“The emperors are naked. Every single one. It turns out our whole society is just one big nudist party.” - Greta Thunberg

organisations that inspire

We are convinced: there are already many good organizations out there! But their stories have not been told in business books. Finding these good organizations, understanding how they live goodness and how goodness is operationalized is a humbling endaveour though. Also because being virtuous is not a state but a continous practice with failures, seductions to deviate and new challenges on the way. Yet it is our conviction that we need to showcase these organizations - to inspire and to ignite hope for all who are one the way to better.

In this section we will feature our yet-to-be developed "magna carta" for good organization. We will also share vignettes of the research good organizations. We enlist organizations which already are showcasing or awarding good organizations. And we will link to other research - often also critical on the existing awards and clubs for goodness. But most important: we are looking for suggestions. What organization do you consider good and why?

co-creating a new "magna carta laboratoribus" for the future of work

developing an #honourcode for good business

our corporate declaration of interdependence

There have many attempts during the last decades to frame a "better" approach to work and business, and the "birth" of business ethics, CSR, doughnut economics and Stakeholder theory. We have seen numerous "new work" charters, "responsible leadership" frameworks, voluntary declarations (e.g. the various Business Roundtable declarations), movements like Conscious Capitalism, and more normative approaches like SDGs and ESG. Still, not much appears to have changed.

Here, we want to highlight some of the existing approaches and seek to develop a novel integrative approach - focused on virtue ethics and the European ethos of the "honourable merchant" who proactively takes care of people, organisation and society.

our interdependence

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created dependent—on each other, our earth, and its climate—endowed with the inalienable responsibility to maintain justice, liberty, and affiliation for all. Thus our societies must sustain balance across public sector governments that are respected, private sector businesses that are responsible, and plural sector communities that are robust.

Resolution 1: Balance begins when each of us decides how we shall become part of the solution. By doing nothing, we remain part of the problem.

Resolution 2: We advance to action in our communities, networked to consolidate a global movement for peaceful reformation.
Resolution 3: We commit to the ideals of social conscience, fair trade, and good government, to replace the dogma of imbalance—that greed is good, markets are sufficient, and governments are suspect. We explore our human resourcefulness by resisting our exploitation as human resources.
Resolution 4: We build worthy institutions in all three sectors of society—departments in government, enterprises in business, associations in communities—from the ground up, with widespread engagement that carries individual leadership into collective communityship.
Resolution 5: At the tables of public policy, we strive to replace the compromises of self-interest with the coalescing of common interest.
Resolution 6: We challenge the rampant corruption that is legal as vigorously as we expect our governments to prosecute the overt corruption that is criminal.

Resolution 7: Sustainable global balance requires substantial global government. We call on all democratic nations to rally for lasting peace, by containing any power that aims to dominate while holding economic globalization in its place, namely the marketplace. 

Henry Mintzberg, ourinterdependence.corg

https://rebalancingsociety.org/iii-engaging-by-declaring-our-interdependence/

Could we develop a similar declaration for businesses? More thought will be needed.

rankings and awards

ranking good organisations?

Corporate Knights Global 100

"We are the voice for clean capitalism. Corporate Knights Inc. includes the sustainable business magazine Corporate Knights and a research division that produces rankings and financial product ratings based on corporate sustainability performance. In 2013, Corporate Knights was named “Magazine of the Year” by Canada’s National Magazine Awards Foundation."

Critical Voices

A list of different awards for CSR

This listing gives you a glimpse on how many awards for CSR are out there. But are these credible? We will have to do our research but any insights from the community are greatly appreciated.

A warning on CSR Studies by Katja Rost

Recognize Good

"The purpose of RecognizeGood’s Ethics in Business program is to illuminate those businesses, individuals and nonprofits who believe that doing GOOD is good business. The Ethics in Business award program helps not only preserve, but expand, the ethical environment that allows our businesses to prosper, grow, and better support the communities of Central Texas"


case studies and examples

virtues and vices in business

Case Studies Wanted: if you have suggestions for good organisations, or good leaders - or if you have come across relevant ratings and rankings, or are reasearcher in an adjacent area - please get in touch via our contact form!
MANAGEMENT AND LIBERAL ARTS

VIRTUES and vices IN BUSINESS AND SOCIETY

IMMACULATE HEART SISTERS
CORITA KENT
EMMA GOLDMAN
Montgomery bus boycott
ROSA PARKS
BILL SLOANE COFFIN