Point 136. The management of the enterprise

The foundation of an enterprise as well as its management comes eminently under the virtue of prudence. Instead of pursuing the maximum profit, it is the viability and durability of the enterprise that must be sought in order to ensure the long-term prosperity of the families that depend on it. Within the enterprise, there will result development strategies and human relationships that are different from those that are in current use in capitalist enterprises.

1. Although the enterprise’s owner enjoys entire authority over the business project, for its realisation, it is competence that is the basis of the legitimacy of authority at the very heart of the enterprise. This criterion alone enables to ensure the personalisation of the various functions of management, investment in capital, and labour, and the cohesion of all around the head of the company in order to face external difficulties and, naturally, to maintain human relationships comprised of mutual respect and justice, within the work community.

In the case of enterprises that do not exclusively belong to families or that do not have owners who ensure their management, families will have to be protected against their decisions or those of the shareholders that would unjustly or unwisely jeopardise the enterprise. The management and its executives will thus have a right of recourse to arbitration and of appeal before the competent courts.

2. The role of the financier will also be supervised. Considered as a partner of the enterprise, in the same way as, for example, engineers who contribute their know-how, the financier will no longer be able to usurp either the authority of the owner as regards the business project or that of his collaborators over the management of the enterprise. His financial contribution will give him the right to draw a dividend from the profits of the enterprise. The amount of this dividend will take into account the length of his commitment to the business project.

3. The personnel will be hierarchised according to its tasks in the enterprise, but also according to its dedication and competence. Therefore, newcomers, who have to prove themselves, will be distinguished from full-fledged members of the enterprise and from the firm’s employees of long standing who, in their respective task, have developed a competence that is recognised by all. They will form a particular category that management will make every effort to consult, especially as regards improving working conditions and productivity. The business project will be submitted to them. They will also be consulted in their field as regards the definitive accepting of new associates for the enterprise. Internal promotion will also be fostered.

4. Restoring the patron’s legitimate authority within the enterprise does not mean that it will be an arbitrary management, quite to the contrary. The concern for the common good of the enterprise and for effectiveness in carrying out tasks implies regular consultation of the personnel concerned. It will be organised on a regular basis and added to the right of the firm’s long-time employees to express freely their opinion at all times. This will advantageously replace Workers’ Council that are subject to trade union diktats.

5. These principles of ecological management of the enterprise easily create a climate of family work that will incline the members of a same enterprise to help each other in various ways. According to the size of the enterprise, to local customs and real needs, the head of the enterprise may facilitate this mutual aid and organise it at best with the help of long-time employees in his firm.