Archive for May 27th, 2009
Posted on May 27, 2009 - by Vic Desotelle
Working Voices – Presentation Skills, Communication Skills, Interpersonal Skills
Andrew asked:
Working Voices – Presentation skills, Communication skills, Interpersonal skills Working Voices teaches interpersonal communication skills. Everything from Presentation Skills to Leadership Development, Voice Coaching, Writing Skills, Image Management, Cultural Diversity and Memory Techniques. You’ll learn more about our courses in a moment.
Our USP is:
• our content (relevant, up-to-date, PRACTICAL)
• our style (high energy, high interactivity, FUN)
• our people (expert, experienced, EFFECTIVE).
Established in 1998, Working Voices delivers courses in the UK and abroad and engages a hand-picked team of trainers to meet the needs of a client list that includes some of the world’s most prestigious companies. You’ll learn more about our people in a moment too.
About our courses
If you’ve been on a course that was dull or uninformative; if delegates left it ill-equipped to put the fundamentals into practice from that moment forward – the “takeaways” as we call them – then the course was NOT one of ours. Groups, seminars, one-to-ones: here’s what we teach.
Presentation Skills
Presenting ourselves, our company, our case. It’s what we’re all doing all of the time. This comprehensive suite of courses is about doing these things properly and confidently – and getting the results we want.
• Presenting
• Pitching Skills
• Body Language
• Anger Management
• Assertiveness Training
• Essential Communication Skills
Leadership Development
Working Voices’ leadership development programmes focus on your managers – the people who hold the key to making your business successful and profitable. Ours is a suite of UNIQUE and proven one-to-one coaching techniques and team-building exercises.
• One-to-one Leadership Programmes
• The Chi * of Success
• Leadership Unplugged
• Coach the Coach
( * The circulating life force whose existence and properties are the basis of much of Chinese philosophy and medicine.)
Voice Coaching
Your voice says masses about you, face-to-face, on the phone or by voicemail. It might say good humour, energy, gravitas. It might say dull, uninterested, impatient. And, of course, it might say nothing at all if it is unclear or unintelligible. These courses deal with all the pitfalls.
• The Perfect Voicemail
• Speaking English Clearly for Business
• Making The Most Of Your Voice
Writing Skills
Today’s business writers write for the screen – and good screen-writing requires a new set of skills. We show you how to make your writing “screen-friendly”: easy to scan, easy to grasp, easy to action, easy to archive.
• Effective Business Writing
• Effective Report Writing
• Writing Effective Emails
Image Management
Look the best you can, every day. The clothes you wear, the way you wear them, the colours you choose. Savvy women realise that it’s part of their workplace weaponry. Savvy men realise that good grooming is a perfectly legitimate “male thing”. We’ll show how looking good is easy.
• Visual Impact in the Workplace
• Exclusive Personal Image Day
• Image Management
Cultural Diversity
No two people or businesses are the same. Our cultural diversity courses highlight how diversity within and outside your organisation can create opportunity and not division, when it is handled and managed properly.
• Communicating Across Cultures
• Cultural Awareness
• Embracing Diversity
Memory Techniques
The better your memory, the greater your ability to think on your feet and the greater your confidence. Think about it – then think about your performance at meetings or when you make presentations. We teach brain-training strategies that will give you the memory you want.
• Total Recall
• Power-up Your Memory
• Memories Are Made Of This
About our people
Nick Smallman is founder and Managing Director of Working Voices. He combined a classical acting and business career until asked to set up the company specifically to meet the interpersonal communication needs of the UK and overseas banking communities. Since then the client base has widened year-on-year and now includes the legal, media, fashion, distribution and pharmaceutical sectors. Nick trains in a variety of disciplines both in the UK and abroad (Europe, USA, China and Russia, principally) and is a sought-after motivational speaker.
Our trainers are expert and experienced; motivators as well as educators; high scorer’s against client feedback.
John Mabberley: A city Banker for 30 years, John’s enthusiastic and motivational style has given him a great track record for team and confidence building. John specialises in delivering all of our Presentation Skills courses except Anger Management and Assertiveness Training.
JC Mac: Chevron, Citigroup, EMI Music, BP/Amoco, Orange, Universal and the British Museum are just a handful of the major corporates which have benefited from JC Mac’s holistic approach to Leadership Training. He handles all our Leadership Development courses and is in demand both in the UK and abroad.
Paul Hill: A graduate of English from Cambridge University, Paul is a trained actor and highly qualified voice coach. His Voice Coaching courses are a favourite with our global-company clients but he’s also part of the Presentation Skills team, delivering all courses except Anger Management and Assertiveness Training.
Kate McGoldrick: Kate’s background in radio and print journalism and the theatre -and an infectiously enthusiastic style – mean her Writing Skills courses are in constant demand. She also delivers the Presentation Skills suite including Anger Management and Assertiveness Training.
Sara Hollamby: Sara’s combined careers in the fashion industry and presenting on TV have spanned 27 years and made her a seasoned and popular group and auditorium speaker. She takes all our Image Management courses, which, just like the rest of our portfolio, are available “one-to-one” as well.
Jo Rice: Author of over 50 books including “How to do Business in Japan”, multi-lingual Jo lived and worked in the Far East for many years and is now a leading expert in all – ALL – aspects of cultural diversity training. He delivers our Diversity Training courses – as much abroad as in the UK.
Paul Mabberley: Paul acquired his grasp of the art of presenting via, at one end of the spectrum, the UK’s creative design sector, and, at the other, university guest lectureships. He coaches our Presentation Skills courses (except Anger Management and Assertiveness Training), as well as Memory Techniques.
Genevieve Grant: Born in the USA, Genevieve came to London for post-graduate studies, and stayed. Her background has a wide span – political activist to charity organiser – and she brings the technique she’s gained to our Presentation Skills courses (excluding Anger Management and Assertiveness Training).
About our clients
Here are just a few of them. Channel 4; HSBC Group; Barclays Group; Deutsche Bank; Lovells, Credit Suisse; BAFTA; Swarovski; Morgan Stanley. With or without the 50 others, we believe these names speak volumes about the quality of our client base.
Please visit www.workingvoices.com for more information on our company, our courses, our people and our clients. Then contact Tina at info@workingvoices.com.
Kansieo.com
Working Voices – Presentation skills, Communication skills, Interpersonal skills Working Voices teaches interpersonal communication skills. Everything from Presentation Skills to Leadership Development, Voice Coaching, Writing Skills, Image Management, Cultural Diversity and Memory Techniques. You’ll learn more about our courses in a moment.
Our USP is:
• our content (relevant, up-to-date, PRACTICAL)
• our style (high energy, high interactivity, FUN)
• our people (expert, experienced, EFFECTIVE).
Established in 1998, Working Voices delivers courses in the UK and abroad and engages a hand-picked team of trainers to meet the needs of a client list that includes some of the world’s most prestigious companies. You’ll learn more about our people in a moment too.
About our courses
If you’ve been on a course that was dull or uninformative; if delegates left it ill-equipped to put the fundamentals into practice from that moment forward – the “takeaways” as we call them – then the course was NOT one of ours. Groups, seminars, one-to-ones: here’s what we teach.
Presentation Skills
Presenting ourselves, our company, our case. It’s what we’re all doing all of the time. This comprehensive suite of courses is about doing these things properly and confidently – and getting the results we want.
• Presenting
• Pitching Skills
• Body Language
• Anger Management
• Assertiveness Training
• Essential Communication Skills
Leadership Development
Working Voices’ leadership development programmes focus on your managers – the people who hold the key to making your business successful and profitable. Ours is a suite of UNIQUE and proven one-to-one coaching techniques and team-building exercises.
• One-to-one Leadership Programmes
• The Chi * of Success
• Leadership Unplugged
• Coach the Coach
( * The circulating life force whose existence and properties are the basis of much of Chinese philosophy and medicine.)
Voice Coaching
Your voice says masses about you, face-to-face, on the phone or by voicemail. It might say good humour, energy, gravitas. It might say dull, uninterested, impatient. And, of course, it might say nothing at all if it is unclear or unintelligible. These courses deal with all the pitfalls.
• The Perfect Voicemail
• Speaking English Clearly for Business
• Making The Most Of Your Voice
Writing Skills
Today’s business writers write for the screen – and good screen-writing requires a new set of skills. We show you how to make your writing “screen-friendly”: easy to scan, easy to grasp, easy to action, easy to archive.
• Effective Business Writing
• Effective Report Writing
• Writing Effective Emails
Image Management
Look the best you can, every day. The clothes you wear, the way you wear them, the colours you choose. Savvy women realise that it’s part of their workplace weaponry. Savvy men realise that good grooming is a perfectly legitimate “male thing”. We’ll show how looking good is easy.
• Visual Impact in the Workplace
• Exclusive Personal Image Day
• Image Management
Cultural Diversity
No two people or businesses are the same. Our cultural diversity courses highlight how diversity within and outside your organisation can create opportunity and not division, when it is handled and managed properly.
• Communicating Across Cultures
• Cultural Awareness
• Embracing Diversity
Memory Techniques
The better your memory, the greater your ability to think on your feet and the greater your confidence. Think about it – then think about your performance at meetings or when you make presentations. We teach brain-training strategies that will give you the memory you want.
• Total Recall
• Power-up Your Memory
• Memories Are Made Of This
About our people
Nick Smallman is founder and Managing Director of Working Voices. He combined a classical acting and business career until asked to set up the company specifically to meet the interpersonal communication needs of the UK and overseas banking communities. Since then the client base has widened year-on-year and now includes the legal, media, fashion, distribution and pharmaceutical sectors. Nick trains in a variety of disciplines both in the UK and abroad (Europe, USA, China and Russia, principally) and is a sought-after motivational speaker.
Our trainers are expert and experienced; motivators as well as educators; high scorer’s against client feedback.
John Mabberley: A city Banker for 30 years, John’s enthusiastic and motivational style has given him a great track record for team and confidence building. John specialises in delivering all of our Presentation Skills courses except Anger Management and Assertiveness Training.
JC Mac: Chevron, Citigroup, EMI Music, BP/Amoco, Orange, Universal and the British Museum are just a handful of the major corporates which have benefited from JC Mac’s holistic approach to Leadership Training. He handles all our Leadership Development courses and is in demand both in the UK and abroad.
Paul Hill: A graduate of English from Cambridge University, Paul is a trained actor and highly qualified voice coach. His Voice Coaching courses are a favourite with our global-company clients but he’s also part of the Presentation Skills team, delivering all courses except Anger Management and Assertiveness Training.
Kate McGoldrick: Kate’s background in radio and print journalism and the theatre -and an infectiously enthusiastic style – mean her Writing Skills courses are in constant demand. She also delivers the Presentation Skills suite including Anger Management and Assertiveness Training.
Sara Hollamby: Sara’s combined careers in the fashion industry and presenting on TV have spanned 27 years and made her a seasoned and popular group and auditorium speaker. She takes all our Image Management courses, which, just like the rest of our portfolio, are available “one-to-one” as well.
Jo Rice: Author of over 50 books including “How to do Business in Japan”, multi-lingual Jo lived and worked in the Far East for many years and is now a leading expert in all – ALL – aspects of cultural diversity training. He delivers our Diversity Training courses – as much abroad as in the UK.
Paul Mabberley: Paul acquired his grasp of the art of presenting via, at one end of the spectrum, the UK’s creative design sector, and, at the other, university guest lectureships. He coaches our Presentation Skills courses (except Anger Management and Assertiveness Training), as well as Memory Techniques.
Genevieve Grant: Born in the USA, Genevieve came to London for post-graduate studies, and stayed. Her background has a wide span – political activist to charity organiser – and she brings the technique she’s gained to our Presentation Skills courses (excluding Anger Management and Assertiveness Training).
About our clients
Here are just a few of them. Channel 4; HSBC Group; Barclays Group; Deutsche Bank; Lovells, Credit Suisse; BAFTA; Swarovski; Morgan Stanley. With or without the 50 others, we believe these names speak volumes about the quality of our client base.
Please visit www.workingvoices.com for more information on our company, our courses, our people and our clients. Then contact Tina at info@workingvoices.com.
Kansieo.com
Posted on May 27, 2009 - by Vic Desotelle
Life in the New World Order – Soul Mates or Cell Mates?
CasaZaza asked:
“The drive of the Rockefellers and their allies is to create a one-world government …. all under their control…. Do I mean conspiracy? Yes I do. I am convinced there is such a plot, international in scope, generations old in planning, and incredibly evil in intent.” – Congressman Larry P. McDonald, 1976
“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!”
Our lives are being directed according to a business plan. The agenda has been laid out over decades and centuries, we are just led to believe it’s happening in real time. There are some very significant dates coming up within the next few short years. Hard to imagine that we are smack dab in the middle of an end-game scenario, with plans coming to fruition that have been laid out and documented since at least the 1920’s and 30’s. Even more incredible, you can literally go back hundreds of years to find out it’s the same basic cast of characters through elite bloodlines responsible for secret societies and shadow governments. Members of this group are said to include such prominent families as the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, Morgans, Duponts, as well as presidents, prime ministers and European monarchs.
Using their influence through international organizations such as the World Bank, the IMF, the CFR, the United Nations and NATO, the objective of the internationalists is nothing less than the subjugation of everyone on the planet to a one world government. How long has all this been going on? Without stretching the limits of your indulgence regarding quotations (I’ll do that later), consider these, which, if you disregard the names and dates, could easily have been uttered this morning:
“The world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes.” – Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli of England 1844
“From the days of Sparticus, Wieskhopf, Karl Marx, Trotsky, Rosa Luxemberg, and Emma Goldman, this world conspiracy has been steadily growing. This conspiracy played a definite recognizable role in the tragedy of the French revolution. It has been the mainspring of every subversive movement during the 19th century. And now at last this band of extraordinary personalities from the underworld of the great cities of Europe and America have gripped the Russian people by the hair of their head and have become the undisputed masters of that enormous empire.”- Winston Churchill London Press l922
” If the people only understood the rank injustice of our money and banking system, there would be a revolution before morning.” – President Andrew Jackson 1829-1837
“The real menace of our republic is this invisible government which like a giant octopus sprawls its slimy length over city, state and nation. Like the octopus of real life, it operates under cover of a self created screen….At the head of this octopus are the Rockefeller Standard Oil interests and a small group of powerful banking houses generally referred to as international bankers. The little coterie of powerful international bankers virtually run the United States government for their own selfish purposes. They practically control both political parties.” New York City Mayor John F. Hylan, 1922
“The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the larger centers has owned the Government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson” – President Franklin D. Roosevelt l933
“The real rulers in Washington are invisible, and exercise power from behind the scenes.” Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, 1952
The Council on Foreign Relations states the following on their website:
“Three former high-ranking government officials from Canada, Mexico, and the United States call for a North American economic and security community by 2010 to address shared security threats, challenges to competitiveness, and interest in broad-based development across the three countries.”
“North America is vulnerable on several fronts: the region faces terrorist and criminal security threats, increased economic competition from abroad, and uneven economic development at home. In response to these challenges, a trinational, Independent Task Force on the Future of North America has developed a roadmap to promote North American security and advance the well-being of citizens of all three countries.” – May 2005 task force report Building a North American Community published by the Council on Foreign Relations
I refute these assertions categorically. The biggest terrorist and criminal threat we face in North America is from the US government itself. There is a long history of false flag operations or self inflicted wounds like 9-11 committed by this country, so having us join them would surely not mitigate that threat, rather it would increase. As far as competition or uneven economic development, the market will have to take care of any imbalances within itself. Just because the economy is not doing so well right now is no excuse to do away with a sovereign country and abrogate our rights as free individuals, or steal our resources. There is no reason to believe that secretly plotting to merge these nations against the will of their citizens would advance the well-being of anyone, instead, it would destroy our heritage and turn us all into slaves of a corporate fascist state. No thanks. Same goes for the plans to adopt a new common currency for all 3 countries, as if we should have anything to do with the corruption tied to the Federal Reserve System. I would rather not have any part of a nation that can remove people from their home, torture and imprison them, and then deny them any right to a fair trial. What happened to sweet land of liberty, oh right, that’s just a song.
Everyone should be aware that the corporate elites in this world fully endorse the Red Chinese model of social governance and economics as the standard for their emerging New World Order. That is the reason for the FEMA camps that have been set up currently under the guise of emergency centers for immigration, natural disaster, or “other”. As per the Chinese model, dissidents will be dealt with severely and placed into work camps. A United Nations global police force will help keep everyone in line, once they implement their plans for the Universal Biometrics Identification Card.
“Whatever the price of the Chinese Revolution, it has obviously succeeded not only in producing more efficient and dedicated administration, but also in fostering high morale and community of purpose. The social experiment in China under Chairman Mao’s leadership is one of the most important and successful in human history.” David Rockefeller 1973 New York Times
The movers and shakers of this world will use any means necessary to force their plans of unification on the world. Any issue, whether real, imagined or created can and will be utilized to achieve their objectives; overpopulation, global warming, disease, natural disasters, civil unrest. Population control measures include biological warfare targeting food supply, as well as various methods of climate manipulation through Chemtrails spraying and implementation of the HAARP technology .
The net has begun to close. You are not going to like the changes coming up – we will be forced, bribed and cajoled into accepting new identification measures, new laws, new taxes for global warming, new taxes for more security. After all, there’s going to be a lot of angry Iraqi Muslim terrorist types who are out to kill us, especially after we invaded, then decimated their country, destroyed their noble and learned culture, killed about a million of them, displaced a few million more. I guess you could say they might be a tad snarly towards America. They hate our freedoms huh? I guess after we brought our freedom and democracy to them so spectacularly in Iraq, they checked it out and said, “I hate it”.
“The terrorist is the one with the small bomb” – Brendan Behan
You’re going to hear more hoo-ha about things like the NAU, the Amero, RFID chips, you’re going to see more jack-booted heavily armed militia types wearing Kevlar, detaining you and abrogating every god-given right you once had, rights that were once so beautifully encoded by those brilliant fathers of the Constitution, you remember the Constitution don’t you? – that inspired set of principles that once made America the envy of the world, until the likes of Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld ripped it up and wiped their arses with it, all the while laughing while they grew rich and flushed the country and it’s noble ideals down the toilet.
“The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.” – Thomas Jefferson
“The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded” – Charles-Louis De Secondat 1748
The coup has already happened folks, you’re too busy worried about Democrats and Republicans, but the truth is – these crooks rigged at least a couple of elections which is common knowledge, so they assumed power illegitimately. In reality, the false left/right paradigm is but another low-level reality to keep the masses diverted and occupied. Republican or Democrat, they all answer to the same bosses – now would you like Coke or Coke Classic? – it’s the same damned pop. And how nice when you control the military, the media, the judiciary, the senate – you can just pretend you have support, even if the vast majority of people in your own country are fully cognizant of the fact that you lie, cheat, murder and abuse. How else can you explain the polls which show 80 – 90% of the populace demanding an end to war, or a real investigation of the US government’s unquestionable cover up and involvement in 9/11. A real opposition would call them on at least some of the lies, a real media would research some of the corruption, a real Supreme Court would hold everyone accountable to the law. These guys are good at it too, they make the Sopranos look like choir boys. There’s going to be more fireworks so get ready. These psychopaths are being backed into a corner, and it’s going to get rough.
“A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny” – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Starting to get hot around here
“There is nothing wrong with the planet. The planet is fine . . . been here 4 1/2 billion years. We’ve been here, what, a 100,000 years, maybe 200,000. And we’ve only been engaged in heavy industry a little over 200 years. 200 years versus 4 1/2 billion. And we have the conceit to think that somehow we’re a threat? The planet isn’t going away. We are.” – George Carlin
The global warming thing is already past due and beginning to stink. Any sane person would have to admit that this planet is in some kind of trouble if we don’t properly manage our resources and stop polluting ourselves into ecological extinction. What I object to is the way the globalists are trying to use this fact, and sometimes distort it to further their own agenda. I can remember back in the 70s when we were told about the cooling down of the earth and the impending ice age. Soon they will find a way to blame and tax us for the temperature rising on other planets as well, in the meantime – let’s see a few of you politicians get out of your limos and hop on a bus like a regular shmoe.
“‘Protecting the Environment’ is a ruse. The goal is the political and economic subjugation of most men by the few, under the guise of preserving nature.” J. H. Robbins
Witness all the stark incongruity that exists in this strange world of ours – there are now special units that check garbage cans to make sure people are fined for not managing their refuse properly, we’re made to feel like some kind of criminal if we screw up sorting our tin cans. I only hope that they make a carbon tax that is very high so we can feel guilty for driving the car to buy milk, or pay a fine for using a 60W bulb – meanwhile, the US government is dumping depleted uranium that will continue to poison the earth for, let’s say (glances at watch) 5 BILLION YEARS. But never mind that – don’t you dare put the plastic milk jug in the same box with the cardboard – you Bastard!
“To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.” Thomas Jefferson
“The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.” H. L. Mencken
Another Path
“If totalitarianism wins this conflict, the world will be ruled by tyrants, and individuals will be slaves. If democracy wins, the nations of the earth will be united in a commonwealth of free peoples, and individuals, wherever found, will be the sovereign units of the new world order.” – Declaration of the Federation of the World
Two men stand at the top of a mountain – one man sees the panoramic beauty of all existence, the line of sky between earth and the heavens but a jumping off point for his consciousness – what other worlds? what other possibilities in my mind? What a blessing and a benediction is this life, I have my family, my friends, and all the beauty of nature at this moment to behold. The other man stands in the exact spot – he sees an opportunity to capitalize on the richness of the mountain, extract the ore, use the local tribe for cheap labour, and if I can just get rid of this guy standing beside me…
We spend most of our lives trying to acquire things like knowledge, experience, wealth, respect. Once past a certain point in our lives, usually closer to the end, many find themselves trying to cast off those trappings they have spent a lifetime gathering, seeing all such things as chains or diversions, layers between ourselves and our truth. Focused within the resolution provided through the lens of wisdom, and diminishing opportunity of time – those vestments, once thought as prizes to be won, can be seen as constraints that limit one’s true potential. We learn to redefine our perspectives or else we end up very frustrated with the world, our greatest fear being stagnation and mental intransigence, which only inhibits growth and progression in our life. We learn that the only thing constant in this world is change.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead
Change is good, change is inevitable, but no matter how many things might change in our life there will always remain certain constants that must never change. You know, basic things, like the things we learn as children – simple rules that tell us it’s wrong to lie, to kill, to steal. These things do not change because you are a bus driver, a politician, a multi-billionaire, or you work for the CIA.
