The Moral Tyrant

Since its conception in ancient Greece, democracy has been highly criticized and now, more than ever, we see significant relationships between democracy and corruption. There are many forms of democracy such as direct, liberal, anarchist and socialist, and to classify them as corruptible would be unfair. Each nation is unique and consists of diverse cultures, religions, traditions and its own form of government to rule it. It is for this reason that one can not simply enforce any form of government onto a nation as exemplified by the United States’ fight to impose democracy in Iraq, a country ruled by monarchy and tyranny throughout the past century. Tyranny, often referred to as the opposition to liberty, is scarred with the actions of tyrants throughout history. Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong have blemished the 20^th Century with death and hatred in the name of tyranny. I’ll take this opportunity to introduce the idea of the moral tyrant, a new form of tyranny unlike and unassociated to its predecessor.

A tyrant can be defined as “a single ruler holding vast, if not absolute power through a state or in an organization. The term carries connotations of a harsh and cruel ruler who places his/her own interests or the interests of a small oligarchy over the best interests of the general population which he/she governs or controls.” This definition does not apply to the moral tyrant.

Moral sense comprises the principles of right and wrong and conforming to standards of behavior and character based on those same principles. The moral tyrant does not rule through fear, places society’s needs’ before his own, is incorruptible and therefore, applies justice firmly and uncompromisingly. Corruption can be the result of greed, but also religion, and it is for this reason that the moral tyrant must be agnostic.

Plato's philosophical views of an ideal state or government can be contrasted with moral tyranny. According to Plato, only the few should rule and, reason and wisdom should govern. "Until philosophers rule as kings or those who are now called kings and leading men genuinely and adequately philosophize, that is, until political power and philosophy entirely coincide, while the many natures who at present pursue either one exclusively are forcibly prevented from doing so, cities will have no rest from evils,... nor, I think, will the human race." (Republic 473c-d) Plato clearly illustrates these philosopher kings as "those who love the sight of truth" (Republic 475c). Plato also argued that it was better to be ruled by a bad tyrant than a bad democracy and believed that a state linearly declines from an aristocracy to an oligarchy, then to a democracy and finally, to tyranny. In contrast to Plato’s rulers/guardians, the moral tyrant rules with reason and wisdom, but unlike the guardians, the tyrant must be elected. Let us consider the following example.

Singapore is a city-state ruled not by tyranny, but by the People’s Action Party (PAP) that has been in office since self-government was achieved. Many foreign political analysts and opposition parties argue that Singapore is essentially a one-party authoritarian state. “The Economist Intelligence Unit lists Singapore as a country with a ‘hybrid’ system comprised of democratic and authoritarian elements.” Singapore is said to be considered partially free because of its severe laws restricting freedom of speech, chewing gum, spitting, etc. Inherited from British and British Indian laws, heavy fines, caning and capital punishment are practiced.

The government justifies its tough application of justice in fear of breeding disharmony within Singapore's multi-racial and multi-religious society. Although Singapore is governed by an authoritarian-sort of rule, its economy is highly successful and is considered to be “the least-corrupt country in Asia and amongst the top ten cleanest from corruption in the world by Transparency International.”

The moral tyrant is a thought, an alternative, or an idea, but not a final solution. There is further proof that under the right circumstances and environment, the moral tyrant can blossom a nation, but in practice, it is highly questionable because of the social consequences authoritarian rule has on a nation.

Management and Gardening

Editorial: Management and Gardening – A Creative Analogy

By MoonJin Kim

The concepts of management and gardening are considered to be worlds apart. The objectives of each are very different; the goal of management is to maximize profitability while the goal of gardening is aesthetics when growing flowers and function when growing food. Thus it is natural to assume they have little in common. However, in spite of vastly different goals, management and gardening are, in fact, analogous. The traditional as well as the modern principles of management are shared by gardening precepts. The focus of this editorial will be illustration of the application of the 14 management principles of Henri Fayol, which are indicative of past principles, and emerging management paradigms, which are indicative of current and new principles, to gardening. The analogy will be drawn with the gardener as the manager and the plants as the employees.

The first of Fayol’s principles is Division of Work. The idea is specialization enables more experience and thus greater improvement and productivity. Division of Work is applied to gardening in that the same plant cannot provide all the desired details of colour, texture, scent, line and form. Thus accommodation of each of these functions requires division of work. For example, some plants could provide colour and scent while others texture and others still line and form.

Authority and Unity of Command are another two principles. The former is the right to issue commands balanced with responsibility for function while the latter is that each worker should only belong to one line of command – no more than one boss. These have evident applications in gardening. The gardener makes decisions of what plants to use and where and there should be only one gardener deciding what plants to use and where, otherwise conflicts would occur. Scalar Chain or Line of Authority means that there must be a hierarchy in business with an appropriate number of levels. There is a hierarchy in gardening of two levels: plants and gardener.

Discipline and Unity of Direction are principles that go hand in hand with Authority and Unity of Command. Discipline means that employees are required to follow commands but management must provide good leadership to ensure obedience. The principle of discipline in gardening is that plants must grow where they are planted but the gardener must ensure growth with proper care. The principle of Unity of Command requires Unity of Direction but is not a direct result of it. Unity of Direction means that employees performing the same kind of tasks must have the same goals in a single plan. In gardening, the plants that provide colour work together under the gardener’s plan to do so. Similar reasoning applies to texture, scent, line and form.

A seventh principle of management is Subordination of individual Interest. This implies that managers must hold the goals of the firm above those of the individual. In gardening, the garden takes precedence over the interests of each plant. If it did not, each plant would have more than ample soil, and much more individual care. This would mean a very empty garden, which is usually not the desired effect.

The principles of Remuneration, Initiative and Centralization are also applicable to gardening. Remuneration is payment as a motivator. In the case of a garden, the plants’ remuneration is life, growth and health. Striving for healthy growth is plants’ initiative. Centralization of plants depends of the gardener’s plan.

Order and Equity are the eleventh and twelfth principles of management according to Fayol. Order ensures organization and minimization of lost time. Order is the responsibility of the gardener. Order is established since the gardener has control but to ensure organization, the gardener must plan carefully. Equity is the balance of kindness and justice. In gardening, the balance is in doing what is best for the plant and the garden. For example, pruning for better growth may be best for the plant and garden.

