Provide education in ethics (Ethical Literacy)

In our efforts to support and develop ethical literacy in society, we had another successful fourth quarter of 2019:

1. PhiloBrunch 'the ethics of leadership in turbulent times' with Dr. Kreuser on Sat., Nov. 23rd. 

2. Support of a Conference on Dec 10th, 2019 at the University of Applied Sciences Munich Campus Pasing. Topic: READING - No Thanks? Challenges of Digitality -

See details below: 

1. PhiloBrunch: "the ethics of leadership in turbulent times"



Our work-life is changing, for some quite radically - individualization, diversity and inclusion can be quite challenging. Traditional hierarchies have eroded, giving way to participation and cooperation. Collaboration has become more virtual. New work in all places. Lines between free time and work have become blurred, individualized working time, non-stop reachability. Meaning, enjoyment of work and success are brought into direct relationships.

If this is to be sustainable, then it needs a stable, clarified foundation, built on values. Otherwise, leadership and cooperation can quickly become arbitrary or opportunistic.

Leadership ethics deals with a binding set of values and moral norms  that affect leadership.

Leadership is becoming a co-production of leading and following by all members in a team or company. So the more leadership is exercised by all members of the team, the more relevant management ethics becomes for all participants. 

Dr. Karl Kreuser * shared his findings from a current research project on the "ethics of the professions" with the participants of the PhiloBrunch. As usual in PhiloBrunches, Dr. Kreuser presented not only his findings, but also real-life, practical cases from his work as a coach and consultant.



In the keynote introduction, some points on the subject were introduced with meaningful maxims:

• 
  "rose-colored glasses are not leadership instruments"
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  "Morality is a bad-weather virtue", as an indication that the true moral attitude of a person shows in the life#s difficult situations
• 
  "Lead morally and confidently"
• 
  "Moral evaluation always depends on the context", for example: one person has injured another with a knife. Hearing this without proper context, one may come to a false ethical evaluation. Of course, if you later find out that the former is a surgeon, you would evaluate that act differently.

The following question was raised for discussion: "Is frustrating another person morally acceptable?"

The case was about two equally deserving employees who each have children and both want to go on holiday at the same time. However at least one of them needs to be present for operational reasons. How a leader could handle the situation was tested in a short role-play. Would it be right for the leader to escape the uncomfortable situation by granting both employees leave and covering for them himself?   During the discussion the meaning of a clarifying conversation became clear and the duty of an executive to make decisions, to communicate these to the coworkers in a clear and comprehensible way, without feeling the need to justify himself, but also without dodging responsibility, simply leading.

If you don't walk the talk as a leader, you lose credibility, in short: "between intention and action lies credibility."

"Leadership is attitude", you need to learn to reflect upon your actions, i.e. to strengthen "the ability of reflexivity".

Following the keynote speech a case study was discussed in groups of two, with the goal of coming to a moral solution. The scenario: one co-worker 'stole' the wife of a colleague. The betrayed husband has found support and sympathy from his colleagues. This went so far that this group turned to the head of the department and demanded to remove the "cheater" from the department.

The groups of two discussed very passionately and very different solutions were developed and then briefly presented. An important note from Dr. Kreuser from his years of practice was that as a leader, you should not "outsource morality". In this context, this means that no advisor can take the decision for the manager. In the process of seeing what is important  and what alternatives manger has, seeking advice is ok, but in the end the manager must make the decision.

This certainly was a PhiloBrunch,  where knowledge/experience was  shared and horizons were  broadened, in a very stimulating and exciting way.

Many thanks to Dr. Kreuser!



* Dr. Karl Kreuser is a managing partner of the advisory group SOKRATeam. His work focuses on advising and supporting projects on talent, potential and competency management as well as on retention management. In addition to organization-specific concepts, he develops learning architectures for self-organized competency development. He also works as a mediator and systemic structure developer for business, public and social organizations, as well as family businesses.

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2. Conference: "READING - No Thanks? Challenges of Digitality"

Current debates are often shaped by the sweeping changes that technological innovations are creating in nearly all areas of our society. Digitality is changing the world and how it is perceived - with regard to reading, issues such as: What significance will reading have in our society in the future? Will print media be completely replaced by digital media? What effects do screen media have on the process of reading (learning)? Will we even be reading books in ten years, or will autonomously interacting readers connect and exchange information and stories in line with users' needs and reading habits? Will readers vote on alternative ends of a multi-sensory novel per App? Will educational institutions such as schools, colleges and universities have to introduce children and young people to reading differently in the future?

The search for the answers seems to be less a question of technical possibilities than one of inner attitude and stance. It is important to develop a willingness to take responsibility for yourself and others. In the sense of "media competence" we have to decide how we want to behave towards the media and live in a digital world.

But it is also about an attempt to understand what contribution literature can make, especially in such a world, to the formation of humaneness.

Representatives from science, cultural and educational practice as well as the world of literature, but also all other interested parties were invited to a professional exchange and an open discourse about challenges for cultural technology Reading in the sign of digitality.