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This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/EUM0000000001764. When citing the article, please cite: Dean Cartwright, (1990), “What Price Ethics?”, Managerial Auditing Journal, Vol. 5 Iss: 2.

The problem of how a business can be ethical and still make a profit is outlined. A solution structure is provided and an example of how a company can resolve the problem is given.

This empirical investigation studies the correlates and predictors of employees’ psychological outcomes during mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in the context of India. This study examined the role of different types of training initiatives (awareness training, human capital development training, and cross-cultural training) on building employees feeling of psychological empowerment and thriving. Further, second-order attitudes were studied in the form of employee satisfaction and commitment. A cross-sectional research design was adopted where quantitative and qualitative data were collected to investigate the interplay between the variables. Data were collected on an adapted standardized questionnaire from the employees of a public sector organization (N = 117) which had merged with a software company to deliver its IT services. Descriptive analysis, multiple correlational analysis, and stepwise regression analysis have assisted in exploring the different relationships amongst the variables. This study produces a prescriptive framework for merger success based on the model of growth and thriving (Spreitzer & Porath, 2012). Broadly, the results point towards the facilitative role of training in developing feelings of psychological empowerment, thriving, commitment and satisfaction with the merger, however qualitative data identified significant cultural undercurrents.

The story of business ethics would seem to be a tale of horses, deckchairs, Molotovs and ostriches. There is little evidence that the growth in organisational codes of ethics (OCoE) in recent years has had much effect on organisational activity. Such was also the experience with the social responsibility debate of the 1970s – a debate which the current business ethics experience so closely parallels. The theme here is that business ethics and social responsibility have failed to “root” because (a) they have remained undefined and imprecise, and (b) organisations have neither the mechanisms for, nor the interest in, their adoption. As a result neither ethics nor responsibility has entered the “soul” of organisations. Commentators have misunderstood this and continue so to do because the bulk of debate in the business ethics arena adopts the individualist orientation that characterises much of the history of the philosophy of ethics.

Reflection on the impact of technological change on taxation practitioners.

Fictional prose.

Satirical reflection on taxation practitioners' battle to maintain their current knowledge of relevant legislation and procedures, and on the growing use of computerised technology in this area. Also comments indirectly on the perceived value of the personal service offered by such practitioners.

Prompts consideration of the impact of complex legislation on its human interpreters. Suggests a future in which humans may not be able to cope with that demand and, as a result, rely increasingly on computerisation.

A unique interpretation of the predicament of the tax accountant and the future.

Organisational cynicism (OC) is a growing trend in contemporary organisations. However, its impact on employee performance (EP) remains understudied. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap by investigating its effect on EP. The study also investigates the moderating effect of employee engagement (EE) on the relationship between OC and EP.

Primary data are collected through questionnaire from employees (N=200) of various health organisations in Pakistan by employing a convenient sampling technique. Hierarchical multiple regression is employed by using SPSS.

The findings of correlation and regression analyses reveal that OC has significant negative relationship with EP. Hence, the patient care is compromised in sampled organisations due to poorer performance of employees. Moreover, findings also reveal that EE has a moderating effect on relationship between OC and EP. Therefore, hospital management needs to increase EE to reduce the cynicism and improve performance. In addition, organisations and managers need to consider their role and actions creating the conditions that lead to cynicism among employees and should take trustworthy steps to increase employee retention and engagement and, ultimately, their performance. Moreover, the findings of the study indicate that the majority of respondents are not happy with their organisations. They also feel that the organisation is not fulfilling its promises and betraying them in several ways. This breach of contract becomes the reason for OC among employees and badly affects their performance. Most of respondents give importance to their career development and the findings reveal that organisations are not focussing on career development of their employees.

The study has some limitations and implications. The organisational culture can mitigate the negative effect of OC and enhance performance by promoting EE. It is recommended that employee cynicism can be reduced by providing a supportive environment, EE and fairness. Nevertheless, the findings of this study still help supervisors to inhibit this harmful effect by reducing the level of psychological contract violation and organisational politics that will reduce the level of cynicism among employees and improve their performance.

It is found that OC has a major impact on the behaviour and attitude of employees, supervisors and representatives on the one hand and, ultimately, the organisation, on the other hand. These effects have specific susceptibilities due to the vicinity of the employees. It is recommended that employee cynicism can be reduced by providing a supportive environment.

The study also helps psychologists to understand employees’ attitudes and improve personnel selection to ensure they recruit the right people. Leaders need to communicate honestly, effectively and frequently to address cynicism in order to ensure ample staffing and resource levels that result in good patient care and positive work attitudes at hospitals.

According to the researchers’ best knowledge, only few studies tried to investigate the relationship between organisational cynicism and EP by employing the moderating effect of EE. Therefore, it will be a good contribution in existing literature to understand consequences of cynicisms.

In this article, we situate organizational cynicism at the nexus of the related constructs of burnout, stress, and antisocial behavior. We expand Dean, Brandes, and Dharwadkar's (1998) notion of behavioral cynicism to include cynical humor and cynical criticism. We also propose that cynical behavior has important, non-linear effects on employee work performance. Finally, we suggest that cynical behavior may act as a coping mechanism for employees and that such behavior moderates the stress–performance relationship.

The growing displacement of theory and other forms of wide-ranging knowledge of social phenomena by empirical research methods in economics is widely noted by economists and historians of economic knowledge. Less attention has been devoted, however, to understand the materialization of such changes in the scientific practices. This article studies the recent transformations in the epistemological practices at CEDE, a research center in Colombia. I use a machine learning technique called Topic Modeling, interviews to CEDE researchers, and exegesis of papers to characterize a shift in the production of knowledge in microeconometrics at CEDE during the years 2000 and 2018. I explain this shift by characterizing two sets of epistemological practices that implies a recent tendency to disdain research that cannot make a “strong” causal inference.