Are Liberated Companies a Concrete Application of Sen’s Capability Approach?

The capability approach (CA) developed by Amartya Sen focuses on the enhancement of people's capabilities, i.e. their real freedom to choose a life course they have reason to value. Applying the CA to the organizational context, the focus of human resource management is transformed, shifting away from the needs of the organization to the freedoms of the individual. This shift happens also inside the so-called 'liberated companies,' firms with an organizational form that allows employees the complete freedom, along with the responsibility, to take any actions they decide are best. In this paper we show the contribution of the capability approach for management and for organizational ethics by focusing on this innovative model of 'liberated companies.'