Future of Work and Cultural Diversity BAA1029 PDF

Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Outline: 1. Fourth Industrial Revolution: The Context of Business Today 2. Cultural Diversity 3. Cultural Relativism, Cultural Imperialism, Pluralism and Universalism 4. International Standards for Business 5. International Standards for Technology...

Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Outline: 1. Fourth Industrial Revolution: The Context of Business Today 2. Cultural Diversity 3. Cultural Relativism, Cultural Imperialism, Pluralism and Universalism 4. International Standards for Business 5. International Standards for Technology Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Outline: 1. Fourth Industrial Revolution: The Context of Business Today 2. Cultural Diversity 3. Cultural Relativism, Cultural Imperialism, Pluralism and Universalism 4. International Standards for Business 5. International Standards for Technology Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 References Relevant references for this section: Coeckelbergh, M. (2020). AI Ethics. The MIT Press. Davenport, T. H., & Miller, S. M. (2022). Working with AI: Real Stories of Human-Machine Collaboration. The MIT Press. Floridi, L. (2014). The 4th Revolution: How the Infosphere Is Reshaping Human Reality. Oxford University Press. Schwab, K. (2017). The Fourth Industrial Revolution. Penguin. Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Time – Prehistory, History, Hyperhistory Chapter 1 of this book explained in class as context of our “Ethics for Business and Technology” module Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Time – Prehistory, History, Hyperhistory “We are reminded of our deep technological debt when we divide human life into prehistory and history. Such a significant threshold is there to acknowledge that it was the invention and development of ICTs (information and communication technologies) that made all the difference between who we were, who we are, and, as I shall argue in this book, who we could be and become. It is only when systems to record events and hence accumulate and transmit information for future consumption became available that lessons learnt by past generations began to evolve exponentially, in a soft or Lamarckian' way, and so humanity entered into history.” Floridi 2014, p. 1 Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Time – Prehistory, History, Hyperhistory “History is therefore synonymous with the information age. Such a line of reasoning may suggest that humanity has been living in various kinds of information societies at least since the Bronze Age, the era that marks the invention of writing in Mesopotamia and other regions of the world (4th millennium BC). Indeed, in the 3rd millennium BC, Ur, the city state in Sumer (Iraq), represented the most developed and centralized bureaucratic state in the world. So much so that, before the Gulf War (1991) and the Iraq War (2003-11), we still had a library of hundreds of thousands of clay tablets. They contain neither love letters nor holiday stories, but mainly inventories, business transactions, and administration documents. And yet, Ur is not what we typically have in mind when we speak of an information society. There may be many explanations, but one seems more convincing than any other: only very recently has human progress and welfare begun to be not just related to, but mostly dependent on, the successful and efficient management of the life cycle of information. “ (Floridi p. 3) Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Time – Prehistory, History, Hyperhistory “Let us see why such a dependency has meant that we recently entered into hyperhistory (Figure 3). Prehistory and history work like adverbs: they tell us how people live, not when or where they live. From this perspective, human societies currently stretch across three ages, as ways of living. According to reports about an unspecified number of uncontacted tribes in the Amazonian region, at the beginning of the second millennium there were still some societies that may be living prehistorically, without recorded documents. If, or rather when, one day such tribes disappear, the end of the first chapter of our evolutionary book will have been written.” (Floridi, pp. 3-4) Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Time – Prehistory, History, Hyperhistory The greatest majority of people today still live historically, in societies that rely on ICTs to record, transmit, and use data of all kinds. In such historical societies, ICTs have not yet overtaken other technologies, especially energy-related ones, in terms of their vital importance. Then, there are some people around the world who are already living hyperhistorically, in societies and environments where ICTs and their data-processing capabilities are not just important but essential conditions for the maintenance and any further development of societal welfare, personal well-being, and overall flourishing. For example, all members of the G7 group-namely Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America-qualify as hyperhistorical societies because, in each country, at least 70 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP, the value of goods and services produced in a country) depends on intangible goods, which are information-related, rather than on material goods, which are the physical output of agricultural or manufacturing processes. Their economies heavily rely on information-based assets (knowledge-based