Wise Agents & Organisational Moral Learning

Abstract

The processes of strategic change, undertaken from time to time by organisations so as to maintain its functional relevance and effectiveness, are often conflict-ridden. This is in large part due to the nature of the human agency. Humans bring not only rationality into the decision-making processes, but also their inherent dispositions: intuitions, biases, emotions, and so on. In order to understand the factors that cause conflict in the processes of strategic change, this paper employs al-Ghazali’s concept of the ‘purification of the heart’, and ‘organisational moral learning’. An analytical framework is constructed using these two concepts to illustrate the interplay between contextual organisational configurations, the wider socio-environmental forces, and the human agents’ potentials and powers. This paper proposes some strategies that may help to drive ‘organisational moral learning’ forward, and conversely, hinder ‘organisational immoral learning’ from taking root. Ultimately, it is human agents –­ or rather, wise human agents – who are the critical factors for maintaining and/or transforming themselves and their surroundings.

Whole-of-Nation Moral Learning by Spiritual Hearts: A Case of Brunei’s Transformation to tackle the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…In the middle grey area, the diseased heart possessing weaker moral consciousness may be persuaded, influenced, or forced by either the purified hearts or the dead hearts to 'follow' them, establishing the leader-follower relationships within a particular collective. Moral (Ciulla, 1998;Ciulla et al, 2005) and wise leadership (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 2011;Tarip, 2018;Yang, 2011;Zacher et al, 2014) with spiritual approaches (Abdul Blackaby & Blackaby, 2011;Fry, 2003;Fry et al, 2005) are highly sought to ensure moral development for the collective. At this stage, moral agency plays an important part.…”