At a recent conference of US and Canadian business schools to discuss sustainability and societal purpose in management education, a common thread linked many of the participants: a religious tradition. From the Catholic St Joseph’s University in Philadelphia on the east coast to the Protestant Seattle Pacific University on the west, a significant number of business schools that were focusing on people and planet alongside profit had foundations in faith.
” Prof Pirson defines humanistic management as challenging the short-term, profit-maximising “homos economicus” that came to dominate many business-school curriculums in the latter half of the last century, in favour of a more human-centred approach. At his institution, that is embedded in courses focused on wellbeing, dignity and collaboration. “It’s about the intrinsic value of human beings,” he says. “The ultimate goal is not becoming rich but becoming contributors to the common good.