The Humanistic Management Center's Ernst von Kimakowitz felt honored to be invited by Professor Naoki Kuriyama of Soka University to conduct a workshop with a student delegation participating in Soka University's Global Program in Geneva, Switzerland.
Soka University was founded in 1971 on the principles of a humanistic education. Its innovative approaches in education have been recognized by Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. One of the characteristics that distinguish Soka University is that it has been promoting international exchanges since its inception and now has one of the most active exchange programs in Japan as part of an international network that includes 135 universities in 46 countries. The university campus is located in Hachioji, a suburb of Tokyo.
The topic of the 2012 European Study Program which is part of the university's aforementioned Global Program was "Global Corporate Citizenship: Human Rights and Humanistic Management” providing a very fitting backdrop to present the Humanistic Management Center's three stepped approach to humanistic management as well as the foundations of fruitful stakeholder dialogue by Ernst von Kimakowitz in two lectures. These were complimented by our academic director, Claus Dierksmeier, who joined the workshop for a presentation on Kantian ethics and humanistic management. You can download the full presentation on The Makings of Humanistic Management here as well as the presentation on The Foundations of Fruitful Stakeholder Dialogues here.
In addition the workshop comprised of a series of student presentations on Japanese companies that are actively engaging in humanistic management practices and initiatives aiming at the protection of human rights. Furthermore the student presentations included an overview of Soka University and its values where we were very happy to learn about the substantial overlap between the schools values and our approach to humanistic management.
The Humanistic Management Center is grateful for this opportunity to nourish intercultural dialogue and exchange ideas on jointly making progress in humanistic management.