Gods Are Still in Business - Introduction to the Symposium: God and Management

Abstract

The relationship between God and management is mostly discussed in terms of the application of religious principles and virtues to business. This is regularly covered by studies in various areas of business ethics, leadership, and human resources, but little has been done to study the implications for management of the wide variety of theological, ontological, metaphysical, and epistemological perspectives on God. This is precisely the theoretical gap the symposium "God and Management" aims to reduce by contributing to a corpus of literature parallel to mainstream discussions of embedding spirituality and faith in business ethics. The authors of the articles in this symposium propose to take a step back from the practical implications of faith in business, with the aim of presenting a more general and abstract understanding of the philosophical and theological implications of religion in management. The key questions formulated in the call for papers made by Mark Dibben and Graham K. Henning for the 2017 Philosophy of Mangement Conference were: What role does God play in a managerial choice? If there is a role, what are its influences on or what is its confluence with the managerial choice? Is God's existence essential or relevant to management? The articles selected are intended to stimulate discussions about theism, its meaning, and influences on management theories and practices. At the outset, a key issue at stake is the very definition of God. A classic proposed definition is Tillich's idea that God is the "ultimate concern" of an individual. That being said, this formula remains notoriously ambiguous (Rowe 1968), and Tillich himself seems to hesitate between two distinct interpretations: "The word 'concern' points to two sides of a relationship, the relation between the one who is concerned and his concern. In both respects, we have to imagine man's situation in itself and in his world" (Tillich 1957, pp. 8-9). One aspect of this relationship concerns the individual's subjective expectations and personal attitudes towards the object of devotion: "faith is a total and centered act of the personal self, the act of unconditional, infinite and ultimate concern" (Tillich 1957, p. 8). The other aspect refers to the ontological status of attitudes towards the object of devotion: "the unconditional concern which is faith is the concern about the unconditional" (Tillich 1957, p. 9).

COVID, Existentialism and Crisis Philosophy

“…This journal is developing scholarship on Levinas (e.g. Blok 2014Blok , 2018Faldetta 2019;Loumansky and Lewis 2013;Tajalli and Segal 2019) and Tillich is coming (Eabrasu 2019, and also currently some papers in the review process). But our journal has nothing on Camus yet.…”