Repression of Morality and the Fabrication of Legitimization in and by Organizations

Organizations are the powerful players of the modern age. Therefore, it is even more important to realize, that while on the one hand, they stand for efficiency and reliability, on the other hand, they have significant possibilities for the repression of morality and the fabrication of legitimization. These possibilities include diffusion of responsibility, moral division of labour, organized hypocrisy, legitimization through procedures and not least, the influence of companies on law, regulation and policy in the service of corporate organizational objectives.

Günther Ortmann was Professor of General Business Administration at the Helmut Schmidt University,Hamburg (Germany) until 2010 and a visiting professor at the Universities of Vienna (Austria), Lucerne (Switzerland), Innsbruck (Austria) and St. Gallen (Switzerland). Since 2014, he holds a research professorship for leadership at the Reinhard Mohn Institute for Corporate Management at the University of Witten/Herdecke (Germany).

Ethical Reflection: Enacting Responsibility in the Personal, Collective, and Public Spheres

The word “responsibility” comes from the same Latin root as the word “respond”, so in being responsible we are answerable to ourselves and to one another for our actions. This notion of responsibility as fundamentally grounded in relationships reflects the basic tenets of covenantal ethics which holds that we have “the unconditional responsibility and the ethical demand to act in the best interest of our fellow human beings” (Hilsen, 2006, p. 27), and, one should add, in the best interests of the natural and built environments on which we all depend. This presentation focuses on processes of ethical reflection—individual, collective, and public—as a means of articulating a set of principles and holding ourselves accountable for enacting them in our personal and professional lives. Building upon this discussion we will then consider how these values might serve as touchstones informing decision making in the face of uncertainty and change.

Mary Brydon-Miller, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership, Evaluation, & Organizational Development and Ph.D. Program Director in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Louisville. She is a participatory action researcher who conducts work in both school and community settings. Her most recent research focuses on research ethics in educational and community settings and on the transformation of institutions of higher education through action research. She is the editor, with David Coghlan, of the SAGE Encyclopedia of Action Research and is completing work on a book on ethical challenges in the context of participatory research with her colleague Sarah Banks from Durham University.

The Responsibility of Universities.

A Panel Discussion on Precarity in Academia

In modern societies, organizations are considered to be important promoters of social change. This applies especially to the organization called university, which deals with study-ing and analysing this social change and which plays a major part in the education of young people as well as, increasingly, in supporting lifelong learning. The performance of these tasks results in universities facing gradually more difficult social, political and economical conditions: there is the precarious employment situation of so-called “junior scientists”; the fact that scientific research and teaching is carried out more and more in the form of (ever more frequently grant-based) projects; and lastly the increasingly efficiency-oriented devel-opment visions of universities. All in all, these developments indicate that academic life is becoming progressively more precarious and appear to confirm the prediction of escalating academic capitalism (Münch 2011). If nothing else, this raises the question of repositioning universities in society. The direct and indirect consequences and their fundamental power to provoke change must not be underestimated. In this respect, the question of the responsibil-ity of universities has to be addressed with regard to three issues: firstly, the changing shape of scientific discovery, which seems to be losing its critical, emancipatory and dialogic poten-tial, challenges us to discuss university responsibility for science and research. Secondly, there are currently demands in higher education policy for an extensive reorientation of universities, not only guaranteeing students a sufficient level of professional qualification but also necessarily ensuring that universities provide orientation in society; in this light, the question of the social responsibility of universities is unavoidable. The precarization of aca-demia is at present most apparent in the unacceptable employment conditions of young re-searchers. Thus, under the heading of “academic precarity”, responsibility towards re-searchers constitutes the third problem area.

In light of these three problem areas, the discussion panel considers the question to what extent the institution and organization university must see itself as part of a comprehensive process of responsibility. This is not only a matter of discussing the causes, conditions and consequences of the “precarization” of academia, but above all a question of the possibility and necessity of answers in the field of organizational education.

Our guests on the panel are:

• Julia Thibaut M.A. (University of Bayreuth)
• Prof. Dr. Susanne Weber (University of Marburg)
• Prof. Dr. Herbert Altrichter (University of Linz)
• Dr. Andreas Keller (Trade Union Education and Science, GEW)
• Timo Schreiner M.Sc.  (Universiity of Gießen)

The panel discussion will take place on Thursday, March 1st, 16:45 – 17:45, Lecture Hall 2.

The Get together in the evening of March 1st, 2018 with dinner and dance Floor will take place at the Sky Loft, Ars Electronica Center, Linz. The restaurant is directly located at the Blue Danube River with a beautiful view over the city of Linz.
By registering for the meeting, you can register for the evening event, too (€ 10 at cost price + drinks).