Graduate employability and the principle of potentiality: an aspect of the ethics of HRM

The recruitment of the next generation of workers is of central concern to contemporary HRM. This paper focuses on university campuses as a major site of this process, and particularly as a new domain in which HRM‟s ethical claims are configured, in which it sets and answers a range of ethical questions as it outlines the „ethos‟ of the ideal future worker. At the heart of this ethos lies what we call the „principle of potentiality‟. This principle is explored through a sample of graduate recruitment programmes from the Times Top 100 Graduate Employers, interpreted as ethical exhortations in HRM‟s attempt to shape the character of future workers. The paper brings the work of Georg Simmel to the study of HRM‟s ethics and raises the uncomfortable question that, within discourses of endless potentiality, lie ethical dangers which bespeak an unrecognised „tragedy of culture‟. We argue that HRM fashions an ethos of work which de-recognises human limits, makes a false promise of absolute freedom, and thus becomes a tragic proposition for the individual

Managerial appropriations of the ethos of democratic practice:rating, 'policing', and performance management

This article examines how new types of performance appraisal reconfigure everyday personal relationships at work. These systems deploy smartphone technologies to be used continuously by individuals to rate each other. Our aim is to show, in concrete terms, how these practices claim to configure a democratic space where individuals are liberated to express their views about each other’s work. On the contrary, we argue that by being placed in continuous confrontation with each other’s ratings, the genuine space for democratic contestation, for the establishment of a genuine community, as well as for critique and dissent is—paradoxically—narrowed down. The first section of this article explores the context in which managerialism has become consolidated at the centre of neo-liberal politics in a dialogue with some of Mouffe’s and Rancière’s arguments. We use Rancière’s concept of “policing” to understand how managerial techniques subvert genuine democratic spaces, modes of participation and expression. Using performance appraisal systems as an example, the second part of the article provides a critical investigation which shows how managerialism intervenes at the very roots of possible democratic engagement and undermines dissent in subtle ways

Detecting volcanic sulfur dioxide plumes in the Northern Hemisphere using the Brewer spectrophotometer, other networks, and satellite observations

This paper demonstrates that SO 2 columnar amounts have significantly increased following the five largest volcanic eruptions of the past decade in the Northern Hemisphere. A strong positive signal was detected by all the existing networks either ground based (Brewer, EARLINET, AirBase) or from satellites (OMI, GOME-2). The study particularly examines the adequacy of the existing Brewer network to detect SO 2 plumes of volcanic origin in comparison to other networks and satellite platforms. The comparison with OMI and 45 GOME-2 SO 2 space-borne retrievals shows statistically significant agreement between the Brewer network data and the collocated satellite overpasses. It is shown that the Brewer instrument is capable of detecting significant columnar SO 2 increases following large volcanic eruptions, when SO 2 levels rise well above the instrumental noise of daily observations, estimated to be of the order of 2 DU. A model exercise from the MACC project shows that the large increases of SO 2 over Europe following the Bárðarbunga eruption in Iceland were not caused by local sources or ship emissions but are clearly linked to the eruption. We propose that by combining Brewer data with that from other networks and satellites, a useful tool aided by trajectory analyses and modeling could be created which can be used to forecast high SO 2 values both at ground level and in air flight corridors following future eruptions

Multi-sectoral Impact Assessment of an Extreme African Dust Episode in the Eastern Mediterranean in March 2018

In late March 2018, a large part of the Eastern Mediterranean experienced an extraordinary episode of African dust, one of the most intense in recent years, here referred to as the “Minoan Red” event. The episode mainly affected the Greek island of Crete, where the highest aerosol concentrations over the past 15 yeas were recorded, although impacts were also felt well beyond this core area. Our study fills a gap in dust research by assessing the multi-sectoral impacts of sand and dust storms and their socioeconomic implications. Specifically, we provide a multi-sectoral impact assessment of Crete during the occurrence of this exceptional African dust event. During the day of the occurrence of the maximum dust concentration in Crete, i.e. March 22nd, 2018, we identified impacts on meteorological conditions, agriculture, transport, energy, society (including closing of schools and cancellation of social events), and emergency response systems. As a result, the event led to a 3-fold increase in daily emergency responses compare to previous days associated with urban emergencies and wildfires, a 3.5-fold increase in hospital visits and admissions for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) exacerbations and dyspnoea, a reduction of visibility causing aircraft traffic disruptions (eleven cancellations and seven delays), and a reduction of solar energy production. We estimate the cost of direct and indirect effects of the dust episode, considering the most affected socio-economic sectors (e.g. civil protection, aviation, health and solar energy production), to be between 3.4 and 3.8 million EUR for Crete. Since such desert dust transport episodes are natural, meteorology-driven and thus to a large extent unavoidable, we argue that the efficiency of actions to mitigate dust impacts depends on the accuracy of operational dust forecasting and the implementation of relevant early warning systems for social awareness

Multi-sectoral impact assessment of an extreme African dust episode in the Eastern Mediterranean in March 2018