“The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations” – David Friedman
I spent my whole life thinking I could avoid politics and anything to do with the public realm. I believed that if I just looked after myself and my family, what happened outside of my little sphere would not matter too much. After all, I’ve never hurt anyone, always paid my taxes, was known to enjoy the odd hockey game with a beer. My discovery of the truth regarding 9/11, followed by my realization of the malevolent forces that control our world has turned my life around, and so once again I must change.
“Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you.” – Pericles 430 B.C.
The raising of my family confers upon me the responsibility to try and make sure they can grow up in a world where mass-murderers are not allowed to rule the planet, despoiling the earth and killing whomever necessary to fit their plans for expansion and domination. As the saying goes, it’s not about right and left, its about right and wrong! If somebody marched into your country, accused you of international high crimes, occupied your land and slaughtered your family and friends while stealing your resources, and was then found to be guilty of lying about those accusations – which were subsequently proved to be categorically false, but stayed on year after year, killing, stealing, lying….Would that seem all right to you? How can you not allow that same reasoning to prevail for the people of Iraq, or anywhere else?
“Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it” – William Penn
I am just one person, but we are many. In every sense they have lost the battle with me, and so I know it is possible for others. The truth movement is only gaining in strength with each passing day. The truth will out, every time – it’s only got one way to go. I salute the great people in this movement who have inspired me with their integrity, their bravery, and most of all their brilliance as scholars in search of the truth. And on the other side, I feel only contempt for those who knowingly uphold such deceit and hypocrisy which brings us all to war.
“An individual’s character is not defined by their circumstance, it is revealed through it” – Peter Zaza
I am able to live in a psychologically clean environment where nobody rules my thoughts, I pay little attention to the mainstream media, other than to discern the true subtext of every headline and article so blatantly part of the grand pysops campaign. Most importantly, I have a cause, and a true inner moral compass with which I can live my life and fight this battle, and let’s be clear – this is going to be tantamount to war – a war for our thoughts, and as so many who are still dying every day prove to us all – a battle for our very lives.
“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” – Elie Wiesel
Yes, the truth can only get bigger, it is within its nature. Those who would adhere to the myths promulgated by liars must employ increasingly desperate measures – repressive laws, no fly lists, surveillance, termination of basic rights, more aggressive tactics to instill fear. Fascist dictators do not claw back measures like the egregiously titled Patriot Act, they don’t make bogus laws giving themselves omnipotent powers because they intend to repeal them 6 months later, they just keep on exposing themselves further as parasites and psychopaths, with ever more obvious signs of their waning struggle for power. Do you want the Patriot Act? Or do you want to act like a patriot?
“They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security.” Benjamin Franklin.
“Why, the Government is merely…a temporary servant…Its function is to obey orders, not originate them.” – Mark Twain
Something else seems to happen in these situations as shown to us through history – there will be a large economic correction or depression which will help settle the matter of the current cabal in office. It will most likely be expensive for us all, but the cost of our hubris and callous indifference will exact a price on ordinary men, as well as the nations they support.
“Wars are not paid for in wartime, the bill comes later” – Benjamin Franklin
It’s too bad really, they could have invested those trillions of dollars and all that human potential into energy research, education, health care, anything to do with the betterment of mankind rather than its destruction. Instead, they opted to make war and commit the worst crimes of humanity in some insane quest for dominance.
“When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.” – Jimi Hendrix
How can we retain hope or have any chance of true fulfillment in our lives with all this going on?
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of Truth and Love has always won There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it, always” – Mahatma Gandhi
I alone retain complete and utter sovereignty over my life – no one gave me my freedom, and no one is going to take it from me. I refuse to carry RFID tracking devices, biometric implants, or whatever else you want to use to restrict and monitor my life. I will not let you degrade and humiliate me at airports, roadside checks, random searches, or whatever else you concoct to try and subjugate us with in the name of your bullshit war on terror. I reject your new world order and the idiot box TV it rode in on.
I challenge everyone to turn off the television, do some research and think for yourself. Stop looking toward anybody outside of yourself for direction, leadership, understanding or help in this world – especially if that someone is a politician. Stop waiting for somebody else to get their hands dirty and fix all the problems.
Stop thinking about other people who live on this Earth as being other.
“The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite.” – Thomas Jefferson
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“The drive of the Rockefellers and their allies is to create a one-world government …. all under their control…. Do I mean conspiracy? Yes I do. I am convinced there is such a plot, international in scope, generations old in planning, and incredibly evil in intent.” – Congressman Larry P. McDonald, 1976
“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!”
Our lives are being directed according to a business plan. The agenda has been laid out over decades and centuries, we are just led to believe it’s happening in real time. There are some very significant dates coming up within the next few short years. Hard to imagine that we are smack dab in the middle of an end-game scenario, with plans coming to fruition that have been laid out and documented since at least the 1920’s and 30’s. Even more incredible, you can literally go back hundreds of years to find out it’s the same basic cast of characters through elite bloodlines responsible for secret societies and shadow governments. Members of this group are said to include such prominent families as the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, Morgans, Duponts, as well as presidents, prime ministers and European monarchs.
Using their influence through international organizations such as the World Bank, the IMF, the CFR, the United Nations and NATO, the objective of the internationalists is nothing less than the subjugation of everyone on the planet to a one world government. How long has all this been going on? Without stretching the limits of your indulgence regarding quotations (I’ll do that later), consider these, which, if you disregard the names and dates, could easily have been uttered this morning:
“The world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes.” – Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli of England 1844
“From the days of Sparticus, Wieskhopf, Karl Marx, Trotsky, Rosa Luxemberg, and Emma Goldman, this world conspiracy has been steadily growing. This conspiracy played a definite recognizable role in the tragedy of the French revolution. It has been the mainspring of every subversive movement during the 19th century. And now at last this band of extraordinary personalities from the underworld of the great cities of Europe and America have gripped the Russian people by the hair of their head and have become the undisputed masters of that enormous empire.”- Winston Churchill London Press l922
” If the people only understood the rank injustice of our money and banking system, there would be a revolution before morning.” – President Andrew Jackson 1829-1837
“The real menace of our republic is this invisible government which like a giant octopus sprawls its slimy length over city, state and nation. Like the octopus of real life, it operates under cover of a self created screen….At the head of this octopus are the Rockefeller Standard Oil interests and a small group of powerful banking houses generally referred to as international bankers. The little coterie of powerful international bankers virtually run the United States government for their own selfish purposes. They practically control both political parties.” New York City Mayor John F. Hylan, 1922
“The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the larger centers has owned the Government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson” – President Franklin D. Roosevelt l933
“The real rulers in Washington are invisible, and exercise power from behind the scenes.” Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, 1952
The Council on Foreign Relations states the following on their website:
“Three former high-ranking government officials from Canada, Mexico, and the United States call for a North American economic and security community by 2010 to address shared security threats, challenges to competitiveness, and interest in broad-based development across the three countries.”
“North America is vulnerable on several fronts: the region faces terrorist and criminal security threats, increased economic competition from abroad, and uneven economic development at home. In response to these challenges, a trinational, Independent Task Force on the Future of North America has developed a roadmap to promote North American security and advance the well-being of citizens of all three countries.” – May 2005 task force report Building a North American Community published by the Council on Foreign Relations
I refute these assertions categorically. The biggest terrorist and criminal threat we face in North America is from the US government itself. There is a long history of false flag operations or self inflicted wounds like 9-11 committed by this country, so having us join them would surely not mitigate that threat, rather it would increase. As far as competition or uneven economic development, the market will have to take care of any imbalances within itself. Just because the economy is not doing so well right now is no excuse to do away with a sovereign country and abrogate our rights as free individuals, or steal our resources. There is no reason to believe that secretly plotting to merge these nations against the will of their citizens would advance the well-being of anyone, instead, it would destroy our heritage and turn us all into slaves of a corporate fascist state. No thanks. Same goes for the plans to adopt a new common currency for all 3 countries, as if we should have anything to do with the corruption tied to the Federal Reserve System. I would rather not have any part of a nation that can remove people from their home, torture and imprison them, and then deny them any right to a fair trial. What happened to sweet land of liberty, oh right, that’s just a song.
Everyone should be aware that the corporate elites in this world fully endorse the Red Chinese model of social governance and economics as the standard for their emerging New World Order. That is the reason for the FEMA camps that have been set up currently under the guise of emergency centers for immigration, natural disaster, or “other”. As per the Chinese model, dissidents will be dealt with severely and placed into work camps. A United Nations global police force will help keep everyone in line, once they implement their plans for the Universal Biometrics Identification Card.
“Whatever the price of the Chinese Revolution, it has obviously succeeded not only in producing more efficient and dedicated administration, but also in fostering high morale and community of purpose. The social experiment in China under Chairman Mao’s leadership is one of the most important and successful in human history.” David Rockefeller 1973 New York Times
The movers and shakers of this world will use any means necessary to force their plans of unification on the world. Any issue, whether real, imagined or created can and will be utilized to achieve their objectives; overpopulation, global warming, disease, natural disasters, civil unrest. Population control measures include biological warfare targeting food supply, as well as various methods of climate manipulation through Chemtrails spraying and implementation of the HAARP technology .
The net has begun to close. You are not going to like the changes coming up – we will be forced, bribed and cajoled into accepting new identification measures, new laws, new taxes for global warming, new taxes for more security. After all, there’s going to be a lot of angry Iraqi Muslim terrorist types who are out to kill us, especially after we invaded, then decimated their country, destroyed their noble and learned culture, killed about a million of them, displaced a few million more. I guess you could say they might be a tad snarly towards America. They hate our freedoms huh? I guess after we brought our freedom and democracy to them so spectacularly in Iraq, they checked it out and said, “I hate it”.
“The terrorist is the one with the small bomb” – Brendan Behan
You’re going to hear more hoo-ha about things like the NAU, the Amero, RFID chips, you’re going to see more jack-booted heavily armed militia types wearing Kevlar, detaining you and abrogating every god-given right you once had, rights that were once so beautifully encoded by those brilliant fathers of the Constitution, you remember the Constitution don’t you? – that inspired set of principles that once made America the envy of the world, until the likes of Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld ripped it up and wiped their arses with it, all the while laughing while they grew rich and flushed the country and it’s noble ideals down the toilet.
“The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.” – Thomas Jefferson
“The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded” – Charles-Louis De Secondat 1748
The coup has already happened folks, you’re too busy worried about Democrats and Republicans, but the truth is – these crooks rigged at least a couple of elections which is common knowledge, so they assumed power illegitimately. In reality, the false left/right paradigm is but another low-level reality to keep the masses diverted and occupied. Republican or Democrat, they all answer to the same bosses – now would you like Coke or Coke Classic? – it’s the same damned pop. And how nice when you control the military, the media, the judiciary, the senate – you can just pretend you have support, even if the vast majority of people in your own country are fully cognizant of the fact that you lie, cheat, murder and abuse. How else can you explain the polls which show 80 – 90% of the populace demanding an end to war, or a real investigation of the US government’s unquestionable cover up and involvement in 9/11. A real opposition would call them on at least some of the lies, a real media would research some of the corruption, a real Supreme Court would hold everyone accountable to the law. These guys are good at it too, they make the Sopranos look like choir boys. There’s going to be more fireworks so get ready. These psychopaths are being backed into a corner, and it’s going to get rough.
“A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny” – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Starting to get hot around here
“There is nothing wrong with the planet. The planet is fine . . . been here 4 1/2 billion years. We’ve been here, what, a 100,000 years, maybe 200,000. And we’ve only been engaged in heavy industry a little over 200 years. 200 years versus 4 1/2 billion. And we have the conceit to think that somehow we’re a threat? The planet isn’t going away. We are.” – George Carlin
The global warming thing is already past due and beginning to stink. Any sane person would have to admit that this planet is in some kind of trouble if we don’t properly manage our resources and stop polluting ourselves into ecological extinction. What I object to is the way the globalists are trying to use this fact, and sometimes distort it to further their own agenda. I can remember back in the 70s when we were told about the cooling down of the earth and the impending ice age. Soon they will find a way to blame and tax us for the temperature rising on other planets as well, in the meantime – let’s see a few of you politicians get out of your limos and hop on a bus like a regular shmoe.
“‘Protecting the Environment’ is a ruse. The goal is the political and economic subjugation of most men by the few, under the guise of preserving nature.” J. H. Robbins
Witness all the stark incongruity that exists in this strange world of ours – there are now special units that check garbage cans to make sure people are fined for not managing their refuse properly, we’re made to feel like some kind of criminal if we screw up sorting our tin cans. I only hope that they make a carbon tax that is very high so we can feel guilty for driving the car to buy milk, or pay a fine for using a 60W bulb – meanwhile, the US government is dumping depleted uranium that will continue to poison the earth for, let’s say (glances at watch) 5 BILLION YEARS. But never mind that – don’t you dare put the plastic milk jug in the same box with the cardboard – you Bastard!
“To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.” Thomas Jefferson
“The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.” H. L. Mencken
Another Path
“If totalitarianism wins this conflict, the world will be ruled by tyrants, and individuals will be slaves. If democracy wins, the nations of the earth will be united in a commonwealth of free peoples, and individuals, wherever found, will be the sovereign units of the new world order.” – Declaration of the Federation of the World
Two men stand at the top of a mountain – one man sees the panoramic beauty of all existence, the line of sky between earth and the heavens but a jumping off point for his consciousness – what other worlds? what other possibilities in my mind? What a blessing and a benediction is this life, I have my family, my friends, and all the beauty of nature at this moment to behold. The other man stands in the exact spot – he sees an opportunity to capitalize on the richness of the mountain, extract the ore, use the local tribe for cheap labour, and if I can just get rid of this guy standing beside me…
We spend most of our lives trying to acquire things like knowledge, experience, wealth, respect. Once past a certain point in our lives, usually closer to the end, many find themselves trying to cast off those trappings they have spent a lifetime gathering, seeing all such things as chains or diversions, layers between ourselves and our truth. Focused within the resolution provided through the lens of wisdom, and diminishing opportunity of time – those vestments, once thought as prizes to be won, can be seen as constraints that limit one’s true potential. We learn to redefine our perspectives or else we end up very frustrated with the world, our greatest fear being stagnation and mental intransigence, which only inhibits growth and progression in our life. We learn that the only thing constant in this world is change.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead
Change is good, change is inevitable, but no matter how many things might change in our life there will always remain certain constants that must never change. You know, basic things, like the things we learn as children – simple rules that tell us it’s wrong to lie, to kill, to steal. These things do not change because you are a bus driver, a politician, a multi-billionaire, or you work for the CIA.
“The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations” – David Friedman
I spent my whole life thinking I could avoid politics and anything to do with the public realm. I believed that if I just looked after myself and my family, what happened outside of my little sphere would not matter too much. After all, I’ve never hurt anyone, always paid my taxes, was known to enjoy the odd hockey game with a beer. My discovery of the truth regarding 9/11, followed by my realization of the malevolent forces that control our world has turned my life around, and so once again I must change.
“Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you.” – Pericles 430 B.C.
The raising of my family confers upon me the responsibility to try and make sure they can grow up in a world where mass-murderers are not allowed to rule the planet, despoiling the earth and killing whomever necessary to fit their plans for expansion and domination. As the saying goes, it’s not about right and left, its about right and wrong! If somebody marched into your country, accused you of international high crimes, occupied your land and slaughtered your family and friends while stealing your resources, and was then found to be guilty of lying about those accusations – which were subsequently proved to be categorically false, but stayed on year after year, killing, stealing, lying….Would that seem all right to you? How can you not allow that same reasoning to prevail for the people of Iraq, or anywhere else?
“Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it” – William Penn
I am just one person, but we are many. In every sense they have lost the battle with me, and so I know it is possible for others. The truth movement is only gaining in strength with each passing day. The truth will out, every time – it’s only got one way to go. I salute the great people in this movement who have inspired me with their integrity, their bravery, and most of all their brilliance as scholars in search of the truth. And on the other side, I feel only contempt for those who knowingly uphold such deceit and hypocrisy which brings us all to war.
“An individual’s character is not defined by their circumstance, it is revealed through it” – Peter Zaza
I am able to live in a psychologically clean environment where nobody rules my thoughts, I pay little attention to the mainstream media, other than to discern the true subtext of every headline and article so blatantly part of the grand pysops campaign. Most importantly, I have a cause, and a true inner moral compass with which I can live my life and fight this battle, and let’s be clear – this is going to be tantamount to war – a war for our thoughts, and as so many who are still dying every day prove to us all – a battle for our very lives.
“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” – Elie Wiesel
Yes, the truth can only get bigger, it is within its nature. Those who would adhere to the myths promulgated by liars must employ increasingly desperate measures – repressive laws, no fly lists, surveillance, termination of basic rights, more aggressive tactics to instill fear. Fascist dictators do not claw back measures like the egregiously titled Patriot Act, they don’t make bogus laws giving themselves omnipotent powers because they intend to repeal them 6 months later, they just keep on exposing themselves further as parasites and psychopaths, with ever more obvious signs of their waning struggle for power. Do you want the Patriot Act? Or do you want to act like a patriot?
“They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security.” Benjamin Franklin.
“Why, the Government is merely…a temporary servant…Its function is to obey orders, not originate them.” – Mark Twain
Something else seems to happen in these situations as shown to us through history – there will be a large economic correction or depression which will help settle the matter of the current cabal in office. It will most likely be expensive for us all, but the cost of our hubris and callous indifference will exact a price on ordinary men, as well as the nations they support.
“Wars are not paid for in wartime, the bill comes later” – Benjamin Franklin
It’s too bad really, they could have invested those trillions of dollars and all that human potential into energy research, education, health care, anything to do with the betterment of mankind rather than its destruction. Instead, they opted to make war and commit the worst crimes of humanity in some insane quest for dominance.
“When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.” – Jimi Hendrix
How can we retain hope or have any chance of true fulfillment in our lives with all this going on?
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of Truth and Love has always won There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it, always” – Mahatma Gandhi
I alone retain complete and utter sovereignty over my life – no one gave me my freedom, and no one is going to take it from me. I refuse to carry RFID tracking devices, biometric implants, or whatever else you want to use to restrict and monitor my life. I will not let you degrade and humiliate me at airports, roadside checks, random searches, or whatever else you concoct to try and subjugate us with in the name of your bullshit war on terror. I reject your new world order and the idiot box TV it rode in on.
I challenge everyone to turn off the television, do some research and think for yourself. Stop looking toward anybody outside of yourself for direction, leadership, understanding or help in this world – especially if that someone is a politician. Stop waiting for somebody else to get their hands dirty and fix all the problems.
Stop thinking about other people who live on this Earth as being other.
“The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite.” – Thomas Jefferson
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Posted on May 27, 2009 - by Vic Desotelle
Globalization, State and Human Rights
naraginti amareswaran asked:
Globalization, State and Human Rights
Now we are living in the technological and modern world. India has developed in all the fields. All of have equal rights in India. There are different types of peoples (Hindu, Muslim, Christian) are living in India. But they are called Indian Hindu, Indian Muslim and Indian Christian. Our constitution gives equal rights and duties for all Indians.
Globalization
Globalization, or globalisation is a term describing the increasing interdependence, integration and interaction among people, companies and corporations in disparate locations around the world. This umbrella term refers to a complex medley of economic, trade, social, technological, cultural and political relationships. The term has been used as early as 1944, however Theodore Levitt is usually credited with its first use in an economic context.
Definition of Globalization
globalization is the worldwide process of homogenizing prices, products, wages, rates of interest and profits. Globalization relies on three forces for development: the role of human migration, international trade, and rapid movements of capital and integration of financial markets.
Aspects of Globalization
Globalization also has a number of different focuses and aspects which contribute in varying amounts to the effect of globalization across the globe:
· Industrial globalization (alias trans nationalization) – rise and expansion of multinational enterprises
· Financial globalization – emergence of worldwide financial markets and better access to external financing for corporate, national and subnational borrowers
· Political globalization – spread of political sphere of interests to the regions and countries outside the neighborhood of political (state and non-state) actors
· Informational globalization – increase in information flows between geographically remote locations
· Cultural globalization – growth of cross-cultural contacts
· Globalism – connection between cultures, nations, and people, it embodies cultural diffusion, the desire to consume and enjoy foreign products and ideas, adopt new technology and practices, and participate in a “world culture”. It is a universal, internationalist impulse that the world is connected.
· Globalist – someone who is aware of world issues, enjoys new ideas, and considers themselves global citizens with an open mind to both criticize and agree with others.
Positive and Negative Effects of Globalization
The term “globalization” is used to these collective changes as a process, or else as the cause of turbulent change. The distinct uses include:
· Economically, socially and ecologically postitive: As an engine of commerce; one which brings an increased standard of living to Third World countries and further wealth to First World countries.
· Economically, socially, politically, and ecologically negative: As an engine of “forporate imperialism”, one which tramples over human rights in developing societies, claims to bring prosperity, yet oftern simply amounts to plundering and profiteering. Negative effects include cultural assimilation via cultural imperialism, the export of artificail wants, and the destruction or inhibition of authentic local and global community, ecology and cultures.
Because of globalization it is easy to get any type of information with in seconds with the help televison, internet and telephone, mobiles and fax. Through media the people knowing what is meant by human rights and what is their duties.
Human Rights
Human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent. Human rights are what make us human. When we speak of the right to life, or development, or to dissent and diversity, we are speaking of tolerance. Tolerance will ensure all freedoms. Without it, we can be certain of none.
Definition of Human Rights
Human Rights is defined as “The basic rights and freedoms, to which all humans are entitled, often held to include the right to life and liberty, freedom of thought and expression, and equality before the law”.
Human rights are founded on respect for the dignity and worth of each person. They are universal legal guarantees protecting individuals and groups against actions which interfere with fundamental freedoms and human dignity. Some of the most important characteristics of human rights are the following:
They are internationally guaranteed;
They are legally protected;
They focus on the dignity of the human being;
They protect individuals and groups;
They obligate States and State actors;
They cannot be waived/taken away;
They are equal and interdependent;
They are universal.
Types of Human Rights
There are so many types of Human Rights. Among them the important Human Rights are:
· Political Rights
· Cultural Rights
· Economic Rights
· Civil Rights
· Social Rights
Human Rights and Education
Our former President Dr. Sarvepalli Radha Krishnan said that the development of any nation is depend upon on its educational system and teachers. Teachers are national builders. Through education it is possible to change the world. Through education it is easy to motivate people. Through education only it is possible to learn what are our duties and rights? By establishing Human Rights departments the University Grants Commission has taking good steps to improve social development. Human Rights department conducting national seminars, workshops and conferences about Human Rights to motivate students and people in the society.
Mahatma Gandhi said ‘all are equal, truth is God and God is truth’. With the help of private organizations Government of India and State Government of Andhra Pradesh conducting so many programmes about human rights. There is a separate department for human rights at both state and central level. Every year December 10th is celebrated as International Human Rights Day.