The last of Fayol’s principles are Stability of Tenure of Personnel and Esprit de Corps. Just as employees are more productive if they have job security, plants also perform much better when they are not moved often and their root systems can settle. Esprit de Corps is the management’s responsibility for morale of the workers through initiatives such as reward programs. Gardeners are responsible for the plants’ entire well-being in making sure that it is watered and fertilized as needed.

In addition to traditional principles, gardening shows similarities to emerging management paradigms. To ensure a healthy and successful garden, gardeners employ technology just as businesses do to ensure success. Gardeners use pH tests, salinity and nutrient tests that technology has made much more available. Also, changing environmental conditions mirror the variability of changing markets. Thus gardeners must plan for an adaptable garden that can handle a variety of temperatures and weather conditions just as managers must plan for unclear changes in markets.

As illustrated, gardening displays applicability of management principles and traits of emerging management paradigms. It is then evident that management and gardening are not as different as previously thought. They are arguably very similar indeed.

Reference:

http://www.12manage.com/methods_fayol_14_principles_of_management.html

http://www.csupomona.edu/~wcweber/301/301slide/index.htm

articles from the course readings on pg 185, 219

http://www.gardenaesthetics.com/DESIGN.htm

http://www.angelazakon.com/articles/topten-gardening.html

http://www.garden.org/

The 21st Century Organization: Designed from the Human Body

“It is shameful for man to rest in ignorance of the structure of his own body, especially when the knowledge of it mainly conduces to his welfare, and directs his application of his own powers.” Is what German humanist Philip Schwatzerd noted on human anatomy.
Indeed our human bodies are marvelously engineered complex systems, equipped with the essentials for prosperity. What if this could be applied to other systems? The following three categories look at basic elements of the human design and examine how they can provide ideas for the 21st century organization.

Stability, Mobility and Agility

The human arms and legs evolved to empower us with the ability of creation and mobility. Containing some of the “densest areas of nerve endings on the human body” permitting the “finest motor skills,” our hands are the “chief organs for physically manipulating the environment,” and have been the basis for the construction of our civilization (Wikipedia, 2007). Our four limbs are tuned with intuitive preciseness and make anything we can imagine. Our feet allow us to roam the land and waters.
Like so, the organization needs the production power of human hands, with the ability to change and effectively produce end results with precision and speed. Implementations such a higher power in the implantation of collective decisions can allow the organizational radical and flexible movement without the restraint of high-leveled bureaucracy. This will help increase the organizations reaction time in the high-speed society where legislations and consumer demands are at constant change. In addition to this, the need for strength of an organization to withstand dramatic social, political, and economic fluctuations is comparable to human being’s abilities of balance and stability.

Immunity, Prosperity and Sustainability

As the body’s self defense again foreign agents, our bodies have a highly developed immune system with a vast defense structure that “incorporates specificity, inducibility and adaptation” to protect the human body as a whole. These “collections of mechanisms within [the body] protects against infection by identifying and killing” harmful foreign organisms (Wikipedia, 2007).
The future organizations will need an elaborate and integrated network of its own defense mechanisms in the shape of intelligent management strategies and lawyers to fend off legal attacks, while securing information protection teams and monitoring in place for IT intrusions and hacking.
However rarely, autoimmunity and self attacks do occur within the human body. Organizations must be constantly aware that their strong system build for defense does not work to harm themselves in forms of corporate espionage and sabotage, as the organizations’ greatest strengths could become their crippling blow.
As for the human population in society, while our health systems have improved immensely throughout history, each generation is living longer and bringing more lives to the world. Our society has come to a point where we have realized that our population growth rate has raised to an unsustainable amount. Organizations of the 21st century must be designed around this dilemma between prosperity and sustainability. How fast should growth be to keep the organization running? How slow should growth be to maintain its long term sustainability? Which type of growth is more important? There comes a necessity to discover the balance between these two needs.

Intelligence, Interconnectivity and Integrity

As the most complex system of the human body, the brain controls virtually all functions of the human body including the more complex mental activities of learning, intelligent thinking and upholding moral standards. Equipped with this central processing unit, are also able to take in and analyze information gathered of the environment surrounding us with our sensory systems, of which eyesight and hearing can be named as two of the most important. Our visual system allows us to “assimilate information from the environment to help guide our actions,” facilitating the recognition of objects and obstacles while our auditory system provides the ability to receive environmental and communicational information. Linking all of these individual components of our entire complex is the vast interconnection of neurons, providing infrastructure for the massive volume of communication transmitted during all of these processes. It effectively uses a combination of the speed of electronic transmissions and chemical reactions. In the 21st century, organizations should be equipped with the flexibility of human brains for continuous learning and adaptation within the constantly changing global environment. An attentive management system promoting inter-human communication with well established member feedback system will allow for a high-level of organizational thinking in accumulation of intellectual capital and innovative solutions for maintaining holistic organizational growth.
Facial expressions of humans “convey the emotional state of the individual to observers,” creating method of non verbal communication and are “a primary means of conveying social information” (Givens, 1998) for us. To an organization, their face is their façade towards society, the government, and the world. As frequent as we purposely create false expressions to mask our emotions, many organizations of today conduct the same hiding of their true actions under faux façades of inspirational mottos, inducing wide public distrust in the organizational world. Maintaining honesty in their operations and stances towards the society is a key in the 21st century. A genuine “facial expression”, and to have a heart towards the mass will aid the reconstruction of social-organizational relations and trust.

Designed from these attributes of the human body, the fluid elements of stability, mobility, and agility, the internal systems of immunity, prosperity, and sustainability, and the management of intelligence, interconnectivity, and integrity will form the DNA of the 21st century organization.



References

Toga, Arthur W.; B.S., M.S., Ph.D. (2006). Brain (html). MSN Encarta. Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved on 2006-12-21.

Philips, Helen (2006). Instant Expert – The Human Brain. New Scientist. Reed Business Information Ltd. Retrieved on 2006-12-22.

