Some business ethics writers assert that business is the last bastion of hope to save the Earth because education and government are failing at this responsibility. We're reinventing our government and re-engineering our corporations. And we may be cultivating an age of cynicism not lived since the Roman Empire. These changes with the new paradigm are badly needed. However, much of today's management literature in support of these changes is taking on an evangelical tone, leaving behind many readers who wonder if society's visions for business are realistic and how such changes are to come about.
Research indicates a growing cynicism in today's management.
Management guru, Peter Senge, suggests that cynics are disillusioned idealists. We act as if we're somehow separate from business, on some higher moral ground. Our blaming further alienates leaders and managers from us and from themselves. And it produces defensiveness, rather than cooperation. Our quest for perfection leads us too quickly to forget the accomplishments of mortal beings.