Forms of Compulsion

Ole Thyssen
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Ole Thyssen: Copenhagen Business School

Chapter 2 in Business Ethics and Organizational Values, 2009, pp 23-32 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Functional systems do not ‘do’ anything. They constitute a semantic framework for organizations and people, and they are maintained by organizations and people. Semantic systems need actors, and actors need semantic systems.1 Their close relationship means that forms of compulsion which come into being in functional systems also become forms of compulsion for organizations and people. ‘A form of compulsion’ means a condition for operating. The point is not that anyone is forced to be a scientist or an artist. However, if someone has a hankering for power, or for art, and if that person defines the significant part of his identity — what he ‘is’ when introducing himself — through reference to a functional system, then he has to abide by certain rules. No one is able to be a businessperson or teacher all by themselves. Our identity is defined in relation to other people.

Keywords: Business Ethic; Modern Society; Functional System; Semantic System; Silent Majority (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-25093-2_2

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DOI: 10.1057/9780230250932_2

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