The Challenge of Humanistic Management

According to the origin of the word "humanism" and the concept of humanitas where the former comes from, management could be called humanistic when its outlook emphasizes common human needs and is oriented to the development of human virtue, in all its forms, to its fullest extent. A first approach to humanistic management, although quite incomplete, was developed mainly in the middle of the 20th century. It was centered on human motivations. A second approach to humanistic management sprang up in the 80's and centered on organizational culture. This implied a wider approach to the human condition while taking into account the influence of culture on behaviors and decision-making, but it is incomplete, too. There is a third approach to humanistic management, which is still emerging, that considers a business enterprise as a real community of persons. That means promoting unity and favoring the acquisition of human virtues. This humanistic management approach is a real challenge in order to achieve a higher moral quality in management, human virtues among people and more efficient organizations.     

Measuring microenterprise profits: Must we ask how the sausage is made?

A large share of the World's poor is self-employed. Accurate measurement of profits from microenterprises is therefore critical for studying poverty and inequality, measuring the returns to education, and evaluating the success of microfinance programs. However, a myriad of problems plague the measurement of profits. This paper reports on a variety of different experiments conducted to better understand the importance of some of these problems, and to draw recommendations for collecting profit data. In particular, we (i) examine how far we can reconcile self-reported profits and reports of revenue minus expenses through more detailed questions; (ii) examine recall errors in sales, and report on the results of experiments which randomly allocated account books to firms; and (iii) asked firms how much firms like theirs underreport sales in surveys like ours, and had research assistants observe the firms at random times 15–16 times during a month to provide measures for comparison. We conclude that firms underreport revenues by about 30%, that account diaries have significant impacts on both revenues and expenses, but not on profits, and that simply asking profits provides a more accurate measure of firm profits than detailed questions on revenues and expenses.     

Can an SME Become a Global Corporate Citizen? Evidence from a Case Study

Global Corporate Citizenship (GCC) continues to become increasingly popular in large corporations. However, this concept has rarely been considered in small and medium size enterprises (SMEs). A case study of a Norwegian clothing company illustrates how GCC can be also applied to small companies. This case study also shows that SMEs can be very innovative in exercising corporate citizenship, without necessarily following the patterns of large multinational companies. The company studied engages as partner in some voluntary labor initiatives promoted by the government, employs people in marginal situations, and exerts influence for the adoption of good working conditions in its supply chain. Environmental issues and actions of solidarity are also considered within a global scope. Ethics of care and concern for specific aspects of the common good seem crucial as GCC drivers in this company, as do personal values, character, and leadership of the owner-manager of the firm.     

Cooperatives and the Commodity Political Agenda: A Political Economy Approach

Historically, major agricultural cooperatives in Canada have been intimately involved in commodity policy issues. Large cooperatives were created because farmers were upset about the perceived lack of competition in buying farm inputs or selling farm outputs. Often, the resulting cooperative was the organization farmers saw as the logical organization to represent their view of commodity policy or competition policy. As cooperatives grew and diversified, the ability to represent their members coherently across policy issues was hampered. For processing cooperatives in the supply-managed sector, the requirement that the cooperative be the political arm of industry, process product, and provide maximum returns to producer members made for a complicated objective function. This paper focuses on the twin objectives of providing efficient member services and performing political lobbying in a public choice framework. The results are illustrated by the recent history of a supply-managed further-processing cooperative and a diversified grain cooperative.     

Canadian Health and Food: The Links between Policy, Consumers, and Industry

The concerns around the social costs associated with poor, inadequate diets and unhealthy food choices have received much attention in both the popular and academic literature recently. In response, governments are starting to direct their attention toward the interplay between public health and the food economy. We begin by reviewing some of the known links between food and health, the recommendations coming from international and domestic bodies, and the perspective of industry. We then discuss the potential role of, and justifications for, policy interventions, and note that a failure to incorporate consumer response into the policymaking process has led to suboptimal outcomes in the past. We present a qualitative overview of the possible effects of Canadian agricultural policies, as well as examples from the limited literature in this area. In much the same way that the policymaking process is subject to environmental impact assessments, agricultural and food policies need to be formulated with a health filter in place order to avoid perverse dietary outcomes. Les préoccupations entourant les coûts sociaux liés à des régimes alimentaires déficients et à des choix alimentaires nuisibles pour la santé ont reçu récemment beaucoup d'attention dans les publications populaires et scientifiques. En réponse à ces préoccupations, les gouvernements commencent à se pencher sur l'interaction entre la santé publique et l'économie de l'alimentation. Nous avons d'abord examiné quelques‐uns des liens connus entre l'alimentation et la santé, les recommandations d'organismes nationaux et internationaux et le point de vue de l'industrie. Nous avons ensuite discuté du rôle potentiel des interventions politiques, et des justifications pour ces interventions, et avons noté que le fait de ne pas intégrer la réaction du consommateur dans le processus d'élaboration des politiques a entraîné des résultats sous‐optimaux dans le passé. Nous présentons un aperçu qualitatif des répercussions possibles des politiques agricoles canadiennes ainsi que des exemples tirés de la littérature limitée dans ce domaine. Tout comme le processus d'élaboration des politiques est soumis à des évaluations de l'impact sur l'environnement, les politiques agroalimentaires doivent être élaborées en tenant compte de la santé en vue d'éviter les conséquences perverses liées à l'alimentation.     

Exploring the Principle of Subsidiarity in Organisational Forms

The paper starts with a case study of a medium-sized company in which a strong and successful change in the organisational form and job design took place. A bureaucratic organisation with highly-specialised jobs was converted into a new organisation in which employees became much more autonomous in managing their own work. This not only entailed new techniques and managerial systems but also a new anthropological vision. Bureaucratic rules were reduced, but not eliminated completely, and management became less authoritarian. Employees could therefore apply greater entrepreneurial spirit, developing their talents in pursuit of the company’s common goals. It is argued that this new organisational form is ethically superior to the old, and reflects the basic requirements of the principle of subsidiarity. The ethical principle of subsidiarity holds that a larger and higher-ranking body should not exercise functions which could be efficiently carried out by a smaller and lesser body; rather the former should support the latter by aiding it in the coordination of its activities with those of the greater community. While the principle has usually been applied in a political context, this paper explores the principle as a moral base for organisational forms within business organisations. Finally, the principle of subsidiarity is analysed in the context of business organisations and proposed as an ethical guideline for organisational forms. This would help to mitigate the effects of those bureaucracies in which individuals, with their dignity, freedom, diversity and capacity for undertaking business activities with entrepreneurial spirit, are often not fully appreciated.