Corporations are people?

In our day and age, it often appears that commerce and all of its related concepts matter more than the species that created such concepts. If you haven’t already noticed, there is currently a highly refined effort underway to limit the power of individuals in an organization and to expand the power of the organization as an institution—which is just another way of saying that such effort is focused on expanding the power and prerogative of senior management within the organization. By the cold calculus of commerce (alliteration intended), people involved in the creation of a product are, in some contexts, increasingly being viewed as a necessary evil—employees are treated as “resources” and are carefully managed to mitigate risk for the organization and its upper management. It may seem to make sense to do this when efficiency is the only criterion that matters. However, when a system dictates the subordination of people to non-human imperatives, it is the system that must be examined for flaws—not people. There are many potential solutions to the predicament that we find ourselves in—some of which are already being implemented by forward looking companies—that do not involve a compromise of individual rights or freedoms and do not undermine the principles of a meritocracy based upon a holistic understanding of “merit”. It is time we reevaluate where we are headed before our lack of perspective creates serious risk for mankind.