The Myth of Sisyphus and the Promise of Humanistic Management

No figure of Greek mythology has obtained the status of philosophical symbol as much as Sisyphus. Sisyphus, the king of Corinth, appears in the very earliest literary representation of the underworld in the Eleventh Book of Homer's Odyssey. Here, the hero Odysseus witnesses the infamous punishment imposed by Zeus on Sisyphus of rolling a giant boulder up a hill only to have it roll back down again, thus forcing him to repeat the futile labor repeatedly for eternity. Twenty centuries later, Sisyphus makes an appearance in his most famous philosophical guise as his myth became the subject of the French philosopher Albert Camus. In his Myth of Sisyphus, Camus reimagines the futility and meaninglessness of Sisyphus' punishment as a symbol for the modern worker, who is arguably also compelled to do futile, meaningless, and ultimately dehumanizing work. Although Camus thinks that Sisyphus can nevertheless be happy by defiantly accepting his lot, Camus believes that the modern worker ought to "rebel" against dehumanizing work and endeavor to refashion the workplace to respect and promote human dignity.Within the management literature, those working the area of humanistic management provide ethical and practical guidelines and prescriptions for doing so; of note, humanistic management aims to structure work to promote human flourishing and the common good, wherein the drive for profits and financial gain is at best secondary. This case introduces students to some of the challenges that face the modern worker, as expressed in the myth of Sisyphus, and some of the ways in which humanistic management attempts to address these challenges. In addition to presenting reasons for adopting a humanistic business perspective, this case also introduces students to some of the criticisms of this approach, and ultimately asks students to weigh its ethical and practical viability.