Spheres of Management: Social, Ethical, and Theological Reflections

This paper explores the range of problems facing contemporary “management.” The United States is now “managing” another country, and a large share of the world's oil supply. It is also the case that industrial engineering is on the brink of managing the biosphere more extensively than ever before. Yet, confidence in the human capacity to manage great, complex systems has been damaged by the recent series of management scandals. Certain relationships of managerial functions to both the values of democracy and the resources of theology and ethics are explored.