Hand. (2007). In Wikipedia [Web]. Wikipedia Foundation. Retrieved August 1, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand

Immune System. (2007). In Wikipedia [Web]. Wikipedia Foundation. Retrieved August 1, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immune_system

Givens, D. B. (1998). Facial Expression. Retrieved August 1, 2007, Web site: http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/facialx.htm

Corporation and Management to Architecture and Keystone

When you see an article comparing corporation and architecture, do you see the connection? Are you thinking that a corporation is “built up,” literally talking about the material construction, just like an architectural structure is? Or are you thinking about the non-material “build up” of a corporation from many tangible and intangible resources? Or perhaps you are thinking about something else. Indeed, there are many connections between corporation and architecture. Let’s further explore different aspects of this comparison.

Firstly, let’s look at the definitions (in italic):
Architecture is the art and science of designing buildings and structures. When you see a definition that says “Management is the art and science of designing businesses and organizations,” does this make sense? Can you make an argument out of it?

A wider definition of architecture often includes the design of the total built environment: from the macro-level of town planning, urban design, and landscape architecture to the micro-level of construction details and furniture. Similarly, management includes the design of the total built environment: from the macro-level of community planning, policy design, organization architecture to the micro-level of human and material resources.

Architectural design involves the manipulation of mass, space, volume, texture, light, shadow, materials, program, and other elements in order to achieve an end which is aesthetic as well as functional. How does it relate to corporation and management? Corporation and management involves the manipulation of people, their intelligence and capability, policies, natural resources, environment, and other elements in order to achieve an end which is functional as well as profitable.

Architectural works are perceived as cultural and political symbols and works of art. Historical civilizations are often known primarily through their architectural achievements.
Corporation is perceived as cultural and political symbols and works of art. Past and most present business leaders are often known primarily through their corporate achievements. Does this make sense?

Such buildings as the pyramids of Egypt and the Roman Colosseum are cultural symbols, and are an important link in public consciousness. Cities, regions and cultures continue to identify themselves with and are known by their architectural monuments. Successful corporations and multinational businesses are not only cultural symbols but also in the 21st century, cross-cultural symbols, and are with no questions an important link in public consciousness. People identify with the products of many corporations. Again, does this make sense? Do you see the connection?

Perhaps a more specific analogy of management and keystone will provide further insights for the readers. Let me first provide you with the definition and application of a keystone:
A keystone is the architectural piece at the crown of an arch… locking the other pieces, a.k.a. voussoirs, into position. It could be said as the most important piece in the construction of an arch. By its name, a keystone is the key to an arch construction. It acts as an agent to balance the two compressive forces from the two sides of an arch.

Upon more research, however, a keystone can be split vertically into two parts and no shift will result. Why? This is because the forces of the two sides of the keystone are horizontally balanced. By symmetry, the compressive forces from the two sides should exert equal pressure, thus reaching equilibrium. To point out here, equilibrium must be achieved before the keystone can be split into two, or else the whole structure will collapse.

How does this relate or apply to management? Management can be said to be the keystone in a corporate structure, and the characteristics of a keystone also apply. If a horizontal balance of forces is achieved, this symbolizes that management does not have to be one centralized agent, but many cooperating parts that remain close contact and work together, just as two keystones are side by side supporting each other, to balance out the compressing forces or stresses.

What are some compressing forces that the management needs to balance? Human and material resources? Financial performance and environmental impact? Domestic and international contribution? There are more, and good management team will be able to identify the different forces or stresses in their corporation. These compressing forces could be threatening if not well managed to reach the stage of equilibrium.

Old keystones can decay due to vibration, a condition known as bald arch, and ultimately results in the collapse of the structure. Out-of-date management can lose value due to fast global, technological, and economic developments, and ultimately leads to the collapse of a corporation, perhaps even a new term called bald management?

Architecture does not refer only to the construction of a structure or a system but it also underlies the importance of maintaining balance, and the relationship among all elements or components such as materials, environment, limitations, and human capability. What are the building blocks of a corporation? The issue here is how, for corporations, to reach equilibrium so that the compressing forces are horizontal; moreover, how can management be an agent that balances the forces.

In an article in Arab Construction World Nov 2005 / Vol XXII - Issue 7, in which Hakan Sandbirg points out that the value of the keystone is that it reminds us that "until the structure is complete, we have to keep thinking" - an important point [for both architect and manager.]

Industrial Ecology: Intertwining Industrial Interactions

Close your eyes and picture a bird’s eye view of the industrial revolution. Most likely you will see crowded buildings with towering stack columns spewing clouds of white smoke. You will also most likely view this old world in monotonous colors of black, white and various shades of grey. Sadly, this is not a figment of our imaginations; one must merely look at the renditions of this past to realize that this turn-mark period in humanity was actually grim and sickly. During this era, humanity completely alienated themselves from the natural environment. Humans were superior and we are able to manipulate our environment to suit our needs. After all, the world was limitless and ours to do as we wished. However, we soon learned about the dire consequences of our selfish behavior not only to the natural environment, but for the human environment itself. The toxicity of that environment was so terrible that a quote from the industrial revolution in London was: “Hell must be much like London, a smoky and populous city.” Sadly our ignorance just lead us further into the hole until the facts simply were to large to safely sweep under the carpet such as the 4000 deaths which occurred in London in 1952 due to a fog which was mixed with coal smoke. Sadly, change came not from the industrial sector, but from government when industries showed complete disregard for human health.

When the average person is asked about pollution, the first three answers that come to mind are: air, water, and soil. However, the modern definition of pollution is any pollutant which can be chemical or biological substance, thermal (heat), noise, light, and energy among others that can have a dire effect on the natural and human environment. To begin, I will refresh some of the most environmentally impacting types of pollution which can also directly affect human health. Air pollution, one of the first problems to be determined is in essence the release of chemicals like sulfur dioxide (SO2) and particulates into the atmosphere. The consequences of air pollution are well noted, CFC’s lead to the thinning of the ozone layer and contributed to an increase in skin cancer and SO2 lead to acid rain which deteriorated buildings, destroyed forests and acidified lakes. Water pollution is also one of the first types of health hazards humans associated with their impact on the environment. Like air pollution, it involves dumping chemicals into bodies of water. Their mechanisms vary extensively such as seemingly innocuous materials like milk which become toxic when bacteria degrade them in the water and utilize all the oxygen in the system thus leading to death of many fish and wildlife in the given area. Others are far more simple such as heavy metals which are extremely toxic to aquatic wildlife and to human health as well. Soil contamination is also fairly well known. In essence chemicals such as oil which contaminate a site can destroy or affect the local ecosystem. Thermal pollution is also a relatively new area, which occurs when coolant water from an energy plant is immediately injected into a natural body of water at a higher temperature. This in turn causes depletion of oxygen in the area which affects sensitive aquatic organisms such as juvenile fish. Luckily, government has stepped up to the plate to place laws to protect human health and the natural environment.

