Monastic origins
The application of Benedict’s Rule in business life is examined in detail by Kit Dollard et al (2002). Benedict’s Rule was written in the early 6th century, consisting of 75 short chapters of advice for those organising and living in a monastery. Dollard’s book is written as a conversation between authors in or close to a monastic community, and finds precedent for modern management techniques, such as a focus on “putting people at the forefront of management” (p.19) and the development of HR departments, in Benedict’s much older Rule.
While focusing mainly on personal skills, value-based decision making and in particular relationship issues, the study also considers the implication of some of the organisational innovation of Benedict’s Rule. For example, the hierarchy of a Benedictine monastery is based not on ability or age but on the date on which an individual entered the community, introducing a random element to the more usual criteria for rank and status. The concept of servant leader, so widely quoted to justify a wide range of management decisions by authors in this study, is seen at its most literal within Benedict’s Rule, as every monk is expected to take turns serving food at mealtimes.
Richard Higginson (2012) also considers the implications and legacy of Benedict’s thinking in the corporate world. In particular Benedict views monastic leadership as a multi-functional role, incorporating elements of servant, shepherd, teacher, healer/doctor and steward, which Higginson says translates well into many other types of organisation including businesses. The Cistercian order of monks, founded in 1098 in a bid to return to Benedict’s core values, put great emphasis on innovation including the extension of grazing to enable wool production, improvements in the technology of masonry for their buildings, skilled metallurgy and hydraulic engineering for water mills and even heating systems.
Roger Sawtell, writing in Donald A. Hay and Alan Kreider (2001), believes capital ownership might one day be replaced by the older concept of servant leadership. As an example he cites Benedict’s Rule, which has been read out each day in monastic communities for the past 1,400 years, surviving intact while countless other institutions have come and gone. He questions the reasons for such longevity and concludes:
The answer is partly because of the transparent spiritual depth of the Rule, the unchanging concept that the most important ‘work’ of the community is regular prayer. Another reason is the corresponding flexibility of the Rule regarding material matters which Benedict realized would change from age to age. It is marvellously practical and specific, but flexible. (p. 71)
As a management principle, the abbot is appointed by the brothers over whom he is to have authority, not by “an outside body of shareholders or money people”. Some major social reforms have been based on monastic pioneers: before the Education Acts of 1887 and 1902 there were monks and nuns providing education, and much nursing care provided before the NHS was founded in 1948. Sawtell calls for a contemporary monastic order to be set up, a modern type of community where members would go and work in co-operatives, bringing good practice and energy from elsewhere, modelled on Iona or Taizé.