Responsible People by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030107406
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

7.2 Literature and Management Learning

Art and literature convey human emotions and feelings, leading the reader to witness a myriad of different situations and to become aware of the behaviors of very different characters. Barter and Tregidga (2014) present a panorama on the capacity of fiction, art, and literary techniques to communicate business situations. They stress the capacity of storytelling and its analysis for advancing the knowledge of complex situations that cannot be accessed through conventional research. Younkins (2014, p. ix), in the preface of his book about capitalist fiction, holds that “reading novels and plays, and watching films are excellent ways to develop critical thinking, to learn about character, and to instill moral values”. Kidd and Castano (2013), in an article published in Science, provide experimental evidence on the positive impacts of reading literary fiction on the capacity for understanding other people’s beliefs and desires. Bal and Veltkamp (2013) develop an experimental study in which they find evidence for the positive effect of fiction reading on empathy under the condition that the reader becomes emotionally transported into the story. Their results are entirely in line with Younkins’ arguments.

Harold Bloom (2001, p. 4), in an interview published in the Harvard Business Review, states that “by reading great imaginative literature, you can prepare yourself for surprise and even get a kind of strength that welcomes and exploits the unexpected”. In this interview, Prof. Bloom insists on the fact that literature prepares readers for facing the unexpected. Guber (2007), in turn, praises the capacity of storytelling for corporate communication. According to this author, to be effective, storytelling must convey truth to the teller, to the audience, to the moment, and to the mission. In a nutshell, it must be credible. These requirements fit with scholarship on CSR (Wagner et al. 2009) that point out that marketing campaigns on CSR, if not credible, can be perceived by consumers as corporate hypocrisy and have adverse effects on sales. Badaracco (2006a) expresses the capacity of literary fiction to educate future leaders in ethics and applies literature to the analysis of leadership skills by emphasizing the challenges that leaders face (Badaracco 2006b).

Egan (2000) studies different Shakespearian characters, mainly the kings in historical plays, and analyzes their strong and weak points together with their achievements and mistakes from the perspective of modern management theories. Jennings (2013) analyzes how a background in reading the classics may help corporate leaders to become aware of the ethical dangers involved in their jobs. He stresses the relevance of the Bathsheba Syndrome, identified by Ludwig and Longenecher (1993). It consists of the ethical failures that originate from not being able to cope with success and, also, from the isolation that power brings. Jennings parallels Ishmael in Moby Dick (“I said nothing and tried to think nothing”) with Enron’s managers, who were both victims of the self-deception of Bathsheba Syndrome. He points out that the knowledge of literary stories can help to prevent these kinds of failures . Desai (2017) explores the connections between finance and literature, philosophy, and the arts in general.

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