A Humanistic Perspective for Management Research: Protecting Dignity and Promoting Well-Being

Gamification in Management: Between Choice Architecture and Humanistic Design

“…The humanistic design rhetoric in turn makes a more complex proposition, one dovetailing with the rise of design (thinking) and customer experience in business (Martin, 2009;Merholz, Schauer, Verba, & Wilkens, 2008). It also aligns with the rich history of humanistic management from the Hawthorne studies to today's renaissance (Ferris, 2013;Pirson, 2017), driven by the influx of positive psychology, business ethics, and the global political and moral value shift from economic growth to sustainable well-being (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2016). This rhetoric acknowledges that to avoid instrumentalization, management has to treat human dignity as its ultimate precondition and end (Pirson, 2017;Trittin, Fieseler, & Maltseva, 2018).…”

“…It also aligns with the rich history of humanistic management from the Hawthorne studies to today's renaissance (Ferris, 2013;Pirson, 2017), driven by the influx of positive psychology, business ethics, and the global political and moral value shift from economic growth to sustainable well-being (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2016). This rhetoric acknowledges that to avoid instrumentalization, management has to treat human dignity as its ultimate precondition and end (Pirson, 2017;Trittin, Fieseler, & Maltseva, 2018). As prefigured in McGregor's Theory-Y management style, it holds that employees (and other stakeholders) will pro-actively act in the organization's interest if the organization's goals, work environments, products, and services satisfy their needs for competence, autonomy, or meaning.…”

Achieving sustainability requires systemic business transformation

“…Part of the transformation process is to create new, compelling stories and narratives that articulate the desired future in new ways and shape new perspectives. Here, the focus is on shifting perspectives to a world where all of life flourishes, where everyone (and every being) has dignity and worth (e.g., Lovins et al, 2018;Pirson, 2017). Consistent with the shifting purpose of businesses and socioeconomic systems described above, the mind-set for a transformed system needs to affirm life and dignity for all.…”

“…Making that (type of) understanding a core narrative or story is key to shifting perspectives. New narratives and stories are an important basis for developing mind-sets, cultural norms, expectations and understandings that foster life-affirming qualities of shared responsibility, community, flourishing, dignity (Pirson, 2017) and wellbeing for all (e.g., Korten, 2007Korten, , 2018Pirson, 2017). Such mind-sets would align with the collective value/wellbeing orientation of business/ societal purpose and allow very different approaches to doing business than are currently done.…”

Practical wisdom as an adaptive algorithm for leadership: Integrating Eastern and Western perspectives to navigate complexity and uncertainty

“…These methods can remedy the limitations of scientific management (Cooperrider & Srivastva, 1987)by linking empirical data to values and norms (Chiu & Hackett, 2017). Such dialogue and procedural justice strengthen legitimacy and deliberative capacity of organizations (Richter & Dow, 2017) and foster humanistic management (Pirson, 2017) grounded in dignity, care, and reciprocity. These methods are used in educational settings to solve practical problems and promote organizational learning.…”