Abstract
Recently ethical implications of human resource management have intensified the focus on care perspectives in management and organization studies. Appeals have also been made for the concept of organizational care to be grounded in philosophies of care rather than business theories. Care perspectives see individuals, especially women, as primarily relational and view work as a means by which people can increase in self-esteem, self-develop and be fulfilled. The ethic of care has received attention in feminist ethics and is often socially construed as a feminine ethic. Although well developed in the caring professions there remains no model or definition of the care ethic in management literature with little care research undertaken. This paper develops the concept of the care ethic using Heidegger’s philosophy, namely, care is fundamental to human being. To show Heideggerian care, an individual notices, pays attention to another and responds in ways to empower and enable. In a study which aimed to analyze women’s lived experience of career, we applied the philosophically grounded methodology hermeneutic phenomenology. Findings revealed the power of Heideggerian care, Sorge, as a key factor in creating meaning. From this, we propose that care has potential as a theoretical and philosophically based construct with strong practical implications. It provides a way of understanding the care ethic, lies at the heart of our being, and is essential to meaning in our grelationships and undertakings. Crucially, it can provide reprieve from the existential angst that trademarks our being.
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Notes
A full discussion of the development of the history of the notion of care can be found in the classic article in the Encyclopedia of Bioethics by Warren T. Reich. [Revised edition. Edited by Warren Thomas Reich. 5 Volumes. New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 2014, 4th ed., pp. 319–331].
Heidegger used two other German words along with Sorge to describe care. Besorgen, translates as to get or obtain something for oneself or someone, and Fursorge, translates as actively caring for someone who needs help, also known as solicitude. Sorge is the root for care made manifest: Fursorge and Besorgen. Sorge is concerned with being: “ontology” (Tomkins and Simpson 2015). In this paper, for simplicity we use the root word Sorge for solicitous care—Fursorge.
Māori performing arts.
Māori woman elder.
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Elley-Brown, M.J., Pringle, J.K. Sorge, Heideggerian Ethic of Care: Creating More Caring Organizations. J Bus Ethics 168, 23–35 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04243-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04243-3