Gender and Human Rights
Because of science and technology a lot of change has occurred in our daily life. Because of globalization it is possible to get any type of information with in seconds. Males and females are equal. There is no gender difference. Women are participating in all types of competitions and they are also succeeding. Number of females is also working in the law and police departments. There is a separate wing for female protection and welfare both at central and state level. Government gives equal rights to male and female.
The National Commission for Women was set up as a statutory body in January 1992 under the National Commission for Women Act, 1990 (Act No. 20 of 1990) of Govt. of India, to review the Constitutional and legal safeguards for women; recommend remedial legislative measures, facilitate redressal of grievances and advise the Government on all policy matters affecting women.
The issue of the advancement of women’s rights has concerned the United Nations since the Organization’s founding. Yet the alarming global dimensions of female-targeted violence were not explicitly acknowledged by the international community until December 1993, when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women.
In view of the alarming growth in the number of cases of violence against women throughout the world, the Commission on Human Rights adopted resolution 1994/45 of 4 March 1994, in which it decided to appoint the Special Reporter on violence against women, including its causes and consequences.
Defining Gender-based Abuse
The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women is the first international human rights instrument to exclusively and explicitly address the issue of violence against women. It affirms that the phenomenon violates, impairs or nullifies women’s human rights and their exercise of fundamental freedoms.
The Declaration provides a definition of gender-based abuse, calling it “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life”.
The definition is amplified in article 2 of the Declaration, which identifies three areas in which violence commonly takes place:
· Physical, sexual and psychological violence that occurs in the family, including battering; sexual abuse of female children in the household; dowry-related violence; marital rape; female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women; non-spousal violence; and violence related to exploitation;
· Physical, sexual and psychological violence that occurs within the general community, including rape; sexual abuse; sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in educational institutions and elsewhere; trafficking in women; and forced prostitution;
· Physical, sexual and psychological violence perpetrated or condoned by the State, wherever it occurs.
Health and Human Rights
The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being…” – World Health Organization.
WHO’s health and human rights work areas
Health and human rights has been designated as a cross-cutting activity in WHO. Ethics, Trade, Human Rights and Law (ETH) within Sustainable Development and Healthy Environments (SDE) is the focal point within the Organization for human rights.
WHO is actively strengthening its role in providing technical, intellectual and political leadership in the field of health and human rights. The main objectives are to:
· Strengthen WHO’s capacity to integrate a human rights-based approach in its work
· Support governments to integrate a human rights-based approach in health development
· Advance the right to health in international law and international development processes
Promoting and protecting health and respecting, protecting and fulfilling human rights are inextricably linked:
· Violations or lack of attention to human rights can have serious health consequences (e.g. harmful traditional practices, slavery, torture and inhuman and degrading treatment, violence against women and children).
· Health policies and programmes can promote or violate human rights in their design or implementation (e.g. freedom from discrimination, individual autonomy, rights to participation, privacy and information).
· Vulnerability to ill-health can be reduced by taking steps to respect, protect and fulfill human rights (e.g. freedom from discrimination on account of race, sex and gender roles, and rights to health, food and nutrition, education, housing).
Conclusion
Now we are living in the technological world. Due to globalization we get any type of information with in seconds with the help of television, telephone, mobile, internet and fax. Now both male and female have equal opportunities. The literacy percentage of women is also high. Civil Rights, Political Rights, Economic Rights, Health Rights and Cultural Rights are primary rights for all. Through education it is possible to motivate about human rights among the students. Universities are primary resource centres for development of human right studies. With the help of seminars, workshops and conferences it is possible to share opinions of eminent persons in the society. Their suggestions are more valuable. Sri Venkateswara University is giving opportunity for students in the field of research in Human rights subject.
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Globalization, State and Human Rights
Now we are living in the technological and modern world. India has developed in all the fields. All of have equal rights in India. There are different types of peoples (Hindu, Muslim, Christian) are living in India. But they are called Indian Hindu, Indian Muslim and Indian Christian. Our constitution gives equal rights and duties for all Indians.
Globalization
Globalization, or globalisation is a term describing the increasing interdependence, integration and interaction among people, companies and corporations in disparate locations around the world. This umbrella term refers to a complex medley of economic, trade, social, technological, cultural and political relationships. The term has been used as early as 1944, however Theodore Levitt is usually credited with its first use in an economic context.
Definition of Globalization
globalization is the worldwide process of homogenizing prices, products, wages, rates of interest and profits. Globalization relies on three forces for development: the role of human migration, international trade, and rapid movements of capital and integration of financial markets.
Aspects of Globalization
Globalization also has a number of different focuses and aspects which contribute in varying amounts to the effect of globalization across the globe:
· Industrial globalization (alias trans nationalization) – rise and expansion of multinational enterprises
· Financial globalization – emergence of worldwide financial markets and better access to external financing for corporate, national and subnational borrowers
· Political globalization – spread of political sphere of interests to the regions and countries outside the neighborhood of political (state and non-state) actors
· Informational globalization – increase in information flows between geographically remote locations
· Cultural globalization – growth of cross-cultural contacts
· Globalism – connection between cultures, nations, and people, it embodies cultural diffusion, the desire to consume and enjoy foreign products and ideas, adopt new technology and practices, and participate in a “world culture”. It is a universal, internationalist impulse that the world is connected.
· Globalist – someone who is aware of world issues, enjoys new ideas, and considers themselves global citizens with an open mind to both criticize and agree with others.
Positive and Negative Effects of Globalization
The term “globalization” is used to these collective changes as a process, or else as the cause of turbulent change. The distinct uses include:
· Economically, socially and ecologically postitive: As an engine of commerce; one which brings an increased standard of living to Third World countries and further wealth to First World countries.
· Economically, socially, politically, and ecologically negative: As an engine of “forporate imperialism”, one which tramples over human rights in developing societies, claims to bring prosperity, yet oftern simply amounts to plundering and profiteering. Negative effects include cultural assimilation via cultural imperialism, the export of artificail wants, and the destruction or inhibition of authentic local and global community, ecology and cultures.
Because of globalization it is easy to get any type of information with in seconds with the help televison, internet and telephone, mobiles and fax. Through media the people knowing what is meant by human rights and what is their duties.
Human Rights
Human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent. Human rights are what make us human. When we speak of the right to life, or development, or to dissent and diversity, we are speaking of tolerance. Tolerance will ensure all freedoms. Without it, we can be certain of none.
Definition of Human Rights
Human Rights is defined as “The basic rights and freedoms, to which all humans are entitled, often held to include the right to life and liberty, freedom of thought and expression, and equality before the law”.
Human rights are founded on respect for the dignity and worth of each person. They are universal legal guarantees protecting individuals and groups against actions which interfere with fundamental freedoms and human dignity. Some of the most important characteristics of human rights are the following:
They are internationally guaranteed;
They are legally protected;
They focus on the dignity of the human being;
They protect individuals and groups;
They obligate States and State actors;
They cannot be waived/taken away;
They are equal and interdependent;
They are universal.
Types of Human Rights
There are so many types of Human Rights. Among them the important Human Rights are:
· Political Rights
· Cultural Rights
· Economic Rights
· Civil Rights
· Social Rights
Human Rights and Education
Our former President Dr. Sarvepalli Radha Krishnan said that the development of any nation is depend upon on its educational system and teachers. Teachers are national builders. Through education it is possible to change the world. Through education it is easy to motivate people. Through education only it is possible to learn what are our duties and rights? By establishing Human Rights departments the University Grants Commission has taking good steps to improve social development. Human Rights department conducting national seminars, workshops and conferences about Human Rights to motivate students and people in the society.
Mahatma Gandhi said ‘all are equal, truth is God and God is truth’. With the help of private organizations Government of India and State Government of Andhra Pradesh conducting so many programmes about human rights. There is a separate department for human rights at both state and central level. Every year December 10th is celebrated as International Human Rights Day.
Gender and Human Rights
Because of science and technology a lot of change has occurred in our daily life. Because of globalization it is possible to get any type of information with in seconds. Males and females are equal. There is no gender difference. Women are participating in all types of competitions and they are also succeeding. Number of females is also working in the law and police departments. There is a separate wing for female protection and welfare both at central and state level. Government gives equal rights to male and female.
The National Commission for Women was set up as a statutory body in January 1992 under the National Commission for Women Act, 1990 (Act No. 20 of 1990) of Govt. of India, to review the Constitutional and legal safeguards for women; recommend remedial legislative measures, facilitate redressal of grievances and advise the Government on all policy matters affecting women.
The issue of the advancement of women’s rights has concerned the United Nations since the Organization’s founding. Yet the alarming global dimensions of female-targeted violence were not explicitly acknowledged by the international community until December 1993, when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women.
In view of the alarming growth in the number of cases of violence against women throughout the world, the Commission on Human Rights adopted resolution 1994/45 of 4 March 1994, in which it decided to appoint the Special Reporter on violence against women, including its causes and consequences.
Defining Gender-based Abuse
The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women is the first international human rights instrument to exclusively and explicitly address the issue of violence against women. It affirms that the phenomenon violates, impairs or nullifies women’s human rights and their exercise of fundamental freedoms.
The Declaration provides a definition of gender-based abuse, calling it “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life”.
The definition is amplified in article 2 of the Declaration, which identifies three areas in which violence commonly takes place:
· Physical, sexual and psychological violence that occurs in the family, including battering; sexual abuse of female children in the household; dowry-related violence; marital rape; female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women; non-spousal violence; and violence related to exploitation;
· Physical, sexual and psychological violence that occurs within the general community, including rape; sexual abuse; sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in educational institutions and elsewhere; trafficking in women; and forced prostitution;
· Physical, sexual and psychological violence perpetrated or condoned by the State, wherever it occurs.
Health and Human Rights
The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being…” – World Health Organization.
WHO’s health and human rights work areas
Health and human rights has been designated as a cross-cutting activity in WHO. Ethics, Trade, Human Rights and Law (ETH) within Sustainable Development and Healthy Environments (SDE) is the focal point within the Organization for human rights.
WHO is actively strengthening its role in providing technical, intellectual and political leadership in the field of health and human rights. The main objectives are to:
· Strengthen WHO’s capacity to integrate a human rights-based approach in its work
· Support governments to integrate a human rights-based approach in health development
· Advance the right to health in international law and international development processes
Promoting and protecting health and respecting, protecting and fulfilling human rights are inextricably linked:
· Violations or lack of attention to human rights can have serious health consequences (e.g. harmful traditional practices, slavery, torture and inhuman and degrading treatment, violence against women and children).
· Health policies and programmes can promote or violate human rights in their design or implementation (e.g. freedom from discrimination, individual autonomy, rights to participation, privacy and information).
· Vulnerability to ill-health can be reduced by taking steps to respect, protect and fulfill human rights (e.g. freedom from discrimination on account of race, sex and gender roles, and rights to health, food and nutrition, education, housing).
Conclusion
Now we are living in the technological world. Due to globalization we get any type of information with in seconds with the help of television, telephone, mobile, internet and fax. Now both male and female have equal opportunities. The literacy percentage of women is also high. Civil Rights, Political Rights, Economic Rights, Health Rights and Cultural Rights are primary rights for all. Through education it is possible to motivate about human rights among the students. Universities are primary resource centres for development of human right studies. With the help of seminars, workshops and conferences it is possible to share opinions of eminent persons in the society. Their suggestions are more valuable. Sri Venkateswara University is giving opportunity for students in the field of research in Human rights subject.
*****
Caffeinated Content – Members-Only Content for WordPress
Posted on May 27, 2009 - by Vic Desotelle
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
DCS asked:
Albert Einstein, smart man that he was, once said, “You cannot solve any problem in the same state of consciousness in which it was created.”
Ponder that for a little while if it doesn’t immediately jump out at you, and you’ll see the truth in that statement. Of course it applies to the world at large today. But this post isn’t going to be one of my rants (I’ll do that another day). As a reader of my blog you are well aware my belief in the oncoming changes that will affect this planet, the power of intention, and creativity, and thought. You know I believe how awesome, and utterly perfect you are. The only issue dear one is that you simply don’t remember your own power. Not that there is something within you that is wrong and needs to change and blah blah blah blah. To quote John Major Jenkins “…the unlimited divine self cannot be conceived or understood by the rational intellect, but it can be directly experienced.” Life is a wonderful journey of human experience. In my short twenty eight years this go around on the planet, I have had my fill of emotions and I can’t wait for more. I learn every time I bleed, and I have only loved, never loved and lost, that’s just silly.
But, back on topic.
I have found that I’ve gone through some phases. Once you are aware of how f’d up everything is, the manipulation and the lies, of course you want it to stop. But I think that by focusing on what’s wrong, we give our energy to that and that’s not where we want our energy to go. Instead, why not focus on how to make it right so we can create something new to replace what we screwed up. To quote Peter Russell, holder of degrees in theoretical physics, experimental psychology, computer science, an author and award winning producer, “The global crisis we are now facing is at its root, a crisis of consciousness – a crisis born of the fact that we have prodigious technological powers but still remain half awake.” In light of that, I want to spread the good news and inform you today of the sweeping changes that you may not be aware of that are affecting our current global structure in the business and political fields.
While we are the ones we are waiting for, while we must BE the change we wish to see in the world, once the old systems collapse (whoopee!) there must be new ones to take their place. My mother once said that to point out a problem then offer no solution can do just as much damage as the problem itself. Which is true. I am not so naive to think that we can just wave our hand, get rid of our retarded illusion of democracy and materialism and patiently sit and wait for some grand savior to come in and rescue us. That’s not quite how it’s going to work. Once we knock it down, we must rebuild something else. You may think that the only changes in consciousness are coming from the mystical, spiritual side and from the crazy new age ranters like me, who regularly invite our higher selves back into body, and then have a nice cosmic flush (you gotta try it, it’s fabulous. Go to http://www.ascensionhelp.com). But the truth is, the changes, the shift, the awakening, the ascension whatever you want to call it, is affecting everything. The organizations I’m going to mention may just have a purpose that resonates in your soul, that you want to jump into, and volunteer your time and expertise to help spread the word, do the work and help everyone hit that catalyst point on their own journey of awakening. I’m not going to go into a lot of detail here, I’m going to give you some cliff notes and whatever strikes your fancy I’m sure you’ll latch onto and research more in depth yourselves. I’m just the messenger
I just finished reading (like five minutes ago) a book called The Mystery of 2012. Wonderful read I highly recommend for anyone who wants to know what’s going. It is a collection of articles and essays (lots of big words, I did a lot of dictionary.com jumping while I read it) on the 2012 phenomena from different perspectives. All agree, for the most part, that change is already here and what we are experiencing is a awakening, a shift in consciousness that is a combination of this planets destiny and our own free will. (You don’t have to jump on the bandwagon but your higher self will keep trying to tap you on the shoulder to wake you up. You’re already participating in the waters of creation, the only thing left to do is shatter your illusion of separateness. That is the only sacrifice to make, but only make it when you are ready.) One of the articles that really made me happy was written by Corinne McLaughlin. Corinne is an author, Executive Director for The Center for Visionary Leadership, coordinated a national task force for President Clinton’s Council on Sustainable Development, and taught politics at American University. You can learn more about her work at www.visionarylead.org.
Corinne begins her article with a statement that I like to keep repeating, and repeating no matter how many times, or different ways it’s said because I think it’s so critical to understand, “Why not imagine a better world in the future and live this vision moment to moment in the choices you make and the work that you do? In this way, you can help create it.” Creation, intention, creation, intention, energy follows thought, menchicaboola.
Right now, yes right now, there exist social responsible businesses. Spiritual Capitalism is all the new rave. Just because Fox News hasn’t told you so, doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Don’t make me go into the media is biased and full of shit speel, you should know that already. The profit above all and f’ everything else mentality doesn’t work. No big shocker there. Companies are starting to take notice and as CEO’s, and SVP’s, and middle management, and the copy machine guy wakes up, they’re bringing those ideals to work with them. There is an International Spirit at Work Organization http://www.spiritatwork.org/index.php (they are now dormant, but I list them because their website is full of fabulous information). There is the World Business Academy which promotes corporate responsibility http://www.worldbusiness.org. There is the United Nations Global Compact http://www.unglobalcompact.org/ which is all about environmental protection, human rights, and higher labor standards. They have 300 multinational corporations part of. There is The Natural Step http://www.naturalstep.org/ which shows business the competitive advantage of sustainability and integrating environmental consideration into strategic decisions and daily organizations.
I don’t believe money is going to be around much longer, I mean once everyone wakes up, bartering will be acceptable but until then, Lifesystems of Health and Sustainability report there is a 228.9 billion marketplace for ish focused on holistic health, the environment, social justice, sustainable living, etc. The Business for Social Responsibility http://www.bsr.org/ founded in the 1990s has over 400 organizations and about half are fortune 500 companies. Companies like, The Body Shop, The Mens Warehouse, Timberland Company for example are on the list. We’ve all seen Whole Foods around, one should shop there when dinero permits because hey, what we eat is pretty important and I dislike ingesting well, crap disguised as healthy food. So go ahead and keep shopping there. in fact go look up your favorite store and see if they’re on the list of any of those organizations and if not, cut em off (like Nike for example and those stoopid sweat shops, bleh). We can’t keep supporting the systems that are falling that’s just silly. I for one like shopping in places that are on the Caring Consumer list that don’t test on animals. You can check them out here http://www.caringconsumer.com/. There are things we can do, things that are being done now to shift away from the bullshit into something better. And it’s only going to get better, trust me.
USA Weekend did a poll, and spirituality has become the second most important factor in personal happiness. To quote Corinne, “Growing numbers of business people want their spirituality to be more than just faith and belief; they want it to be practical and applied. They want to bring their whole selves to work, body, mind and spirit.” Woot. Woot. There’s that throat chakra opening up, forcing us to speaking our truth, everywhere. There’s that solar plexus chakra expanding, bringing in our personal power and our resolve to just say no to the dumb shit, and that applies to the scenarios at work as well. It’s all interconnected lovies. Remember, separateness is the illusion. And don’t think for a moment that being a socially responsible business can’t affect the bottom line. It simply does. Happy people work harder period, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that. Corinne reports in her article that a meta-study done by the United Kingdom’s Environment Agency and Innovest Strategic Value Advisors called Corporate Environment Governance found that 85% saw a wonderful synergism between environmental management and financial performance.
And just too really spin your mind a bit, do you know how many companies now have Meditation classes and rooms at work? Would you believe me if I told you, Apple, Google, Yahoo, IBM, Raytheon Company do just that? How wonderful.
And it’s not business. It’s affecting politics too. This makes me really happy. You know I’ve got that warrior spirit that hasn’t been satisfied in a while, now that I’m aware of these organizations too I’m going to have to look them up (to honorable battle!). There is the Tikkun Network of Spiritual Progressives, http://www.spiritualprogressives.org/index.php and the Center for Visionary Leadership as mentioned above. There is also an even stronger movement and that’s from the independent sector, or civil society. That’s the organizations that locally see something wrong, realize the government isn’t going to fix it, so they’ve rolled up their sleeves, and are doing it their damn selves. Woot Woot. Look around at New Orleans for example and you can see it everywhere. Visionary Activist and Entrepreneur Paul Hawken wrote a book called Blessed Unrest (which is now on my to get list) and documents a whopping one million and probably more to date, of these groups worldwide. Can’t hold us down. And Gods and Goddess bless the World Wide Web for its ability to start movements, link people quicker and spread the word faster. You want to see examples of real world results of non adversarial politics that finds the higher ground, and teaches both sides not to compromise but instead find that issue they can agree needs to be fixed and focus on that, check out The Truth and Reconciliation Commission https://www.trcofliberia.org/. They helped usher in non violent change in the South African Government along with the awesome effort of 10,000 people who received conflict resolution training. No Government needed. Just people who came together and said, hey, I can do this. And I can do this. And you can teach me that, and bam, they got it done. Corinne says it the best, “healing, reconciliation and forgiveness are spiritual qualities very much needed today.” How about the awesome work done by the Search for Common Ground http://www.sfcg.org/ whose mission is to “understand the differences; act on the commonalities.” This group has 300 staff members in more than 17 countries, holding under cova (back channel) meetings with Iranians and Americans to prevent war. The Common Ground News Service provides solution oriented articles about the good work being done to resolve conflicts in the Middle East that CNN won’t tell you about. And there’s more, like the Public Conversations Project http://www.publicconversations.org/pcp/pcp.html, or the Institute of Multi-Track Diplomacy, http://imtd.org/cgi-bin/imtd.cgi or the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation http://www.thataway.org/. What an awesome bunch of lightworkers I tell yah.
Barbara Marx Hubbard has an organization called the Foundation for Conscious Evolution http://www.barbaramarxhubbard.com/content/ and in 1984 ran for the US Vice Presidency. At that time she proposed “a ‘Peace Room’ which was eventually to become as sophisticated as our war rooms. Its purpose is to scan for, map, connect and communicate what is working to heal and evolve our world.” Now imagine if we could get the NSA and CIA’s supercomputers to do that. What might we see?
Hmm. Anyway, I’ve written enough for this time. But articles, organizations, people such as this with real world experience and knowledge who support this shift in conciseness because they believe and see it, well, I ask again, how much more evidence do you need? And it’s not so much that these organizations are just sprouting up now because they aren’t, they’ve been around since the 1980s and before, it’s that we as a collective are finally taking notice and giving them more energy to succeeded and climb out of the hole we’ve dug ourselves into. To quotes James O’Dea, President of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, “The phenomenon we are discuss is not an ideological counter to the status quo; it is to be understood more accurately as a quickening in the center of our being – a quickening less susceptible to fear arousal, not condition by the gratifications of competitive advantage, but stimulated by experiences of wholeness, unity, and interconnection. It is what philosophers and theologians call the emergence of nondual consciousness.”
And it will not be televised
Namaste (I honor the light in you) & Espavo (thank you for taking your power back)
Caffeinated Content for WordPress
Albert Einstein, smart man that he was, once said, “You cannot solve any problem in the same state of consciousness in which it was created.”
Ponder that for a little while if it doesn’t immediately jump out at you, and you’ll see the truth in that statement. Of course it applies to the world at large today. But this post isn’t going to be one of my rants (I’ll do that another day). As a reader of my blog you are well aware my belief in the oncoming changes that will affect this planet, the power of intention, and creativity, and thought. You know I believe how awesome, and utterly perfect you are. The only issue dear one is that you simply don’t remember your own power. Not that there is something within you that is wrong and needs to change and blah blah blah blah. To quote John Major Jenkins “…the unlimited divine self cannot be conceived or understood by the rational intellect, but it can be directly experienced.” Life is a wonderful journey of human experience. In my short twenty eight years this go around on the planet, I have had my fill of emotions and I can’t wait for more. I learn every time I bleed, and I have only loved, never loved and lost, that’s just silly.
