Economic Humanism and Western Management: Theory and Practice

  • Sigmund Wagner-Tsukamoto
Chapter
Part of the Humanism in Business Series book series (HUBUS)

Abstract

Management practice perceives itself to be grounded in an economic approach to management; that is, a ‘profit-generating’ management. The key thesis developed in this chapter argues that management practice also is in certain respects humanistic and ethical. Why and how could management practice be considered as humanistic and ethical? This chapter analyses and explains the business ethics tradition of Milton Friedman and his well-known theorem that the ‘only social responsibility of companies were to maximise profits within legal constraints’ (Friedman 1970; Wagner-Tsukamoto 2007a). I outline key differences between an economic understanding of humanistic management and the behavioural, psychological, sociological, and anthropological approaches that are historically rooted in the Human Relations Movement, the management writings of Elton Mayo’s (1933) The Human Problems of an Industrial Civilization, Chester Barnard’s (1938), The Functions of the Chief Executive, and Douglas McGregor’s (1960) The Human Side of Enterprise, to name but a few. I also focus on western management theory and practice. This focus is reflected in the choice of theories discussed and the type of ‘western’ management problems they deal with.

Keywords

Business Ethic Human Nature Market Economy Economic Approach Humanistic Management 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Acevedo, A. (2012), ‘Personalist Business Ethics and Humanist Management’, Journal of Business Ethics 105, pp. 197–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Adams, J. S. (1965), ‘Inequity in Social Exchange’, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 62, pp. 335–343.Google Scholar
  3. Barnard, C. I. (1938), The Functions of the Chief Executive, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
  4. Becker, G. S. (1976), The Economic Approach to Human Behavior, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
  5. Becker, G. S. (1993), ‘The Economic Way of Looking at Behavior’, Journal of Political Economy 101, pp. 385–409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. Blau, P. M. (1976), ‘Introduction: Parallels and Contrasts in Structural Inquiries’, in P. M. Blau (ed.), Approaches to the Study of Social Structure, London: Open Books, pp. 1–20.Google Scholar
  7. Buchanan, J. M. (1975), The Limits of Liberty. Between Anarchy and Leviathan, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
  8. Buchanan, J. M. (1987a), Economics Between Predictive Science and Moral Philosophy, College Station, Texas: A & M University Press.Google Scholar
  9. Buchanan, J. M. (1987b), ‘The Constitution of Economic Policy’, American Economic Review 77, pp. 243–250.Google Scholar
  10. Coleman, J. S. (1990), Foundations of Social Theory, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
  11. Dahrendorf, R. (1973), Homo Sociologicus, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
  12. Davila Gomez, A. M., and Crowther, D. (2009), ‘Humanistic Management Education: Richness, Challenges and Possibilities’, in D. Bubna-Litic (ed.), Spirituality and Corporate Social Responsibility Interpenetrating Worlds, Farnham: Gower.Google Scholar
  13. Etzioni, A. (1988), The Moral Dimension: Towards a New Economics, New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
  14. Ghoshal, S. (2005), ‘Bad Management Theories are Destroying Good Management Practice’, Academy of Management Learning & Education 4, 1, pp. 75–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. Ghoshal, S., Bartlett, C. A., and Moran, P. (1999), ‘A New Manifesto for Management’, Sloan Management Review 40, 3, pp. 9–20.Google Scholar
  16. Heyne, P. (2008), ‘Are Economists Basically Immoral?’ and other Essays on Economics, Ethics, and Religion, in G. Brennan and A. M. C. Waterman (eds), Indianapolis: Liberty Fund.Google Scholar
  17. Homann, K. (1997), ‘Sinn und Grenze der ökonomischen Methode in der Wirtschaftsethik’, Volkswirtschaftliche Schriften 478, pp. 1–42.Google Scholar
  18. Machlup, F. (1978), Methodology of Economics and Other Social Sciences, New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
  19. Mayo, E. (1933), The Human Problems of an Industrial Civilization, New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
