Philosophy of Management and Sustainability : Rethinking Business Ethics and Social Responsibility in Sustainable Development

Using an interdisciplinary focus, this book combines the research disciplines of philosophy, business management and sustainability to aid and advance both scholarly and practitioner understanding of sustainability management and the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As businesses and society continue to transition towards further sustainable development and corporate social responsibility, the key challenge faced is in rethinking the philosophy of management and business ethics to achieve this change in deep and lasting ways. Jacob Dahl Rendtorff explores the philosophical foundations of business ethics, economics and sustainability through four key themes: From CSR and business ethics to sustainable development goals (SDGs) Philosophy of management and ethical economy of sustainability Foundations of philosophy of management, ethics and sustainability Responsible management of sustainability. In reflecting on the works of philosophers and scholars such as Hannah Arendt, Paul Ricœur, Thomas Piketty and Peter Koslowski within the context of sustainability, globalization, anthropocene ethics and corporate social responsibility, the book presents a key understanding of the vital philosophical foundations for creating progressive business models in a more sustainable society. Contents 8 Preface 14 Acknowledgments 16 Introduction 18 Part I: From CSR and Business Ethics to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 24 Chapter 1: Ethics and Justice in the International World: The Problem of Globalization and the Need for a Cosmopolitan Spirit 26 1. Toward a Critical Philosophy of Globalization 27 2. Globalization, Misery of the World, and Struggle for Recognition 29 3. Globalization as an Expression of Hypermodernity and World Culture 33 4. Criticism of Globalization and Hope for an Exit from the Crisis 35 5. Hope of Cosmopolitanism in the Age of Hypermodernity 38 Chapter 2: Sustainability and Business Ethics in a Global Society 42 1. Methodology of Sustainability and Business Ethics 42 2. The Values of Business Corporations 44 3. Application in the Different Fields of Sustainability and Business Ethics 45 4. International Legal Developments of Business Ethics and CSR 47 5. Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Legitimacy 49 Chapter 3: Ethics of Administration: Towards Sustainability and Cosmopolitanism 52 1. Changed Conditions for Administration Ethics: The Competition State 53 2. Challenges to Administration Ethics: Crisis and Corruption 54 3. Values of Administration Ethics: Cosmopolitanism and Sustainability 58 4. Theoretical Framework for Administration Ethics 59 5. Urgent Issues for Administration Ethics 62 Chapter 4: Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability, and Stakeholder Management 66 1. Sustainability and Corporate Citizenship 66 2. The Concept of Corporate Social Responsibility 67 3. Corporate Social Responsibility in Stakeholder Management 70 4. Institutional Theory and Stakeholder Management 72 Chapter 5: Business Sustainability and the un Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 76 1. From the Millennium Goals to the SDGs 77 2. The Challenge of the SDGs 77 3. Criticism of Sustainable Development and SDGs 82 4. From Sustainable Development to Transformation Toward Another Economy 83 5. Civil Society and Partnerships for the SDGs 85 Part II: Philosophy of Management and Ethical Economy of Sustainability 88 Chapter 6: Philosophy of Management and Ethical Interdependence in the Anthropocene Age 90 1. Epistemological Foundations of Anthropocene Ethics 91 2. The Anthropology of the Interdependence of Man and Nature 93 3. The Natural and Socio-cultural Interdependence of the New Climate Regime 96 4. Resilience Management and Governance at the Anthropocene Age 99 5. Toward a New Geopolitics of Sustainability 100 Chapter 7: Environmental Catastrophe and Challenges to Ethical Decision-making 102 1. The Challenge of Fukushima for the Environment 102 2. Fukushima as a Symbol of the Logic of Technology in Modernity 104 3. Political Economy and Responsibility after Fukushima 107 4. Ethical Complexity Thinking in Organizational Decision-making 111 Chapter 8: From the Financial Crisis to a New Economics of Sustainability 114 1. Ethics in Economic History 115 2. The Neo-liberal Concept of Economics 117 3. Welfare Economics and the Criticism of Neo-classical Concepts of Rationality 121 4. The Ethics out of