Wellbeing and firms: the Adriano Olivetti's model

Abstract

The paper focuses on the Italian most prominent example of corporate social responsibility and socio-economic wellbeing - the Adriano Olivetti's experience - as the result of a synergic and virtuous exchange among firm, culture and community. Defining wellbeing as the overall health of an organisation - including organisational climate, social climate, employee productivity, performance, turnover - we aim to underline the key role Adriano played in the Italian industry and the anticipatory breadth of his governance. In fact, even if a lot has been said regarding Olivetti and his approach to work organisation, little has been said about Adriano's idea of organisational wellbeing. Adopting the case history methodology and rooting our analysis in Adriano's well-being model (built around ethics and community, culture of innovation and beauty of design), we would like to evidence the new and unrepeated humanity Olivetti gave to his firm.