Phenomenology and ethics within organizations

It is increasingly perceived the relevance of active subjects, problem solvers, especially when talking about ethical issues within organizations. A person, in order to act ethically and give answers to ethical problems, needs to highlight the reality at every moment. In Husserl’s phenomenology, the process of arriving at the reality’s evidence involves making epochs, that is, suspending one’s own judgments, beliefs and values. In this text it is intended to demonstrate that Husserl’s phenomenological approach aims to assist in decision making within organizations, as it helps in the perception of reality.

All individuals go through a historical construction that encompasses diverse ideals, beliefs, ideologies, opinions and social values. These behaviors structure the individual’s decision-making throughout their existence, influencing their actions inside the organizations, including contributing to the construction of an organizational culture.

In the first phase of the epoché process, the phenomenological reduction, the habit of thinking that scientific knowledge is identical with the external world or the world that is before us, must be discontinued. The corresponding knowledge of a conscious reflection means immediate evidence – this phenomenon is a product of consciousness, it is elaborated by it and it is attributed to the external world.

What is immediately evident is the way to interpret consciousness with the certainty that the conscious version is the same as the external world. There is no immediate evidence of this belief. Consciousness only knows phenomena as they are formalized by it.

Evidence means the truth of that fact is born of me that I see, that is, it is born of the same principle through which one exists.

In a second step, there is a need for access to pure consciousness. Conscious value judgments are suspended in order to verify the conscience’s way of being. It is noticed that the consciousness tends to intend something that is not it, but its product. Therefore, consciousness projects knowledge detached from the world-of-life, making it impure. The purpose of the epoché is to help restore contact with the world-of-life, becoming a pure consciousness capable of showing the real here and now.

For this reason, the fundamental role of phenomenology is noted for the purification of the members consciousness of an organization, in order to make ethical and assertive decisions. This process can be carried out through training and development of behavioral skills, because only through self-knowledge is the individual able to notice his or her own beliefs and ideals that he / she carries throughout life.

Ethics is a science that studies the moral behavior of men in a society. Therefore, ethics is the study of human action, it is a science that seeks tools to find the best way to act in each situation. If the individual does not have a free conscience capable of deliberating for a common good, the chances of greater assertiveness in the choices decrease.

Thus, assertiveness in an ethical decision depends before the purification of conscience. Husserl’s phenomenology helps the operator to make his conscience capable of showing the real and from there make decisions consistent with the circumstances moment by moment.

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