Justice,instruction, and the good: The case for public education in Aristotle and Plato's Laws

This paper develops an interpretation and analysis of the arguments for public education which open Book VIII of Aristotle's Politics, drawing on both the wider Aristotelian corpus and on examination of continuities with Plato's Laws.Part II: Sections IV–VII examine the arguments for the first of the two conclusions which Aristotle advances in VIII. 1, namely that education is important enough to merit the legislator's attention. It is shown, through a development of links between Politics V and the arguments of VIII. 1, that Aristotle's two arguments for this conclusion are calculated to appeal to two distinct subgroups within his intended audience, those who would be moved by a desire to promote the common good, and those who could only be counted on to desire the preservation of their own rule.     

Civil Ethics and the Validity of Law

This paper aims to clarify the nature and contents of 'civil ethics' and the source of the binding force of its obligations. This ethics should provide the criteria for evaluating the moral validity of social, legal and morally valid law. The article starts with observing that in morally pluralist Western societies civil ethics already exists, and has gradually started to play the role of guiding the law. It is argued that civil ethics should not be conceived as 'civic morals' which is in fact rather 'state ethics', nor as 'public ethics' which is said to reach its perfection when it becomes law, nor as ethics applicable primarily to the basic structure of a society (political liberalism), but instead as a citizens' ethics. Subsequently the paper attempts to show what the contents of this ethics are, and which ethical theory would be able to ground its obligations.     

Examining personality—Job characteristic interactions in explaining work outcomes

Although research suggests personality traits and job characteristics are each important drivers of work outcomes, there has been little focus on potential interactions between the two. In the current studies, we integrate the theory of purposeful work behavior with the job demands-resources model to examine how five-factor model personality traits interact with job resources and challenging job demands in explaining employee motivation and performance. We tested our hypotheses in two studies with different sample types and utilized item response theory scoring. Results across the studies were mixed, but generally support that there are important interactive effects between certain traits and contextual factors in explaining work behavior. Implications for theory and practice and future directions are discussed.     

教师组织公民行为:结构与影响因素的研究

文章采用自编教师组织公民行为问卷对796名中小学教师进行了测查。研究结果表明:教师组织公民行为由学校认同、利他行为、责任意识、人际和谐和资源保护等五个因素构成;职称和学校等级对教师的组织公民行为有显著影响;高级职称教师的组织公民行为高于低级职称教师;省一级学校教师的组织公民行为高于市一级学校教师,而市一级学校教师的组织公民行为高于区一级学校教师。     

Business Research, Self-fulfilling Prophecy, and the Inherent Responsibility of Scholars

Business research and teaching institutions play an important role in shaping the way businesses perceive their relations to the broader society and its moral expectations. Hence, as ethical scandals recently arose in the business world, questions related to the civic responsibilities of business scholars and to the role business schools play in society have gained wider interest. In this article, I argue that these ethical shortcomings are at least partly resulting from the mainstream business model with its taken-for granted basic assumptions such as specialization or the value-neutrality of business research. Redefining the roles and civic responsibilities of business scholars for business practice implies therefore a thorough analysis of these assumptions if not their redefinition. The taken-for-grantedness of the mainstream business model is questioned by the transformation of the societal context in which business activities are embedded. Its value-neutrality in turn is challenged by self-fulfilling prophecy effects, which highlight the normative influence of business schools. In order to critically discuss some basic assumptions of mainstream business theory, I propose to draw parallels with the corporate citizenship concept and the stakeholder theory. Their integrated approach of the relation between business practice and the broader society provides interesting insights for the social reembedding of business research and teaching.     

A dark side of leadership: Corporate psychopathy and its influence on employee well-being and job satisfaction

Although psychopathy often is considered the most toxic of the “types” that make up the Dark Triad of personality (psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism), its role in organizational leadership is the least explored. Using the B-Scan 360, a measure of corporate psychopathy, we investigated the relationships among employees’ perceptions of psychopathic traits in their supervisors, employee psychological distress, work–family conflict, and job satisfaction. Participants in two different samples, one civic and the other financial, rated their supervisors with the B-Scan 360, and completed self-report measures of psychological distress, work–family conflict, and job satisfaction. Structural equation modeling (SEM) indicated that in each sample B-Scan 360 scores of supervisors were directly and negatively related to employee job satisfaction. The two samples differed somewhat in the associations of the B-Scan 360 with employee psychological distress and work–family conflict. Overall, the results illustrate the effects of perceived psychopathic traits in supervisors on employee well-being and job-related attitudes.     

Global ethics: dimensions and prospects

Global ethics is an emerging discipline which has not yet reached maturity. The main tasks before it to gain maturity are: first, to achieve a greater integration of various domains of enquiry all of which are concerned with global normative issues. At a general level this includes integrating global ethics with cosmopolitanism, global justice and human right discourse. At the level of areas of concern, there needs to be greater integration of various areas such as development, trade, environment and climate change. And it must grapple with the question of diversity within universality: how far can diversity of practices be accommodated within a culturally sensitive universal framework? Second, there is the question of finding a shared normative framework with respect to the diverse worldviews that may lie behind this: what degree and kind of convergence/consensus are worth working for? Third, there is the task of creating the conditions for its own wider acceptance, which should include taking the idea of global citizenship seriously.     

Longitudinal Effects of OCB on Cadre Selection and Pursuing a Career as Militia Cadre in the Swiss Armed Forces

In the present investigation longitudinal data obtained from recruits undergoing basic military training in the Swiss Armed Forces were used to examine the effects of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) on a subsequent cadre selection and the willingness to voluntarily pursue a career as militia cadre. Results of the hierarchical logistic regression controlling for demographic variables, cadre recommendation, and allocation to the desired branch of service showed OCB predicted both the selection as cadre and the voluntariness to pursue a career as militia cadre. These effects show to what extent OCB may predict significant additional effort. Results are discussed with regard to further examination of the effects of OCB on career outcomes and selection decisions.     

Fight Islamophobia in Europe? Less Islam and Muslims and More Citizenship!

Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, the overmediatization of Islam and Muslims in Europe has only worsened the perception of them and relationships with them. Communities have been stigmatized by the media because of inappropriate behaviours attributable to many players in the game. All this fear of Islam (Islamophobia) has increasingly transformed into an attitude of rejection towards this paradoxically close and distant Other, which has become a sort of “enemy.” Islam is essentially perceived through the claims of a quite visible minority who believe they have the potential to call into question “European values” (to be defined) in the name of their faith, which is considered by some as aggressive and in search of conquest.This article proposes a change of focus towards being more creative when speaking about Muslims and favouring a more civic approach. Before being Muslims, they are people who enjoy a legal framework that assures them of their dignity and their individual freedom in exchange for fulfilling their civic duties towards the State and their fellow citizens.