Search Results for: ethics

Corporate change forces managers to juggle different views of fairness

Corporate change forces managers to juggle different views of fairness

corporate changeMiddle managers get caught between different stakeholders’ perceptions of fair treatment in reaction to corporate change programmes, claims new research from Aalto University School of Business and published in the Journal of Business Ethics. According to Associate Professor Marjo-Riitta Diehl, from the Department of Management Studies, and her co-authors, these managers can often experience uncertainty, anxiety, and reluctance to take action as a result. The research was based on two rounds of interviews with managers in the German branch of an international company shortly before and after restructuring changes. More →

What makes for an effective human to machine conversation?

What makes for an effective human to machine conversation?

human to machine conversationTo quote the famous Honda advert of the early 2000’s, ‘wouldn’t it be nice if things just worked?’ If you haven’t seen it or would like to again, you can find it at the bottom of the page. Nowhere is this more applicable than when it comes to chatbots. As consumers, we’ve all been on the end of a pretty unsatisfactory experience that has left us feeling anywhere from a little annoyed to totally exasperated. The question is, what does it take to get a chatbot to work as it ought to? What are the elements of an effective human to machine conversation? More →

Artificial Intelligence to guide organisations through new challenges

Artificial Intelligence to guide organisations through new challenges

artificial intelligenceThe World Economic Forum published the “Human-Centred AI for Human Resources: A Toolkit for Human Resources Professionals” to scale the responsible use of artificial intelligence in Human Resources (HR). The toolkit includes a guide covering key topics and steps in the responsible use of AI-based HR tools, and two checklists – one focused on strategic planning and the other on the adoption of a specific tool. More →

Social mobility is restricted by lack of confidence and support in careers

Social mobility is restricted by lack of confidence and support in careers

social mobilityA new report from Totaljobs and the Social Mobility Foundation claims that the social mobility of millions of people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds is hampered by a lack of confidence in choice of career and lower levels of support from families and friends. Of those that started their first job in the last two years, only 50 percent from lower socioeconomic backgrounds said they were confident about eventually being able to do the job they want. This contrasts with the 71 percent of those from more privileged, professional backgrounds. This gap has widened since the pandemic. More →

Workers more likely to challenge unethical behaviour if their boss is ethical too

Workers more likely to challenge unethical behaviour if their boss is ethical too

ethicalWorkers are much more likely to challenge unethical behaviour in their organisation if their manager is seen as an ethical leader, according to new research from Durham University Business School. More →

A new mindset on climate change is emerging from the pandemic

A new mindset on climate change is emerging from the pandemic

wellbeing and climate changeOf all the opportunities for positive change driven by the pandemic, the most important may be the least talked about. And that’s in spite of the fact that both workers and organisations as well as governments and other bodies around the world are aware and in favour of it and its consequences are most far reaching, affecting us all. It is, of course, the chance to do something significant about climate change and the environment. More →

The shape of things to come for the world and the workplace

The shape of things to come for the world and the workplace

Originally published in March, right at the start of all this. Makes me wonder how far we’ve come in nine months. In Dorian Lynskey’s The Ministry of Truth, a “biography” of Nineteen Eighty-Four, the author describes how Orwell’s  book was the end point of an obsession with utopian (and ultimately dystopian) fiction that characterised the first half of the Twentieth Century, and reflected the competing political, social and economic ideologies of the era. More →

Firms must take a more ethical approach to technology, says World Economic Forum

Firms must take a more ethical approach to technology, says World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum has launched a new report which sets out to define how organisational leaders can influence their companies and encourage the responsible use of technology and build ethical capacity. Ethics by Design” – An Organizational Approach to Responsible Use of Technology claims to integrate psychology and behavioural economics findings from interviews and surveys with international business leaders. It aims to shape decisions to prompt better and more ethical behaviours. The report promotes an approach that focuses less on individual “bad apples” and more on the “barrel”, the environments that can lead people to engage in behaviours contrary to their moral compass. The report outlines steps and makes recommendations that have proven more effective than conventional incentives such as compliance training, financial compensation or penalties. More →

Employers should explain their monitoring policies to workers

Employers should explain their monitoring policies to workers

The number of companies monitoring their employees is growing. According to a Gartner survey, more than 22 percent of employees use employee movement data, while 17 percent of them are monitoring computer usage. With companies choosing to monitor employees, privacy laws are also catching up, and thus there is a need for explaining employee monitoring to prospective hires. Employee monitoring is defined as the use of monitoring devices and methods by companies to learn about their employees’ workplace behaviours and performance. More →

We need to understand and channel workplace conflict in the right way

We need to understand and channel workplace conflict in the right way

workplace conflictEarlier this month, in a sudden and unexpected turn of events, the prime minister’s chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, walked out of 10 Downing Street for the last time, having resigned/been asked to leave, depending on whose account of the episode you believe. However, the affair unfolded in reality, it seems clear that the departure of Cummings and Director of Communications, Lee Cain, was precipitated by workplace conflict and a series of internal disagreements, which had pushed their relationships with certain colleagues to breaking point. More →

Area becomes founder membership of Studio Alliance network

Area becomes founder membership of Studio Alliance network

Workplace design and fit out company Area has become a founding member of Studio Alliance, a formal group of workplace experts who share common values, ethics and goals when delivering projects across Europe. Studio Alliance has been formed in response to accelerating globalisation and offers corporate occupiers and landlords local market knowledge combined with the experience of designing and delivering projects in over 5,000 buildings throughout 24 countries. More →

The future of workplace will be shaped by sustainability

The future of workplace will be shaped by sustainability

sustainabilityDr Leyla Acaroglu, and intranet provider, Unily, have launched the Future of Workplace Sustainability Report, which explores how sustainability, climate change and COVID-19 are shaping the future of the workplace. We are living in a time of great and immediate change, and COVID-19 and climate change are just two of the most obvious forces impacting our way of life. More →