In Canada, this is the duty of Environment Canada which has specific regulations such as Freshwater Water Regulations, and the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Despite these advances, what is the role of industry in this modern age which is so dependent on environmental awareness? Do we continue moving on creating new chemicals and products without determining the consequences of our actions? Do we simply accept the current environmental standards and just disregard any possibility of self-improvement without direction from the government? Sadly, many industries fall in this later category for they believe that it is the governments’ job to “give them guidelines” for their only concern is to make money. What many industries fail to recognize is that they too are an important part of the whole system. This idea, the interaction between the industrial system and the natural system coined by Robert Frosch and Nicolas Gallopoulos is called industrial ecology.

In the natural world, the waste of one organism is the resource of another organism. This is essentially a cyclical cycle where no waste goes unused. Sadly, current industrial activities are increasingly confrontational with ecological systems. Industrial ecology follows that an ideal industrial system is one which mimics this natural balance, where the wastes of one company is the resources of another. This ideal situation in turn results in the elimination of wastes leaving the industrial ecosystem. Although this may seem nearly impossible, there are many current tools that industries can apply to reach this goal such as cleaner production methods and design for the environment. Industrial ecology also offers important goals, organizing principles and strategies to reform industry. Although many see this as a complete change which may harm industry, industrial ecology first believes that change begins with industry optimization. One reduces energy and raw materials to produce a given good. Any businessman will understand that the fewer materials you require to make a good, the cost for the good decreases which in turn can lead to an increase in profit. The second part of industrial ecology however lies beyond the physical walls of a given company. It requires the coordination and integration of companies to form closed looped systems where the wastes of one company is the resources of another. However, is this feasible? One must merely look at Kalundborg, an industrial town in Denmark. This unique industrial symbiosis comprises of 6 companies: Asnaes Power Station, Statoil, Novo Nordisk, Gyproc, the Municipality of Kalundborg, and Bioteknisk Joren.[i] This system was first developed to minimize energy waste and to comply with the strict environmental regulations set by the government of Denmark. By each company utilizing specific wastes from another company, this unique symbiosis managed to drastically reduce wastes: 19000 tons/year of oil, 1200000 tons/year of water, and 130000 tons/year of CO2 among others.[ii] The success of this system was that waste materials were recycled, consumption of raw materials was reduced, and environmental pollutants were reduced. The Kalundborg symbiosis case shows that although successful, certain conditions must be satisfied. For example, all contracts were agreed on a bilateral basis. This experience shows that successful industrial symbiosis requires a good fit among firms and that there should be trust and a "short mental distance" among the participants. This in turn translates to openness between contracts. However, there are some limitations such as costs; investment needed to put the different material and energy exchanges and each exchange is based on a separate contract between two partners. Despite these short term limitations, the overall success has more than overcome the expenses that each individual company would incur from rising resource cost, as well as rising waste disposal/environmental stipulation costs.

The world is now at a new era, and it is time to put away the typical and traditional images of business and to find new and innovative ways to lead the way in the very important but atypical aspects of the industrial system. Companies must realize they are not separate from the human system or the environmental one; they all work together as a whole. If they work independently they risk damaging the other two systems, and if both systems are damaged, like the gears in a watch, the industrial system will fail. It is time for companies to step-up and beyond regulations and following government for in the end the most atypical move is the most advantageous move for all parties involved.

[i] “The industrial symbiosis in Kalundborg, Denmark” UNEP Environmental Management for Industrial Estates: Information and Training Resources

[ii] Mandu, Christian N. (2001) ‘Handbook of Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing’ Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, pp. 32-39

HUMAN PATENTING

Life Within The Double Helix

The essence and diversity of life lies within each living being and organism. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) has created the assortment of all things existing from butterflies to humans. The discovery of DNA structure in 1953 has fundamentally transformed and challenged the study of biology and application of jurisdictions. Since then, researchers have made substantial progress in understanding the function of DNA in a variety of organisms. An innovative breakthrough occurred in 2001; a map of the human genome was published, identifying approximately 30,000 to 40,000 human genes. Many of these genes, DNA segments that carry genetic information, have a major role in detecting human diseases and disorders. Furthermore, their identifications may be a vital step in developing new diagnostic tests and potential treatments. Human genetic coding has been the focus of many platforms of discussion due to the growing public and private concerns on “Genetic Research and Patent Protection.”

Biotechnology Patents defines patents as follows: “A patent is an agreement between the government and an inventor whereby, in exchange for the inventor’s complete disclosure of the invention, the government gives the inventor the right to exclude others from using the invention in certain ways.(…) What is granted is not the right to make, use, offer for sale, sell or import, but the right to stop others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention.” (U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 8.) Furthermore, the rationale for a patent system was to stimulate and promote research as well as provide an incentive to benefit societal needs. Genetic patenting has been a subject of controversy in numerous categories: human, animal, agricultural (plant) or microbial genes. The on-going concern and debate is due to the rising rate of patenting human DNA sequences, thus the applicability of patent laws with respect to DNA sequences and possible consequences for societies are in question.