But, back on topic.
I have found that I’ve gone through some phases. Once you are aware of how f’d up everything is, the manipulation and the lies, of course you want it to stop. But I think that by focusing on what’s wrong, we give our energy to that and that’s not where we want our energy to go. Instead, why not focus on how to make it right so we can create something new to replace what we screwed up. To quote Peter Russell, holder of degrees in theoretical physics, experimental psychology, computer science, an author and award winning producer, “The global crisis we are now facing is at its root, a crisis of consciousness – a crisis born of the fact that we have prodigious technological powers but still remain half awake.” In light of that, I want to spread the good news and inform you today of the sweeping changes that you may not be aware of that are affecting our current global structure in the business and political fields.
While we are the ones we are waiting for, while we must BE the change we wish to see in the world, once the old systems collapse (whoopee!) there must be new ones to take their place. My mother once said that to point out a problem then offer no solution can do just as much damage as the problem itself. Which is true. I am not so naive to think that we can just wave our hand, get rid of our retarded illusion of democracy and materialism and patiently sit and wait for some grand savior to come in and rescue us. That’s not quite how it’s going to work. Once we knock it down, we must rebuild something else. You may think that the only changes in consciousness are coming from the mystical, spiritual side and from the crazy new age ranters like me, who regularly invite our higher selves back into body, and then have a nice cosmic flush (you gotta try it, it’s fabulous. Go to http://www.ascensionhelp.com). But the truth is, the changes, the shift, the awakening, the ascension whatever you want to call it, is affecting everything. The organizations I’m going to mention may just have a purpose that resonates in your soul, that you want to jump into, and volunteer your time and expertise to help spread the word, do the work and help everyone hit that catalyst point on their own journey of awakening. I’m not going to go into a lot of detail here, I’m going to give you some cliff notes and whatever strikes your fancy I’m sure you’ll latch onto and research more in depth yourselves. I’m just the messenger
I just finished reading (like five minutes ago) a book called The Mystery of 2012. Wonderful read I highly recommend for anyone who wants to know what’s going. It is a collection of articles and essays (lots of big words, I did a lot of dictionary.com jumping while I read it) on the 2012 phenomena from different perspectives. All agree, for the most part, that change is already here and what we are experiencing is a awakening, a shift in consciousness that is a combination of this planets destiny and our own free will. (You don’t have to jump on the bandwagon but your higher self will keep trying to tap you on the shoulder to wake you up. You’re already participating in the waters of creation, the only thing left to do is shatter your illusion of separateness. That is the only sacrifice to make, but only make it when you are ready.) One of the articles that really made me happy was written by Corinne McLaughlin. Corinne is an author, Executive Director for The Center for Visionary Leadership, coordinated a national task force for President Clinton’s Council on Sustainable Development, and taught politics at American University. You can learn more about her work at www.visionarylead.org.
Corinne begins her article with a statement that I like to keep repeating, and repeating no matter how many times, or different ways it’s said because I think it’s so critical to understand, “Why not imagine a better world in the future and live this vision moment to moment in the choices you make and the work that you do? In this way, you can help create it.” Creation, intention, creation, intention, energy follows thought, menchicaboola.
Right now, yes right now, there exist social responsible businesses. Spiritual Capitalism is all the new rave. Just because Fox News hasn’t told you so, doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Don’t make me go into the media is biased and full of shit speel, you should know that already. The profit above all and f’ everything else mentality doesn’t work. No big shocker there. Companies are starting to take notice and as CEO’s, and SVP’s, and middle management, and the copy machine guy wakes up, they’re bringing those ideals to work with them. There is an International Spirit at Work Organization http://www.spiritatwork.org/index.php (they are now dormant, but I list them because their website is full of fabulous information). There is the World Business Academy which promotes corporate responsibility http://www.worldbusiness.org. There is the United Nations Global Compact http://www.unglobalcompact.org/ which is all about environmental protection, human rights, and higher labor standards. They have 300 multinational corporations part of. There is The Natural Step http://www.naturalstep.org/ which shows business the competitive advantage of sustainability and integrating environmental consideration into strategic decisions and daily organizations.
I don’t believe money is going to be around much longer, I mean once everyone wakes up, bartering will be acceptable but until then, Lifesystems of Health and Sustainability report there is a 228.9 billion marketplace for ish focused on holistic health, the environment, social justice, sustainable living, etc. The Business for Social Responsibility http://www.bsr.org/ founded in the 1990s has over 400 organizations and about half are fortune 500 companies. Companies like, The Body Shop, The Mens Warehouse, Timberland Company for example are on the list. We’ve all seen Whole Foods around, one should shop there when dinero permits because hey, what we eat is pretty important and I dislike ingesting well, crap disguised as healthy food. So go ahead and keep shopping there. in fact go look up your favorite store and see if they’re on the list of any of those organizations and if not, cut em off (like Nike for example and those stoopid sweat shops, bleh). We can’t keep supporting the systems that are falling that’s just silly. I for one like shopping in places that are on the Caring Consumer list that don’t test on animals. You can check them out here http://www.caringconsumer.com/. There are things we can do, things that are being done now to shift away from the bullshit into something better. And it’s only going to get better, trust me.
USA Weekend did a poll, and spirituality has become the second most important factor in personal happiness. To quote Corinne, “Growing numbers of business people want their spirituality to be more than just faith and belief; they want it to be practical and applied. They want to bring their whole selves to work, body, mind and spirit.” Woot. Woot. There’s that throat chakra opening up, forcing us to speaking our truth, everywhere. There’s that solar plexus chakra expanding, bringing in our personal power and our resolve to just say no to the dumb shit, and that applies to the scenarios at work as well. It’s all interconnected lovies. Remember, separateness is the illusion. And don’t think for a moment that being a socially responsible business can’t affect the bottom line. It simply does. Happy people work harder period, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that. Corinne reports in her article that a meta-study done by the United Kingdom’s Environment Agency and Innovest Strategic Value Advisors called Corporate Environment Governance found that 85% saw a wonderful synergism between environmental management and financial performance.
And just too really spin your mind a bit, do you know how many companies now have Meditation classes and rooms at work? Would you believe me if I told you, Apple, Google, Yahoo, IBM, Raytheon Company do just that? How wonderful.
And it’s not business. It’s affecting politics too. This makes me really happy. You know I’ve got that warrior spirit that hasn’t been satisfied in a while, now that I’m aware of these organizations too I’m going to have to look them up (to honorable battle!). There is the Tikkun Network of Spiritual Progressives, http://www.spiritualprogressives.org/index.php and the Center for Visionary Leadership as mentioned above. There is also an even stronger movement and that’s from the independent sector, or civil society. That’s the organizations that locally see something wrong, realize the government isn’t going to fix it, so they’ve rolled up their sleeves, and are doing it their damn selves. Woot Woot. Look around at New Orleans for example and you can see it everywhere. Visionary Activist and Entrepreneur Paul Hawken wrote a book called Blessed Unrest (which is now on my to get list) and documents a whopping one million and probably more to date, of these groups worldwide. Can’t hold us down. And Gods and Goddess bless the World Wide Web for its ability to start movements, link people quicker and spread the word faster. You want to see examples of real world results of non adversarial politics that finds the higher ground, and teaches both sides not to compromise but instead find that issue they can agree needs to be fixed and focus on that, check out The Truth and Reconciliation Commission https://www.trcofliberia.org/. They helped usher in non violent change in the South African Government along with the awesome effort of 10,000 people who received conflict resolution training. No Government needed. Just people who came together and said, hey, I can do this. And I can do this. And you can teach me that, and bam, they got it done. Corinne says it the best, “healing, reconciliation and forgiveness are spiritual qualities very much needed today.” How about the awesome work done by the Search for Common Ground http://www.sfcg.org/ whose mission is to “understand the differences; act on the commonalities.” This group has 300 staff members in more than 17 countries, holding under cova (back channel) meetings with Iranians and Americans to prevent war. The Common Ground News Service provides solution oriented articles about the good work being done to resolve conflicts in the Middle East that CNN won’t tell you about. And there’s more, like the Public Conversations Project http://www.publicconversations.org/pcp/pcp.html, or the Institute of Multi-Track Diplomacy, http://imtd.org/cgi-bin/imtd.cgi or the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation http://www.thataway.org/. What an awesome bunch of lightworkers I tell yah.
Barbara Marx Hubbard has an organization called the Foundation for Conscious Evolution http://www.barbaramarxhubbard.com/content/ and in 1984 ran for the US Vice Presidency. At that time she proposed “a ‘Peace Room’ which was eventually to become as sophisticated as our war rooms. Its purpose is to scan for, map, connect and communicate what is working to heal and evolve our world.” Now imagine if we could get the NSA and CIA’s supercomputers to do that. What might we see?
Hmm. Anyway, I’ve written enough for this time. But articles, organizations, people such as this with real world experience and knowledge who support this shift in conciseness because they believe and see it, well, I ask again, how much more evidence do you need? And it’s not so much that these organizations are just sprouting up now because they aren’t, they’ve been around since the 1980s and before, it’s that we as a collective are finally taking notice and giving them more energy to succeeded and climb out of the hole we’ve dug ourselves into. To quotes James O’Dea, President of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, “The phenomenon we are discuss is not an ideological counter to the status quo; it is to be understood more accurately as a quickening in the center of our being – a quickening less susceptible to fear arousal, not condition by the gratifications of competitive advantage, but stimulated by experiences of wholeness, unity, and interconnection. It is what philosophers and theologians call the emergence of nondual consciousness.”
And it will not be televised
Namaste (I honor the light in you) & Espavo (thank you for taking your power back)
Caffeinated Content for WordPress
Posted on May 27, 2009 - by Vic Desotelle
Organizing a Successful Course – How Can You Do a Strategic Implementation
Artur Victoria asked:
Can be at three levels:
Country or society level, which essentially requires the emphasis given by the National Integrity Systems process.But there are useful overlaps of course.
Sector or industry level (eg: a state or provincial public sector, insurance industry, real estate industry, tertiary education community etc.), looking at the whole entity and how that entity might go about Strategic Implementation; also how well it fits into the particular National Integrity System and what needs to be done to establish a better inter-relationship and better fit; and
Organizational level which deals with the specific ways in which one single organization, whether public, private or civil society, might go about building an internal integrity and ethics regime.
That is:
The needs will differ between nations, between sectors and between organizations, but the overall principles may well be similar. Clearly, while a great deal of the same issues will arise with a whole sector or industry, these may take on different forms and there may be other larger issues too that must be dealt with in that wider context.
Focusing on the latter of these three, the single organization, but I recognize that there are grey areas between them and that sometimes one needs to fix things in the overall system before being able to succeed within sectors or individual organizations.
However, others may hold a different view on that issue. Anyway, I hope this is a useful way to begin.
By way of introduction, for an organization to come to grips with the task of strategically implementing reform in integrity and ethics, its people need to be knowledgeable about a whole range of issues to enable them to clearly understand the motivations, requirements, their various roles in implementation and how to work together for the larger purpose.
So the topics identified as important to date, in roughly the right order I think, are as follows:
1. Introduction to Organizational Ethics and Integrity
Assumptions:
For the purposes of this knowledge box, assumed several accurate assumptions assumed that such an organization has had little or no prior exposure to institutionalizing ethics and integrity into its culture or operations. Obviously, in most cases (we would hope and expect) that many would have some limited exposure, while possibly not having any actual systems in place, and might therefore at least be aware of some of the issues. If so, it might be reasonable to expect that these issues are possibly already being dealt with in some ways by a set of entrenched values (“good” or “bad”, written or unwritten) within their organizations.
Approach:
Assistance to any organization.
This would be by way of enabling and empowering its people to appreciate the complexities and the wide range of possible sub-strategies involved in implementing an integrity regime /ethics strategy. It includes the main things that I can think of that would be part of the process and assumes that nothing at all has been done previously. In practice one hopes that there may be a somewhat better basis than that, in some places anyway.
Topics and Content
The content under each topic I have gleaned from a variety of sources, mainly: my own teaching materials, things I have read in books and journals, my own organizational experience as a manager and consultant and, to some extent, the better web-based information sources. The latter is why I have included some of these sources under each topic (these have all been re-checked this week and are still operational). The courses I have taught from which many of these issues have been gleaned include: Organizational Ethics, Corporate Governance and Business Ethics, Leadership and Team/Self Development and to a lesser extent Public Sector Management and various courses in Human Resource Management.
Readings & References
At this point I have only given a broad general reference list. This is because many, if not most, of the good books now available cover a number of the topics. I have also listed the academic journals in which useful articles on ethics and integrity can be found. Neither list purports to be complete, but they do cover many good general sources. At the later stage of final design and delivery, specific chapters and or journal articles and/or professional articles would be recommended on sub-topics, depending upon the specific needs and/or interests of the course participants. This might perhaps be in the form of a prepared book of readings appropriate for the specific audience. In places I have shown sources of some ideas, but most are not from single sources but an amalgam of content from wide ranging sources. However, if I have offended anybody by inadvertently plagiarizing their ideas or someone else’s, please do let me know. In the final version I would seek to do a better job on this issue.
Cases:
On the issue of cases, it has been my experience that lengthy cases are not always very well received by course participants, particularly for busy senior executives who are looking for a quicker learning tool.
This is not to say that cases cannot be given out as pre or post reading, but as we all know these are often not read by busy people, if too lengthy and complex. So I tend to use either very short (less than one page) cases available from texts and other sources and others that I write myself, mostly the latter. The latter are often shorter and more pointed scenarios that deal with a specific ethical dilemma or situation, rather than long complex cases. Sometimes some commercially available videos presenting very short situational challenges are of use too. I have not listed media of this type here yet, but could do so if need be.
Topic 1: Introduction to Organizational Ethics and Integrity
This would present a broad introduction to the challenges and the need to build a proper implementation strategy. It would present the meaning and focus of Organizational Ethics and Integrity in respect of the organizations themselves, the individuals who work in them and the societies in which they operate.
Some mention of theories would be included, such as the philosophical and moral foundations of ethics and integrity, values, organizational corporate responsibility, personal morality etc., to provide a foundation of knowledge. However, this would be kept to the minimum possible, consistent with providing an effective enough grounding upon which to build. The emphasis on Strategic Implementation would always
be based upon a “best practice approach” – what actually works in practice.
Likely content would include:
- Broad terminology and concepts
- How people focus on morally challenging dilemmas and make ethical decisions about their actions Ethical theories: Consequentialist (teleology, egoism, utilitarianism etc.), ethical relativism, virtue ethics, moral development (Kohlberg et al).
- Values and ethics
- Ethical decision-making: EDM models, normative judgements, distributive justice, excusing conditions, mitigating circumstances etc.
Essential Issues in Organizational Ethics
Establishing the fundamental values of the organization
Defining broad principles which emanate from these values
Developing standards which will guide employees in upholding these values and principles
Establishing specific guidelines for employee behaviour
Ensuring compliance: through rewards and sanctions
Reasons for the increasing global interest in Organizational Ethics
Increased concern over corporate violations and skepticism about corporate rhetoric
Growing public demand for corporate accountability
Strengthened roles of various watchdog organizations
Numerous Public Enquiries, Royal Commissions, Senate Enquiries
Leadership under fire in most sectors
Global competition “win at all costs” mentality
Diminishing organizational loyalty
Increasingly complex decisions
Competing demands from multiple stakeholders
More sophisticated workforce
Movement to “empower” employees
Emphasis on: excellence, quality, continuous improvement
Less teaching of values: in schools, families, churches etc……
Growing diversity in the workplace, differing value systems
Emphasis in society or “rights”
Legislation: equity, environmental protection, OH&S etc.
Demand for information on how control is being managed
What “best practice” organizations can do and are doing
Going back to basics, revisiting mission statements, vision, values, principles (the “Why are we here )
Developing or enhancing Codes of Ethics / Practice / Conduct
Public and private sectors are addressing awareness raising, education and training strategies for employees (eg: orientation, management programs, special purpose training)
Revisiting control mechanisms such as auditing, checks and balances
Reinforcing fraud and corruption prevention controls
Governments are passing laws and more closely addressing public sector management
Educationalists and academics are exploring and revisiting theories, concepts, actions, outcomes etc., in ethics
Universities and Business Schools are including Business Ethics in their study programs
Some current and emerging issues in Organisational Ethics & Integrity
International Corruption: strategies for dealing with this, in particular at the organizational level.
Conflicts of Interest in all its form as a major challenge in almost every quarter
Integrity in international business and dealing with cross-cultural issues.
National and international litigation; individual and class actions.
Care Ethics: Caring for employees in difficult times – responsibilities towards employees, customers, society at large and between employees.
Global markets and globalization and the need for greater international and inter-cultural awareness and sensitivity.
Ethics and the Media: Reactions to the major transgressions: invasions of privacy, libel, excessive investigatory actions, political influence.
Bioethics: Issues such as euthanasia, birth control, fertility drugs, steroids in sport, genetic engineering, and the demise of public health systems.
Integrity in International Business: reactions to damaging corporate and political scandals, to world political changes generally and combating global corruption.
Environmental Ethics: Greater realisation of the enormous damage being done in the name of “progress”.
ECommerce, EGoverment: The dramatic changes, currently underway and accelerating, brought about by the “Information Highway”. These changes are rendering our familiar notions of national and international commerce, trade, the marketplace etc. completely outmoded and many traditional governance arrangements totally ineffective.
Whistleblowing: how to facilitate it where necessary and how to protect the whistleblowers
The protection of the environmental and the many organisational challenges emanating from this requirement.
Sources of the future broad societal challenges likely to affect organisations
Changing economic conditions
People or Profit
Rapid technological change
The end of privacy
Changing social values
Multicultural Societies
Endemic unemployment / underemployment
Development of an underclass
The end of organizational loyalty
Increasing ecological / environmental pressures
Bioethics (genetics, pandemics, survival etc.)
Population growth and massive shifts
Workforce diversity
Dominant corporate power and wealth
Demise of the public sector
Politics: national and international – demands for better leaders, with integrity
“Global Ethics” (a better world)
The message here is how the individual organization can take action to stay ahead of the game as these impacts emerge.
What organizations and their leaders need to do:
Regularly revisit your “Credo”
Instill Credo and values in every employee – reject employees who cannot comply
Provide strong ethical leadership, especially CEO
Stay ahead of community standards
Strive for diversity in the makeup of your organization
Clearly state your “Vision” and gain employee ownership of it
Develop a Code of Ethics based on your Credo, Vision and Shared Values
Establish an Ethics Committee which pre- considers new ventures, examines cases and activities, to guide future actions
Establish an Ethics “Hotline” to take suggestions and enquiries from stakeholders
Balance concern for people and profit – based on wider social issues
Educate before the need arises, not as a response to dilemmas
Caffeinated Content
Can be at three levels:
Country or society level, which essentially requires the emphasis given by the National Integrity Systems process.But there are useful overlaps of course.
Sector or industry level (eg: a state or provincial public sector, insurance industry, real estate industry, tertiary education community etc.), looking at the whole entity and how that entity might go about Strategic Implementation; also how well it fits into the particular National Integrity System and what needs to be done to establish a better inter-relationship and better fit; and
Organizational level which deals with the specific ways in which one single organization, whether public, private or civil society, might go about building an internal integrity and ethics regime.
That is:
The needs will differ between nations, between sectors and between organizations, but the overall principles may well be similar. Clearly, while a great deal of the same issues will arise with a whole sector or industry, these may take on different forms and there may be other larger issues too that must be dealt with in that wider context.
Focusing on the latter of these three, the single organization, but I recognize that there are grey areas between them and that sometimes one needs to fix things in the overall system before being able to succeed within sectors or individual organizations.
However, others may hold a different view on that issue. Anyway, I hope this is a useful way to begin.
By way of introduction, for an organization to come to grips with the task of strategically implementing reform in integrity and ethics, its people need to be knowledgeable about a whole range of issues to enable them to clearly understand the motivations, requirements, their various roles in implementation and how to work together for the larger purpose.
So the topics identified as important to date, in roughly the right order I think, are as follows:
1. Introduction to Organizational Ethics and Integrity
Assumptions:
For the purposes of this knowledge box, assumed several accurate assumptions assumed that such an organization has had little or no prior exposure to institutionalizing ethics and integrity into its culture or operations. Obviously, in most cases (we would hope and expect) that many would have some limited exposure, while possibly not having any actual systems in place, and might therefore at least be aware of some of the issues. If so, it might be reasonable to expect that these issues are possibly already being dealt with in some ways by a set of entrenched values (“good” or “bad”, written or unwritten) within their organizations.
Approach:
Assistance to any organization.
This would be by way of enabling and empowering its people to appreciate the complexities and the wide range of possible sub-strategies involved in implementing an integrity regime /ethics strategy. It includes the main things that I can think of that would be part of the process and assumes that nothing at all has been done previously. In practice one hopes that there may be a somewhat better basis than that, in some places anyway.
Topics and Content
The content under each topic I have gleaned from a variety of sources, mainly: my own teaching materials, things I have read in books and journals, my own organizational experience as a manager and consultant and, to some extent, the better web-based information sources. The latter is why I have included some of these sources under each topic (these have all been re-checked this week and are still operational). The courses I have taught from which many of these issues have been gleaned include: Organizational Ethics, Corporate Governance and Business Ethics, Leadership and Team/Self Development and to a lesser extent Public Sector Management and various courses in Human Resource Management.
Readings & References
At this point I have only given a broad general reference list. This is because many, if not most, of the good books now available cover a number of the topics. I have also listed the academic journals in which useful articles on ethics and integrity can be found. Neither list purports to be complete, but they do cover many good general sources. At the later stage of final design and delivery, specific chapters and or journal articles and/or professional articles would be recommended on sub-topics, depending upon the specific needs and/or interests of the course participants. This might perhaps be in the form of a prepared book of readings appropriate for the specific audience. In places I have shown sources of some ideas, but most are not from single sources but an amalgam of content from wide ranging sources. However, if I have offended anybody by inadvertently plagiarizing their ideas or someone else’s, please do let me know. In the final version I would seek to do a better job on this issue.
Cases:
On the issue of cases, it has been my experience that lengthy cases are not always very well received by course participants, particularly for busy senior executives who are looking for a quicker learning tool.
This is not to say that cases cannot be given out as pre or post reading, but as we all know these are often not read by busy people, if too lengthy and complex. So I tend to use either very short (less than one page) cases available from texts and other sources and others that I write myself, mostly the latter. The latter are often shorter and more pointed scenarios that deal with a specific ethical dilemma or situation, rather than long complex cases. Sometimes some commercially available videos presenting very short situational challenges are of use too. I have not listed media of this type here yet, but could do so if need be.
