76 research outputs found

    Reconceptualizing CSR in the media industry as relational accountability

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    In this paper, we reconceptualize CSR in the media industries by combining empirical data with theoretical perspectives emerging from the communication studies and business ethics literature. We develop a new conception of what corporate responsibility in media organizations may mean in real terms by bringing Bardoel and d’Haenens’ (European Journal of Communication 19 165–194 2004) discussion of the different dimensions of media accountability into conversation with the empirical results from three international focus group studies, conducted in France, the USA and South Africa. To enable a critical perspective on our findings, we perform a philosophical analysis of its implications for professional, public, market, and political accountability in the media, drawing on the insights of Paul Virilio. We come to the conclusion that though some serious challenges to media accountability exist, the battle for responsible media industries is not lost. In fact, the speed characterizing the contemporary media environment may hold some promise for fostering the kind of relational accountability that could underpin a new understanding of CSR in the media

    Sharing vocabularies: towards horizontal alignment of values-driven business functions

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    This paper highlights the emergence of different ‘vocabularies’ that describe various values-driven business functions within large organisations and argues for improved horizontal alignment between them. We investigate two established functions that have long-standing organisational histories: Ethics and Compliance (E&C) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). By drawing upon research on organisational alignment, we explain both the need for and the potential benefit of greater alignment between these values-driven functions. We then examine the structural and socio-cultural dimensions of organisational systems through which E&C and CSR horizontal alignment can be coordinated to improve synergies, address tensions, and generate insight to inform future research and practice in the field of Business and Society. The paper concludes with research questions that can inform future scholarly research and a practical model to guide organizations’ efforts towards inter-functional, horizontal alignment of values-driven organizational practice

    Sustainable development and well-being: a philosophical challenge

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    This paper aims at gaining a better understanding of the inherent paradoxes within sustainability discourses by investigating its basic assumptions. Drawing on a study of the metaphoric references operative in moral language, we reveal the predominance of the 'well-being = wealth' construct, which may explain the dominance of the 'business case' cognitive frame in sustainability discourses (Hahn et al. in Acad Manag Rev 4015:18–42, 2015a). We incorporate economic well-being variables within a philosophical model of becoming well (Küpers in Cult Organ 11(3):221–231, 2005), highlighting the way in which these variables consistently articulate a combination of 'objective' and 'subjective' concerns. We then compare this broad understanding of well-being with the metaphors operative in the sustainable development discourse and argue that the sustainability discourse has fallen prey to an overemphasis on the 'business case'. We proceed to draw on Georges Bataille to challenge the predominance of these value priorities and to explore which mindshifts are required to develop a more comprehensive understanding of what is needed to enable 'sustainable development'

    Dealing with difference and dissensus within the church as organisation

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    This paper wants to propose a way of dealing with the reality of difference within churches that allows for unity amidst diversity. It argues for the adoption of institutional frameworks that function as guiding and unifying forces without becoming repressing, totalising structures. The presence of dissensus and difference does not necessarily have to result in the fragmentation of churches. In fact, when harnessed effectively, difference and dissensus can become a valuable resource for renewal and realignment within churches. The paper develops a framework for dealing with diversity that binds people to the church as organisation in a way that respects their individual value-configurations and input. In the first place, it argues for a holistic view of the relationship between bodiliness, nature, technology, language, and truth statements. In the second place, it insists that confessional, spiritual and moral guidelines should neither be totalising structures that repress difference, nor oppositional differences that exclude commonality. In the third place, it argues that ongoing connectedness between individual members of the church is necessary. Individuals must see themselves as part of an everchanging, ever-evolving web of relations. Guidelines for dialogue within the church therefore become essential
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