UPDATED: December 14, 2021
Management professor鈥檚 rereading of Camus鈥檚 The Plague helps inspire new book on dealing with global crises
During the bleakest days of the pandemic, Carroll School of Management Professor Jean Bartunek turned back to her favorite book from college days, The Plague, in which Albert Camus tells the story of a mysterious and deadly plague that ravaged a city in Algeria, before disappearing as mysteriously as it arrived. In the end, the novel鈥檚 narrator, a physician, resolves that he must bear witness to what he ultimately learned during this time of pestilence鈥攖hat 鈥渢here is more to admire in men than to despise.鈥�
Professor Jean Bartunek
Bartunek鈥檚 rereading of the 1948 novel served as one inspiration for a new book she has edited, against the backdrop of dire emergencies on the world stage (including an all-too-real plague). In particular, she and a raft of contributors unpack the social dynamics and complex human interactions that can heal or heighten such large-scale traumas. The book is , released by Routledge on December 10.
Bartunek holds the Robert A. and Evelyn J. Ferris Chair of Management and Organization at the Carroll School. One premise of her book (which includes chapters authored by 20 prominent scholars and practitioners) is that experts in the natural sciences aren鈥檛 the only ones who have vital perspectives on crises such as climate and COVID.
鈥淚t is not just geologists who understand what is involved in climate change, its causes and its impacts, and not just virologists and epidemiologists who understand pandemics and how to deal with them,鈥� Bartunek writes in the opening chapter. 鈥淪ocial scientists understand how such crises are intertwined with us as individual human beings, in our relationships, our groups, our organizations, our communities, our institutions, how we collaborate with each other, how we compete with each other, and their ensuing dynamics.鈥�
Professor Bartunek's personal copy of "The Plague" from her college days
Bartunek, a past president of the Academy of Management, points out that the book is not about these and other crises as such. It鈥檚 about what social scientists who are involved in both research and practice 鈥渃an do to address and mitigate (if not prevent) global crises confronting us now and predictably . . . in the future.鈥� Along the way, the book's contributors, like Camus's narrator, find much to admire in humans and their collective efforts.
For example, in her chapter, social scientist Sandra Janoff recounts how IKEA found a way to do its part in addressing the ecological crisis, by ushering a wide assortment of players into the same room and casting sustainability as a strategic goal in all of its business operations. Janoff had co-developed a methodology called , which aims at getting 鈥渢he whole system鈥� to focus on the future, and she began working with IKEA, the world鈥檚 largest home-furnishing company, in 2008.
In this case, the whole system included not only leaders and specialists from all functions within IKEA, but also customers, suppliers and external partners鈥攏amely, environmental activists from the World Wildlife Fund and similar groups. Janoff notes that companies are often wary of directly involving environmentalists in strategic initiatives of this kind, fearing that these advocates might push for sustainability to the exclusion of profitability. But after three days of discussions, one environmental leader made it clear, 鈥淲e need you to be profitable, and we can figure out how we can do both.鈥�
The result was a shared commitment by all stakeholders to a so-called 鈥渃radle to cradle鈥� concept, in which materials, design, and production are geared to sustaining the environment and improving life from one generation to another. 鈥淓very function and process throughout the company went on to implement their own sustainability goals in line with the common ground agenda,鈥� Janoff writes. 鈥淧eople and Planet Positive, IKEA鈥檚 name for its sustainability strategy, continues to transform their business, all of the industries in the IKEA value chain and life at home for people around the world.鈥�
The collaboration at the heart of this initiative is one illustration of what Bartunek means when she says 鈥渄eveloping and sustaining complex relationships are crucial鈥� as part of the response to global crises.聽
鈥淓veryone writing in this book is doing so based on their care for the wellbeing of our world as well as their skilled and creative thinking and practice; they are all engaged scholars,鈥� she writes, adding that the stories and cases 鈥済ive us hope for our collective future, at least if we are brave enough to respond to the invitations they present us.鈥�
The book鈥攁lso inspired by MIT emeritus professor Ed Schein鈥檚 for social scientists to address global crises鈥攊s dedicated in memory of all those who lost their lives as a result of the coronavirus.
William Bole is Director of Content Development at the Carroll School of Management.