Topic 1: Introduction to Organizational Ethics and Integrity
This would present a broad introduction to the challenges and the need to build a proper implementation strategy. It would present the meaning and focus of Organizational Ethics and Integrity in respect of the organizations themselves, the individuals who work in them and the societies in which they operate.
Some mention of theories would be included, such as the philosophical and moral foundations of ethics and integrity, values, organizational corporate responsibility, personal morality etc., to provide a foundation of knowledge. However, this would be kept to the minimum possible, consistent with providing an effective enough grounding upon which to build. The emphasis on Strategic Implementation would always
be based upon a “best practice approach” – what actually works in practice.
Likely content would include:
- Broad terminology and concepts
- How people focus on morally challenging dilemmas and make ethical decisions about their actions Ethical theories: Consequentialist (teleology, egoism, utilitarianism etc.), ethical relativism, virtue ethics, moral development (Kohlberg et al).
- Values and ethics
- Ethical decision-making: EDM models, normative judgements, distributive justice, excusing conditions, mitigating circumstances etc.
Essential Issues in Organizational Ethics
Establishing the fundamental values of the organization
Defining broad principles which emanate from these values
Developing standards which will guide employees in upholding these values and principles
Establishing specific guidelines for employee behaviour
Ensuring compliance: through rewards and sanctions
Reasons for the increasing global interest in Organizational Ethics
Increased concern over corporate violations and skepticism about corporate rhetoric
Growing public demand for corporate accountability
Strengthened roles of various watchdog organizations
Numerous Public Enquiries, Royal Commissions, Senate Enquiries
Leadership under fire in most sectors
Global competition “win at all costs” mentality
Diminishing organizational loyalty
Increasingly complex decisions
Competing demands from multiple stakeholders
More sophisticated workforce
Movement to “empower” employees
Emphasis on: excellence, quality, continuous improvement
Less teaching of values: in schools, families, churches etc……
Growing diversity in the workplace, differing value systems
Emphasis in society or “rights”
Legislation: equity, environmental protection, OH&S etc.
Demand for information on how control is being managed
What “best practice” organizations can do and are doing
Going back to basics, revisiting mission statements, vision, values, principles (the “Why are we here )
Developing or enhancing Codes of Ethics / Practice / Conduct
Public and private sectors are addressing awareness raising, education and training strategies for employees (eg: orientation, management programs, special purpose training)
Revisiting control mechanisms such as auditing, checks and balances
Reinforcing fraud and corruption prevention controls
Governments are passing laws and more closely addressing public sector management
Educationalists and academics are exploring and revisiting theories, concepts, actions, outcomes etc., in ethics
Universities and Business Schools are including Business Ethics in their study programs
Some current and emerging issues in Organisational Ethics & Integrity
International Corruption: strategies for dealing with this, in particular at the organizational level.
Conflicts of Interest in all its form as a major challenge in almost every quarter
Integrity in international business and dealing with cross-cultural issues.
National and international litigation; individual and class actions.
Care Ethics: Caring for employees in difficult times – responsibilities towards employees, customers, society at large and between employees.
Global markets and globalization and the need for greater international and inter-cultural awareness and sensitivity.
Ethics and the Media: Reactions to the major transgressions: invasions of privacy, libel, excessive investigatory actions, political influence.
Bioethics: Issues such as euthanasia, birth control, fertility drugs, steroids in sport, genetic engineering, and the demise of public health systems.
Integrity in International Business: reactions to damaging corporate and political scandals, to world political changes generally and combating global corruption.
Environmental Ethics: Greater realisation of the enormous damage being done in the name of “progress”.
ECommerce, EGoverment: The dramatic changes, currently underway and accelerating, brought about by the “Information Highway”. These changes are rendering our familiar notions of national and international commerce, trade, the marketplace etc. completely outmoded and many traditional governance arrangements totally ineffective.
Whistleblowing: how to facilitate it where necessary and how to protect the whistleblowers
The protection of the environmental and the many organisational challenges emanating from this requirement.
Sources of the future broad societal challenges likely to affect organisations
Changing economic conditions
People or Profit
Rapid technological change
The end of privacy
Changing social values
Multicultural Societies
Endemic unemployment / underemployment
Development of an underclass
The end of organizational loyalty
Increasing ecological / environmental pressures
Bioethics (genetics, pandemics, survival etc.)
Population growth and massive shifts
Workforce diversity
Dominant corporate power and wealth
Demise of the public sector
Politics: national and international – demands for better leaders, with integrity
“Global Ethics” (a better world)
The message here is how the individual organization can take action to stay ahead of the game as these impacts emerge.
What organizations and their leaders need to do:
Regularly revisit your “Credo”
Instill Credo and values in every employee – reject employees who cannot comply
Provide strong ethical leadership, especially CEO
Stay ahead of community standards
Strive for diversity in the makeup of your organization
Clearly state your “Vision” and gain employee ownership of it
Develop a Code of Ethics based on your Credo, Vision and Shared Values
Establish an Ethics Committee which pre- considers new ventures, examines cases and activities, to guide future actions
Establish an Ethics “Hotline” to take suggestions and enquiries from stakeholders
Balance concern for people and profit – based on wider social issues
Educate before the need arises, not as a response to dilemmas
Caffeinated Content
Posted on May 27, 2009 - by Vic Desotelle
Introduction and Implementation of Total Quality Management (tqm): an Overview
Mr. Amitav Saha asked:
Introduction
The increasing need for improvement of quality the world over led to the development of quality systems to take care of all relevant aspects related to and influencing quality starting from product design and culminating in service to the user. The increase in product complexity and size of operation, responsibility for product quality is gradually shifted from operator to the quality control department. Quality is defined as the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bears on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. It is the degree to which a specific product conforms to a design or specification. Total Quality Management (TQM) is defined as a quality-centered, customer-focused, fact-based, team-driven, senior-management-led process to achieve an organization’s strategic imperative through continuous process improvement. The word “total” in TQM means that everyone in the organization must be involved in the continuous improvement effort, the word “quality” shows a concern for customer satisfaction, and the word “management” refers to the people and processes needed to achieve the quality. TQM is not a program, it is a systematic, integrated, and organizational way-of-life directed at the continuous improvement of an organization. It is not a management fad; it is a proven management style used successfully for decades in organizations around the world. TQM is not an end in itself; it is means to an organizational end. The management is concerned with profitability, growth and resource generation. But only a few inspectors are responsible for checking product quality. Customers in recent years have come to expect much higher quality than ever before. Parameters responsible for product quality and quality concepts need to be clearly understood by management. If one looks at the concept of Quality and its progress over the years carefully, it is evident that Quality has always been an important element for the success of any organization. But the initial approach for Quality was concentrated on the final inspection and accordingly post production adjustment was made. Quality was not viewed as a responsibility of all employees. Quality function was separated from such areas as planning, design, production and sales.
Objectives of the Study
The major objectives of the study are to high light the various uses of Total Quality Management (TQM) as a tool for managerial decision making. Another object is to find out the inherent constraints in its application followed by an attempt to recommend for the betterment of the situation. Keeping in mind the above situation, the study would also examine the different dimensions of TQM and its implementation strategy. The partial objectives of this study are:
i) To get an overall insight and to identify the familiar concepts of TQM
ii)To find out the organizational setup aiding the implementation of TQM
iii)To know the perception of TQM of Bangladeshi Management
iv) To suggest possible ways of transforming corporate culture into TQM
Methodology of the Study
It is a theoretical approach based on desk study, review of related literature and existing stock of knowledge. This paper is based on secondary and primary information. Available literature including relevant books and articles on TQM were studied. Some portions of this paper is the author’s own observations and logical arguments. A perception of Bangladeshi management is examined by collecting primary information where modern econometrics techniques like “Factor Analysis:” is used.
Review of Research Studies
Total quality Control Management was developed in the mid 1940s by Dr. W. Edward Deming who at the time was an advisor in sampling at the Bureau of Census and later became a professor of statistics at the New York University Graduate School of Business Administration. He had little success convincing American business to adopt TQM but his management methods did gain success in Japan. In the 1970s and 1980s, many American companies, including Ford, IBM, and Xerox, began adopting Dr. Deming’s principles of TQM. This gradually led to their remaining some of the markets previously lost to the Japanese. Although TQM gained its performance in the private sector, in recent years it has been adopted by some public organizations. Tools and techniques of TQM are applicable to a wide range of organizations of all sizes and types such as manufacturing, service, government, military, contraction, education, small business , healthcare and non profit entities. Mohammad Moqbul Hossain Bhuiyan and Md. Kamal Uddin had an article on “What Does Total Quality Management Stand for? Literature Review and Implications for Bangladesh”. They said that Quality control activities remain with us from thousands of years. Born out of management practice, the TQM (Total Quality Management] has had a profound and unparalleled impact on modern business history. However, as a body of practical knowledge, TQM has been largely theoretical. As a consequence, this important management philosophy has reminded amorphous and shrouded in considerable conceptual haziness and ambiguity in developing countries like Bangladesh. Recent theorizing, primarily emphasizing the application of organizational behavior theories of TQM, has begun to provide grater clarity, but much work remains to be done. This paper attempts to contribute to this nascent theory-building literature by employing theory from market process economics, namely, Bangladeshi and evolutionary economics, which explains how processes of dynamic change, adaptation and learning are driven by entrepreneurial creativity. We have examined the perception of TQM of Bangladeshi management with the framework of modern econometrics techniques “Factor analysis”. Drawing on the resource approach and other theoretical perspectives, this paper has suggested TQM as a potential source of sustainable competitive advantage. Quality is to be managed, it must first be understood. Managers must move aggressively to improve their understanding of quality practices and performance. The findings suggest that most features generally associated with TQM – such as training, process improvement, and benchmarking – do not generally produce advantage, but that certain tacit, behavioral, imperfectly imitable features – such as awareness, management commitment, open culture, employee empowerment, and executive commitment, leadership – can produce advantage. The authors conclude that these tacit resources, and not TQM tools and techniques, drive TQM success, and those organizations that acquire them can outperform competitors with or without the accompanying TQM ideology.Muhammad Ziaulhaq Mamun and Sharmina Afrin in their study on “Total Quality Management (TQM) Practices of the Bangladesh and Thai Companies: A Comparative Analysis” mentions that the comparative analysis of TQM practices between Bangladesh and Thai companies clearly shows planning, implementation and operational difference, Bangladeshi companies portray TQM vision consciousness but in many cases they fall victim of treating TQM as a fad rather than an essential component. The management principles are narrowly viewed, communicated and understood in Bangladeshi companies even with well-documented procedures and instructions. All the Bangladeshi companies concerned are well equipped and successful to some extent in achieving customer satisfaction with regard to product and service quality excellence, but they lack close working relationships, interest groups and the promoting aspect of working environment. Bangladeshi firms make a visible effort in empowerment of quality control circles but apparently follow a comparatively rigid hierarchical structure, but nonetheless are able to assure quality. In terms of organization and distribution, all of the concerned companies are suitably equipped and positioned, but suppliers are not benchmarked with respect to specific criteria and special quality ratings in terms of product attributes and therefore information regarding supplier reliability is not available in any objective form. Bangladeshi firms have much to achieve in the areas of creativity and R&D, and therefore, investment in those areas is imperative.
Theoretical framework
TQM is a management philosophy that seeks to integrate all organizational functions (marketing, finance, design, engineering, and production, customer service, etc.) to focus on meeting customer needs and organizational objectives.TQM views an organization as a collection of processes. It maintains that organizations must strive to continuously improve these processes by incorporating the knowledge and experiences of workers. The simple objective of TQM is “Do the right things, right the first time, every time”. TQM is infinitely variable and adaptable. Although originally applied to manufacturing operations, and for a number of years only used in that area, TQM is now becoming recognized as a generic management tool, just as applicable in service and public sector organizations. There are a number of evolutionary strands, with different sectors creating their own versions from the common ancestor. TQM is the foundation for activities, which include: Commitment by senior management and all employees Meeting customer requirements Reducing development cycle times Just In Time/Demand Flow Manufacturing Improvement teams Reducing product and service costs Systems to facilitate improvement Line Management ownership Employee involvement and empowerment Recognition and celebration Challenging quantified goals and benchmarking Focus on processes / improvement plans Specific incorporation in strategic planning This shows that TQM must be practiced in all activities, by all personnel, in Manufacturing, Marketing, Engineering, R&D, Sales, Purchasing, HR, etc.Key ElementsTo be successful implementing TQM, an organization must concentrate on the eight key elements: Ethics Integrity Trust Training Teamwork Leadership Recognition Communication Principles of TQMThe key principles of TQM are as following:Management Commitment Plan (drive, direct) Do (deploy, support, participate) Check (review) Act (recognize, communicate, revise) Employee Empowerment Training Suggestion scheme Measurement and recognition Excellence teams Fact Based Decision Making SPC (statistical process control) DOE, FMEA The 7 statistical tools TOPS (FORD 8D – Team Oriented Problem Solving) Continuous Improvement Systematic measurement and focus on CONQ Excellence teams Cross-functional process management Attain, maintain, improve standards Customer Focus Supplier partnership Service relationship with internal customers Never compromise quality Customer driven standards The Concept of Continuous Improvement by TQMTQM is mainly concerned with continuous improvement in all work, from high level strategic planning and decision-making, to detailed execution of work elements on the shop floor. It stems from the belief that mistakes can be avoided and defects can be prevented. It leads to continuously improving results, in all aspects of work, as a result of continuously improving capabilities, people, processes, and technology and machine capabilities.Continuous improvement must deal not only with improving results, but more importantly with improving capabilities to produce better results in the future. The five major areas of focus for capability improvement are demand generation, supply generation, technology, operations and people capability.A central principle of TQM is that mistakes may be made by people, but most of them are caused, or at least permitted, by faulty systems and processes. This means that the root cause of such mistakes can be identified and eliminated, and repetition can be prevented by changing the process.1There are three major mechanisms of prevention: Preventing mistakes (defects) from occurring (Mistake – proofing or Poka-Yoke). Where mistakes can’t be absolutely prevented, detecting them early to prevent them being passed down the value added chain (Inspection at source or by the next operation). Where mistakes recur, stopping production until the process can be corrected, to prevent the production of more defects. (Stop in time). Implementation Principles and ProcessesA preliminary step in TQM implementation is to assess the organization’s current reality. Relevant preconditions have to do with the organization’s history, its current needs, precipitating events leading to TQM, and the existing employee quality of working life. If the current reality does not include important preconditions, TQM implementation should be delayed until the organization is in a state in which TQM is likely to succeed.If an organization has a track record of effective responsiveness to the environment, and if it has been able to successfully change the way it operates when needed, TQM will be easier to implement. If an organization has been historically reactive and has no skill at improving its operating systems, there will be both employee skepticism and a lack of skilled change agents. If this condition prevails, a comprehensive program of management and leadership development may be instituted. A management audit is a good assessment tool to identify current levels of organizational functioning and areas in need of change. An organization should be basically healthy before beginning TQM. If it has significant problems such as a very unstable funding base, weak administrative systems, lack of managerial skill, or poor employee morale, TQM would not be appropriate.However, a certain level of stress is probably desirable to initiate TQM. People need to feel a need for a change. Kanter (1983) addresses this phenomenon be describing building blocks which are present in effective organizational change. These forces include departures from tradition, a crisis or galvanizing event, strategic decisions, individual “prime movers,” and action vehicles. Departures from tradition are activities, usually at lower levels of the organization, which occur when entrepreneurs move outside the normal ways of operating to solve a problem. A crisis, if it is not too disabling, can also help create a sense of urgency which can mobilize people to act. In the case of TQM, this may be a funding cut or threat, or demands from consumers or other stakeholders for improved quality of service. After a crisis, a leader may intervene strategically by articulating a new vision of the future to help the organization deal with it. A plan to implement TQM may be such a strategic decision. Such a leader may then become a prime mover, who takes charge in championing the new idea and showing others how it will help them get where they want to go. Finally, action vehicles are needed and mechanisms or structures to enable the change to occur and become institutionalized.Steps in Managing the TransitionBeckhard and Pritchard (1992) have outlined the basic steps in managing a transition to a new system such as TQM: identifying tasks to be done, creating necessary management structures, developing strategies for building commitment, designing mechanisms to communicate the change, and assigning resources.Task identification would include a study of present conditions (assessing current reality, as described above); assessing readiness, such as through a force field analysis; creating a model of the desired state, in this case, implementation of TQM; announcing the change goals to the organization; and assigning responsibilities and resources. This final step would include securing outside consultation and training and assigning someone within the organization to oversee the effort. This should be a responsibility of top management. In fact, the next step, designing transition management structures, is also a responsibility of top management. In fact, Cohen and Brand (1993) and Hyde (1992) assert that management must be heavily involved as leaders rather than relying on a separate staff person or function to shepherd the effort. An organization wide steering committee to oversee the effort may be appropriate. Developing commitment strategies was discussed above in the sections on resistance and on visionary leadership.6To communicate the change, mechanisms beyond existing processes will need to be developed. Special all-staff meetings attended by executives, sometimes designed as input or dialog sessions, may be used to kick off the process, and TQM newsletters may be an effective ongoing communication tool to keep employees aware of activities and accomplishments.Management of resources for the change effort is important with TQM because outside consultants will almost always be required. Choose consultants based on their prior relevant experience and their commitment to adapting the process to fit unique organizational needs. While consultants will be invaluable with initial training of staff and TQM system design, employees (management and others) should be actively involved in TQM implementation, perhaps after receiving training in change management which they can then pass on to other employees. A collaborative relationship with consultants and clear role definitions and specification of activities must be established.
Findings of the Study
Total Quality Management is a system implemented to reduce defects in finished products with the goal of achieving zero products these systems require timely data on defective products, rework costs, and the cost of honoring warranty contracts. This in formation is used to help to redign the product in away that makes it less prove to defect. It may be used to reengineer the production process to reduce set up time and decrease the potential for error. TQM systems provide information on non-financial measures such as customer satisfaction, number of since calls and time to generate reports. Attention to these measures which employees can control leads to increased profitability.Just in time inventory systems demand for an increased emphasis on product quality. If products are produced only as they are needed. It is very costly for the company to have to stop production became of defects or machine breakdown. TQM and just in time production often aid in effective application of the learn business model. The main purpose of lean business model is to eliminate waste and strive for continuous improvement which requires that every manager and employee continuously look to improve operations.Larson opines that TQM calls for all managers and employees at all stages of operations to strive towards higher standards and a reduced number of defects.In today’s competitive and international market place, quality is synonymous with not just product quality but also cost, delivery and service. In a global market where product life cycle has become short where customer expectations have increased, the traditional product testing/certification approaches are not adequate. To compete in international markets, companies in developing countries need a sound quality management system. With liberalization and international competitiveness, there is a need to improve the quality of goods manufactured by the industries. Standardization is one of the important tools for achieving quality up gradation and building a strong quality culture within the organization.
Limitations of the study
The study may suffer from some limitations. The most serious limitation encountering the study is that author has a little practical exposure to the industries and organizations, where the practice of TQM is in existence. So, in analyzing the data, the author relied mainly on personal inference and logical conclusions. As the topic is a broad bases -and global issues, hence there may be some gaps in the prices of information. TQM as a discipline is still evolving. So, this study may be one of the earlier studies in this area. Consequently, it may suffer from some additional limitations generally associated with an earlier study. The author pays his gratitude to anyone endeavoring to make further analysis, improvement or suggestions on the issue.
Conclusions
TQM attempts to have maximum customer satisfaction through providing quality products and services but uncongenial business environment, high cost of production, increasing prices of products unfair competition in market are the major constraints in using TQM. Once the business is profitable, they can develop quality products and services. Absence of breakeven point decline in demand for products, lack of trained manpower are other limiting factors for such use. We should try to have market research to satisfy our customers as well as managerial efficiency and effectiveness sidely side. We should also develop strategic management techniques to stand in open market economy. Once the strategies are appropriate business can see well and further enhance the wide are of TQM devices towards the customer’s goals achievement. Academic research on the holistic approach to TQM is in its primitive stage. So, there is a clear need for more precise measures of quality. Endeavour has been paid throughout this paper to find out a comprehensive approach to TQM. The technical tools of quality improvement may be well developed, but its theory and practice lag far behind. The concept of quality is only dimly understood by the practicing managers. Links to market share, cost, and profitability are unclear. Measurement is also complex. Empirical researches on these issues like costs, market share, prices, profitability, employee turnover, and the like, as dependent variable may be conducted in the future. Because of the recent trade globalization, developing countries are in crying needs to increase productivity and elevate the quality of products. More empirical research can be conducted in future to make quality a vital issues in every sector of the economy. Over the past few decades, Information Technology (IT) helps TQM organization achieve its goals. Study may be conducted to reveal the effectiveness of IT application toward quality assurance.
Bibliography
1. Bester field, Dale H, et al.(2003),Total Quality Management (New York) : Pears Education Inc; 3rd Edition2. Mamun, M.Z. and Afrin, S. (2001). Total Quality Management (TQM) Practices of the Bangladesh and Thai Companies: A Comparative Analysis, Journal of Business Administration, Vol. 27, No. 1& 2, January & April.3. Bhuiyan M.M.H. and Uddin, M.K. (2007). What Does Total Quality Management Stand for? Literature Review and Implications for Bangladesh, The Cost and Management, Vol. 35, No. 4, July-August.4. Bhuiyan, M. M. H. (2000), Transier of Japanese Total Quality Control to the US Firms, Unpublished MBA Thesis, Otaru University of Commerce, Japan.5. Garvin, David A. (1988), Managing Quality – The Strategic and Competitive Edge; The Free Press; NY. 6. Goetsch, D. L. and S.B. Davis (1997), Introduction to Total Quality (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Inc.).7. Griffin, Ricky W. (2005), Management (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 8th Edition).8. Logothetis, N. (2001), Managing for Total Quality (New Delhi: Prentice-Hall of India Private Limited). Womack, James P., Daniel T. Jones, and Danie Roos (1990), The Machine that Changed the World (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company).9. Dean, J. W. and Evans. J. R. (1994), Total Quality Management, Organization and Strategy, New York: West Publishing Company.10. Goetsch, David L. and Davis, Stanley B. (1997), “Introduction to Total Quality”, 2nd ed., New Jersy: Prentice Hall.11. Mamun, M. Z. (1999), Comparative Study on Quality Management Practices in Asian Countries: Bangladesh, Chapter Two, November 1999, Quality Management Research Unit, Entrepreneurship Development Center, Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.12. Rao, Ashok, Carr, Lawrance P., Dambolena. Ismael, Kopp, Robert J., Martin, John, Raffi, Farshad, and Schlesinger, Phyllis Fineman (1996), Total Quality Management: A Cross Cultural Perspective, NY: John Wiley and Sons.13. Taormina, Tom (1996). Virtual Leadership and ISO 9000 Imperative, New Jersy: Prentice Hall.