economy), information-intensive services (especially business and property services, communications, finance, insurance, and entertainment), and information-oriented public sectors (especially education, public administration, and health care). The nature of conflicts provides a sad test for the reliability of this tripartite interpretation of human evolution. Only a society that lives hyperhistorically can be threatened informationally, by a cyber attack.” Floridi p. 4 Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Time – Prehistory, History, Hyperhistory Let us return to Ur. The reason why we do not consider Ur an information society is because it was historical but not yet hyperstorical. It depended more on agricultural technologies, for example, than on clay tablets. Sumerian ICTs provided the recording and transmitting infrastructure that made the escalation of other technologies possible, with the direct consequence of furthering our dependence on more and more layers of technologies. However, the recording and transmitting facilities of ICTs evolved into processing capabilities only millennia later, in the few centuries between Johann Gutenberg (c.1400-68) and Alan Turing (1912- 54). It is only the present generation that is experiencing the radical transformations, brought about by ICTs, which are drawing the new threshold between history and hyperhistory. Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025  Marta Rocchi Time – Prehistory, History, Hyperhistory BAA1029 - 2025 Time: HYPERHISTORY Space: INFOSPHERE Identity: ONLIFE Floridi Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Why do we need to understand what is the 4th Industrial Revolution in BAA1029? - It is the context of business today - It is transforming our way of living, working, and conducting business - It has a global impact [is it really global?] - It opens new possibilities for business - It reshapes “production, consumption, transportation and delivery systems” (Schwab 2017: 2) - It has many implications also in society, government, education - It impacts the concept of moral agency in business Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025  Why is this the 4th Industrial Revolution? - A look at the previous ones - Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Innovation: Steam Engine Innovation: Electricity Innovation: Computer and Innovation: Intelligent Production Innovation: Production Innovation: Mass Internet Systems, AI, Big Data Mechanization Production Production Innovation: Production Innovation: Time: late 18th – early 19th Time: late 19th – early 20th Digitalization of processes Internet of Things Century Century Time: late 20th Century Time: 21st Century Condition of women and children in the working class Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 The impact on business Schwab (2017: 53) lists four main effects of the Fourth Industrial Revolution on business across industries: - “customer expectations are shifting - Products are being enhanced by data, which improves asset productivity - New partnerships are being formed as companies learn the importance of new forms of collaboration, and - Operating models are being transformed into new digital models” (p. 53) Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Will the 4th Industrial Revolution increase inequalities? “The great beneficiaries of the fourth industrial revolution are the providers of intellectual or physical capital – the innovators, the investors, and the shareholders, which explains the rising gap in wealth between those who depend on their labour and those who own capital” (Schwab 2017: 12) Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025  Your reading – Chapter 5 The Technology Get the basics on AI! – Please read this chapter Coeckelbergh, M. (2020). AI Ethics. The MIT Press. Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025  “In the background of the discussion about AI are thus deep disagreements about the nature of the human, human intelligence, mind, understanding, consciousness, creativity, meaning, human knowledge, science, and so on. If it is a “battle” at all, it is one that is as much about the human as it is about AI” (p. 38) Coeckelbergh, M. (2020). AI Ethics. The MIT Press. Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 The impact on human work Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Future of Work and Workplace Trailer + Office Tour Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Readings: - Introduction - Case: Morgan Stanley Next Best Action - Case: Stitch Fix On Loop Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025  What ethics can say on artificial intelligence: Insights from a systematic literature review What about Business Ethics? What is the place of ethics in the future of work? Business and Society Review, Volume: 129, Issue: 2, Pages: 258-292, First published: 04 February 2024, DOI: (10.1111/basr.12336) Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025  What about Business Ethics? What is the place of ethics in the future of work? Moral agency: AI-based systems, who is responsible? Problem of many hands Ethical neutrality does not exist! Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025  An important distinction In the Fourth Industrial Revolution MACHINES HUMAN BEINGS ACTIVITY WORK Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025  An important distinction In the Fourth Industrial Revolution MACHINES HUMAN BEINGS ACTIVITY WORK Reframing the question: are human jobs going to be replaced by machines? THIS IS NOT THE RIGHT QUESTION TO ASK Epistemological crisis and reductionisms Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025  Not a task-performing activity WORK An EMPOWERING PRACTICE See Bertolaso, M., & Rocchi, M. (2022). Specifically Human: Human Work and Care in the Age of Machines. Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, 31(3), 888– 898. https://doi.org/10.1111/beer.12281 Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Outline: 1. Fourth Industrial Revolution: The Context of Business Today 2. Cultural Diversity 3. Cultural Relativism, Cultural Imperialism, Pluralism and Universalism 4. International Standards for Business 5. International Standards for Technology Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 How should business take into account cultural diversity? Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Cultural Diversity Cultural diversity is a matter of fact. In the context of business ethics, it is particularly relevant for the way business is conducted in different social and cultural environments. Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Cultural Diversity and Business Ethics As Mele’ (2009) affirms, business ethics is challenged by cultural diversity in two particular instances: “When moral or religious beliefs and values, at a personal or social level, clash with the dominant culture of the workplace,” or “When a company operates in a cultural environment in which the local values and the values of the company are different or even in tension” (Mele’ 2009, p. 47) Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Cultural Diversity and Business Ethics What values should prevail? Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025  Cultural Diversity and Business Ethics What values should prevail? “When in Rome, do as When you go abroad, When you go abroad, Wherever you are, respect diversity and find a the Romans do” bring the law which is follow some universal consensus on the principles in your country to adopt principles Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025  Cultural Diversity and Business Ethics What values should prevail? “When in Rome, do as When you go abroad, When you go abroad, Wherever you are, respect diversity and find a the Romans do” bring the law which is follow some universal consensus on the principles in your country to adopt principles CULTURAL CULTURAL UNIVERSALISM PLURALISM RELATIVISM IMPERIALISM Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Outline: 1. Fourth Industrial Revolution: The Context of Business Today 2. Cultural Diversity 3. Cultural Relativism, Cultural Imperialism, Pluralism and Universalism 4. International Standards for Business 5. International Standards for Technology Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Cultural Relativism Ethical relativism holds that “the justifiability—the validity status—of moral principles is relative, for instance relative to custom, and that ethics therefore has no universally justifiable binding principles” (Audi, 2007, p. 25) Often affirmed as a theory, however it has practical shortcomings. Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Cultural Relativism Cultural relativism is a product of ethical relativism. As Mele’ (2009) highlights, cultural relativism: Rejects the existence of universal values; States that different cultures cannot be judge, they are just different. Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Cultural Relativism - Criticisms “The existence of cultural diversity does not prove the truth of cultural relativism” “The moral judgement of cultural groups might be influenced by historical and social conditions and by false beliefs” “Cultural diversity can include basic common values and universal principles” “Some cultural practices are objectively better than others” (e.g. practices in clear violation of human dignity and human rights are worse than practices which respect them) “Cultural relativism prevents any moral progress.” (Mele’ 2009, p. 48) Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Cultural Relativism - Criticisms In a way, cultural relativism if applied to the letter makes it hard to be a conducive environment for business activity. As Mele’ concludes: “The existence of some basic common values and norms makes business activity possible. Indeed, some values and norms are indispensable for sustained business relationship” (Mele’, 2009, p. 50). Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Cultural Relativism – Not for Business A market can work based on two shared principles: - Honoring agreements, and - Avoiding lies. (Hausman & McPherson, 1993; Quinn & Jones, 1995) “There are some moral rules that all societies will have in common, because those rules are necessary for society to exist. The rules against lying and murder are two examples. And in fact, we do find these rules in force in all viable cultures. Cultures may differ in what they regard as legitimate exceptions to the rules, but this disagreement exists against a background of agreement on the larger issues. Therefore, it is a mistake to overestimate the amount of difference between cultures. Not every moral rule can vary from society to society” (Rachels, 2011, p. 44). Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Cultural Imperialism Cultural imperialism is an attitude that is at the opposite extreme of cultural relativism. Tomlinson (Tomlinson, 2012) affirms that cultural imperialism “refers most broadly to the exercise of domination in cultural relationships in which the values, practices, and meanings of a powerful foreign culture are imposed upon one or more native cultures” (Tomlinson, 2012). Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Cultural Imperialism Assumption of cultural imperialists → their culture is the best culture possible Sometimes cultural imperialist also feel that they need to export their culture, so that a good culture can prevail everywhere. The kind of cultural imperialism practised in the context of business is regarded as a form of Neo- Colonialism. Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Cultural Imperialism – A Case You are a team leader in a in a country where women are not granted the possibility of having roles of responsibility. You are asked by senior management to suggest someone of your team to be promoted, choosing among the men of your team. Should you impose your culture, or should you adapt to the standards which you found? Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Pluralism Pluralism: “accepts different moral convictions and backgrounds, while at the same time suggesting that a consensus on basic principles and rules in a certain social context can, and should, be reached” (Crane and Matten 2016, p. 87). Key word: consensus Problem: what if the consensus is on, e.g., terminating all the Hebrews in the 1940 Germany? Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Universalism Universalism: it respects the existence of different kinds of values, but at the same times believes in the existence of some universal principles that can be universally recognized and accepted. - Absolute Universalism → Kant - Moderate Universalism → “recognizes universal ethical values and basic principles valid for all persons, but these should be applied with practical wisdom” (Mele’ 2019, p. 32). Key word: universal values Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Common Moral Intuitions Human Dignity Golden Rule: “treat others as you would want them to treat you” Stewardship for the environment Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Recognizing Common Moral Intuitions Universal Declaration for Human Rights 1948, United Nations Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Outline: 1. Fourth Industrial Revolution: The Context of Business Today 2. Cultural Diversity 3. Cultural Relativism, Cultural Imperialism, Pluralism and Universalism 4. International Standards for Business 5. International Standards for Technology Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 International Standards for Business The United Nations Global Compact The Principles for Responsible Management Education The Standards of the International Labor Organization Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025  The United Nations Global Compact “A call to companies to align strategies and operations with universal principles on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, and take actions that advance societal goals.” (www.unglobalcompact.org) Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 The Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact come from: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Labour Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, and the United Nations Convention Against Corruption. Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Area Principle Reference Document Human Rights Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the Universal Declaration protection of internationally proclaimed human rights; and of Human Rights, Principle 2: make sure that they are not complicit in human 1948 rights abuses. Labour Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of ILO Declaration on association and the effective recognition of the right to Fundamental collective bargaining; Principles and Rights Principle 4: the elimination of all forms of forced and at Work, 1998 compulsory labour; Principle 5: the effective abolition of child labour; and Principle 6: the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation. Environment Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary Rio Declaration on approach to environmental challenges; Environment and Principle 8: undertake initiatives to promote greater Development, 1992 environmental responsibility; and Principle 9: encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies. Anti-Corruption Principle 10: Businesses should work against corruption in UN Convention Marta Rocchi all its forms, including extortion and bribery. against Corruption, BAA1029 - 2025 2003 The Principles for Responsible Management Education (“refreshed version”) Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 ILO → started in 1919, as part of the Treaty of Versailles after World War I First task: setting standards for working hours (e.g. the 8hrs per day standard), the principle of free association for workers 1951 – Equal remuneration convention (for men and women) 1973 – Minimum Age for Admission to Employment (convention against child labour) 1998 – Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 Outline: 1. Fourth Industrial Revolution: The Context of Business Today 2. Cultural Diversity 3. Cultural Relativism, Cultural Imperialism, Pluralism and Universalism 4. International Standards for Business 5. International Standards for Technology Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025 EU AI Act 2024 See pdf on Loop Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025  Marta Rocchi BAA1029 - 2025