Table Of ContentCSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance
Series Editors: Samuel O. Idowu · René Schmidpeter
Giuseppe Argiolas
Social
Management
Principles, Governance and Practice
CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance
Series editors
Samuel O. Idowu, London Metropolitan University, London, United Kingdom
Rene´ Schmidpeter, Cologne Business School, Germany
Moreinformationaboutthisseriesathttp://www.springer.com/series/11565
Giuseppe Argiolas
Social Management
Principles, Governance and Practice
GiuseppeArgiolas
DepartmentofEconomicsandManagement
SophiaUniversityInstitute
FiglineeIncisaValdarno,Firenze
Italy
TranslationbyN.Michael Brennen
email:[email protected]
TranslationfromtheItalianlanguageedition:Ilvaloredeivalori.Lagovernancenell’impresa
socialmenteorientata©Citt(cid:1)aNuova2014AllRightsReserved.
ISSN2196-7075 ISSN2196-7083 (electronic)
CSR,Sustainability,Ethics&Governance
ISBN978-3-319-54581-3 ISBN978-3-319-54582-0 (eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-54582-0
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2017934917
©SpringerInternationalPublishingAG2017
Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpartof
the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission
or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or
dissimilarmethodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexempt
fromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse.
Thepublisher,theauthorsandtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformationinthis
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained
hereinor for anyerrors oromissionsthat may havebeenmade. Thepublisher remainsneutralwith
regardtojurisdictionalclaimsinpublishedmapsandinstitutionalaffiliations.
Printedonacid-freepaper
ThisSpringerimprintispublishedbySpringerNature
TheregisteredcompanyisSpringerInternationalPublishingAG
Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland
To Chiara and to all those who follow her
teaching and example.
To my father Ugo, my mother Lina, and my
family.
To those who are poor because they are
without work, or because they are
constrained to work in conditions of meager
relational quality.
To the entrepreneurs, the managers, and the
workers who by their daily commitment offer
an invaluable contribution to eradicating all
forms of poverty.
Preface
Thinking that a company guided by profit seeking offers a good service to
society, no matter what, is a little like fooling oneself into thinking that the
cheapest product is best for the buyer. From our experiences as consumers, we
know that frequently what is behind a cheap price are poor quality materials that
will soon break, ingredients harmful to our health, or enticement schemes aiming
to make money on replacement parts. And yet, what might lurk behind a firm’s
goodeconomicresults,beyondgoodmanagementandgoodluck?Withrespectto
buyers, all the regrettable practices we just listed, as well as everything else that
can happen with other stakeholders, such as deliberately delayed payments to
suppliers,illegaldumpingoftoxicwaste,corruptionofgovernmentfunctionaries,
or cost cutting on workers’ safety practices. It is no accident that I left workers
for last; they are the category of stakeholders most involved in the company, not
just in numbers of hours, but even more in the wide range of ways they are
affectedbywhathappensinit.Infact,muchofthereflectionregardingCorporate
Social Responsibility—CSR, or a bottom-up reconciliation of the logic of profit
with attention to the requirements of society—regards workers in particular.1
That is also true for this work. Although the author is careful to not leave out
any interested party from the “socially oriented” governance perspective he lays
out, ultimately the work is primarily about workers. In large measure, the “value
ofvalues”thatgivesthetitletothebookhastodowithworkersaspeopleandthe
relationships in which they are involved. The themes regarding workers that are
addressed in the debate on socially responsible enterprises are typically about
their economic treatment, hours of work, health, professional enrichment, and so
forth. The distinctive feature of this work, which decidedly leans toward genu-
1Cf. for example the report prepared by Standing for the United Nations: Standing G. (2007),
DecentWorkplaces,Self-RegulationandCSR:FromPufftoStuff?,DESAWorkingPaperNo.62.
See also J. Jonker, Jan and M.C. De Witte, eds. (2006), The challenge of organizing and
implementingcorporatesocialresponsibility,PalgraveMacmillan.
vii
viii Preface
inely, rather than strategically, to socially responsible behaviors,2 is the attention
it gives to themes on the quality of interpersonal relationships and the need for
significance. These are themes that the traditional vision of the economy has
systematically overlooked, interpreting the spheres of production, work, and
exchange as operating by a merely instrumental logic, and thus relegating
human aspirations for full personal fulfillment to private life.3
In calling into play all—even the deepest—dimensions of the person in corpo-
ratepractices,GiuseppeArgiolasproposescommunionasthemodeofbeingofthe
organizational community. You understood correctly: communion, between and
withworkers,directors,andotherstakeholders.Briefly,communionisestablishing
interpersonalrelationshipsinspiredbyovercomingone’sownegocentrisminfavor
of a benevolent, reciprocal openness that can become a relationship style shared
within a social group. This is a rather surprising proposal from an author who
intendstosituatehisargumentswithinmanagerialscience,ratherthaninrelational
psychologyorreligion.
Andyet,asDr.Argiolaspointsout,overahalf-centuryagoChesterBarnard,a
classicauthorinthemanagerialliteratureintheUnitedStates,wasalreadytalking
aboutcommunionamongworkersinacompany.However,itisalsotruethatafter
him the topic of communion was discussed very little. While Barnard did not
succeed in clearly and convincingly introducing this concept, the ensuing silence
was also because such a concept was totally foreign to the individualistic and
reductionistic view of an economic agent that has dominated the scene for the
past200years.Theculturalclimateischangingnonethelessfortworeasons.Oneis
thattheboundariesbetweenprofessionalandprivatelifearebecomingincreasingly
blurred;theotheristhatwearerecognizingthatthequestformeaningandrelation-
shipswebearwithinourselvescannotremainprogrammaticallyfrustratedforsuch
alargeportionofourlives.
