Human Frailties

Every day we hear stories about the consequences of human frailties for individuals, their families and friends, and their organizations. Some of these stories are about alcohol and drug addiction and other harmful lifestyle choices, but human frailty also leads to all kinds of unethical and illegal behaviour. Individuals are convicted of bribery and corruption, price fixing, theft and fraud, sexual harassment and abuse of authority. Politicians fiddle their expenses, sports people cheat and fix matches and school and university students and teachers cheat to enhance exam results. Studies have shown that business students cheat more than others and efforts to teach ethical behaviour in business schools make little difference. The media who bring us stories of others' frailties themselves engage in unethical and illegal conduct in pursuit of an edge over their rivals. The contributions to this latest addition to Gower's Psychological and Behavioural Aspects of Risk Series place the spotlight on individuals, their behavioural choices and the consequences that follow for theirs and others' lives and careers. The conclusion is that people do have choices and options and that, whilst there are no easy or quick fixes in addressing self-limiting behaviours, successful avoidance of the worst outcomes can been achieved. This book provides guidance on the practical steps that need to be taken in order to gain a sense of proportion of what is important and of how we are doing, if we are to address our frailties and stop making unethical choices.

About Book: Human beings are not wired for predictability of feeling nor for the conduct of selfhood. One can understand erratic response when in difficulty, but they are inconsistent and self-contradictory, even under safest and sanest of the circumstances. When life charges us with its stresses and sorrows, our devotion to righteousness and justice gets short-circuited with an alarming ease. And yet, paradoxically it is in the laboratory of loss and uncertainty that we calibrate and supercharge our virtues. The protagonist in the stories in this book poignantly float into the whirlpool of life, churning the conscience, extracting the essence of being human and humane. Though, far from being a reformer, Basant Kumar extols, a simple yet powerful deity in the Goddess of Justice that can bring some peace to individuals and collectively, to the society. In the lap of the Goddess of Justice, the self gets detached from the self and transcends into a devotee of the goddess who gives fortitude to bear the pains and tribulations that often result from being just. Goddess of Justice requires no temples and no prayer, no mass movement or numbers to impose its superiority over other deities. This is to be practiced internally without any rituals prescribed by any external entity. It is strictly a matter within the self, by the self, and for the self. About the Author: Basant Kumar holds a degree in Science from the University of Allahabad. He graduated in Civil Engineering with Honours from the University of Roorkee (now IIT Roorkee). He was awarded the University Silver Medal. He retired as the Additional Secretary, Government of India. Very active post-retirement, as an independent freelance consultant in the field of Civil Engineering, he is also an Arbitrator and an Arbitration Consultant. He experienced various facets of life in several fields of activities and multifarious pursuits, as an engineer, administrator, and manager in the corporate world and also on the sports field. This vast exposure left a deep and indelible imprint of the human conduct in different situations on him. He intimately observed the compulsions, fears, and ambitions that navigated people on the path that they traversed in life. The stories in this collection bring out the subtleties of choices that protagonists make driven by their inner fragilities and fortitude. Basant Kumar enjoys playing golf and celebrating the unearned gifts of Holes-in-One, twice. He was part of the winning pair at the DLF Republic Day Cup, also twice. He also won the ‘closest to pin’ contest. In the time left over after golf and professional work, in that order, he writes. This is his second book.

Every day we hear stories about the consequences of human frailties for individuals, their families and friends, and their organizations. Some of these stories are about alcohol and drug addiction and other harmful lifestyle choices, but human frailty also leads to all kinds of unethical and illegal behaviour. Individuals are convicted of bribery and corruption, price fixing, theft and fraud, sexual harassment and abuse of authority. Politicians fiddle their expenses, sports people cheat and fix matches and school and university students and teachers cheat to enhance exam results. Studies have shown that business students cheat more than others and efforts to teach ethical behaviour in business schools make little difference. The media who bring us stories of others' frailties themselves engage in unethical and illegal conduct in pursuit of an edge over their rivals. The contributions to this latest addition to Gower's Psychological and Behavioural Aspects of Risk Series place the spotlight on individuals, their behavioural choices and the consequences that follow for theirs and others' lives and careers. The conclusion is that people do have choices and options and that, whilst there are no easy or quick fixes in addressing self-limiting behaviours, successful avoidance of the worst outcomes can been achieved. This book provides guidance on the practical steps that need to be taken in order to gain a sense of proportion of what is important and of how we are doing, if we are to address our frailties and stop making unethical choices.

For students, this updated guide teaches test-taking strategies and tests all the skills needed to do well on the SAT. For parents, there is a 24-page Parent's Guide that provides information on financial aid and scholarships.

The Routledge Handbook of the Ethics of Human Enhancement provides readers with a philosophically rich and scientifically grounded analysis of human enhancement and its ethical implications. A landmark in the academic literature, the volume covers human enhancement in genetic engineering, neuroscience, synthetic biology, regenerative medicine, bioengineering, and many other fields. The Handbook includes a diverse and multifaceted collection of 30 chapters—all appearing here in print for the first time— that reveal the fundamental ethical challenges related to human enhancement. The chapters have been written by internationally recognized leaders in the field and are organized into seven parts: Historical Background and Key Concepts Human Enhancement and Human Nature Physical Enhancement Cognitive Enhancement Mood Enhancement and Moral Enhancement Human Enhancement and Medicine Legal, Social, and Political Implications The depth and topical range of the Handbook makes it an essential resource for upper-level undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows in a broad variety of disciplinary areas. Furthermore, it is an authoritative reference for basic scientists, philosophers, engineers, physicians, lawyers, and other professionals who work on the topic of human enhancement.

It is very easy for organizations to ignore or overlook the impact of social and commercial change-of increased pressure to deliver profit (above all else) and of transformation in the ways in which we are now working-on the mental health and, consequently, the performance of their employees. And yet there is plenty of evidence that in many workplaces, performance is down, stress is up and professional employees are struggling to balance their home and work lives. This collection, while looking at individuals, places the spotlight on organizational initiatives to support the development of attitudes, values, character and behaviors in employees. The aim of these initiatives is to increase our resilience to those experiences and events which impact on performance. There is a particular focus on managerial and professional jobs where employee discretion and commitment are critical. The Fulfilling Workplace extends the themes developed in early titles in the Psychological and Behavioral Aspects of Risk Series deeper into organizations; to explore the organization's role in coming to grips both with human frailties and toxic workplaces-both destructive to individual and organizational health.