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Introduction
The increasing need for improvement of quality the world over led to the development of quality systems to take care of all relevant aspects related to and influencing quality starting from product design and culminating in service to the user. The increase in product complexity and size of operation, responsibility for product quality is gradually shifted from operator to the quality control department. Quality is defined as the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bears on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. It is the degree to which a specific product conforms to a design or specification. Total Quality Management (TQM) is defined as a quality-centered, customer-focused, fact-based, team-driven, senior-management-led process to achieve an organization’s strategic imperative through continuous process improvement. The word “total” in TQM means that everyone in the organization must be involved in the continuous improvement effort, the word “quality” shows a concern for customer satisfaction, and the word “management” refers to the people and processes needed to achieve the quality. TQM is not a program, it is a systematic, integrated, and organizational way-of-life directed at the continuous improvement of an organization. It is not a management fad; it is a proven management style used successfully for decades in organizations around the world. TQM is not an end in itself; it is means to an organizational end. The management is concerned with profitability, growth and resource generation. But only a few inspectors are responsible for checking product quality. Customers in recent years have come to expect much higher quality than ever before. Parameters responsible for product quality and quality concepts need to be clearly understood by management. If one looks at the concept of Quality and its progress over the years carefully, it is evident that Quality has always been an important element for the success of any organization. But the initial approach for Quality was concentrated on the final inspection and accordingly post production adjustment was made. Quality was not viewed as a responsibility of all employees. Quality function was separated from such areas as planning, design, production and sales.
Objectives of the Study
The major objectives of the study are to high light the various uses of Total Quality Management (TQM) as a tool for managerial decision making. Another object is to find out the inherent constraints in its application followed by an attempt to recommend for the betterment of the situation. Keeping in mind the above situation, the study would also examine the different dimensions of TQM and its implementation strategy. The partial objectives of this study are:
i) To get an overall insight and to identify the familiar concepts of TQM
ii)To find out the organizational setup aiding the implementation of TQM
iii)To know the perception of TQM of Bangladeshi Management
iv) To suggest possible ways of transforming corporate culture into TQM
Methodology of the Study
It is a theoretical approach based on desk study, review of related literature and existing stock of knowledge. This paper is based on secondary and primary information. Available literature including relevant books and articles on TQM were studied. Some portions of this paper is the author’s own observations and logical arguments. A perception of Bangladeshi management is examined by collecting primary information where modern econometrics techniques like “Factor Analysis:” is used.
Review of Research Studies
Total quality Control Management was developed in the mid 1940s by Dr. W. Edward Deming who at the time was an advisor in sampling at the Bureau of Census and later became a professor of statistics at the New York University Graduate School of Business Administration. He had little success convincing American business to adopt TQM but his management methods did gain success in Japan. In the 1970s and 1980s, many American companies, including Ford, IBM, and Xerox, began adopting Dr. Deming’s principles of TQM. This gradually led to their remaining some of the markets previously lost to the Japanese. Although TQM gained its performance in the private sector, in recent years it has been adopted by some public organizations. Tools and techniques of TQM are applicable to a wide range of organizations of all sizes and types such as manufacturing, service, government, military, contraction, education, small business , healthcare and non profit entities. Mohammad Moqbul Hossain Bhuiyan and Md. Kamal Uddin had an article on “What Does Total Quality Management Stand for? Literature Review and Implications for Bangladesh”. They said that Quality control activities remain with us from thousands of years. Born out of management practice, the TQM (Total Quality Management] has had a profound and unparalleled impact on modern business history. However, as a body of practical knowledge, TQM has been largely theoretical. As a consequence, this important management philosophy has reminded amorphous and shrouded in considerable conceptual haziness and ambiguity in developing countries like Bangladesh. Recent theorizing, primarily emphasizing the application of organizational behavior theories of TQM, has begun to provide grater clarity, but much work remains to be done. This paper attempts to contribute to this nascent theory-building literature by employing theory from market process economics, namely, Bangladeshi and evolutionary economics, which explains how processes of dynamic change, adaptation and learning are driven by entrepreneurial creativity. We have examined the perception of TQM of Bangladeshi management with the framework of modern econometrics techniques “Factor analysis”. Drawing on the resource approach and other theoretical perspectives, this paper has suggested TQM as a potential source of sustainable competitive advantage. Quality is to be managed, it must first be understood. Managers must move aggressively to improve their understanding of quality practices and performance. The findings suggest that most features generally associated with TQM – such as training, process improvement, and benchmarking – do not generally produce advantage, but that certain tacit, behavioral, imperfectly imitable features – such as awareness, management commitment, open culture, employee empowerment, and executive commitment, leadership – can produce advantage. The authors conclude that these tacit resources, and not TQM tools and techniques, drive TQM success, and those organizations that acquire them can outperform competitors with or without the accompanying TQM ideology.Muhammad Ziaulhaq Mamun and Sharmina Afrin in their study on “Total Quality Management (TQM) Practices of the Bangladesh and Thai Companies: A Comparative Analysis” mentions that the comparative analysis of TQM practices between Bangladesh and Thai companies clearly shows planning, implementation and operational difference, Bangladeshi companies portray TQM vision consciousness but in many cases they fall victim of treating TQM as a fad rather than an essential component. The management principles are narrowly viewed, communicated and understood in Bangladeshi companies even with well-documented procedures and instructions. All the Bangladeshi companies concerned are well equipped and successful to some extent in achieving customer satisfaction with regard to product and service quality excellence, but they lack close working relationships, interest groups and the promoting aspect of working environment. Bangladeshi firms make a visible effort in empowerment of quality control circles but apparently follow a comparatively rigid hierarchical structure, but nonetheless are able to assure quality. In terms of organization and distribution, all of the concerned companies are suitably equipped and positioned, but suppliers are not benchmarked with respect to specific criteria and special quality ratings in terms of product attributes and therefore information regarding supplier reliability is not available in any objective form. Bangladeshi firms have much to achieve in the areas of creativity and R&D, and therefore, investment in those areas is imperative.
Theoretical framework
TQM is a management philosophy that seeks to integrate all organizational functions (marketing, finance, design, engineering, and production, customer service, etc.) to focus on meeting customer needs and organizational objectives.TQM views an organization as a collection of processes. It maintains that organizations must strive to continuously improve these processes by incorporating the knowledge and experiences of workers. The simple objective of TQM is “Do the right things, right the first time, every time”. TQM is infinitely variable and adaptable. Although originally applied to manufacturing operations, and for a number of years only used in that area, TQM is now becoming recognized as a generic management tool, just as applicable in service and public sector organizations. There are a number of evolutionary strands, with different sectors creating their own versions from the common ancestor. TQM is the foundation for activities, which include: Commitment by senior management and all employees Meeting customer requirements Reducing development cycle times Just In Time/Demand Flow Manufacturing Improvement teams Reducing product and service costs Systems to facilitate improvement Line Management ownership Employee involvement and empowerment Recognition and celebration Challenging quantified goals and benchmarking Focus on processes / improvement plans Specific incorporation in strategic planning This shows that TQM must be practiced in all activities, by all personnel, in Manufacturing, Marketing, Engineering, R&D, Sales, Purchasing, HR, etc.Key ElementsTo be successful implementing TQM, an organization must concentrate on the eight key elements: Ethics Integrity Trust Training Teamwork Leadership Recognition Communication Principles of TQMThe key principles of TQM are as following:Management Commitment Plan (drive, direct) Do (deploy, support, participate) Check (review) Act (recognize, communicate, revise) Employee Empowerment Training Suggestion scheme Measurement and recognition Excellence teams Fact Based Decision Making SPC (statistical process control) DOE, FMEA The 7 statistical tools TOPS (FORD 8D – Team Oriented Problem Solving) Continuous Improvement Systematic measurement and focus on CONQ Excellence teams Cross-functional process management Attain, maintain, improve standards Customer Focus Supplier partnership Service relationship with internal customers Never compromise quality Customer driven standards The Concept of Continuous Improvement by TQMTQM is mainly concerned with continuous improvement in all work, from high level strategic planning and decision-making, to detailed execution of work elements on the shop floor. It stems from the belief that mistakes can be avoided and defects can be prevented. It leads to continuously improving results, in all aspects of work, as a result of continuously improving capabilities, people, processes, and technology and machine capabilities.Continuous improvement must deal not only with improving results, but more importantly with improving capabilities to produce better results in the future. The five major areas of focus for capability improvement are demand generation, supply generation, technology, operations and people capability.A central principle of TQM is that mistakes may be made by people, but most of them are caused, or at least permitted, by faulty systems and processes. This means that the root cause of such mistakes can be identified and eliminated, and repetition can be prevented by changing the process.1There are three major mechanisms of prevention: Preventing mistakes (defects) from occurring (Mistake – proofing or Poka-Yoke). Where mistakes can’t be absolutely prevented, detecting them early to prevent them being passed down the value added chain (Inspection at source or by the next operation). Where mistakes recur, stopping production until the process can be corrected, to prevent the production of more defects. (Stop in time). Implementation Principles and ProcessesA preliminary step in TQM implementation is to assess the organization’s current reality. Relevant preconditions have to do with the organization’s history, its current needs, precipitating events leading to TQM, and the existing employee quality of working life. If the current reality does not include important preconditions, TQM implementation should be delayed until the organization is in a state in which TQM is likely to succeed.If an organization has a track record of effective responsiveness to the environment, and if it has been able to successfully change the way it operates when needed, TQM will be easier to implement. If an organization has been historically reactive and has no skill at improving its operating systems, there will be both employee skepticism and a lack of skilled change agents. If this condition prevails, a comprehensive program of management and leadership development may be instituted. A management audit is a good assessment tool to identify current levels of organizational functioning and areas in need of change. An organization should be basically healthy before beginning TQM. If it has significant problems such as a very unstable funding base, weak administrative systems, lack of managerial skill, or poor employee morale, TQM would not be appropriate.However, a certain level of stress is probably desirable to initiate TQM. People need to feel a need for a change. Kanter (1983) addresses this phenomenon be describing building blocks which are present in effective organizational change. These forces include departures from tradition, a crisis or galvanizing event, strategic decisions, individual “prime movers,” and action vehicles. Departures from tradition are activities, usually at lower levels of the organization, which occur when entrepreneurs move outside the normal ways of operating to solve a problem. A crisis, if it is not too disabling, can also help create a sense of urgency which can mobilize people to act. In the case of TQM, this may be a funding cut or threat, or demands from consumers or other stakeholders for improved quality of service. After a crisis, a leader may intervene strategically by articulating a new vision of the future to help the organization deal with it. A plan to implement TQM may be such a strategic decision. Such a leader may then become a prime mover, who takes charge in championing the new idea and showing others how it will help them get where they want to go. Finally, action vehicles are needed and mechanisms or structures to enable the change to occur and become institutionalized.Steps in Managing the TransitionBeckhard and Pritchard (1992) have outlined the basic steps in managing a transition to a new system such as TQM: identifying tasks to be done, creating necessary management structures, developing strategies for building commitment, designing mechanisms to communicate the change, and assigning resources.Task identification would include a study of present conditions (assessing current reality, as described above); assessing readiness, such as through a force field analysis; creating a model of the desired state, in this case, implementation of TQM; announcing the change goals to the organization; and assigning responsibilities and resources. This final step would include securing outside consultation and training and assigning someone within the organization to oversee the effort. This should be a responsibility of top management. In fact, the next step, designing transition management structures, is also a responsibility of top management. In fact, Cohen and Brand (1993) and Hyde (1992) assert that management must be heavily involved as leaders rather than relying on a separate staff person or function to shepherd the effort. An organization wide steering committee to oversee the effort may be appropriate. Developing commitment strategies was discussed above in the sections on resistance and on visionary leadership.6To communicate the change, mechanisms beyond existing processes will need to be developed. Special all-staff meetings attended by executives, sometimes designed as input or dialog sessions, may be used to kick off the process, and TQM newsletters may be an effective ongoing communication tool to keep employees aware of activities and accomplishments.Management of resources for the change effort is important with TQM because outside consultants will almost always be required. Choose consultants based on their prior relevant experience and their commitment to adapting the process to fit unique organizational needs. While consultants will be invaluable with initial training of staff and TQM system design, employees (management and others) should be actively involved in TQM implementation, perhaps after receiving training in change management which they can then pass on to other employees. A collaborative relationship with consultants and clear role definitions and specification of activities must be established.
Findings of the Study
Total Quality Management is a system implemented to reduce defects in finished products with the goal of achieving zero products these systems require timely data on defective products, rework costs, and the cost of honoring warranty contracts. This in formation is used to help to redign the product in away that makes it less prove to defect. It may be used to reengineer the production process to reduce set up time and decrease the potential for error. TQM systems provide information on non-financial measures such as customer satisfaction, number of since calls and time to generate reports. Attention to these measures which employees can control leads to increased profitability.Just in time inventory systems demand for an increased emphasis on product quality. If products are produced only as they are needed. It is very costly for the company to have to stop production became of defects or machine breakdown. TQM and just in time production often aid in effective application of the learn business model. The main purpose of lean business model is to eliminate waste and strive for continuous improvement which requires that every manager and employee continuously look to improve operations.Larson opines that TQM calls for all managers and employees at all stages of operations to strive towards higher standards and a reduced number of defects.In today’s competitive and international market place, quality is synonymous with not just product quality but also cost, delivery and service. In a global market where product life cycle has become short where customer expectations have increased, the traditional product testing/certification approaches are not adequate. To compete in international markets, companies in developing countries need a sound quality management system. With liberalization and international competitiveness, there is a need to improve the quality of goods manufactured by the industries. Standardization is one of the important tools for achieving quality up gradation and building a strong quality culture within the organization.
Limitations of the study
The study may suffer from some limitations. The most serious limitation encountering the study is that author has a little practical exposure to the industries and organizations, where the practice of TQM is in existence. So, in analyzing the data, the author relied mainly on personal inference and logical conclusions. As the topic is a broad bases -and global issues, hence there may be some gaps in the prices of information. TQM as a discipline is still evolving. So, this study may be one of the earlier studies in this area. Consequently, it may suffer from some additional limitations generally associated with an earlier study. The author pays his gratitude to anyone endeavoring to make further analysis, improvement or suggestions on the issue.
Conclusions
TQM attempts to have maximum customer satisfaction through providing quality products and services but uncongenial business environment, high cost of production, increasing prices of products unfair competition in market are the major constraints in using TQM. Once the business is profitable, they can develop quality products and services. Absence of breakeven point decline in demand for products, lack of trained manpower are other limiting factors for such use. We should try to have market research to satisfy our customers as well as managerial efficiency and effectiveness sidely side. We should also develop strategic management techniques to stand in open market economy. Once the strategies are appropriate business can see well and further enhance the wide are of TQM devices towards the customer’s goals achievement. Academic research on the holistic approach to TQM is in its primitive stage. So, there is a clear need for more precise measures of quality. Endeavour has been paid throughout this paper to find out a comprehensive approach to TQM. The technical tools of quality improvement may be well developed, but its theory and practice lag far behind. The concept of quality is only dimly understood by the practicing managers. Links to market share, cost, and profitability are unclear. Measurement is also complex. Empirical researches on these issues like costs, market share, prices, profitability, employee turnover, and the like, as dependent variable may be conducted in the future. Because of the recent trade globalization, developing countries are in crying needs to increase productivity and elevate the quality of products. More empirical research can be conducted in future to make quality a vital issues in every sector of the economy. Over the past few decades, Information Technology (IT) helps TQM organization achieve its goals. Study may be conducted to reveal the effectiveness of IT application toward quality assurance.
Bibliography
1. Bester field, Dale H, et al.(2003),Total Quality Management (New York) : Pears Education Inc; 3rd Edition2. Mamun, M.Z. and Afrin, S. (2001). Total Quality Management (TQM) Practices of the Bangladesh and Thai Companies: A Comparative Analysis, Journal of Business Administration, Vol. 27, No. 1& 2, January & April.3. Bhuiyan M.M.H. and Uddin, M.K. (2007). What Does Total Quality Management Stand for? Literature Review and Implications for Bangladesh, The Cost and Management, Vol. 35, No. 4, July-August.4. Bhuiyan, M. M. H. (2000), Transier of Japanese Total Quality Control to the US Firms, Unpublished MBA Thesis, Otaru University of Commerce, Japan.5. Garvin, David A. (1988), Managing Quality – The Strategic and Competitive Edge; The Free Press; NY. 6. Goetsch, D. L. and S.B. Davis (1997), Introduction to Total Quality (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Inc.).7. Griffin, Ricky W. (2005), Management (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 8th Edition).8. Logothetis, N. (2001), Managing for Total Quality (New Delhi: Prentice-Hall of India Private Limited). Womack, James P., Daniel T. Jones, and Danie Roos (1990), The Machine that Changed the World (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company).9. Dean, J. W. and Evans. J. R. (1994), Total Quality Management, Organization and Strategy, New York: West Publishing Company.10. Goetsch, David L. and Davis, Stanley B. (1997), “Introduction to Total Quality”, 2nd ed., New Jersy: Prentice Hall.11. Mamun, M. Z. (1999), Comparative Study on Quality Management Practices in Asian Countries: Bangladesh, Chapter Two, November 1999, Quality Management Research Unit, Entrepreneurship Development Center, Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.12. Rao, Ashok, Carr, Lawrance P., Dambolena. Ismael, Kopp, Robert J., Martin, John, Raffi, Farshad, and Schlesinger, Phyllis Fineman (1996), Total Quality Management: A Cross Cultural Perspective, NY: John Wiley and Sons.13. Taormina, Tom (1996). Virtual Leadership and ISO 9000 Imperative, New Jersy: Prentice Hall.
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Posted on May 27, 2009 - by Vic Desotelle
Organisational Ecology and Strategic Leadership
Per Christensen asked:
An organisation’s basic philosophy is more important to its result than technological and/ or economic resources, organisational structure, innovation and choice of time. Thomas Watson Jr.
This article contains no information about technological trends, economical predictions or market analyses. It lays out five principle insights into how and why any enterprise in the world today should practise Strategic Leadership internally in the organisation.
Both strategy and leadership are today a matter of course. How comes, then, that so very few enterprises do actually practise Strategic Leadership? The reasons are many. Top managers want to keep all ways open, not being bound to follow previously decided paths. They want to keep flexibility. Sometimes they have hidden agendas that would surface if strategy was overtly formulated. In some cases middle management hides from strategy and leadership because they want to have the liberty to side with the top one day, the bottom the other – even on the same topic. Leadership is dangerous, many managers seem to feel. One sticks one’s neck out, and it might be cut off. Strategic decisions might be unpopular. Ore one’s incompetence as strategic leader might become evident. Sometimes processes as those presented here are avoided simply because they take time. There are so many good reasons – and many of them are respectable and sensible.
No-strategy and no-leadership may be OK on a dreamy pacific island. However, in an environment with ever faster changing technology, markets and international politics, and with an ever stronger competition long term survival depends on strategy and leadership. The competitively able enterprises of today and tomorrow are lean, delayered, decentralised, delegated and flexible. Such enterprises have strategy, it is known, owned and practised by more than a CEO and leadership is practised at all management levels.
Strategic Leadership is based on five insights into the essence of organisations. These insights are here formulated as principles:
Within the ecosystem, all components are dependant on other components for their very existence. Individuals and groups within an organisation are mutually dependant on each other and have superior common interests.
Whenever destructive conflicts appear on the scene, the main reason is that the ‘parties’ involved are not aware that they are parts of a system on which they all depend. Usually there is a lack of common goals is such situations. Strategy contains the common goals, identity and ethics. Without strategy, the organisation is fragmented into departments, professional groups and working groups without co-operation or synergy.
Individuals and/ or groups of people defend their territory against intruders, and hierarchical positions against rivals.
There is no doubt that man is territorial. Without strategy, no common territory is defined. Then individuals and groups define their own territory, which is defended and given superiority, even over the interests of the company. Motivation to perform for the company diminishes, motivation to fight for one’s own or one’s own group’s interests (against other’s in the company) increase.
Man is also hierarchical. Without obvious leadership, a lasting struggle to establish the missing hierarchy starts off. This is wrongly often understood as expressions of a power need. This struggle is most often superfluous. A clear-cut hierarchy based on Strategic Leadership is the necessary first step to prevent ‘power struggles’.
For all systems and organisations there is a theoretical optimum degree of openness:
- Closed systems and monocultures degenerate and/ or die out
- Totally exposed systems lose integrity, identity and focus
Free flow of information, and free discussion between organisational levels and lines is a necessity. No single person can be the informed specialist of everything in today’s complex world. Strategic Leadership ensures that this exchange of knowledge and opinion happens. The organisation should be a truly open system internally – and of course externally.
A system that is very open runs the risk of losing integrity, identity and focus. That is exactly another contribution from Strategic Leadership: a strategy that is owned by all hands implies integrity, identity and focus.
The effect of influences to the ecosystem and upon organisations is dependant on:
- The content of the influence
- The context
- The order in which the influences come
- The stage of development of the system
The fruitful ongoing process of Strategic Leadership should be strictly led and follow certain patterns. Unless this is taken seriously, the situation could turn to the worse. Power struggles, bureaucracy, de-motivation and wasted time could result. Content, context, syntax and the developmental stage of the system must be regarded.
Ecosystems and organisations are governed by feedback.
The strategically led company depends, as we said, on free flows of information and opinion. The company is a complex, self-organising and self-correcting system. Any breach in feedback loops is a threat to the company. Feedback should be encouraged, and it should be seen as a matter of course, and an obvious duty of any employee. Feedback is encouraged and put to system in Strategic Leadership.
We see then, that Strategic Leadership has a theoretical basis. This will be further detailed throughout this booklet. Empirical knowledge also strongly supports the necessity of Strategic Leadership. The studies of successful enterprises in the eighties and nineties show that values and strategic goals are deeply rooted in the corporate culture of those enterprises, and that their managers practise more active leadership than mere administrative management.
Excerpt of eBook – Organisational Ecology and Strategic Leadership
By Per A Christensen w/Jon Lund Hansen
Christensen eBooks
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An organisation’s basic philosophy is more important to its result than technological and/ or economic resources, organisational structure, innovation and choice of time. Thomas Watson Jr.
This article contains no information about technological trends, economical predictions or market analyses. It lays out five principle insights into how and why any enterprise in the world today should practise Strategic Leadership internally in the organisation.
