Lying to Clients

Moral philosopher Sissela Bok defines a lie as any intentionally deceptive message which is stated. She defines deception more broadly, as encompassing messages meant to mislead [others] ... through gesture, through disguise, by means of action or inaction, even through silence. This broader category of deception is the subject of study here. This Article will examine overt misstatements and deliberate omissions or failures to disclose information. The determining factor in identifying deception is the lawyer\u27s intent. If the lawyer intends to deceive a client, he or she may accomplish this by telling a lie or by withholding information. Deception by omission and by commission are morally identical: the purpose and the consequences are the same

An investigation of knowledge transfer in information systems (IS) outsourcing

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Inter-organisational knowledge transfer is of central interest both as an academic topic and in business practice. However, despite the attention given to the importance of this subject from different perspectives in various contexts, little is known about how knowledge is transferred from vendors to clients in information systems (IS) outsourcing. This research attempts to address this apparent theoretical and empirical deficiency by providing a deeper understanding and more holistic analysis of the key factors which facilitate or inhibit knowledge transfer success in IS outsourcing. This study employed a qualitative, multiple case study approach in the interpretive paradigm. Data was collected mainly from the IS departments of three public sector organisations in Oman. Oman was chosen as the context for the study due to its rapid growth in recent years and the opportunity to consider the many major IS outsourcing projects which have been undertaken by its public sector. Through semi-structured interviews, this study explored the perspectives of the internal IS staff on their experience of knowledge transfer and learning from vendors through various IS outsourcing projects. Written and electronic documentations as well as non-participant observations also served as important triangulation and complementary sources in understanding the phenomenon being studied and as means of gaining additional perspectives and further insights on key issues. The empirical evidence demonstrated that there are five sets of factors which facilitate or inhibit knowledge transfer success in IS outsourcing. These are: knowledge (knowledge tacitness and knowledge complexity), client (learning intent, absorptive capacity and motivation), vendor (vendor capability, vendor credibility and vendor openness), relationship (relationship quality, relationship duration, relationship governance and organisational distance) and knowledge transfer mechanisms (formal and informal). The findings of this study contributed and extended the growing body of research on IS outsourcing by developing a novel, holistic conceptual framework which examined five sets of factors that impact knowledge transfer success. Additionally, it provided prescriptive value for practitioners seeking to realise efficient and effective knowledge transfer in IS outsourcing

Trust and Exchange : Effects of Temporal Embeddedness and Network Embeddedness on Providing and Dividing a Surplus

Dissertation of the University of Utrecht Mutually profitable cooperation is characterized by the fact that the combined efforts of the cooperating parties generate a certain surplus. The first part of the book studies the production of a surplus as a trust problem between two actors. Should an actor provide resources if the other actor can decide on the division of the surplus if it materializes? Under which conditions is trust in a reasonable division of the surplus warranted? We study the effects of `temporal embeddedness'. If both actors interact repeatedly, they can learn something about the other actor's trustworthiness from past interactions. And, they can control their relation by facilitating or hampering future exchange in which both actors should be interested. The first part of the book studies the effects of such `temporal embeddedness' on the provision of a surplus between two actors. Hypotheses are derived on the basis of a simple social capital stock model. These hypotheses are tested using experiments as well as survey data. The second part of the book studies the division of a given surplus. We consider the case where actors are embedded in a network structure and connected actors can engage in dyadic negotiations on the division of a surplus. We show how the actors' network embeddedness determines their success in bargaining. We thus provide predictions on the actors' shares of their surpluses from bilateral negotiations with their partners. Further, we specify conditions for a decay of a negotiation structure into substructures by showing that it is sometimes favorable for an actor not to utilize possible negotiation ties. Predictions on the division of a surplus and on `network breaks' are tested using evidence from laboratory experiments.

Democratic State and Democratic Society

This book focuses on institutional change in Nordic societies. Among the Nordics, the main emphasis is on Norway, in many ways the best example of neo-corporatism. The main emphasise is put on the interplay of democracy and social institutions

Planning for Retirement: Save More or Retire Later?

The overall goal of this dissertation is to study the (psychological) processes underlying individuals’ tendencies to consider adjustments in their retirement planning with regard to saving (more) and with regard to when to retir

Stoicism and Just War Theory

The ancient philosophy of Stoicism, itself one of the foundations for international law, can improve contemporary just war thinking by forming a coherent set of philosophical principles to serve as a foundation for a just war theory. A Stoic approach considers justifications for moral actions to come not from an appeal to human rights, conformity to deontological rules, or from the utility of the actions themselves, but from virtuous character traits and corresponding virtuous actions. As such, a Stoic approach to just war theory is a virtue ethics perspective in which metaethical incentive for moral action is the agent’s own flourishing and successful life (eudaimonia). Such a theory is concerned with ‘internal justice’ rather than the ‘external justice’ of international laws, rules, or norms. Stoic justice is based on the conception of oikeiosis, with its dual aspects: the presumed natural desire for self-preservation, leading to the selection of things appropriate to the human constitution; and the supposed social instinct, most notably exemplified by affection for those in the agent’s ‘concentric circles of concern.’ As equally a natural law theory and a virtue ethic, Stoic just war theory also attempts to answer points of contention between political realism and cosmopolitanism. This work outlines and, in a precursory way, develops other implications of Stoic philosophy for just war theory derived from relevant (and salvageable) Stoic positions on physics and metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, moral psychology, and political philosophy. This project also examines the actions of ancient Stoic- or Stoically inclined- statemen in order to demonstrate the possibility, within its historical context, of Stoic justice in warfare. The Stoic just war theory answers problems and criticisms from other positions on natural law, virtue ethics, and just war. A minor theme of this project attempts to develop an education program in Stoic just war theory based on the ancient Stoics’ own program for education

Bargaining power, ownership and control of international joint ventures in Taiwan

This thesis provides an empirical analysis of international joint venture activities in Taiwan. The primary purpose is to examine control and its antecedents in terms of ownership, bargaining power, resources contribution, and motivation for forming international joint ventures. Primary data collected by a mail questionnaire is analysed along five core dimensions of international joint venture activities. First, the mechanism, focus, and extent of parent control is identified and tested in a number of sample characteristics. These empirical results also reveal that most joint ventures in Taiwan have higher autonomy and have more autonomy on the appointment of key function managers. Parent firms seek to focus their control over specific activities of the joint ventures rather than attempting to control the entire range of joint venture activities. Second, the results of equity shares held by the host country parents and foreign parents show that both parents have minority shareholding in the joint ventures. A higher ownership by the parents in joint ventures indicates that they have a higher percentage of board members. Third, the relative importance of a set of bargaining power is identified with hypothesis testing of the relationship between control and bargaining power. There is little evidence that the relationship between bargaining power and control is not closely associated. Fourth, the relative importance of resource contribution by parents is identified and hypotheses are tested on the relationship between control and resource contribution factors. The results are strongly supported that the relationships between resource contributions in terms of physical, invisible, financial, human, and organizational ability of parents and their control has significant and positive associations. Fifth, the relative importance of a set of motives for international joint venture formation is identified and hypotheses are tested on the relationship between control and motivation factors in terms of technological acquisition, knowledge learning, risk sharing, competitive strategy consideration, resource complementarily, market expansion. The findings reveal a limited number of significant correlations between motivation factors and control