Economics 123 5. Economic Anthropology and the Foundations of Rationality 128 6. Mixed Rationality of Economic Decision-making 132 Chapter 9: Ethical Economy and the Environment 134 1. The Concept of an Ethical Economy 135 2. The Need for an Ethical Economy Today 137 3. Application of an Ethical Economy: Ecology, Sustainability, and Capitalism 140 4. Beyond Anthropocentric Environmental Ethics 143 5. From Ethics to Law 146 6. The Balanced Company 148 7. Toward a Research Agenda for an Ethical Economy 149 Chapter 10: The Concept of Equality in Ethics and Political Economy 150 1. The Concept of Equality in Ethics and Political Philosophy 150 2. Equality and Distribution of Wealth 153 3. Conceptions and Perspectives for Ethics and Political Economy 159 Part III: Foundations of Philosophy of Management, Ethics, and Sustainability 164 Chapter 11: The Dark Side of Sustainability: Evil in Organizations and Corporations 166 1. Hannah Arendt: The Banality of Evil 166 2. Detailed Analysis of Eichmann’s Banality of Evil 169 3. Moral Blindness in Institutions and Organizations 175 4. Responsibility and Reflective Judgment 180 5. Evil in Modern Philosophy 182 Chapter 12: The Ethics of Integrity: A New Foundation of Sustainable Wholeness 184 1. Integrity in Business and Politics 185 2. Integrity as Existential Subjectivity 186 3. Integrity as a Virtue 188 4. Integrity as Organizational Integrity 190 5. Integrity as Practical Judgment 191 Chapter 13: Recognition between Cultures as the Foundation of Ethical and Political Sustainability 194 1. Recent Definition of Recognition: Paul Ricœur’s Philosophy 195 2. Origins of Recognition: Hegel and Kojève 196 3. The Gift as a Recognition: Marcel Mauss 198 4. French Thought of the Impossibility of Recognition and the Gift 199 4.1. Nietzscheanism 199 4.2. Existentialism 200 5. American Reintroduction of the Problem of Recognition 201 5.1. Francis Fukuyama and the End of History 201 5.2. Nancy Fraser and Identity Politics 202 6. German Reformulation of the Problem of Recognition 203 6.1. Hermeneutical Origins of Recognition: Gadamer and Dialogical Understanding 203 6.2. Beyond Struggle for Recognition: Habermas and Intersubjective Recognition 203 6.3. Axel Honneth and the Renewal of the Struggle for Recognition 204 7. Hermeneutical Reintroduction of Recognition: Paul Ricœur 205 8. From Recognition to Acknowledgment: Patchen Markell 207 9. Toward What Kind of Sustainable Recognition between Cultures? 208 Chapter 14: Philosophy of Management in the Hypermodern Experience Economy 210 1. Creativity, Sustainability, and the Experience Economy 211 2. Subjectivity and the Concept of Experience 212 3. What Kind of Society Made the Experience Economy Possible? 215 4. What is the Morality and Ethics of the Experience Society? 218 5. Can Critical Management Studies and the Experience Economy Be Combined? 222 6. Perspectives for Sustainability in Hypermodernity 224 Part IV: Responsible Management of Sustainability 226 Chapter 15: The Principle of Responsibility: Rethinking CSR as SDG Management 228 1. Business and Management for Sustainability 229 2. Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility 233 3. Toward a New Responsibility for Sustainable Development 240 References 244 Index 260 Using an interdisciplinary focus, this book combines the research disciplines of philosophy, business management and sustainability to aid and advance both scholarly and practitioner understanding of sustainability management and the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As businesses and society continue to transition towards further sustainable development and corporate social responsibility, the key challenge faced is in rethinking the philosophy of management and business ethics to achieve this change in deep and lasting ways. Jacob Dahl Rendtorff explores the philosophical foundations of business ethics, economics and sustainability through four key themes: From CSR and business ethics to sustainable development goals (SDGs) Philosophy of management and ethical economy of sustainability Foundations of philosophy of management, ethics and sustainability Responsible management of sustainability. In reflecting on the works of philosophers and scholars such as Hannah Arendt, Paul Rioeur, Thomas Piketty and Peter Koslowski within the context of sustainability, globalization, anthropocene ethics and corporate social responsibility, the book presents a key understanding of the vital philosophical foundations for creating progressive business models in a more sustainable society