Abstract
In this article Werhane addresses the issue of the role of moral imagination in systems thinking and makes that link explicit. In her analysis of the social construction of organizations, she adopts a formulation identified from contemporary complexity theory, and considers companies or businesses as forms of complex adaptive systems. These systems are animated by human moral agents, thus concepts of moral imagination are equally applicable to organizational contexts. Organizations may be considered in the same way as individuals; that is to say they are each imbedded in a set of interrelated, broader systems. It is clear that such systems on every level are complex, but Werhane argues further that because they are composed of human beings these systems – all of them – are changeable and always in flux. By employing moral imagination, organizations and larger systems as well as individuals have the potential to readapt to changing relationships as well as to changing social, cultural and environmental conditions.
Original publication: Werhane, Patricia H. ‘Mental Models, Moral Imagination and Systems Thinking in the Age of Globalization’. Journal of Business Ethics (2008) 78: 463–474. ©2008 Reprinted with permission.
Werhane, Patricia H. ‘Mental Models, Moral Imagination and Systems Thinking in the Age of Globalization’. Journal of Business Ethics (2008) 78: 463–474. ©2008 Reprinted with permission.
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Notes
- 1.
Churchill is quoted as claiming, ‘It is said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time’ (Churchill, 1947).
- 2.
- 3.
In Bangladesh, for example, where a number of factories produce clothing for Wal-Mart, the law specifies minimum wages of $20/month, the law requires decent lunch and bathroom facilities, scheduled breaks, pay for overtime, and maternity leaves. Yet many factories in this country flout these regulations, and unfortunately there is not enforcement of these requirements.
- 4.
This case is reproduced from Mead et al. (2002), reprinted in a revised form with permission of Darden Publishing.
- 5.
This approach does not always guarantee moral success, however. A recent report cites Chad’s government as withdrawing from its agreement with the World Bank to channel its oil revenues into poverty alleviation (Polgreen, 2005, Al5).
- 6.
The counter example is the existence of foreign workers in industrialized countries. Although often paid poorly by those country standards, if these workers come from poor countries they are able to save, living by their native country standards.
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Werhane, P.H. (2019). Mental Models, Moral Imagination and Systems Thinking in the Age of Globalization. In: Bevan, D.J., Wolfe, R.W., Werhane, P.H. (eds) Systems Thinking and Moral Imagination. Issues in Business Ethics(), vol 48. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89797-4_11
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