Business Ethics - Managing Utopia

Résumé du document

Since the first Industrial Revolution, which began in the eighteenth century, but which spread mainly in the nineteenth century, the methods of management have changed. Nowadays, the main target for firms is profit. To achieve this goal, companies do everything they can to be the
most competitive, or just to survive their competitors. To fulfill these objectives, among all the methods of management, a new method appeared; we can name it "Managing Utopia". Utopia has an increasing place not only in firms, but in the entire society as well.

However utopia are not a recent phenomenon; in 1516, Thomas More referred to this subject but Plato had already mentioned it before, without naming it "utopia". This proves the fact that we would like to live in a better place, society, with a better justice, is not a new desire at all. It has always been an omnipresent concern. What is new is that utopias appeared in firms. The question which can be raised is, whether or not, utopias are a danger for companies?

In the first section of this document, I am going to define utopias and utopianism, by giving some definitions. In this same part, we will see how utopias appeared in organizations. Then, I will deal with utopias inorganizations. We will see to what extent actual management can be a form of utopianism. It will be illustrated with some examples. In the last part, we will answer the issues facing us.