Skip to Main Content
8
Views
5
CrossRef citations
Altmetric

Article

Business as Usual?: Ethics in the Fast-Changing and Complex World of Organizations

Pages 123-128
Published online: 28 Dec 2017
 
Translator disclaimer

The authors suggest that, since Eric Berne (1966) defined contract as “an explicit bilateral commitment to a well-defined course of action” (p. 362), bilateral relations seem to dominate thinking about ethics within the transactional analysis community. Ethics, however, deal with human relations in all their complexity, ambiguity, and uncertainty. The fast-changing nature of organizations requires that we take into account the complexity inherent in that world. If we do not, today's solutions will create tomorrow's problems. Using what may seem like a simple model in relation to three organizational dilemmas, the authors suggest questions that must be considered in order to deal with ethics within complex organizations. Today's unusual challenges will not be met, if the world—and we are the world!—continues doing business as usual.

Additional information

Author information

Joost Levy

Drs. I. J. Anne de Graaf, Teaching and Supervising Transactional Analyst (organizational), is one of the founders of the Dutch TA Academy, which offers a variety of courses in transactional analysis. He teaches TA in the Netherlands and Eastern Europe. He is, together with his wife, Paula, owner of RondHeel Consultancy & Training. He is coauthor of the TA management book Einstein and the Art of Sailing. Anne is cochair of the Board of Certification, the certification body for the Training & Certification Council. Anne can be reached Nobel Hoeve 43, 3451 TA Vleuten, The Netherlands; e-mail: ; Web site: http://nl.linkedin.com/pub/anne-de-graaf/24/658/273.
Drs. Joost Levy, Teaching and Supervising Transactional Analyst (organizational), Certified Transactional Analyst (education), is director of the Dutch training and consultancy organization PRO Consult. Joost has run a transactional analysis training program for many years and organizes international psychodynamic-systemic conferences. He is, together with Anne de Graaf, editor of the book Working Climate in Organizations: Leadership Makes the Difference. Joost can be reached at Looierstraat 26–2, 6811 AX Arnhem, The Netherlands; e-mail: ; Web site: http://nl.linkedin.com/pub/joost-levy/3/277/867.