Some time ago we were conversing on this thread in this list. More
recently Roxanne Abbas (LO9913) used the term Humanity of Capitalism. The
annual Human Development Report published by the United Nations
Development Programme has defined a capability index based on which
nations have been ranked.
The report obviously has its bias towards Human Capability as against
economic parameters to measure growth and development. The report states
that development that promotes human welfare does not lie in the quantity
of growth but in its quality. It lists distortions in growth:
Jobless Growth: Growth without new employment.
Ruthless Growth: Growth that widens the rich-poor gap
Voiceless Growth: Growth without political freedom
Rootless Growth: Growth that endangers the identities of
cultural,social and extinguishes diversities.
Futureless Growth: Unsustainable growth that endangers the environment.
The classification attracted my attention for its linkages to
organisations. The linkages are atleast two broad categories:-
(a) Organisational growth that does not aim to avoid the above criteria
are I think distortions contribute to development anamolies of the
country.
(b) In the modern world organisations are a the living communities as much
as were villages and hamlets of yesteryears.
Therefore from the perspective of being a learning organisation, questions
that could be asked are:
- As my organisation grows, what is the direct or indirect contribution to
employment. If no, in what way are my organisations actions contributing
to the local and national problems.
- I administering the salary packages, are the policies creating
anamolies. What is the payoff between attracting and retaining employees
in a competitive market and its impact on creating disparity.(this is a
tricky area, but may need consideration)
-Is the organisation in its recruitment policy giving adequate weightage
to diversity issues.
-does the organisation have adequate procedures that reflect and attend to
the interests of its members.
-what are the organisations policies and actions on preserving the
sustainability of the environment, of natural resourses etc.
Most countries who are high in ranking probably have attended to such
issues. In developing countries, the issue is that the traditional
societies have been penetrated too quickly to allow them to organise
themselves to meet the rapid economic changes. Organisations to a large
extent reflect the prevailing values of the society. Organisations
probably have greater access to enlightened actions. Also are better
organised to impliment such actions. Therefore, the question is which
should comes first? Changes in the society or changes in the
organisation.
Just a view.
Thomas P Benjamin
benjamin@anand.nddb.ernet.in
[Thomas P=B]
--"Thomas P Benjamin" <BENJAMIN@anand.nddb.ernet.in>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>