Reconciling Professional and Personal Value Systems: The Spiritually Motivated Manager as Organizational Entrepreneur

Abstract

Today, many people hold a personal set of moral beliefs about the proper role of the corporation in regard to the natural environment. These beliefs are held at the level of the individual and are formed through personal reflection, professional development, and association with other environmentally oriented individuals or cultural groups. The values underlying these beliefs inform an individualized sense of right and wrong that may be at odds with the dominant values in the workplace. Rather than acquiesce to the organization’s values or leave, many of today’s managers choose to stay within the organization, acting as change agent, or organizational entrepreneurs, trying to alter the firm’s cultural values. This paper will consider why and how this is happening. First, it will consider how social institutions (Scott 1995) are changing on the subject of environmental protection, thereby changing individual beliefs and creating a clash with the dominant economic institutions. Second, it will consider the tactics used by managers who respond to this clash by choosing to act as organizational entrepreneurs and bring these values into the workplace. It will conclude with a prognosis for the future of this phenomenon and what it means for organizational competencies and performance.