And another thing...

Resolutions and revolutions

Does our corporate culture have much in common with totalitarian regimes across the globe? ROGER STEARE believes so and argues that, similar to the Arab Spring, we need to find the courage to let change happen.

George Orwell’s 1984 was written to warn us of the dangers of totalitarianism. The good news is that if you’re reading this column then you are almost certainly living in a free market and a social democracy with universal suffrage and access to education, healthcare and justice.

In the last year we have witnessed the downfall of several totalitarian regimes in the Arab world, with others likely to follow sooner or later. China will evolve its own brand of social democracy to match its own brand of social capitalism. Zimbabwe, Syria, and North Korea will become democracies within no more than a generation. And yet, a ruthless, command-and-control, fear-driven totalitarianism still directs and influences our lives, even in the world’s strongest and most enduring democracies. It’s called The Corporation.

Again, if you’re reading this column you probably work for a public, joint-stock corporation in financial services. But what you say and what you do are under constant surveillance. If you challenge your orders or step out of line, you risk termination. The everyday language you hear is one of “execution” and “compliance”. You will obey orders and sell products and services that will benefit your regime more than they will benefit your customers.

Your “Dear Leader” (CEO) and the millionaire oligarchs of the corporate junta will collude with the ruthless mercenaries and shortsellers driving your firm’s share price. If you keep your head down and do as you’re told, you’ll get a good rating at your next appraisal. But stand up for what you believe is right and you’re likely to get exiled.

This is the reality of our working lives today. Most of the leaders and executives I work with recognize and agree with this analysis of the corporate workplace. The evidence from our Moral DNA™ profiling tool also strongly suggests that just as in Syria or North Korea, when it comes to work, our ethic of care is diminished and our ethic of obedience is heightened. We become careless and thoughtless drones.

The Occupy movement and other forms of legitimate protest are also a recognition that the insidious and pervasive nature of this corporate totalitarianism is corrupting our society and our politics. Governments not only kowtow to the corporate lobbyists who fund many of our politicians, they are also prophets of the corporate religion we call shopping. Business leaders, the media and governments are all addicted to “growth” as a mantra for success. Without growth, they say, we face economic disaster.

This is no different and no less fatal than the philosophy of the cancer cell. This “big lie” is at the root of the meltdown in the euro and our wider monetary and economic system. And the insanity of quantitative easing is spreading this cancer to future generations.

We are mortgaging the future. Not our future, but the future of our children and grandchildren. As we face a new year, I do believe in the hope of new beginnings. But things will get a lot worse before we find the courage to fully confront the cancerous corruption of our ruling elite and humanise the workplace.

Roger Steare is a Corporate Philosopher and Professor of Organisational Ethics at Cass Business School, London. He can be contacted at: roger.steare@ethicability.org You can try his integrity test at www.ethicability.org

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