Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of editors and contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Humanistic Management Network: paving the way towards a life-serving economy
- Introduction
- Part 1 Philosophic-historical grounding of humanism
- Part 2 Towards an integration of humanism and business on a systems level
- Part 3 Humanistic management
- Part 4 The individual as a change agent for a humane business society
- 19 Ethical codes at work
- 20 The daunting challenges of globalization and the power of individuals in cross-stakeholder networks for a humanistic face of globalization
- 21 The leader as responsible change agent: promoting humanism in and beyond business
- 22 Quiet leadership – a way to sustainable positive change
- 23 Everyone a changemaker: social entrepreneurship's ultimate goal
- 24 Social business entrepreneurs are the solution
- 25 Concluding observations
- Index
- References
25 - Concluding observations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 January 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of editors and contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Humanistic Management Network: paving the way towards a life-serving economy
- Introduction
- Part 1 Philosophic-historical grounding of humanism
- Part 2 Towards an integration of humanism and business on a systems level
- Part 3 Humanistic management
- Part 4 The individual as a change agent for a humane business society
- 19 Ethical codes at work
- 20 The daunting challenges of globalization and the power of individuals in cross-stakeholder networks for a humanistic face of globalization
- 21 The leader as responsible change agent: promoting humanism in and beyond business
- 22 Quiet leadership – a way to sustainable positive change
- 23 Everyone a changemaker: social entrepreneurship's ultimate goal
- 24 Social business entrepreneurs are the solution
- 25 Concluding observations
- Index
- References
Summary
Be bold – allow yourself to envision a life-conducive economy
Throughout this book, authors from diverse personal and academic backgrounds have argued that the purpose of economic activity should be to serve mankind. This may look somewhat idealistic or even naïve at first sight. However, we believe the arguments presented in this book build a strong case for working towards a more life-conducive economy. We have learned that there have been humanistic principles throughout history, within different religious and cultural traditions across the globe, as well as in the development of economic thought. In practice, we also increasingly find examples of humanists using entrepreneurial means to foster genuine life-serving developments, while topics such as business ethics, social entrepreneurship, and corporate social responsibility continuously deepen their footprint in management education and research.
Clearly, building a more life-conducive economy and redefining the role of business in society accordingly means aiming high. Simultaneously, we should realize that our economic activities are not governed by laws of nature, but follow man-made rules. We chose to adopt these rules and, consequently, we can also choose to change them or at least allow them to evolve in the light of new knowledge – free of (sometimes dogmatic) status quo conserving defense mechanisms.
If one is asked to decide whether changes in any context are positive or not, one depends on a vision of a desired outcome.
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- Information
- Humanism in Business , pp. 413 - 427Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009
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