Both strategy and leadership are today a matter of course. How comes, then, that so very few enterprises do actually practise Strategic Leadership? The reasons are many. Top managers want to keep all ways open, not being bound to follow previously decided paths. They want to keep flexibility. Sometimes they have hidden agendas that would surface if strategy was overtly formulated. In some cases middle management hides from strategy and leadership because they want to have the liberty to side with the top one day, the bottom the other – even on the same topic. Leadership is dangerous, many managers seem to feel. One sticks one’s neck out, and it might be cut off. Strategic decisions might be unpopular. Ore one’s incompetence as strategic leader might become evident. Sometimes processes as those presented here are avoided simply because they take time. There are so many good reasons – and many of them are respectable and sensible.
No-strategy and no-leadership may be OK on a dreamy pacific island. However, in an environment with ever faster changing technology, markets and international politics, and with an ever stronger competition long term survival depends on strategy and leadership. The competitively able enterprises of today and tomorrow are lean, delayered, decentralised, delegated and flexible. Such enterprises have strategy, it is known, owned and practised by more than a CEO and leadership is practised at all management levels.
Strategic Leadership is based on five insights into the essence of organisations. These insights are here formulated as principles:
Within the ecosystem, all components are dependant on other components for their very existence. Individuals and groups within an organisation are mutually dependant on each other and have superior common interests.
Whenever destructive conflicts appear on the scene, the main reason is that the ‘parties’ involved are not aware that they are parts of a system on which they all depend. Usually there is a lack of common goals is such situations. Strategy contains the common goals, identity and ethics. Without strategy, the organisation is fragmented into departments, professional groups and working groups without co-operation or synergy.
Individuals and/ or groups of people defend their territory against intruders, and hierarchical positions against rivals.
There is no doubt that man is territorial. Without strategy, no common territory is defined. Then individuals and groups define their own territory, which is defended and given superiority, even over the interests of the company. Motivation to perform for the company diminishes, motivation to fight for one’s own or one’s own group’s interests (against other’s in the company) increase.
Man is also hierarchical. Without obvious leadership, a lasting struggle to establish the missing hierarchy starts off. This is wrongly often understood as expressions of a power need. This struggle is most often superfluous. A clear-cut hierarchy based on Strategic Leadership is the necessary first step to prevent ‘power struggles’.
For all systems and organisations there is a theoretical optimum degree of openness:
- Closed systems and monocultures degenerate and/ or die out
- Totally exposed systems lose integrity, identity and focus
Free flow of information, and free discussion between organisational levels and lines is a necessity. No single person can be the informed specialist of everything in today’s complex world. Strategic Leadership ensures that this exchange of knowledge and opinion happens. The organisation should be a truly open system internally – and of course externally.
A system that is very open runs the risk of losing integrity, identity and focus. That is exactly another contribution from Strategic Leadership: a strategy that is owned by all hands implies integrity, identity and focus.
The effect of influences to the ecosystem and upon organisations is dependant on:
- The content of the influence
- The context
- The order in which the influences come
- The stage of development of the system
The fruitful ongoing process of Strategic Leadership should be strictly led and follow certain patterns. Unless this is taken seriously, the situation could turn to the worse. Power struggles, bureaucracy, de-motivation and wasted time could result. Content, context, syntax and the developmental stage of the system must be regarded.
Ecosystems and organisations are governed by feedback.
The strategically led company depends, as we said, on free flows of information and opinion. The company is a complex, self-organising and self-correcting system. Any breach in feedback loops is a threat to the company. Feedback should be encouraged, and it should be seen as a matter of course, and an obvious duty of any employee. Feedback is encouraged and put to system in Strategic Leadership.
We see then, that Strategic Leadership has a theoretical basis. This will be further detailed throughout this booklet. Empirical knowledge also strongly supports the necessity of Strategic Leadership. The studies of successful enterprises in the eighties and nineties show that values and strategic goals are deeply rooted in the corporate culture of those enterprises, and that their managers practise more active leadership than mere administrative management.
Excerpt of eBook – Organisational Ecology and Strategic Leadership
By Per A Christensen w/Jon Lund Hansen
Christensen eBooks
Caffeinated Content for WordPress
Posted on May 27, 2009 - by Vic Desotelle
An Open Invitation to Mr. Gore
Klaus H Hemsath asked:
Al Gore, our former Vice President and Nobel Prize recipient, has done more than any other human being to warn the world of an impending, global, ecological crisis.
On November 9, 2008 he published an OP-ED article in the New York Times explaining his five-part plan for avoiding this major disaster. He introduces his plan by saying “It is a plan that would simultaneously move us towards solutions to the climate crisis and the economic crisis – and create millions of jobs that cannot be outsourced.”
Let us review his five points. His first suggestion is that we build more solar plants and more wind farms. OK.
His second proposal is the installation of an improved, national power grid. Especially well taken is his point that new high-voltage, low-loss underground lines need to be installed and be made part of a redesigned, national grid. OK.
His third recommendation is to help America’s automobile industry. This is ok for preserving jobs. However, his suggestion to depend increasingly on electrically powered cars is premature, excessively expensive, and will only marginally reduce petroleum imports for many years. It will not reduce carbon dioxide emissions for the next couple of decades.
His fourth proposition aims at improving insulation of buildings and homes. Reducing energy losses is ok as long as they can be economically justified.
Unfortunately, the fifth element of his plan misses the mark by a wide margin. Earlier in his article, Mr. Gore correctly states “…. thinking anew requires discarding an outdated and flawed definition of the problem we face.”
Therefore, let us define the problem concisely. The world is facing not one but several, distinct crises.
The climate crisis or ecological crisis is caused by the escalating emission of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere. As a result, global temperatures are rising and will lead to severe global overheating as early as 2050. There is only one, single way to stop this destructive, irreversible lunacy; we must end the burning of all fossil fuels.
A coming energy crisis announced itself, when skyrocketing petroleum prices in July 2008 peaked at close to $150 per barrel. Transportation of people, foods, commodities, and goods is entirely dependent on plentiful and affordable liquid fuels. The transportation sector consists of an immense fleet of automobiles, trucks, trains, ships, and aircraft. A multitude of very expensive oil refineries and an enormous, worldwide fuel distribution system support this sector and will cost tens of trillions of dollars to replace.
It will be foolish to scrap these wonderfully effective systems and replace or weaken them by mandating that automobiles must be powered by electricity or compressed natural gas. Instead, we must learn to produce renewable fuels and petroleum substitutes. If we do not realize that the world cannot function without renewable liquid fuels, we will incite a third, an economic crisis, which may destroy world economies and civilizations.
A fourth crisis will develop when a construction boom tries to install energy conversion equipment to prevent the ecological and energy crises from happening. Suitable technologies, materials, manufacturing facilities, fabricating skills, engineering services, investment capital, and time will be in very short supply.
Right now, only the USA has the scientific, technological, manufacturing, and institutional capabilities to attempt a potentially successful rescue attempt. Such an attempt cannot be organized by the private sector.
The US must defend its role as leading world power successfully by making three major, national changes; it must become independent of petroleum imports, it must stop carbon dioxide emissions, and it must proceed with an implementation plan that will achieve these targets in forty years. Only by achieving these three objectives can we arrest climate change, can we avoid worldwide economic collapse due to lack of motor fuels, and can we reclaim our leadership role.
The most difficult and exacting challenge of such a plan we have not mentioned, yet.
Any long-term plan must be workable for centuries! We cannot afford to install and pay for short-lived solutions.
The missing piece of the puzzle in Mr. Gore’s proposal is the complete absence of renewable fuels. Without the production of renewable fuels and particularly of liquid transportation fuels from renewable biomass this plan and other previously proposed plans will fail! They are incapable of powering world economies for centuries!
We must learn to grow large amounts of high energy yield biomass on arid, barren, or fallow lands in two broad bands on both sides of the equator.
In this region, the tropics and subtropics, the flow of sun energy reaching the ground is the highest. Water resources will be lacking in most locations. However, we have learned how to build desalination plants. What we do not know yet, is how to design highly efficient, industrial type biofuel plantations that can produce very large amounts of renewable energy without competing with food production.
We also have to learn how nature converted biomass into petroleum and other fossil fuels.
As soon as we understand how to convert biomass into petroleum substitutes or into other fuels, we will have solved the world’s remaining energy supply problems and we can continue the use of our automobiles and airplanes. Best of all, we will be able to pay for the renewable fuels that are going to power our transportation fleets.
Mr. Gore, we need your support for publicizing and promoting the conversion of renewable biomass into plentiful, affordable petroleum substitutes and other novel fuels!
Caffeinated Content
Al Gore, our former Vice President and Nobel Prize recipient, has done more than any other human being to warn the world of an impending, global, ecological crisis.
On November 9, 2008 he published an OP-ED article in the New York Times explaining his five-part plan for avoiding this major disaster. He introduces his plan by saying “It is a plan that would simultaneously move us towards solutions to the climate crisis and the economic crisis – and create millions of jobs that cannot be outsourced.”
Let us review his five points. His first suggestion is that we build more solar plants and more wind farms. OK.
His second proposal is the installation of an improved, national power grid. Especially well taken is his point that new high-voltage, low-loss underground lines need to be installed and be made part of a redesigned, national grid. OK.
His third recommendation is to help America’s automobile industry. This is ok for preserving jobs. However, his suggestion to depend increasingly on electrically powered cars is premature, excessively expensive, and will only marginally reduce petroleum imports for many years. It will not reduce carbon dioxide emissions for the next couple of decades.
His fourth proposition aims at improving insulation of buildings and homes. Reducing energy losses is ok as long as they can be economically justified.
Unfortunately, the fifth element of his plan misses the mark by a wide margin. Earlier in his article, Mr. Gore correctly states “…. thinking anew requires discarding an outdated and flawed definition of the problem we face.”
Therefore, let us define the problem concisely. The world is facing not one but several, distinct crises.
The climate crisis or ecological crisis is caused by the escalating emission of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere. As a result, global temperatures are rising and will lead to severe global overheating as early as 2050. There is only one, single way to stop this destructive, irreversible lunacy; we must end the burning of all fossil fuels.
A coming energy crisis announced itself, when skyrocketing petroleum prices in July 2008 peaked at close to $150 per barrel. Transportation of people, foods, commodities, and goods is entirely dependent on plentiful and affordable liquid fuels. The transportation sector consists of an immense fleet of automobiles, trucks, trains, ships, and aircraft. A multitude of very expensive oil refineries and an enormous, worldwide fuel distribution system support this sector and will cost tens of trillions of dollars to replace.
It will be foolish to scrap these wonderfully effective systems and replace or weaken them by mandating that automobiles must be powered by electricity or compressed natural gas. Instead, we must learn to produce renewable fuels and petroleum substitutes. If we do not realize that the world cannot function without renewable liquid fuels, we will incite a third, an economic crisis, which may destroy world economies and civilizations.
A fourth crisis will develop when a construction boom tries to install energy conversion equipment to prevent the ecological and energy crises from happening. Suitable technologies, materials, manufacturing facilities, fabricating skills, engineering services, investment capital, and time will be in very short supply.
Right now, only the USA has the scientific, technological, manufacturing, and institutional capabilities to attempt a potentially successful rescue attempt. Such an attempt cannot be organized by the private sector.
The US must defend its role as leading world power successfully by making three major, national changes; it must become independent of petroleum imports, it must stop carbon dioxide emissions, and it must proceed with an implementation plan that will achieve these targets in forty years. Only by achieving these three objectives can we arrest climate change, can we avoid worldwide economic collapse due to lack of motor fuels, and can we reclaim our leadership role.
The most difficult and exacting challenge of such a plan we have not mentioned, yet.
Any long-term plan must be workable for centuries! We cannot afford to install and pay for short-lived solutions.
The missing piece of the puzzle in Mr. Gore’s proposal is the complete absence of renewable fuels. Without the production of renewable fuels and particularly of liquid transportation fuels from renewable biomass this plan and other previously proposed plans will fail! They are incapable of powering world economies for centuries!
We must learn to grow large amounts of high energy yield biomass on arid, barren, or fallow lands in two broad bands on both sides of the equator.
In this region, the tropics and subtropics, the flow of sun energy reaching the ground is the highest. Water resources will be lacking in most locations. However, we have learned how to build desalination plants. What we do not know yet, is how to design highly efficient, industrial type biofuel plantations that can produce very large amounts of renewable energy without competing with food production.
We also have to learn how nature converted biomass into petroleum and other fossil fuels.
As soon as we understand how to convert biomass into petroleum substitutes or into other fuels, we will have solved the world’s remaining energy supply problems and we can continue the use of our automobiles and airplanes. Best of all, we will be able to pay for the renewable fuels that are going to power our transportation fleets.
Mr. Gore, we need your support for publicizing and promoting the conversion of renewable biomass into plentiful, affordable petroleum substitutes and other novel fuels!
Caffeinated Content
Posted on May 27, 2009 - by Vic Desotelle
Financial or Multi-Dimensional Crisis?
M. Nadarajah asked:
By M. Nadarajah
Going Down
‘ Private equity company Blackstone Group LP (BX.N) CEO Stephen Schwarzman said on Tuesday that up to 45 percent of the world’s wealth has been destroyed by the global credit crisis. “Between 40 and 45 percent of the world’s wealth has been destroyed in little less than a year and a half,” Schwarzman told an audience at the Japan Society. “This is absolutely unprecedented in our lifetime.” ‘ (Reuters, 12 March 2009)
Permanently in Crisis
The very poor communities across the globe are in ‘a permanent crisis’ from a class and crisis perspective, because that is the way the mainstream global economic structure and process works. Even for many analysts and academics, there cannot be a situation when we will not have the poor among us. They insist that there will always be poor among us as a given. And that is ok even though they are, in a sense, in a perpetual crisis — no permanent shelter, no food security, no regular contractual jobs and no secured future. No problems with that!
Somehow their suffering is never seen as a crisis. It is a given part of the system, and we are hardly shaken by it. The billions in this reality are never a focus of the mainstream media.
For the poor, crisis is the way life is, and they handle it for themselves and their families on a day-to-day basis. Every day is an uphill task and for hundreds of thousands of people (including many children) across the globe, this could mean going to bed hungry.
It is estimated that more than 1 billion people are chronically hungry across the world. For millions of people, there is already no food security. Even in the supposedly wealthy US, it is estimated that about 35 million Americans do not know where their next meal would come from! Not that there is not enough food to provide for the hungry people of the world – it is just that they do not qualify for the food as they are not part of the ‘demand’ to consume the available ‘supply’ (of food)!
Perhaps from such an angle, the much internationally-acclaimed but locally-criticised (in India) Hollywood-Bollywood film Slumdog Millionaire is a soft critique of the mainstream economics and celebration (and to a good extent, romanticism) of the spirit of poor people who are always in the state of ‘permanent crisis’ but creatively trying to deal with it. Of course it does not offer a solution as much as a dream or fantasy.
The Periodic Crisis
For those who have been gainfully employed, the middle classes, entrepreneurs, financial wizards and bankers, etc., the present economic downturn is a damning crisis. It is not the way their life should be. Furthermore, the mainstream media are bent on presenting this crisis in all its drama. News on this hot topic sells anyway.
Crisis is a crisis. People have a bad time. The human cost of the present crisis is really pain and more pain for the group mentioned above. For instance, economic crisis-related suicides have increased across the globe. Japan, which has the highest number of suicides in the developed world, has recorded in excess of 30,000 suicides for 2008, i.e. over 25 suicides per 100,000 persons. There is a general increase in suicides in Asia as in the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
In countries like Australia and the US, the matter is getting bad. Special units and suicide hotlines are being set up to deal with depression and suicidal tendencies caused by the economic slowdown. In Australia, between October and December 2008, there has been a 34 percent rise in suicide-related calls for help because of financial pressure related to the crisis.
Millions of people have lost their jobs across the world. More millions are expected to lose their livelihoods. According to a ILO report, the labour market projections for 2009 shows definite deterioration in the global labour markets for both women and men. Two scenarios are given. In the best-case scenario, 18 million jobs would be lost, which would amount to a global unemployment rate of 6.1%. In the worst-case scenario, there will be a loss of more than 50 million jobs, which would equate to a rate of 7.1%. Of this, about 21 million would be women. If the worst-case scenario happens, the number of poor working people who will be unable to earn enough to lift themselves and their families above the poverty line (USD2 per person per day) may rise to 1.4 billion. This is nearly half of the entire world’s employed. Further, some 200 million workers earning USD1.25 or less a day, mostly in developing economies, could be pushed into extreme poverty.
The periodic crisis makes it even more difficult for those in the “permanently in crisis” list.
And Now, Finding the Cause of the Crisis …
The economic crisis has now offered the world a new intellectual enterprise, and it is gaining strength. From across the political spectrum, analyses of causes of the present financial crisis and economic downturn are being offered and, in the same breath, solutions are being presented. As it can be expected, some of these solutions, particularly from the right, are being sold. For many, the economic crisis, of course, offers business opportunities! `
The Chinese term for crisis captures within its meaning domain both the notion of ‘danger’ and ‘opportunity’. The intellectual response to crisis has also provided both these elements. The only difference is that way opportunity is perceived.
Just walk into any popular book and you will see many, many books from across the political spectrum — from the ‘free market’ theorists to the ‘new imperialism’ ones — available for your consumption, not only to understand the crisis but also to address it, both immediately and in the long term. Radicals to Nobel laureates to pop management gurus generously offer their thoughts and solutions. There is a resurgence of Marxist/socialist theories. If one has been following the intellectual output during the various crises from the distant and/or recent pasts, it is easy to find rehashed arguments and solutions just as much as you will find some writers who have been consistent in tracing and monitoring these crises and predicting future ones.
Looking more closely, one group just wants to look at the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US, and to deal with the present crisis from that starting point since it kicked up the whole problem for the US, European and global economies. They want to re-examine financial regulation nationally and globally, tighten it, do more tinkering to the present system and move on. It is business as usual, with, of course, some tweaking here and there. In fact, a crisis is seen as a portal to more economic opportunities.
The other group, looking at the crisis more historically, wants to go beyond the crisis. They look at sub-prime mortgages as only one of the many responses to inherent structural problems of the global economy based on the profit-only bottom line tendency (and on the appropriation of value produced by one group by another group). For many among this group, the present problem has its roots in the period after the end of the Second World War and begins with the post-war economic reconstruction of Japan and Germany/Europe. They want us to re-examine and fundamentally change the way we organize our economy and manage our society.
Perhaps a revealing analysis is the fact that from post-World War II onwards, there has been progressive degeneration of the ‘real economy’ and progressive growth of the ‘finance economy’. Real wages, productivity and demand have fallen or shrunk. With many new locations of increased production and capacity, we are also now faced with the problem with overproduction.
Over the years, political, industrial and financial leaders have tried many ways to deal with these long-term structural economic problems. Even while addressing a complex of needs, the dot com bubble, global war on communism then and terrorism now, Afghanistan and Iraqi wars and their reconstruction efforts, and huge sub-prime mortgages in the US were, in the main, all attempts to deal with the problems of national and global economies. Political and economic leaders were looking for ways to prop up economic activity…any how. While in all of the above efforts, the US acted as a leader, a transnational group of entrepreneurs from across the globe benefited.
It is instructive to know that using war to benefit national and global economies is certainly inbuilt into the mainstream economic system. It is central to financing and sustaining the ‘American dream’, which has bursted out of the borders of the political entity that is USA and become a powerful globally available and appropriated cultural idea.
Even so, all these could not really arrest the coming of the present crisis. The sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US has taken the world towards a disaster that it is waking up to.
Real productive enterprises provide goods and service that do something better than what existed previously: creating jobs and increasing productivity and overall efficiency. Economic growth and progress in the real world take place because of ‘product entrepreneurs’ and the labouring community who make profit or earn wages, invest these earnings in creating new products or enterprises, or in consuming the produce of the real economy. According to one UN Report, since 1980, ‘economic decline or stagnation has affected 100 countries, reducing the incomes of 1.6 billion people. For 70 of these countries, average incomes are less in the mid 1990s than in 1980, and in 43, less than in 1970′.
For now, the real economy, which supports real people, their wages, production of real goods and creation of value, is in bad shape. Stagnation in the real economy has resulted in investors promoting the ‘financialisation of the economy’, a strategy to make money ‘out of nothing’…some sort of economic voodooism!
Financial institutions are creating profits out of nothing. Trillions of dollars have been created out of nothing and there is a huge financial world out there that operates solely on it. It is just an empty world that solely plays on the rise and fall of trends within paper-money markets. If that amount was really available and justly distributed in the real economy, we would not have poor people going to bed hungry.
Financial entrepreneurship has become more dominant in the national and global economies. As many creative minds are absorbed by the war economy to support wars, entrepreneurial creative minds are being tapped by financial institutions to create various financial instruments of ever-fancier derivatives, collateralized loan obligations, mortgage-backed securities and bonds. These are strategies to create not value but just profits.
Competition in the financial economy is often a zero-sum contest. For every investor or speculator who wins, there’s another who loses. It builds a ‘fictitious world’. But competition in the real economy generates creativity, better products and consumers. It builds the real world, however badly organised that is. .
We have all consciously or unconsciously participated in creating the fictitious world. Today, the fiction is breaking up and coming to bite us … with a vengeance. The real economy is going to ensure that this bite is a really hard one so that all of us would remember it!
Aren’t We Facing a Deep Cultural Crisis?
The present economic philosophy is gearing the world towards its slow destruction. The central tendency that drives us is profit and, closely associated with it, greed. Making profit anyhow is a value. That has become the basis of social life, and it influences every aspect of our everyday life expression. Our notion of progress, performance, success and achievement is also influenced by it.
Even within this profit-bottom-line economic framework, instead of paying attention to the real economy, we have allowed the financial entrepreneurs to lead. This has not only affected the real economy entrepreneurs who have been disciplined and held prisoners on the results for the ‘quarter’ but also heightened the drive to achieve profit from ‘nothing’. Now, we are all floating on fictitious capital and building fantasy worlds on a foundation of ‘nothingness’ generated by the vacuous values of speculated futures.
All these have gone on for years deeply affecting Earth and all lives. Without serious attention to ‘deep sustainability’ in an all-round sense (not just in an ecological sense but in terms of socio-cultural life, politics, economics, and technology), we have been moving towards ‘multi-dimensional crises’. The scant real attention to sustainability by mainstream economic activity and contemporary entrepreneurship have caused Earth and human societies great harm and continues quite unabated.
Indiscriminate consumption without any sense of limits has pushed us towards an ecological crisis. In addition, the push of the darker side of the ‘American Dream’, which is based on consumption and more consumption, needs resources of about 6 more earths to match American consumption levels for the whole world. We are already living on resources of the future generations!
