Recent articles in the Boston Globe about the effort to create a “church for those who reject religion” and the New York Times asking “Is ‘Do Unto Others’ Written into our Genes?” have important implications for the ethics of health organizations.
All who share the conviction that health care is a calling have to ask – where does the call come from? In my posting on September 10th I discussed the Catholic view that health care is a sacred ministry. Participants in faith-based systems can anchor their sense of mission in the teachings of their faith. But where do secular organizations find their anchor?
The question is eminently practical. Given that one sixth of the economy goes to health care, health organizations rightly see themselves as businesses. But business can swamp calling. The practical challenge is integrating business ethics and health care ideals. Faith-based systems can address this tension through mission offices whose role it is to ensure continuous attention to mission in all aspects of the organization’s activities.
The Boston Globe article describes the humanist chaplaincy at Harvard University and the effort to create a non-theological community of shared ideals. This is the challenge leaders in health organizations must grapple with. The effort to create action oriented non-theological communities in the U.S. goes back at least to Felix Adler's founding of the Ethical Culture Society in 1876. The history of the humanist movement has valuable lessons for secular health care.
The New York Times article presents speculations by evolutionary psychologists that the Golden Rule has adaptive value for our species and may have a genetic basis. While first year philosophy students understand that "is does not imply ought," a sense of mission does not come from logic alone. Believing that care for others is "natural" and embedded in our biology and the history of our species can add emotional spark to a non-theological sense of mission.
I hope readers will share their personal and organizational observations about what nourishes effective, successful mission-driven health enterprises.
All who share the conviction that health care is a calling have to ask – where does the call come from? In my posting on September 10th I discussed the Catholic view that health care is a sacred ministry. Participants in faith-based systems can anchor their sense of mission in the teachings of their faith. But where do secular organizations find their anchor?
The question is eminently practical. Given that one sixth of the economy goes to health care, health organizations rightly see themselves as businesses. But business can swamp calling. The practical challenge is integrating business ethics and health care ideals. Faith-based systems can address this tension through mission offices whose role it is to ensure continuous attention to mission in all aspects of the organization’s activities.
The Boston Globe article describes the humanist chaplaincy at Harvard University and the effort to create a non-theological community of shared ideals. This is the challenge leaders in health organizations must grapple with. The effort to create action oriented non-theological communities in the U.S. goes back at least to Felix Adler's founding of the Ethical Culture Society in 1876. The history of the humanist movement has valuable lessons for secular health care.
The New York Times article presents speculations by evolutionary psychologists that the Golden Rule has adaptive value for our species and may have a genetic basis. While first year philosophy students understand that "is does not imply ought," a sense of mission does not come from logic alone. Believing that care for others is "natural" and embedded in our biology and the history of our species can add emotional spark to a non-theological sense of mission.
I hope readers will share their personal and organizational observations about what nourishes effective, successful mission-driven health enterprises.
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