Planning, consciousness and conscience

Journal of Business Ethics · 1984 · Volume 3 · Issue 2

Abstract

Contemporary perspectives on conciousness provide us with a powerful metaphor for the corporate planning process; although organisations ultimately differ, in systems terms, from organisms.Like consciousness, planning has survival value and confers operational advantages.Whereas individuals' actions may be guided by conscience, in pursuit of ideals, corporate acts often lack these qualities. It may be that no diffuse planning process is capable of accomodating ideals and ethical standards, they are ‘beyond’ Corporate Consciousness. Therefore, the pursuit of corporate objectives will often conflict with individuals' ideals.

Keywords

Metaphor, Harvard Business Review, Operational Advantage, Corporate Ideal, System Term

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