The present global unsustainable economic activity is also based on the benefits of a ‘permanent war economy’; wars will be invented, which directly depend on labour and creativity for the production of weapons and on sound strategies for killing human life. This also involves hurting the environment in such episodes of violence. US war on terror could cost about $2.4 trillion by 2017 and many entrepreneurs see it as an investment in American security. This could progressively mean more of what was once seen as ‘war of independence’ within nations or regions being re-designated by media and foreign policy as ‘war of terrorism’ so that we can invest in them.
In addition, the present economic structuring of society contributes to inequality of haves and have-nots, which expose huge sections of the human population, including children, to “a permanent crisis”. And, many more to periodic cycles of economic and financial crises. According to a 1999 United Nations report, ‘the income gap between the fifth of the worlds’ people living in the richest countries and the fifth in the poorest doubled from 1960 to 1990, from 30 to I to 60 to 1. By 1998, it had jumped again, with the gap widening to an astonishing 78 to 1′.
In a deeper sense, and as a growing critique of the indigenous people movement of the dominant economic development paradigm, we have lost touch with the older holistic cosmology to the present ‘capitalo-centric’ one. While the former created a culture and mentality of very close relationship between Nature and Society, the later separated them to the detriment of both. While the former created a deeper sense on ‘inter-being’ marked by mindful inter-connectedness of all creations, the latter fashioned us into islands and as a species that dominates all living and non-living Nature and plays God. In this context, it is interesting to note that there is a growing popular cultural theme, to some extent generated by Hollywood films that depicts the human species as a parasite or a virus that needs to be controlled or exterminated for the planet to survive!
The dominance and arrogance of the capitalo-centric culture and mentality are certainly the basis of all economic/financial crises. But today this crisis must be seen together with all other crises we have brought upon ourselves: ecological crisis, a crisis in legitimacy and democracy and socio-cultural crisis. This is a period when we have to come to terms with ‘multi-dimensional crises’.
If you make a cursory examination of the online religious/spiritual interventions in addressing the present crisis, the focus is on the critique of values that animate us and the career of those values and on the need to re-evaluate our values orientation. However, mainstream institutional efforts today are directed only at seeking to treat the symptoms of a deeper socio-cultural crisis.
By design or default, a vast majority of us has chosen to ignore a deeper solution to the multiple crises-prone economic system we are in. A deeper solution would result in dismantling the basis of economic and political power, re-organising production, ownership and distribution of wealth, and re-structuring legitimacy and leadership for a global society based on principles of authentic justice, equality and freedom. There is much to lose and too many institutional changes for some very powerful people, corporations and institutions.
We, as governments, simply do not have the will to do it. Even with the growth of all kinds of philanthropy, including corporate philanthropy, global multiple bottom lines initiative and social codes of conduct, the hand that claws in, grabs and takes just refuses to become a hand that nurtures, protects and gives. That requires a massive cultural shift.
‘Going Down’ as Part of the Script of a Global Human Drama
So, in the meantime, as the history of economic/financial crisis cycles goes, we will eventually come back to where we are today, maybe in another 10 to 15 years. The crisis then may not be as serious as today. It will be just another episode with its own specificities in a global human drama series that seems to continuously deny itself an all-together new season with a different breed of producers, authors, cast and crew. It is like watching some Hollywood or Bollywood film: we really know what is going to happen, but we still watch, don’t we?
========================
(Originally published in the Malaysian Online Newspaper, Malaysiakini.Com, April 2009. Minimally revised here.)
Create a video blog
By M. Nadarajah
Going Down
‘ Private equity company Blackstone Group LP (BX.N) CEO Stephen Schwarzman said on Tuesday that up to 45 percent of the world’s wealth has been destroyed by the global credit crisis. “Between 40 and 45 percent of the world’s wealth has been destroyed in little less than a year and a half,” Schwarzman told an audience at the Japan Society. “This is absolutely unprecedented in our lifetime.” ‘ (Reuters, 12 March 2009)
Permanently in Crisis
The very poor communities across the globe are in ‘a permanent crisis’ from a class and crisis perspective, because that is the way the mainstream global economic structure and process works. Even for many analysts and academics, there cannot be a situation when we will not have the poor among us. They insist that there will always be poor among us as a given. And that is ok even though they are, in a sense, in a perpetual crisis — no permanent shelter, no food security, no regular contractual jobs and no secured future. No problems with that!
Somehow their suffering is never seen as a crisis. It is a given part of the system, and we are hardly shaken by it. The billions in this reality are never a focus of the mainstream media.
For the poor, crisis is the way life is, and they handle it for themselves and their families on a day-to-day basis. Every day is an uphill task and for hundreds of thousands of people (including many children) across the globe, this could mean going to bed hungry.
It is estimated that more than 1 billion people are chronically hungry across the world. For millions of people, there is already no food security. Even in the supposedly wealthy US, it is estimated that about 35 million Americans do not know where their next meal would come from! Not that there is not enough food to provide for the hungry people of the world – it is just that they do not qualify for the food as they are not part of the ‘demand’ to consume the available ‘supply’ (of food)!
Perhaps from such an angle, the much internationally-acclaimed but locally-criticised (in India) Hollywood-Bollywood film Slumdog Millionaire is a soft critique of the mainstream economics and celebration (and to a good extent, romanticism) of the spirit of poor people who are always in the state of ‘permanent crisis’ but creatively trying to deal with it. Of course it does not offer a solution as much as a dream or fantasy.
The Periodic Crisis
For those who have been gainfully employed, the middle classes, entrepreneurs, financial wizards and bankers, etc., the present economic downturn is a damning crisis. It is not the way their life should be. Furthermore, the mainstream media are bent on presenting this crisis in all its drama. News on this hot topic sells anyway.
Crisis is a crisis. People have a bad time. The human cost of the present crisis is really pain and more pain for the group mentioned above. For instance, economic crisis-related suicides have increased across the globe. Japan, which has the highest number of suicides in the developed world, has recorded in excess of 30,000 suicides for 2008, i.e. over 25 suicides per 100,000 persons. There is a general increase in suicides in Asia as in the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
In countries like Australia and the US, the matter is getting bad. Special units and suicide hotlines are being set up to deal with depression and suicidal tendencies caused by the economic slowdown. In Australia, between October and December 2008, there has been a 34 percent rise in suicide-related calls for help because of financial pressure related to the crisis.
Millions of people have lost their jobs across the world. More millions are expected to lose their livelihoods. According to a ILO report, the labour market projections for 2009 shows definite deterioration in the global labour markets for both women and men. Two scenarios are given. In the best-case scenario, 18 million jobs would be lost, which would amount to a global unemployment rate of 6.1%. In the worst-case scenario, there will be a loss of more than 50 million jobs, which would equate to a rate of 7.1%. Of this, about 21 million would be women. If the worst-case scenario happens, the number of poor working people who will be unable to earn enough to lift themselves and their families above the poverty line (USD2 per person per day) may rise to 1.4 billion. This is nearly half of the entire world’s employed. Further, some 200 million workers earning USD1.25 or less a day, mostly in developing economies, could be pushed into extreme poverty.
The periodic crisis makes it even more difficult for those in the “permanently in crisis” list.
And Now, Finding the Cause of the Crisis …
The economic crisis has now offered the world a new intellectual enterprise, and it is gaining strength. From across the political spectrum, analyses of causes of the present financial crisis and economic downturn are being offered and, in the same breath, solutions are being presented. As it can be expected, some of these solutions, particularly from the right, are being sold. For many, the economic crisis, of course, offers business opportunities! `
The Chinese term for crisis captures within its meaning domain both the notion of ‘danger’ and ‘opportunity’. The intellectual response to crisis has also provided both these elements. The only difference is that way opportunity is perceived.
Just walk into any popular book and you will see many, many books from across the political spectrum — from the ‘free market’ theorists to the ‘new imperialism’ ones — available for your consumption, not only to understand the crisis but also to address it, both immediately and in the long term. Radicals to Nobel laureates to pop management gurus generously offer their thoughts and solutions. There is a resurgence of Marxist/socialist theories. If one has been following the intellectual output during the various crises from the distant and/or recent pasts, it is easy to find rehashed arguments and solutions just as much as you will find some writers who have been consistent in tracing and monitoring these crises and predicting future ones.
Looking more closely, one group just wants to look at the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US, and to deal with the present crisis from that starting point since it kicked up the whole problem for the US, European and global economies. They want to re-examine financial regulation nationally and globally, tighten it, do more tinkering to the present system and move on. It is business as usual, with, of course, some tweaking here and there. In fact, a crisis is seen as a portal to more economic opportunities.
The other group, looking at the crisis more historically, wants to go beyond the crisis. They look at sub-prime mortgages as only one of the many responses to inherent structural problems of the global economy based on the profit-only bottom line tendency (and on the appropriation of value produced by one group by another group). For many among this group, the present problem has its roots in the period after the end of the Second World War and begins with the post-war economic reconstruction of Japan and Germany/Europe. They want us to re-examine and fundamentally change the way we organize our economy and manage our society.
Perhaps a revealing analysis is the fact that from post-World War II onwards, there has been progressive degeneration of the ‘real economy’ and progressive growth of the ‘finance economy’. Real wages, productivity and demand have fallen or shrunk. With many new locations of increased production and capacity, we are also now faced with the problem with overproduction.
Over the years, political, industrial and financial leaders have tried many ways to deal with these long-term structural economic problems. Even while addressing a complex of needs, the dot com bubble, global war on communism then and terrorism now, Afghanistan and Iraqi wars and their reconstruction efforts, and huge sub-prime mortgages in the US were, in the main, all attempts to deal with the problems of national and global economies. Political and economic leaders were looking for ways to prop up economic activity…any how. While in all of the above efforts, the US acted as a leader, a transnational group of entrepreneurs from across the globe benefited.
It is instructive to know that using war to benefit national and global economies is certainly inbuilt into the mainstream economic system. It is central to financing and sustaining the ‘American dream’, which has bursted out of the borders of the political entity that is USA and become a powerful globally available and appropriated cultural idea.
Even so, all these could not really arrest the coming of the present crisis. The sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US has taken the world towards a disaster that it is waking up to.
Real productive enterprises provide goods and service that do something better than what existed previously: creating jobs and increasing productivity and overall efficiency. Economic growth and progress in the real world take place because of ‘product entrepreneurs’ and the labouring community who make profit or earn wages, invest these earnings in creating new products or enterprises, or in consuming the produce of the real economy. According to one UN Report, since 1980, ‘economic decline or stagnation has affected 100 countries, reducing the incomes of 1.6 billion people. For 70 of these countries, average incomes are less in the mid 1990s than in 1980, and in 43, less than in 1970′.
For now, the real economy, which supports real people, their wages, production of real goods and creation of value, is in bad shape. Stagnation in the real economy has resulted in investors promoting the ‘financialisation of the economy’, a strategy to make money ‘out of nothing’…some sort of economic voodooism!
Financial institutions are creating profits out of nothing. Trillions of dollars have been created out of nothing and there is a huge financial world out there that operates solely on it. It is just an empty world that solely plays on the rise and fall of trends within paper-money markets. If that amount was really available and justly distributed in the real economy, we would not have poor people going to bed hungry.
Financial entrepreneurship has become more dominant in the national and global economies. As many creative minds are absorbed by the war economy to support wars, entrepreneurial creative minds are being tapped by financial institutions to create various financial instruments of ever-fancier derivatives, collateralized loan obligations, mortgage-backed securities and bonds. These are strategies to create not value but just profits.
Competition in the financial economy is often a zero-sum contest. For every investor or speculator who wins, there’s another who loses. It builds a ‘fictitious world’. But competition in the real economy generates creativity, better products and consumers. It builds the real world, however badly organised that is. .
We have all consciously or unconsciously participated in creating the fictitious world. Today, the fiction is breaking up and coming to bite us … with a vengeance. The real economy is going to ensure that this bite is a really hard one so that all of us would remember it!
Aren’t We Facing a Deep Cultural Crisis?
The present economic philosophy is gearing the world towards its slow destruction. The central tendency that drives us is profit and, closely associated with it, greed. Making profit anyhow is a value. That has become the basis of social life, and it influences every aspect of our everyday life expression. Our notion of progress, performance, success and achievement is also influenced by it.
Even within this profit-bottom-line economic framework, instead of paying attention to the real economy, we have allowed the financial entrepreneurs to lead. This has not only affected the real economy entrepreneurs who have been disciplined and held prisoners on the results for the ‘quarter’ but also heightened the drive to achieve profit from ‘nothing’. Now, we are all floating on fictitious capital and building fantasy worlds on a foundation of ‘nothingness’ generated by the vacuous values of speculated futures.
All these have gone on for years deeply affecting Earth and all lives. Without serious attention to ‘deep sustainability’ in an all-round sense (not just in an ecological sense but in terms of socio-cultural life, politics, economics, and technology), we have been moving towards ‘multi-dimensional crises’. The scant real attention to sustainability by mainstream economic activity and contemporary entrepreneurship have caused Earth and human societies great harm and continues quite unabated.
Indiscriminate consumption without any sense of limits has pushed us towards an ecological crisis. In addition, the push of the darker side of the ‘American Dream’, which is based on consumption and more consumption, needs resources of about 6 more earths to match American consumption levels for the whole world. We are already living on resources of the future generations!
The present global unsustainable economic activity is also based on the benefits of a ‘permanent war economy’; wars will be invented, which directly depend on labour and creativity for the production of weapons and on sound strategies for killing human life. This also involves hurting the environment in such episodes of violence. US war on terror could cost about $2.4 trillion by 2017 and many entrepreneurs see it as an investment in American security. This could progressively mean more of what was once seen as ‘war of independence’ within nations or regions being re-designated by media and foreign policy as ‘war of terrorism’ so that we can invest in them.
In addition, the present economic structuring of society contributes to inequality of haves and have-nots, which expose huge sections of the human population, including children, to “a permanent crisis”. And, many more to periodic cycles of economic and financial crises. According to a 1999 United Nations report, ‘the income gap between the fifth of the worlds’ people living in the richest countries and the fifth in the poorest doubled from 1960 to 1990, from 30 to I to 60 to 1. By 1998, it had jumped again, with the gap widening to an astonishing 78 to 1′.
In a deeper sense, and as a growing critique of the indigenous people movement of the dominant economic development paradigm, we have lost touch with the older holistic cosmology to the present ‘capitalo-centric’ one. While the former created a culture and mentality of very close relationship between Nature and Society, the later separated them to the detriment of both. While the former created a deeper sense on ‘inter-being’ marked by mindful inter-connectedness of all creations, the latter fashioned us into islands and as a species that dominates all living and non-living Nature and plays God. In this context, it is interesting to note that there is a growing popular cultural theme, to some extent generated by Hollywood films that depicts the human species as a parasite or a virus that needs to be controlled or exterminated for the planet to survive!
The dominance and arrogance of the capitalo-centric culture and mentality are certainly the basis of all economic/financial crises. But today this crisis must be seen together with all other crises we have brought upon ourselves: ecological crisis, a crisis in legitimacy and democracy and socio-cultural crisis. This is a period when we have to come to terms with ‘multi-dimensional crises’.
If you make a cursory examination of the online religious/spiritual interventions in addressing the present crisis, the focus is on the critique of values that animate us and the career of those values and on the need to re-evaluate our values orientation. However, mainstream institutional efforts today are directed only at seeking to treat the symptoms of a deeper socio-cultural crisis.
By design or default, a vast majority of us has chosen to ignore a deeper solution to the multiple crises-prone economic system we are in. A deeper solution would result in dismantling the basis of economic and political power, re-organising production, ownership and distribution of wealth, and re-structuring legitimacy and leadership for a global society based on principles of authentic justice, equality and freedom. There is much to lose and too many institutional changes for some very powerful people, corporations and institutions.
We, as governments, simply do not have the will to do it. Even with the growth of all kinds of philanthropy, including corporate philanthropy, global multiple bottom lines initiative and social codes of conduct, the hand that claws in, grabs and takes just refuses to become a hand that nurtures, protects and gives. That requires a massive cultural shift.
‘Going Down’ as Part of the Script of a Global Human Drama
So, in the meantime, as the history of economic/financial crisis cycles goes, we will eventually come back to where we are today, maybe in another 10 to 15 years. The crisis then may not be as serious as today. It will be just another episode with its own specificities in a global human drama series that seems to continuously deny itself an all-together new season with a different breed of producers, authors, cast and crew. It is like watching some Hollywood or Bollywood film: we really know what is going to happen, but we still watch, don’t we?
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(Originally published in the Malaysian Online Newspaper, Malaysiakini.Com, April 2009. Minimally revised here.)
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Posted on May 27, 2009 - by Vic Desotelle
Executive Leadership Development Programs Supply Entrepreneurial Ideas and Innovative Systems
Bill Thomas asked:
Executive leadership development programs which empower managers to generate entrepreneurial ideas and construct innovative systems are destined to enhance organizational performance. As studies conducted by field researchers reveal, business acumen and creative leadership rank highly as the most desirable executive qualities.
Providing managers with the wherewithal to develop, implement and follow-through on their entrepreneurial ideas as well as their innovative systems should be the “prime directive” of any executive educational program.
To accomplish that lofty mission, today’s executive leadership development programs must address every facet of leading projects, programs and progressive initiatives by taking “deep-dives” into the strategies, principles, techniques and processes needed to perform these critical tasks:
planning and organizing;
visioning and questing;
setting goals and agendas;
delegating and coaching;
executing and assessing;
managing and consulting;
innovating and entrepreneurship.
What Are Entrepreneurial Ideas?
The generation of entrepreneurial ideas requires more than performing mere research or being creative – this task combines sourcing and processing your innovative systems for new opportunities along with executing a series of strategic “coup de grace”. Traditional executive leadership development programs simply fail to prepare managers for meeting those daunting challenges.
As Peter Drucker defined it: entrepreneurship is “both drastically (upgrading) the yield from resources, and (creating) a new market and a new customer. Entrepreneurship, then, is behavior rather than personality trait. And its foundation lies in (the rigorous applications of its) concept and (in the uncompromising practice of its) theory rather than in (a feeling, a tendency to take risks, a ‘kiss-from-the-muse’ or a single bright idea or in your) intuition.” (all words in parenthesis are this Author’s)
Therefore, entrepreneurial ideas are those patterns of thought, conceptuality and envisioning which give management the ability to describe the whats and whys along with defining the hows and who which satisfy Drucker’s version of entrepreneurship.
What Are Innovative Systems?
Our research has indicated a new trend in the realm of competitive advantages – we now believe that Imagination or innovative systems, not Knowledge, is the key driver of competitive advantage. All of our executive leadership development programs and skills training courses to help clients meet those challenges.
Innovative systems must possess all the attributes of a structure. It needs to behave, operate and achieve results synergetically (enabling us to “measure our experiences geometrically and topologically and … employ geometry and topology to coordinate all information regarding our experiences, both metaphysical and physical” – R. Buckminster Fuller, Synergetics.)
Following Bucky Fuller’s guidance, we suggest your innovative systems would contain these core ingredients:
1) Entities – a person, place or thing – seen as realities, dynamics, leadership, communications, ecological niches and relationships
2) Processes – a series of steps, procedures or techniques being applied or implemented in an orderly fashion – such as, exploring, creating, implementing and supervising
3) Linkages – any connection, real or imagined, between entities, processes or the system with some portion of itself or with the world outside the system – to facilitate energy importations, exportations and transformations
Executive leadership development programs which push the envelope of subject matter beyond the normal by helping managers generate entrepreneurial ideas and executive leadership training courses which feature these concepts of the Imagination Age (by developing innovative systems and not mere Knowledge) are sure to bring success and prosperity to their students.
Copyright © 2008, Mustard Seed Investments Inc, All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
Kansieo.com
Executive leadership development programs which empower managers to generate entrepreneurial ideas and construct innovative systems are destined to enhance organizational performance. As studies conducted by field researchers reveal, business acumen and creative leadership rank highly as the most desirable executive qualities.
Providing managers with the wherewithal to develop, implement and follow-through on their entrepreneurial ideas as well as their innovative systems should be the “prime directive” of any executive educational program.
To accomplish that lofty mission, today’s executive leadership development programs must address every facet of leading projects, programs and progressive initiatives by taking “deep-dives” into the strategies, principles, techniques and processes needed to perform these critical tasks:
planning and organizing;
visioning and questing;
setting goals and agendas;
delegating and coaching;
executing and assessing;
managing and consulting;
innovating and entrepreneurship.
What Are Entrepreneurial Ideas?
The generation of entrepreneurial ideas requires more than performing mere research or being creative – this task combines sourcing and processing your innovative systems for new opportunities along with executing a series of strategic “coup de grace”. Traditional executive leadership development programs simply fail to prepare managers for meeting those daunting challenges.
As Peter Drucker defined it: entrepreneurship is “both drastically (upgrading) the yield from resources, and (creating) a new market and a new customer. Entrepreneurship, then, is behavior rather than personality trait. And its foundation lies in (the rigorous applications of its) concept and (in the uncompromising practice of its) theory rather than in (a feeling, a tendency to take risks, a ‘kiss-from-the-muse’ or a single bright idea or in your) intuition.” (all words in parenthesis are this Author’s)
Therefore, entrepreneurial ideas are those patterns of thought, conceptuality and envisioning which give management the ability to describe the whats and whys along with defining the hows and who which satisfy Drucker’s version of entrepreneurship.
What Are Innovative Systems?
Our research has indicated a new trend in the realm of competitive advantages – we now believe that Imagination or innovative systems, not Knowledge, is the key driver of competitive advantage. All of our executive leadership development programs and skills training courses to help clients meet those challenges.
Innovative systems must possess all the attributes of a structure. It needs to behave, operate and achieve results synergetically (enabling us to “measure our experiences geometrically and topologically and … employ geometry and topology to coordinate all information regarding our experiences, both metaphysical and physical” – R. Buckminster Fuller, Synergetics.)
Following Bucky Fuller’s guidance, we suggest your innovative systems would contain these core ingredients:
1) Entities – a person, place or thing – seen as realities, dynamics, leadership, communications, ecological niches and relationships
2) Processes – a series of steps, procedures or techniques being applied or implemented in an orderly fashion – such as, exploring, creating, implementing and supervising
3) Linkages – any connection, real or imagined, between entities, processes or the system with some portion of itself or with the world outside the system – to facilitate energy importations, exportations and transformations
Executive leadership development programs which push the envelope of subject matter beyond the normal by helping managers generate entrepreneurial ideas and executive leadership training courses which feature these concepts of the Imagination Age (by developing innovative systems and not mere Knowledge) are sure to bring success and prosperity to their students.
Copyright © 2008, Mustard Seed Investments Inc, All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
Kansieo.com
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