Abstract
This case focuses on a challenge facing John Mundell, founder and owner of Mundell & Associates, an engineering business based in Indianapolis, Indiana. His company is small, but innovative and sophisticated, a well-regarded participant in the environmental consulting services industry. The company also participates in the Economy of Communion (EOC), a worldwide, faith-based effort to humanize economic activity through use of thoughtful business practices and generosity in sharing profits. John believes that his faith and the values he shares with EOC must be integrated more fully into daily work and decision processes in his company, a conviction that gives urgency to the challenge of remaking the company culture. Mundell & Associates reflects John’s values and spirituality, but he would like these to be even more transparent and overtly communicated. John is convinced that more than sharing profits or following particular practices, being an EOC company means being an actual community marked by the involvement and engagement of all employees. The way forward is not clear, but he is determined to create such a community and plans to use the next staff meeting to announce his plans. Because all employees must be contributors to the kind of culture John wants to create, he thinks a good starting point may be in reshaping performance review and planning processes. Questions about the influence of a leader’s faith and spiritual values in a corporate environment, and participation in a movement that describes itself as a “new style of economic action” add interest and complexity to the case.