Beyond the ivory tower: from business aims to policy making

This article explores the provenance of some of those deepest heart-felt anxieties of modern times—and offers a practical response. There is a pervasive sense of angst in OECD countries about where we are headed. Somehow the values, public and private, we once thought we all stood for are compromised. The democratic process looks tired and shop-soiled. This backdrop plays upon deeper existential fears. Do we have any real control over our individual or collective destinies? The effect is morally and spiritually debilitating. This is, in brief, the core of the Argument from the first section. It is followed in section two by a presentation of the Facts that support this rather uninviting scenario. After looking at how things are shaping up on the socio-economic and political fronts, one provisional conclusion is that values and beliefs, along with policies and institutions, are in a state of poor repair. Section three on Findings adds to the sense of existential woe. It does so by exploring the real or imagined psychological disjunction which is common in the today's work-place and everyday living. The alienation and the loss of direction that affects the wellbeing and even the balance of otherwise normal people is striking. We are left with unanswered questions at many different levels. Why are the prospects of progress in dealing positively and constructively with these problems so uncertain? Is there any all-in-one solution, or are we simply to address each symptom as it comes along, and disregard the wider context? Section four of the paper tries to provide a holistic Prognosis of the situation, seen from an all-level encompassing perspective. It does so in the belief we cannot meaningfully begin to address specific symptoms outside the context of the wider whole. It concludes with a few simple, in some ways ageless aspirations of mankind, whose aim is to equate what we say with what we do. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.