The theme of communion in economic life was taken up again in recent times
with the Economy of Communion project, which sprang from within a spiritual
movement,theFocolareMovement.4
At this point, two questions spontaneously arise. If we are not content with
producingincomeorjobstability,areweaskingtoomuchofthoseresponsiblefor
an economic organization by introducing ambitious goals on themes of interper-
sonal relations and shared significance? Yes, if all this is held to be an additional
2InthetaxonomyproposedbyM.KitzmuellerandJ.Shimshack(2012),“EconomicPerspectives
on Corporate Social Responsibility,” Journal of Economic Literature 50 (1): 51–84, the vision
accordingtowhichsociallyresponsibleactionsaredesiredfortheirownsakebydirectors,over
andabovesuchapossibilitybysomestakeholders,isindicatedasnot-for-profitandcontrasted
withastrategicvision,onwhichgroundssuchactionsaretakensimplybecausetheyareultimately
profitable.
3Cf. for example L. Bruni and R. Sugden (2013), “Reclaiming Virtue Ethics for Economics,”
JournalofEconomicPerspectives27(4),141–164.
4Gold,Lorna(2010).NewFinancialHorizons:Theemergenceofaneconomyofcommunion,New
CityPress,HydePark(NY).
Preface ix
component of managerial performance. No, if what we are asking is that they
include these dimensions in the way they view and manage the organization,
because it will only be by the contributions of the many that those goals will be
achieved.
Thesecondquestionisperhapsthemoreimportantofthetwo.Isitrealisticfora
firm to aim so high, when so many generous attempts to join human values with
economic efficiency have failed? Actually, such firms are faced with a dual test:
theymustcompetewith“normal”firmsontheoperationallevelwithoutrelyingon
the old but effective logic of hierarchy and authority, and at the same time, they
mustremainfaithfultoverydemandingaspirations,thusmaintainingahighlevelof
motivationinworkersandmanagers.5ItshouldbenotedthatGiuseppeArgiolasis
not a naive neophyte. He has a solid knowledge of the managerial literature.
(Incidentally, those who know the literature well will be less surprised by certain
assertions that do not follow the stereotypes.) Furthermore, he draws from a long
proximity with organizations pursuing idealistic aims and their daily challenges.
Beyondthat,nottocontenthimselfwithgenericassertionsofprinciple,inthelast
part of the book he proposes a toolkit of corporate practices designed to facilitate
translatingidealsintoorganizationalcultureandthenintoeffectivebehaviors.
Withallthis,theideaofasociallyorientedenterprisesuchasGiuseppeArgiolas
proposes in this book remains an arduous adventure, with outcomes that are far
from given. Is it worth setting out on such a path? If it is true that human beings
remain human in all areas of their existence, and thus nothing that is profoundly
human can remain outside the concern of economic organizations, then yes,
certainly.
FiglineeIncisaValdarnoFI,Italy BenedettoGui
5L.BruniandA.Smerilli(2014).TheEconomicsofValues-BasedOrganisations:AnIntroduction.
Routledge,London.
Acknowledgments
Bernard of Chartres expressed his own experiences as a scholar with a felicitous
metaphorsoeffectivethatmanylaterresearchers—amongthemIsaacNewton—have
adoptedit,anditremainsvividinourtime:“Wearelikedwarvesontheshouldersof
giants.”
Thesesamefeelingsemergedinmealongthepaththathasbroughtmethisfar,
togetherwiththeknowledgethatifthisworkhas acontributiontooffer,itisalso
duetothethoughtsandactionsofthepersonswithwhomIhavecomeincontactin
various ways. Among them, I want to remember Chiara Lubich and Chester
I.Barnardinaveryspecialway.
My thanks go to my scholarly colleagues in diverse disciplines, including
various branches of economics and management, philosophy, psychopedagogy,
and sociology, who have read and commented previous versions of the present
work;withsomeIhavereconsideredsomespecificaspectsaddressedinthetreatise,
while others have influenced my thought with their work and accompanied me in
the course of my research. I also thank the entrepreneurs, workers, managers,
women, and men engaged in the daily challenge of building networks of socially
oriented relationships in and between companies, public administrations, and
organizationsofthecivilsocietyforhavingsharedtheirexperienceswithme.
MuchdeservedandsincerethanksgotoAntonioMariaBaggio,MariaGabriella
Baldarelli,TeresaBoi,LuiginoBruni,LorenzoCaselli,PieroCoda,VittorioCoda,
Luca Crivelli, Francesca Dal Degan, Araceli Del Pozo Armentia, Cinzia Dess`ı,
Adriano Fabris, Gianluca Falconi, Caterina Ferrone, Michela Floris, Pasquale
Foresi,Ernestina Giudici,AnoukGrevin,BenedettoGui,Marco Luppi,Alejandra
Marinovic, Marco Martino, Giuseppe Milan, Licia Paglione, Giampietro Parolin,
Vittorio Pelligra, Sergio Rondinara, Phillip Samouel, Stefano Zamagni, and
Giuseppe Maria Zangh´ı and to Stefano Biondi, Antonio Cantarero, Marcello
Catalucci,RobertoDoneddu,FabioFiorelli,NandoGarcia,NuzzoMariaGrimaldi,
Nivaldo Inojosa de Farias, Adriano Piras, Alessandro Pirisinu, Gusti Oggenfuss,
Angelo Spinosa, Carlo Tedde, and Gianni Ugolotti. Warm thanks to my students
and doctoral candidates at the University of Cagliari and the Sophia University
xi
