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Full-Text Articles in Business

Gleaning As A Transformational Business Model For Solidarity With The Poor And Marginalized, Bruce D. Baker Oct 2016

Gleaning As A Transformational Business Model For Solidarity With The Poor And Marginalized, Bruce D. Baker

SPU Works

“Gleaning” refers to the mandate within the Mosaic Law that harvesters should leave behind “gleanings” for the sake of the poor who subsist on the literal and figurative margins of society. Although this biblical mandate is generally neglected and considered irrelevant in modern business practice, it holds powerful lessons to help guide modern businesses into transformational solidarity with the poor and marginalized. This paper interprets the biblical significance of gleaning, to discern how the principles of gleaning, though rooted in ancient agrarian culture, might be applicable to modern business which is generally far removed from agriculture. The exegesis and analysis …


Entrepreneurship As A Sign Of Common Grace, Bruce D. Baker Apr 2015

Entrepreneurship As A Sign Of Common Grace, Bruce D. Baker

SPU Works

Entrepreneurship benefits society in many ways. It delivers obvious and tangible economic blessings. The spiritual blessings of entrepreneurship are harder to see, and yet these are essential in order to arrive at a more complete understanding of the role entrepreneurship plays within a virtuous society. This paper considers common grace as a helpful lens through which to view the spiritual reality of entrepreneurship and to discern the intangible contributions it provides to economic shalom. Viewed from the perspective of common grace, we can see that entrepreneurship bears witness to the beauty, creativity, power and the responsibility bestowed upon God’s image …


Best Biblical Career Advice From Joseph, Bruce D. Baker Oct 2014

Best Biblical Career Advice From Joseph, Bruce D. Baker

SPU Works

The biblical character whose story best illustrates what we might think of today as a “career” is Joseph. His story fills roughly nine chapters in Genesis (37 – 45), a very large portion of the history of the patriarchs. Joseph’s path is an epic story of rising from the bottom to the top. In terms of vision, management and public service, he must be considered a standout success. But is this an example of “career”? It depends what you mean by “career.” Although the Bible does not offer much by way of prescriptive career advice, we can glean practical wisdom …


Capital In The Twenty-First Century: A Tale Without Morality, Bruce D. Baker Jul 2014

Capital In The Twenty-First Century: A Tale Without Morality, Bruce D. Baker

SPU Works

Thomas Piketty has given economists a lot to argue about, but their arguments miss the point of the book’s success. “Capital in the Twenty-First Century” is not a bestseller based on its economic merits. It’s a bestseller because it speaks to a deep moral anxiety. Confidence in capitalism has been shaken. The crisis of 2008 exposed weaknesses in the financialization of our economy. Piketty makes a valiant contribution to economic theory and history, but his empiricism succumbs ultimately to the same flaw John Paul II diagnosed in Marxism—it leads to an incoherent statement of moral order.


Free Markets With Caritas: A Transformational Concept Of Efficiency, Bruce D. Baker Jan 2013

Free Markets With Caritas: A Transformational Concept Of Efficiency, Bruce D. Baker

SPU Works

The logic of caritas transforms conventional concepts of economic efficiency in a direction conducive to the health and sustainability of a market system, by distinguishing between economic activities which are additive or extractive toward the common good. The beneficent power of the market to serve human flourishing is based not in a morally tacit concept of economic efficiency as a cardinal good, but rather in a gift-bearing efficiency aligned with caritas. This thesis is explored through three business case studies: (1) patents related to pharmaceutical drug design and marketing; (2) “monetization” strategies in recent internet-based business models; and (3) …


Good Work With Toil: A Paradigm For Redeemed Work, Margaret Diddams, Denise Daniels Jan 2008

Good Work With Toil: A Paradigm For Redeemed Work, Margaret Diddams, Denise Daniels

SPU Works

Management scholars within the disciplines of Organizational Behavior (OB), Human Resource Management (HRM or HR) and Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology seek to study and promote employee productivity and welfare within organizations. While there are differing foci across these three disciplinary areas, their researchers and practitioners strive for equilibrium between the needs of employees and employers. Given this charter, it would be reasonable to expect that these fields would have deeply articulated philosophical roots regarding the nature of humanity, its social and physical systems, and the meaning associated with good work. Yet historically, apart from a perfunctory nod to Max Weber's identification …


Implications Of Biblical Principles Of Rhythm And Rest For Individual And Organizational Practices, Margaret Diddams, Lisa Surdyk, Denise Daniels, Jeff B. Van Duzer Apr 2004

Implications Of Biblical Principles Of Rhythm And Rest For Individual And Organizational Practices, Margaret Diddams, Lisa Surdyk, Denise Daniels, Jeff B. Van Duzer

SPU Works

The information technology economy with its endless 24/7 workdays has eroded the normative cycle of work and rest, and as a result, many Americans are experiencing a profound and increasing sense of time pressure. By integrating biblical passages relating to Sabbath observance with psychological and organizational empirical literature, Diddams et al seek describe the principles of rest, reflection, and relationships underlying biblical notions of rhythm; identify their associated influence on psychological wellness; and discuss how organizations can embrace a rhythmic, Sabbath culture.