Common Good HRM: Managing Human Resources for the Benefit of Everyone

Operating at a profit is no longer the be-all and end-all of 21st century businesses: responsible policies for the benefit of society and environmental protection have become equally important. ESG criteria, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and also the companies’ own customers hold them to a new standard. And HR plays an important role in this context.  

Common Good HRM – an Entirely New Perspective on HR Management 

In an ongoing research project, Michael Müller-Camen, who also heads the Institute for Human Resource Management at WU Vienna, explores what HR management fully geared towards the concept of an economy for the common good could look like. To better describe this approach, he has coined the term “common good HRM,” which transcends conventional HR and has the potential to fully transform an organization. 

Making the common good the yardstick for every business decision requires companies to address important questions: In which concrete ways can HR contribute to societal welfare? And how can these values be embedded in corporate culture in a sustainable way? “Common good HRM requires an outside-inside approach: the big social questions of today’s age, such as social injustice and environmental destruction, have prompted companies to start developing their own in-house solutions,” Michael Müller-Camen says. 

It All Starts with Mindful Leadership 

The Managing Director of the Frisian hotel group Upstalsboom Bodo Janssen adopted this mindset about 15 years ago. When he took over the board following his father’s passing, he first worked on becoming more efficient and maximizing profits – with great commercial success but eliciting poor feedback by his employees. An employee survey produced withering reviews of his work as a CEO. Janssen retreated to a monastery, where the guidance of the monk Anselm Grün led him to discover the concept of mindful leadership. This was the starting point for a profound transformation at Upstalsboom. 

Today, Upstalsboom’s management revolves around purpose, individuals’ sense of responsibility, and a corporate culture celebrating communication and learning. But the group pursues even more ambitious goals: the business model and hotel concepts will be radically aligned with the principles of the economy of the common good.  

Going forward, all hotels’ business models will be radically aligned with the organization’s purpose: “A luxury resort on the shore of the North Sea complete with an infinity pool no longer reflects what we will stand for in the future,” Bodo Janssen says. One lavish hotel has already been transformed into a so-called “hotel for time spent in silence;” other luxury hotels will also be refitted or transferred to new owners. To build the future product portfolio of Upstalsboom 2.0 – hotels which have been christened “places of difference” – the team is currently looking for facilities that foster simplicity, mindfulness, and introspection. 

“It’s just so exhausting to be inauthentic. That’s why we have chosen a path that’s radically values-oriented in order to boost our authenticity,” Janssen emphasizes. That, of course, also means “becoming oneself.” And even if you cannot change a company’s DNA and it will somehow always be what it was founded to be, epigenetics can change a lot. Janssen’s father had originally established Upstalsboom as a real estate investment group with the aim of making huge profits fast. 

How Common Good HRM Works 

How can the values of an economy for the common good be integrated in corporate culture and put into practice by and also for staff?  

To answer that question, Michael Müller-Camen and Bodo Janssen outline common good HRM in theory and in leadership practice. To start with, the new approach cannot be confined to the HR department; it’s just as much a strategic management and leadership task.  

Common good HRM rests on three main pillars, which were also identified to be part of the Upstalsboom example in the course of the research project:  

1. Purpose-Oriented HR Management 

If a company’s contribution to society becomes its number one goal, HR will automatically assume a different role. “At such places, work is regarded as a place for personal growth and making a difference for society,” Müller-Camen says. HR is no longer exclusively guided by KPI but also by the needs of employees, suppliers, and customers. This shows, for instance, in the fact that as opposed to many other companies, Upstalsboom does not use quarterly goals and instead focuses on finding a common purpose. 

• As a “purpose-driven organization,” Upstalsboom regards this common purpose as more important than profits – which is why the company does not define quarterly KPI, for example.  

• It also seeks to link up employees’ individual sense of purpose with the entrepreneurial purpose, going so far as to creating framework conditions that allow employees to live the way they want and act according to their personal and professional aspirations. “For us, people are not a means to an end; the end is the means for people,” Bodo Janssen says.  

• In this values-based approach to work, corporate values are subjected to a review on a regular basis: all employees get a say in setting them and translating them into measures and goals. 

Upstalsboom’s purpose claim is “empowering people” – also in a literal sense. Bodo Janssen takes his apprentices on expeditions to Mount Kilimanjaro or the South Pole to foster their personal development.  

He quotes Hildegard of Bingen when he says that “by becoming truly human we transform our wounds into pearls” – which is also a rebuke of the comfort-obsessed view of new work.  

2. Employee Wellbeing 

“What if employees leave their workplace in the evening healthier and more vigorous than when they came to work in the morning?” This goal is no longer an unrealistic vision for Bodo Janssen. He believes in fostering a healthy form of productivity among staff because, as he says: “If people feel well at work, socially, mentally, and physically, they will be happy to work – why would an employer be opposed to that?” To achieve this goal, employees must be able to put their strengths and interests to use and have the freedom to create and also adapt their jobs in ways that match their own purpose.  

For example, a chef at one of the hotels was unhappy because he loved numbers more than pots – the company paid for him to retrain as an accountant. It’s a fact that for many people, their jobs lead to burnout or physical or mental exhaustion. “Then the person is shipped off to the health system, often never to return to work again,” Janssen says. He believes that it’s an employer’s responsibility to build an in-house healthcare system and offer preventative measures. Upstalsboom has established “Vitalogikum,” a preventative concept (developed from a brainstorming workshop Michael Müller-Camen attended) based on salutogenesis. It includes medical checks in addition to a healthy corporate culture and respectful communication “to make sure our employees don’t get sick in the first place,” Janssen says.  

3. True Participation and Self-Leadership 

The second part of Upstalsboom’s company claim, following “empowering people,” is “assuming responsibility:” for your own actions as much as creation as a whole, Bodo Janssen explains. This mandates a management style “that lets people go home at night with their head held up higher than when they came to work in the morning – and not because their manager encouraged them so effectively but because they did so themselves. Leadership can only be legitimized through the goal of leading yourself.”  

This means that managers must help employees lead themselves and achieve personal growth, for which they must trust people instead of monitoring them and let them take over responsibility rather than telling them what to do. Janssen shares that this kind of empowerment increases engagement, which is also driven by decentralized decision-making processes. At Upstalsboom, decisions are made by whoever happens to be the most competent person in the room – after consulting with the team. Both Janssen and Müller-Camen believe that psychological safety is an important requirement: “At our company, people feel ownership of the decisions that are being made,” Janssen says. It’s only when employees feel safe and free to express their opinions and concerns without needing to self-censor that they can truly play their part and contribute their creative ideas for sustainable and social innovation. “Trust promotes a culture in which mistakes are permissible, creating a climate conducive to learning and innovation,” Müller-Camen explains. This is why a culture of trust serves as the foundation based on which common good HRM can be practiced: “If there is no trust within a company, there is a real risk that anxiety and mistrust will thrive and fear of potential negative consequences will stand in the way of change,” Müller-Camen points out. “Few things are as costly, with regard to time, money, and energy, to a company as fear,” Bodo Janssen adds. “And that’s why trust is simply the best investment.” 

Conclusion 

Upstalsboom’s path might be too radical for some companies. But Müller-Camen stresses that particularly family-owned enterprises often offer ideal conditions to promote common good HRM. Research is only starting to explore the topic but it has already revealed some interesting facts that can help shape the way we will deal with human resources in the future. 

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