Dr. Raminta Pučėtaitė, Associate Professor at the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Studies, participated in the annual European Business Ethics Network Conference in Berlin “Business Ethics in a European Perspective – a Case for Unity in Diversity?” (June 12-14, 2014).
The most significant congress of business ethics scientists
During the event which is acknowledged as one of the most important scientific events by the international business ethics community, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Raminta Pučėtaitė in cooperation with co-authors from Finland delivered presentations on the relationship between ethical business culture and organizational innovation and the dynamics of trust and distrust. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pučėtaitė and Prof. Anna-Maija Lämsä (University of Jyväskylä, Finland) chaired a special track “Organizational Ethics and Organizational Outcomes”.
According to Dr. Pučėtaitė, this year’s conference distinguished in the abundance of plenary presentations related to the implementation instruments for organizational social responsibility and good practices as well as participants from business. Representatives of business organizations were active in discussing and sharing their experience gained while implementing social responsibility programmes in developing economy countries, managing reputation risks; they constructively criticised consumers for the indifference to the effort displayed by organizations to act responsibly. A significant amount of attention was attracted by the responsible innovation session whose topic was a new field of ethics research that involved conceptualisation and empirical data.
Impressions from a city with an exclusive history
The conference took place at the European School of Management and Technology (ESMT; Berlin, Germany) established in 2002. The main directions of scientific research and studies are leadership and social responsibility, European competitive market and technology management. The school is located in an impressive renovated building of the former GDR (1949-1990) People’s Chamber.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pučėtaitė claims that this conference has been an important even for her not only in terms of the academic news, bus also in terms of an opportunity to see colleagues, discuss the shared projects and ideas for future projects. “Seeing the city for the first time, which, as one of the slogans called it, feels as if you were stepping through history, was also a joyful experience”, says the associate professor. “Indeed, construction projects being carried out all over the city create an impression of an alive and constantly growing city, yet even the city centre has the trace of the 20th century history, and both East and West can be easily distinguished due to the architecture”.