Hi All,
I am happy and proud to have written the book, “RE-INVENTING MANAGEMENT: ORGANIZATIONAL ETHICS FROM OBJECTIVISM”.
In a sentence, the book is about applying Objectivist Ethics and Epistemology in a non-political social space.
Specifically and primarily, within the business.
Thanks for the query. Should have been part of main post
Quote
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
“The objective should be to improve the Enterprise, and not just the Enterprise Software.” When Rohin first started working in the field of Enterprise Software, this tweet was the anchoring thought. However, he soon realized, even if he molds himself into the Steve Jobs and Dennis Ritchie of the field, he will not be able to do the Justice the enterprise deserves; that would require fixing the very foundations of the subject that drives the enterprise, the subject of Management.
Having spent 14 years studying Objectivism, working on Enterprise, Mobile, and Network management software, connecting these to various aspects of life: Rohin Gupta delves into a previously undiscovered aspect of Management Science and Philosophy, a set of practically applicable theories, in the form of Principles applied to concrete aspects of business.
In a sentence, the book is about applying Objectivist Ethics and Epistemology in a non-political social space.
Specifically and primarily, within the business.
Respectfully, if you are implying that business is a non-political social space, I completely disagree.
Respectfully, if you are implying that business is a non-political social space, I completely disagree.
True, there are elements of politics in business. The Government-Business relationship does have few layers, and also businesses are impacted by Government policies. However, these aspects are not the essence of business. There is a clear line between the two.
Politics is about protecting a rational man from irrational people like criminals, frauds, trespassers etc. Or it’s about protecting a rational individual from the irrational actions of otherwise rational individuals, as in breach of contract. The business, Management or Organizational Ethics that is, its about studying how a rational person can collaborate with other rational people in society, or rational aspects of any person in society. Employer-Employee is one such relationship, which the book studies in detail.
So essence of business, and essence of politics, are indeed converse of each other.
True, there are elements of politics in business. The Government-Business relationship does have few layers, and also businesses are impacted by Government policies. However, these aspects are not the essence of business. There is a clear line between the two.
Politics is about protecting a rational man from irrational people like criminals, frauds, trespassers etc. Or it’s about protecting a rational individual from the irrational actions of otherwise rational individuals, as in breach of contract. The business, Management or Organizational Ethics that is, its about studying how a rational person can collaborate with other rational people in society, or rational aspects of any person in society. Employer-Employee is one such relationship, which the book studies in detail.
So essence of business, and essence of politics, are indeed converse of each other.
It seems that when you say “business” you mean the Management or Organization Ethics of a business, which is more specific than the business itself. So I’m understanding that you’re wanting use Management and Organizational Ethics and apply Objectivist principles there; it does seem that reason, purpose, and self-esteem are good values to start from and would benefit the business. But I still disagree that the social space of a business is non-political, even if management encourages and rewards rationality there will always be work politics and irrationality—meaning there will always be people using immoral tactics (ethics) to gain status or power. You’re saying that the essence of Management or Organizational Ethics is a rational social space, but that doesn’t seem like the essence, it seems normative.
The title of your Chapter 4, collaboration, intrigued me. Using Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature, I can see collaboration types 1, 2, and 8. Will you tell us what 3-7 are, at least the labels?
It seems that when you say “business” you mean the Management or Organization Ethics of a business, which is more specific than the business itself. So I’m understanding that you’re wanting use Management and Organizational Ethics and apply Objectivist principles there; it does seem that reason, purpose, and self-esteem are good values to start from and would benefit the business. But I still disagree that the social space of a business is non-political, even if management encourages and rewards rationality there will always be work politics and irrationality—meaning there will always be people using immoral tactics (ethics) to gain status or power. You’re saying that the essence of Management or Organizational Ethics is a rational social space, but that doesn’t seem like the essence, it seems normative.
Politics as per Objectivism is about _protecting values. _Business is about _gaining values. _There is very little element of physical force in office environment. Government actions by contrast are heavily forceful. Whats called “Office Politics” is actually different understanding of priorities in an Organization, and is therefore better classified under Organizational Ethics rather than Politics.
On a related note, application of “Reason, Purpose, Self-Esteem” to workplace is covered in Chapter 7 “Organizational Goal”.
The title of your Chapter 4, collaboration, intrigued me. Using Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature, I can see collaboration types 1, 2, and 8. Will you tell us what 3-7 are, at least the labels?
Purely Contractual, Employer-Employee, Employer-Employer, Employee-Employee, Cultural
Also, if you like collaboration, you will like Chapter 6, Organization, even more. I think it’s perhaps the most original chapter in the book.
Does employer-employer mean or include customer-supplier, e.g. when a supplier fulfills specs previously given by the customer?
Does employee-employee mean or include teamwork, e.g. each one doing different things with the same end goal?
Customer-Supplier is also transactional or contractual relation. Employer-Employer instead refers to Co-founders, Investors, Board of Directors etc.
Team work is also mainly a part of Employer-Employee, because end goals are those of employer primarily. Further Employee-Employee also has an element of employer-employee, as in supervisor-subordinate or even mentor-mentored. This classification is mainly to help readers focus on overall work ecosystem, and understand the mixtures better.
Purely employee-employee is more about learning skills from each other, approaching co-worker for problem solving, or knowledge sharing like career goals, even commute problems, or sharing financial knowledge like pension funds etc. Even Office friendship can come under this type.
Politics as per Objectivism is about _protecting values. _Business is about _gaining values. _There is very little element of physical force in office environment. Government actions by contrast are heavily forceful. Whats called “Office Politics” is actually different understanding of priorities in an Organization, and is therefore better classified under Organizational Ethics rather than Politics.
On a related note, application of “Reason, Purpose, Self-Esteem” to workplace is covered in Chapter 7 “Organizational Goal”.
I don’t know where you got that idea. It’s really only proper principles of social systems. Business management by nature is political because it is concern over how best to coordinate and motivate people.
The book seems iffy, there is inconsistent page organization, paragraph spacing, and capitalization. It strikes me as a first draft.
I’m not trying to discourage you from writing a book. I mean that these are distractions that detract from your presentation and looks unprofessional, and you should aim higher.
The book seems iffy, there is inconsistent page organization, paragraph spacing, and capitalization. It strikes me as a first draft.
I’m not trying to discourage you from writing a book. I mean that these are distractions that detract from your presentation and looks unprofessional, and you should aim higher.
In which portion or portions you had this concern? What part did you get distracted from, and missed in first read?
Perhaps you can take us through your study process of the portions of the book.