Dr Samuel Mansell
BA (Hons) MSc PhD
Lecturer in Business Ethics
Undergraduate Admissions Officer
Contact details
Tel: +44 (0)1334 462809
Fax: +44 (0)1334 462812
Teaching 2012/2013
- MN1001 Organisations and Society: Understanding the Business Environment
- MN2002 Management and Analysis: Analysis of Financial Data
- MN3201 Research Methods I
- MN5424 Corporate Finance and Accounting
- MN5513 Ethics, Organisations and Management
Brief Biography
Samuel joined the School of Management at the University of St Andrews in September 2010. Prior to this he was based at the University of Essex where he studied Accounting & Management (BA, 2000-03) and Finance & Management (MSc, 2003-04) with the aim of a lucrative career in corporate finance. The chance discovery of philosophy led him in search of a more contemplative vocation; so he began a PhD in 2004 researching philosophical questions in business ethics. He completed his thesis in 2009, entitled A Critique of Stakeholder Theory, while working for two years as a Lecturer at Essex Business School.
Research Interests
Samuel's research interests lie at the intersection between business ethics and moral and political philosophy. He is presently working on three projects: the application of Kantian 'imperfect duties' to the profit-maximizing model of the business corporation; the conceptual relationship between 'distributive justice' and the 'common good' in organisations; and a revision of his PhD thesis for publication with Cambridge University Press. This thesis is a philosophical critique of stakeholder theory, and it analyses in particular the idea of a corporate 'social contract' of all stakeholders. It aims to show that treating the corporation as if it were a state is incompatible with basic ethical principles of capitalism. Samuel's longer term aim is to develop an Aristotelian and Thomist analysis of classical liberal understandings of markets and corporate responsibility.
Publications
Mansell, S. (forthcoming, 2013) 'Shareholder Theory and Kant's "Duty of Beneficence"', Journal of Business Ethics.
Mansell, S. (forthcoming, 2013) Capitalism, Corporations and the Social Contract: A Critique of Stakeholder Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Business, Value Creation and Society Series, edited by R Freeman). Available from www.cambridge.org/gb/knowledge/isbn/item7074063/Capitalism,%20Corporations%20and%20the%20Social%20Contract/?site_locale=en_GB .
Mansell, S. (2011) 'Liberalism and the Governance of Populations: Review of Michel Foucault's The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at the College de France, 1978-79', Ephemera: theory and politics in organization. Available at www.ephemeraweb.org/journal/11-1/11-1mansell.pdf
Mansell, S. (2010) 'Business Ethics and the Question of Objectivity: The Concept of Moral Progress in a Dialectical Framework', in Sorensen, B. and Muhr, S. (eds.) Ethics and Organizational Practice: Questioning the Moral Foundations of Management. Edward Elgar.
Mansell, S. (2008) 'Proximity and Rationalisation: The Limits of a Levinasian Ethics in the context of Corporate Governance and Regulation', Journal of Business Ethics 83(3), 565-577. Available at www.springerlink.com/content/h455p21x6134x061/
Mansell, S. (2006) 'A Didactic Polemic for a Renewed Business Ethics: Review of For Business Ethics by Jones, Parker and ten Bos', Organization 13(2), 310-312. Available at http://org.sagepub.com/content/13/2/310.short
Working papers
Mansell, S. 'Aristotle and the Just Distribution of Corporate Wealth' (in preparation).
Dunne, S. and Mansell, S. 'Hobbes, Resistance and the Right to Life' (in preparation).
Timming, A. and Mansell, S. 'Employee Voice and Political Philosophy: Exploring the Roots of Organisational Democracy' (in preparation).
Conference Presentations
Mansell, S. (2012) 'Do Corporations have a Duty of Beneficence?', Paper presented at the workshop Imperfect Duties? (Department of Moral Philosophy, University of St Andrews), 23 June.
Mansell, S. (2011) 'Business Ethics and Human Rights', invited presentation at the Chair of Political Science IV, University of Mannheim, Germany, 21 November.
Mansell, S. (2011) 'Shareholder Theory and Kant's "Duty of Beneficence"', Presented at the Centre for Philosophy and Political Economy Symposium (University of Leicester), 8-9 September.
Mansell, S. (2010) 'Aristotle and the Just Distribution of Corporate Wealth', Presented at the Centre for Philosophy and Political Economy Symposium (University of Leicester), 8-9 September.
Mansell, S. (2010) 'The Financial Crisis: A Failure of Business Ethics?', Presented at Ethics in Crisis: A Call for Alternatives (14th Annual European Business Ethics Network UK Conference), Queen Mary, University of London, 7-9 April.
Dunne, S. and Mansell, S. (2008) 'Hobbes, Resistance and the Right to Life', Presented at the Centre for Philosophy and Political Economy Symposium (University of Leicester), 25-26 September.
Mansell, S. (2007) 'Is the Corporation a Political Concept? On the Possibility of Stakeholder Theory in a Market Economy', Presented at the Management Seminars series (University of Essex), 28 November.
Mansell, S. (2007) 'The Epistemological Limits of Business Ethics in a Dialectical Framework of Pluralism and Objectivity', Paper presented at the 2nd Workshop on Moral Foundations of Management Knowledge, Copenhagen, 14-15 September.
Mansell, S. (2007) 'The Possibilities of Stakeholder Theory in a Market Economy', Presented at the Essex Management Centre Research Day (University of Essex), 22-23 May.
Mansell, S. (2006) 'Business Ethics and the Question of Objectivity', Paper presented at the Returning to Dialectics? Towards a Critical Philosophy of Management Conference (University of Essex), 8-9 June.
Mansell, S. (2005) Proximity and Rationalisation: The Limits of a Levinasian Ethics in the context of Corporate Governance and Regulation, Paper presented at the Levinas, Business, Ethics Conference (Centre for Philosophy and Political Economy, University of Leicester), 27-29 October.
Other Activities
Member of the Centre for Philosophy and Political Economy, University of Leicester.
Member of the Society for Business Ethics.
Member of the Society for Applied Philosophy.
Advisory Council member of St Andrews oikos chapter ('International students for sustainable economics and management').
Co-organiser (with Dr Steffen Böhm) of the Returning to Dialectics? Towards a Critical Philosophy of Management Conference (University of Essex), 8-9 June, 2006.
Organiser of Management Research Seminar on 'Organisation Studies and the Mind/Body Dualism Debate' (Essex Business School, University of Essex), 27 January, 2010.
Organiser of Research Seminar on 'Struggling for Sustainability: Evaluating the value of carbon in Latin America' by Steffen Böhm and Maria Ceci Misoczky (School of Management, University of St Andrews), 12 October, 2011.
Reviewer for Journal of Business Ethics; Management Learning; Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal; Business Ethics: a European Review; Culture and Organization; Journal of Organizational Change Management; Ephemera: Theory and Politics in Organization; Routledge and MayFlyBooks.