Rekindling the Heart and the Soul of Management

Abstract

A concerted set of initiatives over the last 50 years has transformed management into a profession and a popular discipline for formal study. However, there has been a steady deterioration in the quality of working life in modern organizations. Contrary to the oft-repeated cliche about people being valuable assets, they are increasingly being treated as liabilities that can no longer be afforded. This is best reflected in the frenzy of ‘rightsizing’- a weak euphemism for turning employees out. Those who are lucky enough to survive are then subjected to a mechanistic culture devoid of human sensitivity. The focus is on squeezing the maximum out of them but not doing enough to make them feel wanted or to enhance their sense of self-worth and self-respect. Compounding these problems is the more dramatic fall in leadership standards. As the spate of recent scandals suggest, many organizations have fallen into the hands of greedy impostors masquerading as leaders.

Simultaneously, the public image of business corporations has been severely tarnished. Because of frauds and other misdemeanours that have been uncovered and publicized, they are perceived less as creators of social wealth and progressively more as exploitative organizations seeking to prosper at the expense of the common good. Business ethics, good governance, and corporate social responsibility may be fashion- able themes for conferences but they are not much in evidence in practice.

Any insightful observer is, therefore, likely to infer that modern corporations have lost their hearts (and hence the people-are-liabilities mindset) and their souls (hence their lack of sensitivity to social well-being). This paper underscores the urgent need for rekindling the corporate heart and soul — reorienting the prevailing approaches to dealing with employees and changing the mindset about corporate purpose. What people require is a genuinely supportive environment and a persevering, diligent leader to show the way. For creating the right kind of environment, the author suggests the following measures:

appoint the right person

treat people like assets - not liabilities

invest generously in culture-building

cultivate the right attitudes.

For rekindling the corporate soul, the following initiatives are suggested:

follow ethical conduct

appoint ethical people

get oriented towards social responsibility.

Only when all these are achieved will business organizations provide enriching work experiences to their employees and ultimately succeed in transcending profit-making in its narrow sense to attain their more altruistic, nobler purposes. Among the various prescriptive measures, the most crucial is the selection of individuals for leadership roles. The importance of character is vital. Yet, it is perhaps the one requirement that is most often compromised.