Abstract
Humanistic management is emerging as a response to the economistic paradigm prevalent in today’s business schools, corporations, and society. There are many compelling reasons why the economistic paradigm is becoming obsolete, and even dangerous, for business if it is to become an agent of world benefit. The purpose of this article is not to explain these reasons but rather to situate the transition to humanistic management in the context of multiple worldviews. We propose an historical sequence of worldviews each with its own paradigmatic assumptions about what it means to be human and the nature of the world. We draw on converging insights between new science and ancient spiritual traditions to outline an emerging quantum worldview. We further submit that integrating elements of the quantum worldview into humanistic management strengthens it in ways that are essential to humankind’s ability to shift to full-spectrum flourishing, defined as a world in which people and all life thrive now and across future generations.
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Notes
Founded in 2016, the Humanistic Management Journal focuses on the protection of human dignity and the promotion of human well-being within the context of organizations. It connects disparate fields including business ethics, sustainability and management studies via a humanistic research paradigm. ISSN: 2366-603X (print version); ISSN: 2366–6048 (e-version)
ECLET is an acronym for the Emergent Cyclical Levels of Existence Theory researched and developed by Clare Graves in the 1950s and 1960s. His work gave rise to Spiral Dynamics and many other human development frameworks. The Graves model describes distinct worldviews that humans operate from and that dictate the goals we set, the things we care about, and the behaviors we exhibit as we evolve throughout our lives.
A common definition of worldview is given here: https://www.google.com/search?q=Dictionary#dobs=worldview
Dean Jenny Darroch and Professor Katherina Pick at the Drucker School of Management provide one example of efforts to radically redesign management curricula in ways that re-imagine education in the twenty-first century.
Some would say that economism, humanism, and even Biblical Christianity have become global in the twenty-first century. But their architecture and cultural orientations remain largely western, even when they have taken root in new continents.
Such practices have three characteristics in common. First, they are part of a well-documented upward spiral in positive emotions which increase our sense of wellbeing and build consequential resources to handle life’s challenges (Frederickson et al., 2008). Second, they expand our awareness of being one with the world, helping us to get in a state of “flow” where creativity and productivity emerge effortlessly (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). Third, they engage the whole person rather than only the analytic rational self (Boyatzis, et al., 2014). They offer an action-oriented pathway to entrepreneurial creativity and to effective collaboration in today’s complex and turbulent environments. See Tsao and Laszlo, Chapter 6.
See Tsao, F. and C. Laszlo. Ibid., Chapters 5 and 6
Somatic intelligence refers to enhanced abilities that become available through heightened awareness of sensory information about our well-being. Spiritual intelligence has been described as a higher dimension of intelligence that activates the qualities and capabilities of the authentic self in the form of wisdom, compassion, integrity, joy, love, creativity, and peace.
For scholarly examples of management, spirituality, and religion research, see the selected works of Judith Neal, Margaret Benefiel, Andre Delbecq, L. W. Fry, Douglas A. Hicks, David Miller, and Susan Case, among others.
Such as David Bohm, Fritjof Capra, Clare Graves, Willis Harman, Ervin Laszlo, Abraham Maslow, Donella Meadows, and Ken Wilber.
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Laszlo, C. Strengthening Humanistic Management. Humanist Manag J 4, 85–94 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41463-019-00055-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41463-019-00055-9