3rd Annual Australasian Business Ethics Network (ABEN) Conference

MANAGING ETHICS ON THE EDGE

Hobart, 2nd and 3rd December 2013
Supported by the Faculty of Business at the University of Tasmania and the Department of Management at Monash University

Call for Papers
Abstract and Full Paper Submission Deadline: 31st July 2013.

Submissions are now being invited for the 3rd annual ABEN conference on business, ethics and business ethics (www.aben.org.au). Bringing academics, critics and practitioners together to discuss and debate the nature, intent, effects and futures of business ethics in Australasia and beyond, the ABEN conference is a key forum in the region for reflective, engaged and philosophical work in the area. The location for this year’s conference is the Lenna Hotel in the capital of Tasmania, Hobart.

Once again, the conference is linked with publication opportunities in business ethics and professional ethics journals (The Journal of Business Ethics Education and the Australian Journal of Applied and Professional Ethics), as well as Philosophy of Management, the leading interdisciplinary journal with a focus on applied philosophy in management. Like the wider network from which it originates, the ABEN conference is inclusive – welcoming submissions that explore business ethics from a range of theoretical, empirical and practical positions and perspectives.

This year, we purposefully link the theme to the notion of managing ethics on the edge, to promote awareness of the multitude of philosophical issues that mainstream management research appears to ignore. This raises some interesting questions for ethics teachers and researchers to address. For example:

• Given the rhetoric around the importance of ethics in business, are moral considerations and values being authentically included in emerging management practices and strategies or do they remain at the periphery of managers’ thinking?
• Are moral values and competencies becoming part of core learning objectives at all levels of study in University business courses, or do they remain on the periphery? If they are being included, how are they being taught and to what effect?
• Are existing moral philosophies serving the needs of moral decision making in business and business education? Are there philosophical alternatives to orthodox approaches that have been hitherto peripheral to the field that may serve teaching and practice in more constructive ways?

In writing this call, we espouse a view posited by Philosophy of Management: namely, that management concerns itself with making a genuine positive difference to human life, a difference that is only made possible through thoroughgoing thought. Rather than being on the periphery of management, therefore, philosophy is central to all management worthy of the name; management is about ‘reason in practice.’ Thus, the ABEN Conference theme also connects with the theme for the ANZAM Conference 2013, which is being held in Hobart on 4-6 December.

Papers are welcomed that address these questions in the context of (e.g.) Australasian business practice and education, the place of the employee, the questions of sustainability and of responsible accounting, as well as the place of human rights in the workplace.

Please send a 500-word abstract and contact details of all authors, as an email attachment with the title ‘Abstract Submission’ toABEN.Conference@utas.edu.au by 31 July 2013. Full papers may also be submitted, to be peer reviewed, if required by your funding institution. Authors of accepted abstracts/papers will be notified by the 15th of August.

All details of the conference are available at http://www.utas.edu.au/business/ABEN2013. Registration for the conference is the same as ABEN 2; $A300 (registering before 31st September) and $A380 (registering after 31st September) for salaried persons; and $A200 (before 31st September) and $A280 (after 31st September) for those who are non-salaried/students. Registration opens 31st August. For all inquiries please email ABEN.Conference@utas.edu.au