God created the world for human flourishing. Writing on the Biblical theology of human flourishing, Pennington (2015) relates it to the Biblical ideas of Shalom / Eirene, Ashre / Makarios and Tamim / Teleios. The concept is significant even in workplaces, as it is considered a second home where people wish to be cheerful, valued, and find fulfillment. One of the significant factors for workplace flourishing is the quality of management which is determined by the management models followed in organizations.
Today, organizations are witnessing turbulent disruptions in their environment due to factors like COVID -19 pandemic and the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Inflation across the nations have drastically increased. Workplaces are gripped with the fear of a global recession. They create a stressful environment for the people in the workplaces. The VUCA world (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) in which we live today, calls for innovative and diverse approaches for workplace flourishing (Marchese et al., 2020).
In addition, value erosion is a major issue confronted by organizations. Corruption is prevalent both in the for-profit sector as well as in the not-for-profit sector (Greenlee et al., 2007). The collapse of corporate bodies such as Enron and WorldCom were the result of lack of business watchdogs and a disproportionate emphasis on shareholder value maximization which led to unethical accounting practices.
In this context, scholars have pointed out the danger in the existing materialist-individualist self-fulfilling conventional management theories and established the need for alternative sustainable management theories from a different moral point of view. (Dyck & Wiebe, 2012). Such a model should view people in the workplaces as those who are created in the image of God, exhibiting fruit of the Spirit and having right relationship with one another within organization as well as with all stakeholders. Torrance (2011) unearths the concept of Accountability (from a Christian perspective), as a virtue that contributes to human flourishing. Thus, it is significant to investigate grafting the Christian values associated with accountability, in the theory and practice of management, for the workplace to thrive.
This paper will establish the need for and formulate the theoretical framework of integrating the Christian concept of accountability, in developing a new management model, for workplace flourishing in the contemporary context. The Accountability Integrated Management Model (AIMM) will serve as a practical tool for leaders of corporate entities including Business As Mission (BAM) enterprises, government undertakings, and religious and charitable bodies, to flourish in these challenging times.
Bibliography
Dyck, B., & Wiebe, E. (2012). Salvation, theology and organizational practices across the centuries. In Organization (Vol. 19, Issue 3, pp. 299–324). https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508412437073
Greenlee, J., Fischer, M., Gordon, T., & Keating, E. (2007). An investigation of fraud in nonprofit organizations: Occurrences and deterrents. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 36(4), 676–694. https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764007300407
Marchese, S., Gastaldi, L., & Corso, M. (2020). Taming Vuca With Exponential Organizational Models: a Literature Review. CINet 2020, December, 466–479.
Pennington, J. T. (2015). A Biblical Theology of Human Flourishing. Institute for Faith, Work & Economics.
Torrance, A. (2021). Accountability as a Virtue. Studies in Christian Ethics, 34(3), 307–315.