Abstract
The authors discussed the reasons for the recent economic collapse as caused by the lack of large businesses and global corporations losing touch with the people they serve. Losing touch has caused a distancing of understanding of the customers as people by these businesses and corporations. An antidote to this is that decisions that have to be made in global businesses as well as domestic organizations reflect some level of empathy. The objective is to highlight the fact that these businesses are corporate citizens and in themselves must be aware of the culture in which they conduct themselves. The authors discuss how empathic decision-making can become part of the corporate fabric without losing any sense of appropriate business judgment. A process is defined to enable the empathic process. Finally, a straw man is set up to fund/enable the process while creating a positive and profitable business environment.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Balkan, J.: 2005, The Corporation: Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power (Simon and Shuster) ISBN 0-7432-4722-2
Carter, P. L.: 2009, ‘Equity and Empathy: Toward Racial and Educational Achievement in the Obama Era’, Harvard Educational Review 79(2), 287–297
Chris, P.: `Future of the Corporation Conference: Stormy Weather Ahead', Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship (Chestnut Hill, MA), http://blogs.bcccc.net/2009/06/future-of-the-corporation-conference-stormy-weather-ahead/ (Accessed June 3, 2009).
Eisenberg, N.: 2005, ‘Moral Motivation Through the Life Span’, in Current Theory and Research in Motivation, Vol. 51 (University of Nebraska Press, Nebraska)
Gano-Overway, L. A., T. Michelle Magyar, M.-S. Kim, M. Newton, M. D. Fry and M. R. Guivernau: 2009, ‘Influence of Caring Youth Sport Contexts on Efficacy-Related Beliefs and Social Behaviors’, Developmental Psychology 45(2), 239–340
Gellar, J. D.: 2006, ‘Pity, Suffering, and Psychotherapy’, American Journal of Psychotherapy 60(2), 187–206
Ginot, E.: 2009, ‘The Empathic Power of Enactments’, Psychoanalytic Psychology 26(3), 290–309
Greason, P. B. and C. S. Cashwell: 2009, ‘Mindfullness and Counseling Self Efficacy: The Mediating Role of Attention and Empathy’, Counselor Education and Supervision 49, 2–19
Hoffman, M. L.: 2001, ‘Toward a Comprehensive Empathy-Based Theory of Pro Social Moral Development’, in A. C. Bohart and D. J. Stipek (eds.), Constructive and Destructive Behavior: Implications for Family, School, and Society (American Psychological Association, Washington, DC; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England), pp. 61–86
Miller, G. E. and N. Eisenberg: 2003, ‘Can Universal Affective Education Programs be Used to Promote Empathy in Elementary Aged Children? A Review of Five Curricula’, Journal of Research in Character Education (University of Missouri, Missouri)
Natale, Samuel, (1972) An Experiment in Empathy, National Foundation for Educational Research, Slough, England
Nussbaum, B.: 2005, ‘The Empathy Economy’, Business Week, March 8, 2005
Patnaik, D.: 2009a, ‘Widespread Empathy: Rewiring Your Corporation for Intuition’, Fast Company, August 27, 2009
Patnaik, D.: 2009b, Wired to Care, Pearson Education, ISBN-10-0-13-0714134-x, January 2009
Todd, Z. (2008) “Talking About Books: A Reading Group Study.” Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts 2(4): 256-263
Trumpeter, N. N., P. J. Watson, B. J. O’Leary, and B. L. Weathington (2008) Self Functioning and Perceived Parenting: Relations of Parental Empathy and Love Inconsistency with Narcissism, Depression, and Self-Esteem. The Journal of Genetic Psychology 169(1): 51–70.
Van Lange, P. A. M. (2008) Does Empathy Trigger Only Altruistic Motivation? How About Selflessness or Justice? Emotion 8(6): 766–774.
Venkatesan, S.: 1995, http://home.att.net/~s-prasad/GW.htm (Accessed June 3, 2009)
Wilson, J.B., Williams, N and Sugarman, B. (1967) An Introduction to Moral Education. Penguin Harmondsworth
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This paper was initially presented on October 27, 2009 at Kellogg College, University of Oxford, England.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Natale, S.M., Sora, S.A. Ethics in Strategic Thinking: Business Processes and the Global Market Collapse. J Bus Ethics 94, 309–316 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0270-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0270-2