Organizational evil and the responsibility of management and managerial practices

Abstract

How is it that ordinary people decide to take part in genocides? Philosophers and psychologists have attempted to provide explanations of how genocidal organizations (i.e. set-up to conduct executions) bear on the moral judgement of genocide participants. Here, I resituate those findings within the field of human resource (HR) management. I highlight how basic principles of management and HR management (selection of personnel, division of labour, reinforcement methods and others) can lead ordinary individuals to judge their participation in a genocide as acceptable. Although initially only designed to increase motivation and productivity, these techniques also affect individuals’ awareness of ethical issues. Consequently, participants shift their judgements in favour of the genocidal organization, forgetting the victims. Management studies have seldom addressed the topic of genocide, despite clues in the literature that genocides are organizational in nature. By combining the three fields of management, business ethics and genocide studies within an approach based on transdisciplinary analysis, I hope to show that genocides constitute a legitimate subject for management studies.