In late March 2018, a large part of the Eastern Mediterranean experienced an extraordinary episode of African dust, one of the most intense in recent years, here referred to as the “Minoan Red” event. The episode mainly affected the Greek island of Crete, where the highest aerosol concentrations over the past 15 yeas were recorded, although impacts were also felt well beyond this core area. Our study fills a gap in dust research by assessing the multi-sectoral impacts of sand and dust storms and their socioeconomic implications. Specifically, we provide a multi-sectoral impact assessment of Crete during the occurrence of this exceptional African dust event. During the day of the occurrence of the maximum dust concentration in Crete, i.e. March 22nd, 2018, we identified impacts on meteorological conditions, agriculture, transport, energy, society (including closing of schools and cancellation of social events), and emergency response systems. As a result, the event led to a 3-fold increase in daily emergency responses compare to previous days associated with urban emergencies and wildfires, a 3.5-fold increase in hospital visits and admissions for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) exacerbations and dyspnoea, a reduction of visibility causing aircraft traffic disruptions (eleven cancellations and seven delays), and a reduction of solar energy production. We estimate the cost of direct and indirect effects of the dust episode, considering the most affected socio-economic sectors (e.g. civil protection, aviation, health and solar energy production), to be between 3.4 and 3.8 million EUR for Crete. Since such desert dust transport episodes are natural, meteorology-driven and thus to a large extent unavoidable, we argue that the efficiency of actions to mitigate dust impacts depends on the accuracy of operational dust forecasting and the implementation of relevant early warning systems for social awareness.Thanks are due to FCT/MCTES for the financial support to CESAM (UIDP/50017/2020+UIDB/50017/2020) through national funds, and also to the Icelandic Research Fund for the grant no. 207057-051. Authors S. Kazadzis and P. Kosmopoulos would like to acknowledge the European Commission project EuroGEO e-shape (grant agreement No 820852). Also, International Cooperative for Aerosol Prediction (ICAP) and NASA mission researchers are gratefully for providing aerosol data for this study. Aurelio Tobias was supported by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 (grant CEX2018-000794-S). S. Kutuzov acknowledges the Megagrant project (agreement No. 075-15-2021-599, 8.06.2021)

The ethos of business and the denial of the tragic : four literary studies

This thesis attempts to inquire into the formation and consolidation of the ethos of business within the cultural and historical context of the twentieth century. Its aim is to reopen the debate about the nature of business ethics by focussing on the cultural complexities that underlie much of the contemporary discourse on business ethics, and to explore the historical and cultural conditions of possibility of the appearance of business and the figure of the businessman/woman as two of the central cultural and moral principles of contemporary society. To this extent, I seek to offer an alternative reading of 'business ethics', which in the mainstream literature devoted to this topic, is presented not only as a side-effect of business life but also as a technical or therapeutic problem that always has a possible solution. The various efforts that constitute the domain of business ethics have in common a vision where 'ethics' can be abolished through the application of a moral ~ technique that would create a type of business person, business organisation and society from which all the ethical contradictions and conflicts can simply be removed. Rather than focussing on the various techniques of business ethics that attempt to prescribe and secure what counts as 'good' or 'bad' business behaviour, this project seeks to explore the fundamental question of who is the historical subj ect through whom and for whom an ethics of business arises in the first place. Accordingly, this project offers an analysis of the contemporary ethos of management that is predicated upon a specific understanding of that historical subject and argues that both business ethics and the ethos of management share a common ground: the denial of the tragic. It then proceeds by offering a description of the idea of the tragic in order to recover and re-establish it as an indispensable and constitutive element of the ethos of business. For the recovery of the tragic, four modem novels are analysed and interpreted in which the ethos of business and the character of businesspeople are depicted in their essential tragic dimension.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

A historical-cultural approach to the study of business ethics using the modern novel: an illustration.

The aim of this paper is to explore the fundamental relationship between ethics and business in their tragic historical unfolding as formulated in one of H.G.Wells�s lesser novels, The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman (1914).Wells directly and explicitly addresses themes concerning modern business corporations, business people, management, social responsibility and domestic life at the turn of the twentieth century.We emphasize the centrality and importance of the form and style of the modern novel as a specific expression of ethics, that is, as a product of the continuous and tragic engagement of people with the finite horizon of life against which questions of moral sources emerge.Wells�s novel offers a new platform for reflection upon the cultural rationale of business institutions and management in modern society in two main directions. First, we show how he creates the context for a much necessary historical analysis required to properly re-problematize the ethical sustainability of the ideal of the �corporation� as the centre of the economy in modernity. Secondly, we work out how he allows us to ask the crucial and perennial question of whether the pursuit of profit can ever be reconciled with the urgent ethical imperative of modernity: finding the cultural resources necessary to sustain human freedom and emancipation against the limits of a political economy of acquisitive capitalism. Such problems are not simply of historical interest; they are central, but are largely neglected in texts of �business ethics� since they are uncomfortable for, and incompatible with, such texts� simplistic, mechanical, ahistorical and rather defensive frameworks

Martin Heidegger (1889-1976)

Martin Heidegger was a revered German philosopher and teacher, but also a controversial figure due to his political affiliations with the Nazi movement. He was associated with phenomenology, existentialism, and hermeneutics as well as process philosophy. This chapter examines the relevance of Heidegger’s work to process philosophy in organization studies, by discussing his views on the movement of history and the movement of nihilism. It considers the concept of ‘movement’ in Heidegger’s understanding of the modern age and in his reception of Friedrich Nietzsche through the idea of a ‘movement of nihilism’.</p