Until 1980, all living organisms were deemed “alive” thus not of patentable subject matter. However, in June of 1980 a landmark case Diamond v. Chakrabarty changed the judicial approach of patenting. Chakrabarty had modified bacteria by inserting specific genes that gave them the ability to break down hydrocarbons (geared towards the clean up of oil spills). According to the U.S. Supreme Court, the modified bacteria of Chakrabarty was in fact an “invention” since it could not be found in nature, and therefore was patentable (U.S. Pat. No. 4,259,444). This lead to the U.S. Patent Office stating a one-sentence decree in 1987: “Patent anything in the world that is alive, except a full birth human being.” Subsequential to this judgment, countless patents have been granted for a large number of genes, sections of genes and to the proteins they produce. Such rights and privileges have created an incentive for private as well as public institutions to pursue genetic coding. With great development and “invention” several new medicines were produced based on human proteins: Erythropoietin

(EPO) treating anemia and tissue plasminogens activator (t-PA) used for tissue remodeling. In spite of the obvious benefits, various problems arise such as preventing or delaying the development of new or improved medicines or treatments, exploiting information and hindering exchange between researchers.

DNA Sequence Monopoly: Case of BRCA1 Gene

In 1994, U.S. Myriad Genetics discovered the BRCA1 gene, located on chromosome 17, which has the capability of identifying susceptibility to breast cancer. A patent granted asserted property rights over the gene and all possible diagnostic methods thus providing Myriad Genetics monopoly over BRCA1. In 2001, Institut Curie, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris and Institut Gustave-Roussy challenged Myriad Genetics on grounds of preventing or delaying the development of new or improved medicines or treatments pertaining to BRCA1. Therefore, the exclusive right to all subsequent uses is the main concern because BRCA1 has the possibility of identifying other related or non-related diseases, which would also give authority over the diagnostic methods and treatments to Myriad Genetics.

A plausible option would be to more stringently apply or amend patent criteria on DNA sequence by not allocating full proprietorship over the gene in question. For instance, when postulating for a patent, as in this case specific to the use for diagnosis, only the initial “invention” BRCA1’s capability of identifying breast cancer, is revealed thus only it should be recognized and patented. Furthermore, all patent rights pertained to the diagnosis of breast cancer from BRCA1 will be owned by the “inventor”, in this case Myriad Genetics until it reaches patent maturity date. This will not only provide the freedom to further research the gene and develop potential “inventions” by other organizations but also provide a dialogue for exchange of knowledge between researchers and organizations.

Patents In The Treatment Context: Case of HIV/AIDS Drugs

It is estimated that 2.4 million people died in Africa, of HIV-related illnesses, in 2005 alone. India, Russia and China have followed with the highest infection rates and growing epidemics increasing by a quarter since 2003. The latest innovative drugs on the market are antiretroviral (ARV) treatments. ARVs have the ability to not only limit the damage on the immune system caused by HIV but also prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission. However, all ARV medicines are currently under patent rights jurisdiction of developed countries, namely the United-States. In comparison to the Westernized world, where a large majority benefits from antiretroviral treatment, less than 5% of the population in developing countries has access to similar treatment. This brings strong evidence, that under the current patent laws, patent holders have legal right to prevent the production of a cheaper ARV medicine for third-world countries. This was brought to light in 1998 when the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PMA), representing 39 pharmaceutical companies, sought to prevent the South African government from revamping a law intended to make essential medicines more affordable in particular to HIV/AIDS medicines. This law would have allowed the generic substitution of patented brand-name drugs. However, this act was cancelled due to claims of law violations of patent and property rights.

As flagrant as the HIV/AIDS epidemic is, developing countries still suffer the burden of being at the mercy of pharmaceutical patents and property rights over much needed medicines. A proposed model called “Compulsory license” should be implemented to facilitate access to critical medical innovation. Under this model, the court will oblige patent holders to license their rights over to developing countries that are experiencing epidemics or life-threatening conditions.

Research and developments, specific to gene identification, provide an opportunity to cure and prevent life-threatening diseases. However, jurisdiction over such “inventions” should be highly controlled in order to protect the general benefit of society at a global level.

Marketing Groups a.k.a. Bacteria

Bacteria are everywhere, there’s no escaping them. They are present in the air we breathe, in the food we eat and on pretty much everything we touch. There isn’t just one kind of bacteria, you’ll find about seven different kinds on a class room floor and five different kinds on a door knob and on a public chair.
Bacteria are cells which rarely function alone in the environment. Often, cells interact in groups and if one of the cells is much larger than the other, the larger one is called the host. There are good bacteria that do not harm any organism; in fact it helps to keep us alive. And there are obviously bad pathogenic bacteria which cause infections, colds and the flu.
A marketing company first aims to find the most effective audience, for example a toy or cereal company would target the attention of kids. So the kids nag their parents into buying the product. In a similar way, bacteria specifically choose areas that will benefit them the most; where they will be able to fulfill their needs to survive.
When the bacteria have decided on the area they are going to target, they invade the hosts of the good bacteria colonies. This can be seen as a miniature battle between bacteria and host cells of the good bacteria. There are three possible outcomes: host wins and bacteria are removed so that the host can recover; bacteria win and kill their host; or an equilibrium is reached in which host and bacteria live involuntarily together and damage is minimized[1].
These outcomes portray the success of marketing groups’ advertisements. The bacteria winning signify that the ads had an impact on their audience and individuals are buying their products.
If it is the pathogenic bacteria that have won the battle, it can produce diseases in a variety of ways. One way is by secreting toxic substances that damage human tissues or they may become parasites inside human cells or they may form colonies in the body that disrupt the normal human function. Once one of the following occurs it may spread to other parts of the body, increasing the severity of the disease. It spreads through the tissue, the blood and the nerves[2]. Similarly once a few individuals start buying a companies product, others are influenced to buy it as well. The company is at a benefit by targeting the right group of individuals; from the previous example cereal companies are aware that if they target kids it will be more beneficial.
However, how will other companies allow such an influence on individuals? Competitors will come out with other more effective strategies to try to sell their products. This is where the role of researchers is crucial for finding antibiotics to fight the bacteria. The researchers signify the competitors and the antibiotics the new marketing strategy. Once researchers do find antibiotics and patients start to use it, the success of the effectiveness of the antibiotics on the bacteria also signifies the success of the competitor companies’ new marketing strategy.
Finally, the bacteria can become resistant to the antibiotics. When bacteria develop the ability to defend themselves against the effect of an antibiotic, then they are said to have acquired antibiotic resistance. Over the years, pathogenic bacteria have grown resistant to many antibiotics because of overuse or inappropriate use. The bacteria will either mutate by changing their structure which unables the antibiotic to recognize the bacteria. Or the bacteria acquire new genes which de-activate or destroy the antibiotic. As a result, instead of wiping out the infection altogether, the antibiotic kills only the weaker organisms and leaves their tougher parts to multiply and spread[3].
This tests the success between both companies. Which company was more influential in their strategies? If the bacteria mutates, the first company outsmarted the competitor and if individuals properly used the antibiotics without abusing the medication then it is the competitors company who was more effective.
As one may now be able to recognize the roles of both, bacteria and a companies marketing group can be similar. Pathogenic Bacteria is more powerful in the sense that it will do more harm to individuals but can be eliminated if taken medications properly. As for marketing groups, with proper and effective strategies, they can be very influential.
[1] http://www.bacteriamuseum.org/niches/pbacteria/pathogenicity.shtml

