Junzi virtues: a Confucian foundation for harmony within organizations

IF 1.9 Q2 ETHICS Asian Journal of Business Ethics Pub Date : 2022-03-30 DOI:10.1007/s13520-022-00146-1

Robin Stanley Snell, Crystal Xinru Wu, Hong Weng Lei

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引用次数: 5

Abstract

The classical literature on Confucianism exhorted leaders to practice five core virtues as the basis for becoming a noble person (Junzi) and for sustaining harmonious communities built on trust and good example. We present a theory about how the senior management in modern corporations, by enacting the five Junzi virtues through virtuous environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies and practices, might inspire virtue-based relationships between superiors and subordinates and between employees. We argue that if middle managers and employees observe and experience that their firm’s ESG policies and practices are virtuous, they would feel encouraged to practice those virtues in their own behavior, and thus embody and promote interpersonal harmony. We provide three types of illustration for our theory. First, we map the five Junzi virtues to the content of a specimen ESG report. Second, we map seven subtypes of servant leadership behavior of middle managers to the five Junzi virtues. Third, we map seven types of employee organizational citizenship behavior to the five Junzi virtues.

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君子德:儒家组织和谐的基础

摘要儒家经典文献劝诫领导人践行五种核心美德，作为成为君子的基础，并在信任和好榜样的基础上维持和谐的社区。本文提出了一种理论，探讨现代企业的高级管理层如何通过良好的环境、社会和治理(ESG)政策和实践来树立君子五德，从而激发上下级和员工之间基于美德的关系。我们认为，如果中层管理人员和员工观察并体验到他们公司的ESG政策和实践是有益的，他们就会受到鼓励，在自己的行为中实践这些美德，从而体现和促进人际和谐。我们为我们的理论提供了三种类型的说明。首先，我们将君子五德映射到样本ESG报告的内容。其次，我们将中层管理者服务型领导行为的七个子类型映射到五君子美德。第三，我们将七种类型的员工组织公民行为映射到五君子美德。

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来源期刊

Asian Journal of Business Ethics ETHICS-

CiteScore

2.60

自引率

38.50%

发文量

期刊介绍： The Asian Journal of Business Ethics (AJBE) publishes original articles from a wide variety of methodological and disciplinary perspectives concerning ethical issues related to business in Asia, including East, Southeast and South-central Asia. Like its well-known sister publication Journal of Business Ethics, AJBE examines the moral dimensions of production, consumption, labour relations, and organizational behavior, while taking into account the unique societal and ethical perspectives of the Asian region. The term ''business'' is understood in a wide sense to include all systems involved in the exchange of goods and services, while ''ethics'' is understood as applying to all human action aimed at securing a good life. We believe that issues concerning corporate responsibility are within the scope of ethics broadly construed. Systems of production, consumption, marketing, advertising, social and economic accounting, labour relations, public relations and organizational behaviour will be analyzed from a moral or ethical point of view. The style and level of dialogue involve all who are interested in business ethics - the business community, universities, government agencies, non-government organizations and consumer groups.The AJBE viewpoint is especially relevant today, as global business initiatives bring eastern and western companies together in new and ever more complex patterns of cooperation and competition.