Search

The paper argues that Aristotle’s “phronesis” can be explained as social practice wisdom, a discursive system linking mind and social practice to produce wellbeing and human flourishing. It uses the contemporary conceptualization of phronesis and its related metatheoretical construct of wisdom principles to bring a practical dimension to wise decision-making. The paper first reviews progress in the understanding of wise leadership within leadership studies and the principles of wisdom proposed by McKenna. Against this taxonomy it then recontextualizes the numerous calls in leadership literature for qualitative, research. It presents samples and interprets the resulting theory based in original material from interviews with 184 managers generated by the Wisdom Project.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which Chinese classical virtues act as a restraint on consumerist hedonic values and the associated priority on profit maximisation by managers.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a literature review and adopts a reflective approach to the topic.FindingsThe paper considers how Chinese classical virtues are related to contemporary relational or indigenous values and how a social tension is created between these values and the hedonic values now present in Chinese urban society. Implications for management and management education are reviewed in the light of this tension.Practical implicationsThe social unrest created by the privatisation of SOEs can be mitigated by the promotion of management education sensitised to the cultural norms and expectations of the Chinese people in relation to the role and responsibilities of managers. The Junzi (gentleman‐leader) archetype and the virtues of ren‐yi‐li are offered as exemplary features of a management seeking to balance social responsibility with profitability.Originality/valueThe paper highlights the social turbulence created by the advent of market economics in China and the concomitant rise of consumerism and the privatisation of state‐owned enterprises.

The mission of the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) is to educate responsible leaders versed in ‘China Depth, Global Breadth’. The CEIBS Euro-China Centre for Leadership and Responsibility (ECCLAR) supports that mission by creating and disseminating knowledge on the practice and development of wise and responsible leadership especially in the corporate context. This collection of essays furthers that mission in providing a resource of wise praxis and reflection in the context of organisational complexity for managers, researchers and teachers in management education.

The Cretan Minotaur of Greek mythology was a raging monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man. It represented uncontrollable lusts and powerful egoistic expressions in humankind. King Minos built a huge and complicated underground labyrinth-prison for the deadly Minotaur to dwell in. This maze of chambers was so complex that it was impossible to escape without help. In the tragedies of the 2008 financial crisis, the senior management of Lehman Brothers have been cast as players in The Devil’s Casino, the title of Vicky Ward’s book of the Lehman Brothers story (Ward 2010). The Lehman Minotaur was ultimately destroyed by its egoism and greed with the weak U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) playing the part of the weak King Minos feeding the financial flows to satisfy the monster’s ravenous appetite. In his account of the Madoff Ponzi scheme, Harry Markopolis describes how “for years” he “observed and experienced the SEC protecting large perpetrators of abuse at the expense of the investors whom the SEC is supposed to protect … when it comes to large corporations and institutionalised Wall Street, the SEC uses kid gloves…” (Markopolis 2010, p. x).

The chapter elucidates how spirituality is revealed in the workplace and in management. It suggests to distinguish among faith-based spirituality, folk or indigenous spirituality, and humanist spirituality. The common theme in these spiritualities is the vision of transcendence: a perception beyond the ego-self and a conviction that rational and objectified knowledge is not the only permissible discourse in describing reality. In Judeo-Christian thought, humankind is made in the image of God and therefore concepts of spirituality are generally viewed in relation to God as the Creator and Sustainer of life. The word for spirit or soul in Hebrew is “nephesh” which refers to the essence of life or the act of breathing and that this spirit or breath of man is given by God. The Hebrew system of thought does not conceive of personhood in dualistic terms such as “body” and “soul”. In the New Testament, “psyche” is the word used for the spirit of a person. It is the life essence, the self and inner person. Leading corporations are addressing the question of ethical values in the context of stakeholder engagement. A Christian manager is likely to engage in such questions from the perspective of understanding management as a vocation in which he or she is to manage “as unto the Lord” (Colossians 3:23). Thompson believes that creating an environment in which these questions can be discussed and plans made in light of the discussions depends on the quality of the organization and its leaders. Whilst the discussion at a public level is not usually related to spirituality, nevertheless the underlying conversations that constitute business quality, integrity and responsibility are frequently energized by spirituality and religious faith.

This chapter seeks to explain the global influences and dynamics that have led to an eclipsing of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in multinational enterprises in favor of a rapid integration of sustainability practices within corporate strategy, operations, and marketing. The notion of the shareholder primacy norm is surveyed in light of new financial and strategic models for creating value for both shareholders and stakeholders. The purpose of the chapter is to put forward a model that indicates how a standard financial model for the firm might be re-cast to support a corporation's intent to invest in sustainability activities.

Four methods that infer protein function and linkages have been combined in a single database, Prolinks, which spans 83 organisms and includes 10 million high-confidence links., The advent of whole-genome sequencing has led to methods that infer protein function and linkages. We have combined four such algorithms (phylogenetic profile, Rosetta Stone, gene neighbor and gene cluster) in a single database - Prolinks - that spans 83 organisms and includes 10 million high-confidence links. The Proteome Navigator tool allows users to browse predicted linkage networks interactively, providing accompanying annotation from public databases. The Prolinks database and the Proteome Navigator tool are available for use online at .