[2] http://njnj.essortment.com/bacteriumdiseas_rnqz.htm

[3] http://www.antibiotics-info.org/bact04c.asp

The conductor of an orchestra is to the musicians as the CEO of a company is to the employees of the company.


A conductor of an orchestra has 3 major responsibilities: to inform the orchestra of the selections they will be playing (an overview of goals), to rehearse them (by doing so providing feedback, implementing his vision, and musicality), and to perform with them (carrying out the task to completion, realizing goals). These duties can be paralleled in the business world. A CEO is responsible for informing his employees of the tasks and goals he has set out for them, educating them on how to complete the tasks and carrying out the tasks to completion. A CEO must influence his co workers with his style to achieve maximum uniformity in the project. While there is room for creativity and individuality, the team must cooperate and understand a common goal or ideal. By informing the team of the goal (like asking musicians to listen to a favourite recording of a piece before rehearsing it) everyone will have an understanding of what the final product will involve. An orchestral conductor is most definitely a social artist, someone who is continually working on themselves and their followers[1], and so is a CEO who is looking out for the best interest of the company and every aspect and person involved in it.

Humans are quantum beings[2], they function in many different ways. By looking at the Quantum Skills Model (see Below), we can see that it applies to both musicians and employees.


Music teacher is to students as Inspirational leader/Social artist is to employees.


As a music teacher, my goal is to create a supportive learning environment that fosters the concepts of inspiration, flexibility and creativity. I would inspire my students by presenting myself as a positive role model and encouraging my students to develop themselves as people, by bringing their heart, soul, and spirit into every project/piece they contribute to[3]. By providing my students with a flexible environment that promoted mutual respect, I aspire to create collaborative networks[4] that promote self expression and new ideas. Finally, I wish to create a learning environment that promotes creativity. I aim to present my students with the tools they need to find new ways to bridge complex problems[5]. By giving them to tools to solve problems they will be able to grow as human beings and apply the concepts they learn into their everyday lives.

In management, the CEO should strive to create a similar environment. A work environment that is inspirational, flexible and creative. An inspirational CEO will try to tap into the full potential of every employee. He will be acknowledging, engaging, and will respect his co-workers as whole people[6]. He will instruct them to “bridge analytical and artistic sides to increase activity” (Karakas). A flexible CEO will promote mutual respect and understand that his co-workers are not robots, but human beings who have lives and situations that he may not be aware of. The creative CEO will try his best to make a creative environment and encourage employees to take in conferences, seminars, and to take part in other creativity-building exercises to maximize the creative potential of his co-workers

Quantum Skills Model

1. quantum seeing: the ability to see intentionally

Musician: when listening to a conductor recommended recording, it becomes easier to understand the goals and vision of the ensemble
Employee: a project manager should fully explain his vision to the group and take into consideration everyone’s thoughts and ideas

2. quantum thinking: the ability to think paradoxically

Musician: inviting open discussion about a piece is productive, but it is ultimately the conductor who decides which ideas are use and which are discarded
Employee: developing creative thinking is essential for any company to become more dynamic, while not all ideas may be used, the freedom to think ‘outside the box’ may inspire better ideas, for later projects

3. quantum feeling: the ability to feel vitally alive

Musician: expressing yourself through an instrument is communicating in another language, each instrument and each musician is like its own dialect, it is up to the musician to communicate their feelings through their instrument
Employee: self-talking or brainstorming is the path to discovering innovative ideas and ideologies, each employee should be encouraged to develop not only professionally, but also personally

4. quantum knowing: the ability to know intuitively

Musician: in a world or resources, there is always a DVD, or recording, or live concert to see/listen to, though live concert is the best, any of these media can be used as the launch pad for creative insight
Employee: in a world of resources, employees should be encouraged to use them, not everything has to be done individually, collaboration creates the best results

5. quantum acting: the ability to act responsibly

Musician: while for most musicians, orchestral playing isn’t their only source of income, they must act responsibly and know their parts to be fully involved in the musical experience (transcending)
Employee: most employees have personal lives as well as professional, they must act responsibly and put their best effort towards their professional lives even when their personal ones are demanding more attention

6. quantum trusting: the ability to trust life’s process

Musician: the chaos of section rehearsals will ensure that all of the small components of the large scale work are given attention, when all of the parts come together the result is a more complete interpretation and only minor adjustments are necessary
Employee: companies and teams of employees must be able to trust one another to work on a larger project (by working in smaller teams), this trust will enable a better result because several people will be concentrating on different parts of a project versus one person spreading themselves too thin and overlooking detail

7. quantum being: the ability to be in a relationship

Musician: the relationship between a conductor and his orchestra is personal, expressive, and demands respect
Employee: the relationship between a CEO and his employees is personal (professionally speaking), collaborative and while initially demanding respect – is based on trust

[1] A Portrait of the Leader in the 21st Century: Fahri Karakas
[2] Handout: Implications of Quantum Physics for Management
[3] The 21st Century Leader: Social Artist, Spiritual Visionary, and Cultural Innovator: Fahri Karakas
[4] The 21st Century Leader: Social Artist, Spiritual Visionary, and Cultural Innovator: Fahri Karakas
[5] The 21st Century Leader: Social Artist, Spiritual Visionary, and Cultural Innovator: Fahri Karakas
[6] The 21st Century Leader: Social Artist, Spiritual Visionary, and Cultural Innovator: Fahri Karakas

