Our events calendar is populated with a mixture of NIBE events or events from partner organisations and our wider network. All events profiled are connected to general business ethics or hone in on a contemporary ethical topic or concern. These events occur across the North East and are an opportunity to learn, reflect, debate, share best practice and most importantly, connect and network with others.
At NIBE, we guarantee a warm welcome and we look forward to meeting you at a future event.
Alessia Contu, Professor of Management, University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA.
About the speaker
Alessia Contu (she/her) is Professor of Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston, USA where she served as Chair of the Management Department between 2014 and 2021. Alessia has previously worked in the UK, at Warwick Business School (2006-13); Lancaster University Management School (2001-2006), and at University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology – UMIST (1998-2001) where she also gained her PhD. She was also awarded a Master in Management and Organizational Learning – Lancaster University Management School. Alessia trained in Italy as a psychologist in the mid-90s where she was awarded the degree of Doctor of Psychology. She currently serves as Associate Editor of Human Relations and Organization and sits on the Editorial Board of Organization Studies. Alessia is interested in psychoanalysis, political philosophy, ethics and critical theories, their significance for understanding and explaining contemporary organisational, managerial, and working practices. Alessia’s work has been published in various journals such as Human Relations, Organization Science, Organization, Journal of Management Studies, Academy of Management Review, Organization Studies, and Ephemera. Her research has focused on organisational politics and specifically organizational resistance and control in MNCs, SMEs and NGOs; the role of hegemonic management discourses such as the ‘learning’ discourse, or the ‘partnership’ discourse in reproducing unequal work relations and stable identities in late capitalism; and that of innovation, knowledge creation and sharing in communities of practice. Alessia has also intervened in a variety of debates addressing phenomena like whistleblowing, leadership, and conflict. In the past 8 years Alessia has been studying, promoting, and embracing the intellectual activism delineated by Black feminist scholars as a form of engaged praxis for social justice to transform the work of business school scholars/educators and their impact – see www.engagedscholars.org. Alessia’s empirical research is currently focusing on Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) in management education; and democratic and alternative organisational forms including the relevance and challenges of workers buy outs, and employees owned businesses.
About the Seminar
In this paper I examine the ancient wisdom on how to make good leadership decisions that Antigone offers. Creon, Antigone’s ruler, preconizes the traditionally masculine leadership conduct, with hubristic tyrannical tendencies, that deliver tragic consequences. Antigone schools Creon and its audience, firstly, by identifying the behaviours and circumstances that favour bad and untimely leadership decisions. Then Antigone presents the wisdom of phronesis as the way forward for good and timely leadership decisions. Phronesis is a pragmatic, measured rationality that comprises prudence, and a sensibility to the context, openness to dialogue, and to the other. Phronesis also calls for an open and flexible relation to error, to changing one’s mind. The focus is not merely on the leader but on the relations, their differences, and opportunities, and what everyone involved in the specific circumstances of the decision can offer when listening and learning from each other. Phronesis becomes part of a modus operandi that prefigures collaborative leadership. Collaborative leadership is predicated on the collective and individual flourishing central to the dawn of democratic rule and the dilemmas Antigone examines. This review essay shows how today we still need Antigone in deepening our democracy and making better leadership decisions.
About this event
Certified B corps are a new kind of business that balances purpose and profit. They are leaders, driving a global movement of people using businesses as a force for good (Learn more here https://bcorporation.uk).
The aim of the North East B Social is to build a collaborative network of companies across the North East that want to have a positive impact on their team, the community, the environment and their customers so we can learn and grow together.
This event is a first step to raise awareness and connect with each other. If you are a North East based company who is committed to making your business a force for good, then we would love you to join us.
At the event you will:
– Learn about B Corps and the B Social
– Connect with like-minded businesses
– Meet a B Leader who can provide advice on the B Corp assessment
– Enjoy yourself over drinks and music
You don’t have to be a Bcorp to attend, this is an informal event to meet like-minded people, freelancers, and businesses to connect and find out more about the process.
Tickets cost £4.95 which includes the Eventbrite booking fee, a free drink upon arrival and the running costs of the event.
When: 2.30pm – 5pm on Thursday 26th May
Where: Revolución de Cuba, 1 Cloth Market, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 1EE
Who should attend: Companies in the North East who are committed to using business as a force for good.
This event is organised by Sail Creative and Robson Laidler, supported by other North East B Corps and B Leaders.