# Human Absurdity, Freedom, and Solidarity By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2023-04-01 Much of what humans confront is absurd. Attempts to establish meaning are precarious. Relatively minor disturbances can upset the delicate balances around which lives are based. Various groups offer different ways of dealing with the absurdity of life. Traditionally, organized religions addressed these concerns for many populations. More recently, these concerns have been addressed variously by psychology, existential philosophy, mindset consultants, and advocates for prosperity doctrines. Each offers something for somebody. However, people attempt to address this void personally, but there is a potential gap in how such questions are explored organizationally. This is perhaps more complex in largely secular and heterogeneous societies. In such cases, it might be safest to simply shrug and say nothing is to be done. However enticing such a response is, it does little to establish a basis for coherent organizational action. Freedom and solidarity are virtues that could guide corporate action. Determining the degree to which a given action enhances individual freedom and workforce solidarity provides a foundation for determining what should be done. Shared prosperity enhances freedom and solidarity. Subjugation does not. Work infused with autonomy and creativity enhances freedom and solidarity. Control and drudgery do not. Manipulating rewards and punishments is a managerial prerogative. How this is done can make situations more absurd or enhance freedom and solidarity. Increasingly managers are confronting a workforce that understands this dynamic, if only intuitively, and are longing for something more. Will management move bravely towards this new reality or attempt to entrench itself in the past which will not endure? #### Related Items [[Management]] [[Freedom]] [[Solidarity]] [[Absurd]] [[The Human Condition]] [[Work]]