Perception

Perception is the use of the senses to understand and interpret an action or event; it is ones’ reading of reality. Consequently, perception and reality do not equate each other. In the business world, organizations hire individuals as public relations whose role is to create a positive image of the organization in the public’s eye. This emphasizes on perception. But what is more important: perception or reality? In the case of organizations who are interested in projecting a positive image, the reality of the organization’s actions are not as important as the perception the general public will have. For example, consumers are becoming environmentally conscious and expect the corporations to share those values and to get involved in those issues. Because the frontier between reality and perception is unclear, one can easily con anyone into seeing reality as one wants it to be perceived. In such example, organizations can join environmental groups or publish letters on shared concern about environmental issues in order for communities to view them as environmentally friendly businesses when, truthfully, no action is being taken from their part to reduce gas emissions or research environmentally friendly production mechanisms, leaving humanity as disturbed. Therefore, from the organization’s point of view, perception is more important than reality, since it is less costly and demanding to appear concerned than to actually take action. However, when considering the wellbeing of humanity as a priority, the measures should obviously be given more importance since it is real actions which induce changes. This pessimistic example demonstrates how different ones’ opinion can be from reality and emphasizes the importance of acknowledging the perception phenomena to communicate efficiently with others.
Perception is a personal, individualistic interpretation of a phenomenon but there are common trends linking it to culture. A culture is the combination of the values, behaviors and beliefs which makes every society unique. From birth, one is born into a culture which becomes part of oneself. Each culture has its own specific rules, social structure and social practice which states acceptable conducts. Therefore, in given situations, culturally related individuals will draw the same interpretation which will induce them to react similarly. As an example, one can contrast a business meeting of Japanese individuals with one composed of Americans; analyzing only the greeting will demonstrate different cultural behavior. When meeting someone, Japanese will bow to show respect to one another. Depending on social status and age, the depth and length of the bow will differ since it represents the level of respect; a longer, deeper bow shows greater respect. Contrarily, Americans will shake hands and say “Hi, how are you?” Everything is said, nothing needs to be understood. Age and hierarchical position will not alter the greeting. Clearly, one can see how different the two cultures are. Furthermore, the first impression of the greeting is crucial since this will dictate how one perceives the other and whether or not one is interested in pursuing a relationship or not. Because of cultural background, a Japanese meeting with an American would perceive the American as rude and disrespectful towards him for not bowing, which will spoil the relationship; respect being a fundamental for a strong business relationship. Therefore, perception is culturally biased because of the differences shared by culturally similar individuals.
In the 21st century, relationships are no longer culturally bound. Therefore, one should develop cross-cultural communication skills such as knowledge, openness and awareness. First, knowledge refers to learning about the others’ culture. Before meeting, one will benefit from researching about the others’ cultural background. By doing so, one will make the other more comfortable and will be able to avoid offending behaviors. Second, openness refers to the state of mind one should adopt when encountering a different culture. One realizes the existence of cultural differences and should be able to accept them. Entering a meeting with an open mind will show respect for the other which will not go unnoticed. Third, awareness refers to being attentive to signs of misunderstanding and accepting that misinterpretation will happen. No matter how much experience one has with dealing with other cultures, there will always be new conflicting situations which one cannot be fully prepared for. Being conscious of misperceptions will benefit both parties by intervening promptly, limiting the damage. However, one danger in applying the three concepts is to lose oneself. One has to know ones’ goals and desires and not compromise these to the profit of the other; the goal is not to adopt the others’ culture.
Finally, one realizes perception is not universal, but culturally biased. Both words and actions are constantly being analyzed and interpreted which justifies the need to developing ones’ knowledge, openness and awareness to communicate efficiently in cross-cultural situations. By developing these skills one also learns respect and tolerance of others and their differences, leading to an overall more unified world.


References:
-http://interneg.concordia.ca/~gregory/teaching/822/one/05%20Nisbett_Holistic_analytic.pdf-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perception

EQ and Success

The first time that I have read about the term EQ was when I was 15. I was browsing the internet and I came across an interesting site called Tickle. It is full of self quizzes and PhD certified premium tests. A test of emotional intelligence was among them. I would say I am a person who cares a great deal about my relationships with my family and close friends. And I work hard on improving them. According to McClelland, I am an N-AFF person who needs acceptance, friendship and relationship.
And I have been paying special attention when it comes to the topic of EQ. Not only because I want to use this concept to improve my current relationships but I also want to apply it in my future career when it comes to dealing with clients or coworkers.
The subject just simply fascinates me. Enough about my personal story let us start to talk about emotional intelligence from the scientific perspective.

EQ, also known as Emotional Intelligence or Emotional Quotient, is the ability to accurately recognize one self’s and others’ emotions and execute the appropriate action as a result of them. There are different models that classify different parts of emotional intelligence. Some of these models are: The Mayer-Salovey-Caruso ability model, The Bar-On model, The Goleman model and the Six Seconds model. Each of the above models are associated with the following assessments, respectively: MSCEIT assessment, EQ-I assessment, Emotional Intelligence Appraisal and the SEI assessment. All of the above measurements of EQ are self-report except for the MSCEIT assessment which is ability-based. One of the model particularly attracts my attention is the Six Seconds model. Research by Six Seconds’ Institute for Organizational performance finds that 54% of success factors are predicted by scores on SEI. These success factors are: general health, quality of life, relationship quality and personal effectiveness. The study is performed on 665 individuals aging from 18 to 65, level of education ranging from high-school to post-graduate and engaging in a variety of professions. The result shows that 54.79% of the variability in the success factors combined are predicted by the SEI. The model is divided into three parts: know yourself, choose yourself and give yourself. And within these three parts there are eight competencies: enhance emotional literacy, recognize patterns, apply consequential thinking, navigate emotions, increase optimism, engage intrinsic motivation, increase empathy and pursue noble goals. This model is designed to put theory into action.

