Instilling a soul in your organization without losing yours to it

Health-care professionals are accustomed to struggling with ethical considerations brought about by advances in the medical sciences. How aware are these professionals of the ethical dilemmas created by advances in the management sciences? Deeply embedded in organizational and departmental changes are theories, paradigms, and philosophies that often are understood poorly even by their promoters. Although these system changes can occur at glacial speed, they also can be glacial in their effects on an organization's culture. Are individuals aware that the latest implemented management fad is changing their behaviors? By becoming mindful of the potential ramifications of change, individuals increase their ability to behave in a civil manner--that is, ethically choosing to embrace or resist the change. By acting within their own sphere of influence, civil individuals at all levels of the organization collectively instill a soul in their organization rather than losing their own souls to it. This article is adapted from a commencement speech presented to graduates of an executive health-care administration program. Most of these graduates were a mixture of hospital department heads, middle managers, and a few medical and hospital executives. Each year, I distribute my current version of this teaching note or mini-lecture to students completing my leadership class in hope that it will help them put in perspective the appropriate use of the management sciences they intensely study.