  20. Mele, D. (2003), ‘The Challenge of Humanistic Management’, Journal of Business Ethics 44, pp. 77–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. Mele, D. (2009), ‘Editorial Introduction: Towards a More Humanistic Management’, Journal of Business Ethics 88, 413–416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. McGregor, D. (1960), The Human Side of Enterprise, New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
  23. Pirson, M., and Turnbull, S. (2011), ‘Toward a More Humanistic Governance Model: Network Governance Structures’, Journal of Business Ethics 99, pp. 101–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  24. Rosanas, J. M. (2008), ‘Beyond Economic Criteria: A Humanistic Approach to Organisational Survival’, Journal of Business Ethics 78, pp. 447–462.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. Sen, A. (1990), ‘Rational Fools: A Critique of the Behavioral Foundations of Economic Theory’, in J. J. Mansbridge (ed.), Beyond Self-Interest, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 25–43.Google Scholar
  26. Simon, H. A. (1955), ‘A Behavioral Model of Rational Choice’, Quarterly Journal of Economics 69, pp. 99–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. Simon, H. A. (1956), ‘Rational Choice and the Structure of the Environment’, Psychological Review 63, pp. 129–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. Spitzeck, H. (2011), ‘An Integrated Model of Humanistic Management’, Journal of Business Ethics 99, pp. 51–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  29. Wagner-Tsukamoto, S. A. (2003), Human Nature and Organisation Theory: On the Economic Approach to Institutional Organisation, Cheltenham, New York: Edward Elgar.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  30. Wagner-Tsukamoto, S. A. (2005), ‘An Economic Approach to Business Ethics: Moral Agency of the Firm and the Enabling and Constraining Effects of Economic Institutions and Interactions in a Market Economy’, Journal of Business Ethics 60, pp. 75–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  31. Wagner-Tsukamoto, S. A. (2007a), ‘Moral Agency, Profits and the Firm: Economic Revisions to the Friedman Theorem’, Journal of Business Ethics 70, pp. 209–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  32. Wagner-Tsukamoto, S. A. (2007b), ‘An Institutional Economic Reconstruction of Scientific Management: On the Lost Theoretical Logic of Taylorism’, Academy of Management Review 32, pp. 105–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  33. Wagner-Tsukamoto, S. A. (2008a), ‘Scientific Management Revisited: Did Taylorism Fail Because of a Too Positive Image of Human Nature?’, Journal of Management History 14, 4, pp. 348–372.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  34. Wagner-Tsukamoto, S. A. (2008b), ‘Contrasting the Behavioural Business Ethics Approach and the Institutional Economic Approach to Business Ethics: Insights from the Study of Quaker Employers’, Journal of Business Ethics 82, pp. 835–850.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  35. Wagner-Tsukamoto, S. A. (2008c), ‘An Economic Reading of the Exodus: On the Institutional Economic Reconstruction of Biblical Cooperation Failures’, Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament 22, 1, pp. 114–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  36. Wagner-Tsukamoto, S. A. (2009a), Is God an Economist? An Institutional Economic Reconstruction of the Old Testament, Basingstoke, UK, New York et al.: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  37. Wagner-Tsukamoto, S. A. (2009b), ‘The Paradise Story: A Constitutional Economic Reconstruction’, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 34, 2, pp. 147–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  38. Wagner-Tsukamoto, S. A. (2010), ‘Out of a Slave Contract: The Analysis of Pre-Hobbesian Anarchists in the Old Testament’, Constitutional Political Economy 21, 288–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  39. Wagner-Tsukamoto, S. A. (2012), ‘Questioning the Weber Thesis: Capitalist Ethics and the Hebrew Bible’, Sociology Mind 2, 1, pp. 1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  40. Williamson, O. E. (1975), Markets and Hierarchies. Analysis and Antitrust Implications, New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
  41. Williamson, O. E. (1985), The Economic Institutions of Capitalism, New York: Free Press.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Sigmund Wagner-Tsukamoto 2013

Authors and Affiliations

  • Sigmund Wagner-Tsukamoto

There are no affiliations available

Personalised recommendations