on’ will be the right course of action.
The demand for more growth blinds us to the need for drastic change.
2.5 How questionable values affect managers’ attitudes
The questionable values of business are not without an impact on managers in all sectors. We can assume that these values even permanently mould the personal attitudes of many managers and businesspeople.
In this respect, the dubious implicit values of business studies create a questionable framework for managers, one which is characterised by an extremely negative view of humanity.
‘Dark management’
The results of this kind of dark management can be widely seen. The German magazine Focus puts it this way: ‘The figures are frightening. Almost 87 percent of Germans are dissatisfied with their job. Figure of hate number one is their own boss.’32 The magazine Der Spiegel also pays a lot of attention especially to the consequences these figures have, featuring topics such as bullying at work and burnout, and dedicating title pages and lead stories to them.33
Almost 30 years ago in his book Nieten in Nadelstreifen [Lame Ducks in Pinstripes], Günter Ogger was one of the first to point out how widespread dark management in Germany is and the negative effects it has.34 Well-known authors then followed suit: the former car industry manager Daniel Goeudevert and television journalist Ulrich Wickert, who confirmed Ogger’s findings.35 In their book for the American market, Snakes in Suits, When Psychopaths go to Work36, Paul Babiak and Robert Hare demonstrate that this phenomenon is not limited to Germany. It is indeed not surprising that advice books with serious sounding titles have since come out discussing issues such as how to deal with braggers, back-stabbers and tyrants in the office37.
Lame ducks and tyrants as managers
Although I have also had countless experiences in my own career38 similar to those of the authors mentioned above, and can confirm that there are significantly more bad managers around than good ones, the following is not intended to be ‘score-settling’ or to expound more advice for workers who are subject to lousy management.
Sharpening awareness
Following the conviction that many managers are not even aware of how badly they treat their workers, we have shed some light on the backdrop of dark management through our discussion of the dubious values of business and the negative attitudes that are based on it. Now that our eyes have been opened, it is naturally up to the reader to decide whether he or she would like to draw any conclusions from it. If you would prefer – no longer unconsciously, but consciously – to continue down the path of dark management with all its negative attitudes and consequences, be my guest! This book will not help you any further.
To all my other readers I would suggest jettisoning all the negative attitudes we have described and replacing them with positive attitudes.
Anselm Grün, the German Benedictine monk many managers value for his advice, emphasises that management should not spread disquiet and hectic activity, but peace, clarity, calm and pleasure in working.39 If at this point you say, ‘Right, you’ve convinced me. That’s exactly what I do!’, you have understood the message of this book and do not actually need to read any further.
Nevertheless, what you are trying to do is not easy! Striving for a positive attitude seems to me personally to be a very substantial, ongoing challenge. As I said as the outset, the world is full of people who do not care for others’ welfare, who tyrannise and torment them, create anxiety and spread fear. In our personal lives, too, there are people who breed a negative atmosphere and disappoint us. That gets us down! And sometimes we are the ones who trip ourselves up – it’s not always someone else’s fault. Viewed in this way, it would seem sensible to seek out help on the path to a positive attitude, and with it to solidifying a positive view of humanity.
A substantial, ongoing challenge
In my view, the most important exercise here is to identify the constituents of a positive attitude more closely. Of course, every reader needs to carry out this exercise for themselves since attitude is something that is connected to individual personality.
It might be helpful to change levels here: the concept of ‘attitude’, which refers to the personal, individual or even psychological level, corresponds to the concept of ‘value’ on the sociological level. On the one hand, values are more or less attitudes that are ‘shared’ with others; on the other, values shape our attitudes.
In the following list I have attempted to name the values that, in my view, are in harmony with a positive view of humanity. The reader will notice that the ‘greater’ values, such as love, peace and happiness, are not present, yet they are certainly a constant presence in the background.40 As an economist, I do not feel called to take a stance of epic proportions here. With regard to our topic of management and our focus on companies, it seems justified and appropriate to me to limit the range a little more.
Positive values
| Fairness | Reliability | Forward-Lookingness | Trust |
| Honesty | Satisfaction | Sustainability | Passion |
| Appreciation | Connectedness | Fulfilment | |
| Steadiness | Justice | Meaning(fulness) |
On the one hand, this code of values could be expanded further; on the other, the values listed are not free from overlaps. This short list may thus inspire and encourage the reader to add further values. The next step involves making a selection in order to remove subjective overlaps so that only a few values remain, which form a solid and what will now be a consciously chosen basis for your own attitude. Concentrating on a few consciously selected values makes striving for a positive attitude more manageable.
Focusing
After thorough consideration I have decided to make the values of sustainability, appreciation, fulfilment and trust the basis of my own personal attitude. The concept of fairness, which gives this book its subtitle, permeates these four values equally. This is, after all, a matter of fairness with regard to the future, to resources, to oneself and to the relationships we form. I would like to share with you my personal justification for the choice of my four values as follows:
• Justice and honesty are essentially already included in appreciation, which in my view is more wide-reaching. This can create a link to the ‘greater’ values which are mentioned in the context of a positive view of humanity: love can be interpreted as a value that includes appreciation.
• I believe steadiness and forward-lookingness with a view to qualitative growth are expressed clearly by the value of sustainability.
• In the value of trust, which from my perspective very much emphasises corporateness, I see the values of connectedness and reliability. Here again, a relation to ‘greater’ values is discernible: trust can be interpreted as a pre-requisite for peace.
• The concept of fulfilment, which at first glance seems quite fusty, includes, as I see it, the values of meaning(fulness), passion and
• satisfaction. Fulfilment in one’s career or work seems to me to be a mini-version of the concept of happiness, as far as this relates to a happy life.
Even if you, dear reader, choose differently, in the next chapter you will see how my restricting myself to appreciation, sustainability, fulfilment and trust build a strong core for humane management which offers you a viable pattern for developing your own ethical core. To be precise, it is not a limitation but a focus. In the next chapter, the values that were not selected, as well as some further values, will by
