Kaldet til selvrealisering—mod en ny arbejdsetik

Abstract

In this article, I examine the use of personal development programs in the world of business. In recent decades, there has been an increasing interest in the cultivation of the Self and this tendency has found expression in the New Age movement and modern management. I suggest a rethinking of Max Weber's analysis of the connection between the upcoming of a new religious behavior, such as the New Age movement, and a new way of thinking about the work expressed in New Human Resources Management. The French philosopher Marcel Gauchet's interpretation of the modern religious practices bound to the believer's inner life is central to my analysis. The ideal employee is in a permanent state of reflection, learning and experience; he sees himself in a state of growth. The focus here is directed towards the individual's potential and is based on the notion that the individual has resources hidden in the subconscious, waiting to be accessed through the development of the Self. My argument is that personal development programs in the business community seek to nurture a particular attitude towards work. Through personal development courses the employee should obtain a pleasurable relationship to his/her work, which ideally should be experienced as a vocation. The ideal employee no longer sees his/her work from a perspective of duty but work done con amore—as a way to self-realization. The cultivation of the individual's emotional inner life emphasizes extroverted practices, whereby modern management and the New Age movement overlap in the establishment of the ethics of sensitivity.