Catholic Social Teaching, Organizational Purpose, and the For-Proft/Nonprofit Dicothomy: Exploring the Metaprofit Proposition

Abstract

: The emergence of organizations that cannot be clearly categorized as for-profit or nonprofit shows that this traditional boundary is blurring. Moreover, the legitimacy of some categories that have been used to describe organizational diversity and the dominant role given to profit to determinate the ontology of organizations is questionable. In the encyclical letter Caritas in Veritate Pope Benedict XVI calls to enlarge managerial reason and the way in which organizations and their nature are understood, he also remarks the importance of institutional plurality for the development of markets and society. Based on the dialogue between Catholic Social Teaching and managerial sciences, this article presents the metaprofit proposition as a way to overcome the for-profit/nonprofit dichotomy and to rethink organizational purpose. Metaprofit evidences that, beyond profit, organizations have multiple and interrelated goals that constitute their final purpose, and emphasizes the instrumental role of profit as a mean towards ulterior ends. The article concludes presenting possible consequences and challenges of the metaprofit proposition for managerial sciences.