing dialogue with different traditions. This article examines one such postdenominational identity, the emerging ‘renewalist’ identity that is particularly shaped by the charismatic tradition. A renewalist approach is contrasted with (...) the ecumenical approaches of Lausanne and the World Council of Churches as represented in their latest agreed statements on mission. We also consider the next stage of renewalist development by asking how it might learn from these mission statements. This article strengthens the claim to significance of postdenominational identities and clarifies the nature of renewalist missiology. (shrink)