How is the Psyche Relevant to Business Ethics?
The ethics of commerce has been a topical issue for centuries. Under the more modern label of business ethics, we have continued to discuss matters of justice and goodness with regards to the role of business in society. The changing socio-economic and geo-political context over decades has shaped the scope and content of the debate on the responsibilities of business (as an institution), of business organizations (as legal entities), and of business agents (as moral agents).
The general consensus, however, is that business is potentially a great force of development and innovation but also a great threat to equity and well-being when it is left unchecked and unregulated. Why is that the case? Why do scholarship and ‘best practice models’ tackling the ethics of business seem stuck in a circular dance without a substantial sense of progress? Why do corporations still abuse workers’ rights and citizens’ trust? Why is financial success still argued to be opposed to moral fairness and ecological care?
These questions point to deeper collective patterns that shape our conscious and unconscious expectations. Whenever we repeat patterns of behaviour which appear unhelpful, hurtful, or illogical, and yet we are seemingly unable to change, we are – in simple terms – caught in what Jung would call a psychological ‘complex’. We are deeply entrenched in an emotional attachment to an archetype but we have no conscious understanding that this is the case. The only way we can ‘diagnose’ this problem is by observing how we repeat the patterns, what we endorse and embrace as well as what we reject, repress and deny. Then, the work begins: both collectively and individually, we can start exploring what archetypal manifestations are at play in these patterns: What are they expressing? What potential do they offer? And how can we position ourselves to use that potential constructively rather than destructively? The process is arduous only because, more often than not, it calls for a shift in our long-held worldviews, alongside the recognition that we are active participants in the way the world is presently.
Jung’s Analytical Psychology is especially rich in providing a comprehensive framework to critically examine the ethics of business and the meaning of responsibility in that context. Many of my publications have outlined this framework, which I introduced in the following way in a 2016 research paper:
“The psyche’s dynamics are particularly valuable when analyzing moral tensions within business organizations , and within the mind of individual agents. As we are left dismayed by the endless abuse of human dignity in the workplace, increasing wealth inequality, recurring financial scandals and abusive corporate lobbying, it is essential to examine the ethical nature of business and explore more systematically how business people (which here includes both managers and workers, as both have a vested interest in business and at least implicitly endorse business values) experience moral tension and deal with it. The analysis needs to be done concurrently at the collective and individual level, for the two interrelate, but the groundwork necessarily occurs within the psyche of each individual as it requires the conscious engagement of the ego in understanding the issues and making choices.
To do such analysis effectively, we need to look beyond traditional moral theories, especially those inherited from the Enlightenment which place Reason above all else. Business indeed is also about the soul, and therefore needs to be apprehended more holistically. In his compelling essay The undiscovered self (1957/1970), Jung clearly outlined the ethical challenges of our modern epoch – and the same challenges remain today:
It is not that present-day man is capable of greater evil than the man of antiquity or the primitive. He merely has incomparably more effective means with which to realize his propensity to evil. As his consciousness has broadened and differentiated, so his moral nature has lagged behind. That is the great problem before us today. Reason alone no longer suffices. (para. 574, original emphasis)
Shaped by organizations, acculturated into a consumption-based and profit-driven society, present-day people – at least in the West – suffer from a moral malaise which suggests our ethical ‘toolbox’ has not kept up with the other advancements we have achieved, in technology and beyond. In what follows, I will outline how and why Jung’s insights remain most significant some 60 years later to enable us to understand the ethical problems of ‘present-day’ men and women whose lives are very much shaped by business.”
To consult this article (and others on the same topic):
Rozuel, C. (2016). Jung’s insights on ethics in business and work organisations: Examining the ‘moral nature of present-day man’. International Journal of Jungian Studies , 8(3): 141-158.
Rozuel, C. (2014). Calling to the Anima Mundi: On restoring soul within organisations. Journal of Management, Spirituality and Religion , 11(2): 123-142.
Rozuel, C. (2011) Transcending business ethics: Insights from Jung and Maslow. Electronic Journal of Business Ethics and Organization Studies , 16(1): 41-47.
Rozuel, C. (2010) Moral tension in the psyche: A Jungian interpretation of managers’ moral experiences. Electronic Journal of Business Ethics and Organization Studies , 15(1): 36-43.