Following the recent call for advancement in knowledge about business ethics in East Asia, this study proposes a complementary perspective on business ethics in South Korea. We challenge the conventional view that South Korea is a strictly collectivist country, where group norms and low trust determine the norms and values of behavior. Using the concept of civil religion, we suggest that the center of the South Korean civil religion can be seen in the affective ties and networks pervading the economic, (...) political, and social institutions, embedded in and guided by Confucian ideals. We argue that South Korea should be seen not as a collectivist low-trust society, but rather as an affective-relational society, in which the relational context determines whether collectivism or individualism prevails. Further, we assert that trust, the cohesive factor of affective ties and networks, has until now been inadequately captured by conventional surveys. Our proposed perspective contributes to a more holistic picture and a more firmly grounded understanding of business ethics in South Korea. (shrink)

Conflict handling by managers gives rise to significant emotional and cognitive experiences for affected employees and has far-reaching effects on the effectiveness of a group and an organization. In this conceptual paper, we argue that despite many claims made by managers in their self-reports that they engage in either dominant or compromising conflict-handling strategies when managing conflict within a group, they may be perceived by employees as adopting neglect or avoidance behaviors. We examine how such perceived managers' avoidance styles could (...) influence employees' perceptions with regard to justice, trust, and politics within an organization. (shrink)

Business Ethics: A European Review, EarlyView.

At the crossroads of poetry and philosophy: Francis Ponge and Maurice Merleau-Ponty The aim of the present article is to clarify the place of the sensitive dictionary in the work of Francis Ponge and to show how it denotes human's relationship to nature. To achieve that, we will use the body question as a measure of the human–nature relationship and apply the phenomenological method that Ponge took over from Merleau-Ponty. It should be noted that Merleau-Ponty rarely makes reference to Ponge's (...) poems, except for a few incisions in his Causeries. As for Ponge, he uses explicitly only the notion of phenomenological reduction to explain his project of sensitive dictionary. However, we will argue that there are many similarities of thought between the philosopher and the poet, which are still unexplored. (shrink)

Lao Tseu, Blanchot et Merleau-Ponty proposent, chacun à sa manière, une lecture singulière de l'acte de nomination. Si, pour Merleau-Ponty, la langue fabrique du sens, pour Lao Tseu, elle va au-delà des significations que les mots portent pour s'abimer dans l'impossibilité d'affirmer. Et c'est à travers les méandres du langage que Blanchot rencontre Lao Tseu. Le "Parler peu est se conformer à la nature" de Lao Tseu interpelle le "la nature est à l'intérieur - de Cézanne que Merleau-Ponty réinterprète sans (...) cesse. Ce dialogue hors du temps questionne le langage comme parole plurielle. L'intention de cet ouvrage est de proposer des pistes jamais entrevues entre la philosophie du Tao et l'acte de nomination de la tradition occidentale."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)