Fundamentally, the role of organizations in society is to contribute to social wealth distribution and develop a different agenda for the purpose of profits to increase equality and ensure basic goods become universal. Entrepreneurialism isn’t bad if it is aligned to responsibility and delivering an agenda of doing good. Supporting organizations to take their essential role in doing good in society means that their ability to innovate and create to deliver doing good and wealth creation is far more efficient than developing government departments to try and replicate what the market already has the ability to do, adapt, create, and innovate.
In essence, Temperatism adopts a model of cooperativism toward organizations and the market, seeking to restructure the relationship between the organization and the society to achieve a more democratized society where the organizations’ primary goal is the mutual benefit to both the owners of the means of production and the delivery of a broader social good. As an ideology this does mean that the dominant power and economic forms of the current capitalist organization will need to be limited, rather than developing state-owned entities. Organizations must be recognized for being social constructions, able to bring together people to invent, innovate, and create, for a specific purpose. The difference being proposed is rather than organizations squeezing their resources dry for the sake of more profit, the focus is on developing a shared purpose. Temperatism is a political, economic, and social choice, which sees organizations as interdependent rather than independent of the society in which they operate. Doing good relies on an open market where organizations must invest in the society within which they operate. Democratic governments must create rules of engagement between the organization and the society, creating rules and regulations on how the organization will operate responsibly, and deliver its obligations in regard to basic goods and doing good. However, Temperatism is more than a process or a system; it is based on the values that protect basic goods and a reclaiming of social morality that readdresses the balance between selfishness and selflessness. Human society needs the passion and desire for change that entrepreneurs and organizations can bring in an organized way. It is not enough to say we should be doing good if we do not have a mechanism with which it can be achieved. We have enough wealth and resources in the world to ensure that everyone, in every country, regardless of social class can have their basic goods fulfilled. The key to releasing this potential to realize the possible is through the innovative productivity of organizations.
Temperatism asks society to focus not on who owns what, whether it is wedded to private capital or state socialism, but to concentrate on what is possible if all people were free to be everything that they were born to be. It encourages the surplus created by human endeavor to not go onto persuading society to consume more, but to seek the betterment of all and release the potential of everyone. It might seem utopian or idealistic, but such a transformation is possible. “What’s the most resilient parasite? An idea. A single idea from the human mind can build cities. An idea can transform the world and rewrite all the rules” (Christopher Nolan, via Dom Cobb in the 2010 movie Inception).
If organization is important, let’s organize in a way that delivers sustainable progress and leads to better not worse economic and social development for everyone. This may require investment from government in regard to supporting research and giving grants to small organizations with ideas for new technologies that are designed for the betterment of society. But whatever the level of state involvement, we need to move away from a situation where politicians tinker around the edges to react to symptoms and resolve to become involved in a deep heart surgery in the way in which our economy is financed, supported, and run. Politics must partner with the social and economic to develop a capacity to think differently and create an environment in which innovative thinking and reform can take place. Although Temperatism continues to advocate the private ownership of the means of production, it encourages new thinking as to possible ways to organize, which removes exploitation and subjugation.
Organizations committed to a different way of doing business have already recognized the importance of improving employee welfare and conditions, contributing positively to the environment through setting goals for decreasing the environmental impact of their operations and addressing human rights abuses. These organizations go beyond the laws and regulations that they are bound by and instead demand a higher standard of corporate social responsibility. This self-restraint and intelligent use of organizational resources has not led to a loss in competitive advantage or profitability; instead doing good has increased profits and sustainability, reduced employee turnover, and led to greater levels of innovation and creativity. The efforts, by the few good men of the organizational world, demonstrate that a Temperatist agenda is possible, efficient, and profitable even in a competitive marketplace where others are playing by different rules. For too long organizations have been worshipping at the temple of Mammon and putting the pursuit of profit above all things. But there is a movement that has begun to question the way organizations are run and query the motives behind an organization’s actions. Temperatism demands that doing good for the wider society is more important and that profit no longer be placed first in the list of organizational priorities.
Temperatism is calling time on allowing integrity, morality, honesty, and honor to be ignored if there is money to be made. We can all sit back and bemoan the irresponsibility and corruption of the organizations, but Western society is responsible because we have not demanded better. As an employee, how many times have you sat in a meeting and felt in your gut that the decision being made because it is profitable is wrong? Maybe you are aware of actions by your organization, which have damaged your customers or suppliers, maybe you are aware of lies being told to make more money, or you are privy to information regarding child labor, pollution, manipulation of data, or deliberate price fixing. If you are aware of your organization doing the wrong thing, what are you doing about it? Sticking your head in the sand, taking drugs to help you sleep better at night, ignoring the gnawing at your conscience?
Morals of society change over time, but what is right and what is wrong rarely changes fundamentally. A liberal tradition could be blamed for allowing morals to slip, but liberalism is founded on the principle that you should be free to do what you want as long as you do no harm to others in the process. The scale of morally repugnant acts is alarming. We live in a society that seems to have lost its moral compass or at the very least is choosing to ignore it. Although organizations are to blame for many of the problems, they can also be the solution. Doing good is more than just sticking to the law of the land. Rejecting the pursuit of profit as the deciding factor and only purpose behind the organization’s activities is the foundation of good business. It doesn’t mean that profit is bad, but it does mean that it shouldn’t be the number one driving force of the organization. Instead, organizations should ask themselves why do we exist, what is the purpose of the organization’s existence, and what can contribute to the wider society. The answers to these questions lead to an exploration of new thinking about business and doing good.