ABSTRACT
The overview outlines the elements of a philosophy of ethical organising that will be developed throughout the book. Ethics, meaningfulness, and mutuality are concerned with understanding what kinds of organisations are capable of transitioning humanity to sustainable social and economic ways of living. Ethical organising is no longer a ‘nice to have’ or something we get round to once the important business of the day has been dealt with. Rather, the sustainability imperative demands a fundamental shift in organisational models that must now aim to create life value for all internal and external stakeholders. A synthesis of meaningful and mutuality will be used to yield values and principles for a philosophy of ethical organising that considers the role of human values in morally desirable collective action and examines the relationship of such collective action to value creation. These values are combined into a social architecture of meaningfulness and mutuality that captures the institutional and social conversion factors people need to develop a human capability for ethical world-building. This capability enables people to make their contribution to creating life value organisations as collective moral agents that are also a source of meaningfulness in work and life.
