Over the past several years, many sectors of society have called on corporate leaders to be more responsible, undoubtedly in reaction to the seemingly unending incidents of corporate corruption and business decisions that have appeared contrary to the general interests of society. Congress has enacted laws such as Sarbanes-Oxley and citizens gave rise to the Occupy movement. Even business leaders have called on colleagues to address the interests of all stakeholders on par with investors’ interests, as exemplified by John Mackey’s and Raj Sisodia’s book, Conscious Capitalism.1
The Church has also been interested in promoting responsible behavior by organizational leaders and, in 2012, issued an explicit statement through the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Drawing on the principles of Catholic Social Teaching, Vocation of the Business Leader: A Reflection (VBL) called upon Catholic business leaders, as well as all leaders of good will, to be cognizant of their extremely important role in society to promote human dignity and the common good. As such, the document stated, leaders should engage in several key activities. Of relevance to this column is its calling for leaders to recognize their vocation to “organize good and productive work.”2
The VBL directs its message to leaders in all types of organizations, not just for-profit businesses. Leaders of Catholic colleges and universities have a unique opportunity to respond to this call, in part, by conveying the message to their students so that they may carry it into their professional lives. Given that the document is addressed to “all business leaders of good will who have an influence on the behaviours, values, and attitudes of the people comprising their enterprises,” an appropriate response may also involve conveying the message to all those within their institutions who have direct reports, including frontline supervisors and middle-level managers. But how can the Pontifical Council’s message be promoted by Catholic employers in a way that actually affects management behavior and yields extraordinary results?
Deliver a Consistent Message
Many Catholic colleges and universities already emphasize the importance of treating employees with dignity through various philosophy and mission statements. Catholic employers might want to build on this foundation by ensuring all management documents use language consistent with the dignity referenced in their mission statements. For instance, are employees referred to in management policies and training materials as just another of the institution’s assets? Are they “capital” rather than persons with knowledge, skills, and abilities that they use to contribute to the organization’s success?
Some organizations have even given up using the term “Human Resources.” One company frequently listed as the best place to work in America by Forbes magazine has taken the lead in this regard. Google’s “People Operations” sends a strong message that its employees are recognized as people, not just resources. This may be a small matter for those who sit close to the apex of an organization, a position that automatically confers a great deal of respect. But for those who are working in the middle or bottom of the organization—the people whose efforts are responsible for the daily operations of the college or university—words can make a big difference.
Stress Dignified Working Conditions
Dignified work environments are safe, harassment-free, and fair, also emphasized in the various philosophy and mission statements of many Catholic employers. The VBL, however, makes it
clear that dignified working conditions additionally enable people to engage in “good and
productive work.” The document offers guidance in how this should be accomplished; it states
that employees should be empowered to do their jobs effectively, through proper training, the right tools, and an appropriate scope of autonomy.
Unfortunately, many workplaces entangle employees in muddled processes or do not provide adequate training. These organizations and departments make it difficult for employees to be successful, which was the topic of Rev. Craig Mousin’s column in the winter 2014 issue of Update.3 To effectively promote the VBL’s message, mission and philosophy statements must go beyond addressing how people are treated on an interpersonal level. Treating employees with dignity necessitates giving them real opportunities to succeed at work, develop their skill set, and contribute meaningfully to the mission.
Develop Soft Skills
Soft skills are often labeled as “touchy-feely” and seen as secondary to management’s real work of producing results, often with an emphasis on immediate results. This bias is reflected in business school curriculums that have “traditionally excelled at teaching ‘hard skills’ like finance and accounting,” according to the Wall Street Journal, which goes on to observe that “soft-skill classes aren’t as respected as much as ‘hard’ courses.”4
Extraordinary outcomes, however, are not necessarily driven by managers with hard skills who focus solely on results. Rather, great outcomes appear to be more likely produced by managers who can do such things as promote healthy cultures and develop teams, both soft-skill competencies. Consider Google’s research. After Google found that “managers had a greater impact on employees’ performance and how they [employees] felt about their jobs than any other factor,”5 the company decided to identify which particular behaviors make a manager effective.
The extensive research that followed, part of “Project Oxygen,” gathered thousands of observations and examined more than 100 variables. The results didn’t reflect well on intense results-at-any-cost managers and those who rely on hard skills. In fact, having technical expertise came in last in the list of eight important managerial attributes and behaviors, behind seven soft skills. Google found that managers skilled in these eight behaviors oversaw departments that produced substantially better results than others. Needless to say, the company wisely expends significant resources to measure their managers’ execution of these behaviors and to provide development opportunities so that managers can perform them well. It turns out that soft skills are necessary for managers if they hope to produce better than mediocre results in the long run. Moreover, these skills are needed to build a culture that promotes human dignity in an environment of good and productive work.
Measure
The corporate world has come to learn in the past decade that employees respond enthusiastically when they feel valued, when their core needs to learn, grow, and develop are met, and when they are respected. They’re more committed to their employer, more invested in their work, and score much better on measures of well-being. In short, they’re engaged, and organizations with high percentages of engaged employees have significantly better business outcomes than those with lower proportions of engaged workers. This been the great organizational management discovery of the past decade, confirmed by many Gallup studies.6
This research has led to the development of numerous tools to measure employee engagement. These survey instruments should be of interest to Catholic employers, not only because they reflect the degree to which employees are engaged and can predict future business success, but also because they measure the degree to which managers are creating conditions of good and productive work.
The Pontifical Council’s relevant message deserves priority consideration among organizational leaders of good will who want to help shape a society that respects human dignity. Leaders,
including those at Catholic colleges and universities, can help create work environments of good and productive work in their organizations by stressing the importance of dignified work environments, enabling their managers to build effective departments through their employees, and measuring results.
The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s alone and do not represent those of DePaul University or the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities.
1. Mackey, J., & Sisodia, R. Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business (Boston: Harvard Business Review Press, 2014). A summary of the book is available online.
2. Vocation of the Business Leader: A Reflection. Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (PCJP). The document grew out of a seminar sponsored by the John A. Ryan Institute at the University of St. Thomas (MN) and the PCJP, held in February 2011, called “The Logic of Gift and the Meaning of Business.” The
discussion of “Organizing Good and Productive Work” begins at chapter 44.
3. “Labor: Cost of a Commodity or Commitment to a Covenant?” in Update, Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, Vol. XL, No. 4, winter 2014.
4. Korn, M., & Light, J. (2011, June 7). “On the lesson plan: Feelings.” The Wall Street Journal.