Ron Riggio, a professor of organizational psychology at Caremon Mckenna College in Claremont, California makes a statement about EQ: “This is critically important to entrepreneurs, not only in managing employees but also in getting customers, attracting investors, and at every step in building a business.” He points out the importance of EQ in workplace, especially in the business world. Leaders in organizations are proven to have high EQ and possess the following characteristics: the ability to persist and stay motivated in the face of frustration, the ability to control impulses, the ability to control their emotions and the ability to empathize with others. Optimism is another trait that a person with high EQ has. A study done at the company Met Life by Martin Seligman and his colleagues found that among salesmen who have just joined the company, those who were optimists sold 37 percent more insurance during their early career years than those who were pessimists. The company was advised to hire those who were rejected at interviews but scored high on optimism tests. The result was that they outsold the pessimists by 21 percent. After completed a study of store managers in a retail chain store, Lusch and Serpkenci concluded that the capacity to handle stress forecast net profits, sales per square foot, sales per employee and per dollar of inventory investment.

I would like to devote a paragraph to the importance of EQ in networking, which is a skill that every businessman/woman must have. According to Ivan Misner, founder and CEO of BNI, the world’s largest referral organization, EQ is an essential tool in the world of networking. To be successful in this area, you need to develop a networking style that sets you apart from the ordinary businessperson. You also need to change your networking styles suiting various situations. Find every opportunity to connect with your contact. Finally, maintaining customer loyalty is very crucial to networking.

Traditionally, people with high IQ are believed to have a higher chance of success in their lives. However, researches have done to prove that EQ is more important than IQ in order to be successful. Studies done by Hunter and Hunter (72-93) showed that IQ only acts as 25% of a predictor for a good job performance. In 1996, Sternberg indicated that 10 percent might be a more realistic approximation. Another study was completed in Sommerville, Massachusetts on the limits of IQ as a predictor for success. It was a 40 year investigation of 450 boys who grew up in Sommerville. Two thirds were tested to have high IQs and one third had considerably lower IQs. As the study showed, IQ and success at their work is not directly proportionally related. The key to those who performed well in their work was their skills such as being able to handle frustration, control emotions and get alone with other people (Snarey & Vaillant, 899-910).

The need for EQ is ubiquitous in our daily lives. We need it in the workplace to deal with our boss, our coworkers and our customers. We need it to better handle our relationships with our loved ones. We even need it ourselves to be able to better manage our own emotions. However, not everybody is born with a high EQ. The good news is: a person’s EQ level is able to increase with self-practice or professional help, although debates that EQ is static like IQ do exist. Two main areas in which you can raise your EQ consist of: understand your own emotions and be able to empathize. According to Steve Hein, some of the specific things that you can do by yourself includes: frequently ask yourself how you feel; work on raising your self-esteem; begin expressing your feelings accurately, without exaggerating them or minimizing them. Things that you can do with others includes: try to understand other people’s feelings; listen to others non-judgmentally; work on becoming less defensive and more open. Hope that after reading this article about EQ, it will help you to improve your social and professional life.



Reference

Hunter, J. E., & Hunter, R. F. (1984). Validity and utility of alternative predictors of job
performance. Psychological Bulletin, 76(1), 72-93.

Lusch, R. F., & Serpkenci, R. R. (1990). Personal differences, job tension, job outcomes, and
store performance: A study of retail managers. Journal of Marketing, 54(1), 85-101.

Schulman, P. (1995). Explanatory style and achievement in school and work. In G. Buchanan
& M. E. P. Seligman (Eds.), Explanatory style . Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Snarey, J. R., & Vaillant, G. E. (1985). How lower- and working-class youth become middle-class adults: The association between ego defense mechanisms and upward social
mobility. Child Development, 56(4), 899-910.

Mini-Project 3A: Basketball Coach Analogy

The duty of a basketball coach draws an interesting analogy to the role of a manager and a leader. In many ways they have the same function and if you take them away, the remaining resources will be left disoriented and without a purpose.
A basketball coach is a clear leader. He sets the team on its path and gives it a distinct vision. It is his job to provide his team with the means to accomplish its goals and reach its destiny. Like a good leader, the coach is able to cultivate and generate the proper emotional states that are needed for his players to excel and attain peak performance. By doing this, he makes the most of his physical resources, and maximizes their potential. When the team is in a crucial situation the coach knows just what to say to his players to motivate them and evoke the necessary states of mind that will give them the ability to succeed. A manager also has to be able to motivate his employees when nearing a deadline or face with a very difficult task.
Basketball coaches have a great understanding of their teams and the team’s capabilities. Like in management, coaches study their team’s core competencies and then establish a coaching strategy just as managers have different mindsets. Different strategies include: defensive-minded, maximizing shot attempts, waiting for the best shot and establishing a physical presence. This is comparable to a production manager, deciding on an issue like quantity or quality. Sometimes if the coach’s skills are not compatible with the team’s capabilities then the coach has to be replaced by someone else. That is one form of strategy that a coach takes on, it is more of a physical resource outlook. There are also emotional strategies of building rapport and connection while maintaining the leader position, these vary widely; Zen-like spiritual techniques, tough love attitude, and getting to know your players on a one to one personal basis. This is similar to how a manager chooses to establish an emotional relationship with his employees.
A good manager delegates, knows when to step in and get involved, as well as when to take a backseat and trust their workers to come through. Likewise, a basketball coach has the same features throughout the game. He has to know when to call a timeout if the game seems like it is getting out of control, on the other hand if he doesn’t show enough faith in his players to get things together on their own this will cause players to resent the coach. The stronger and more developed the relationship is between the coach and players or manager and employees, the better their understanding of whether or not to take action will be. The coach also creates and assigns plays, telling the players just what roles they have and what they need to do. In business, this can be compared to a designed template, or formatted task that a manager needs his employees to complete. The more effort that is put into designing these templates by the manager the better the result will be.
Managers, like coaches have the important task of maintaining employee satisfaction. A manager may do this by giving their deserving employees a promotion, praise, additional benefits, and increased freedom. Similarly a coach must discipline and reward his players. Players will seek reward from their coach by putting in extra time in the gym and giving an increased effort during practice and games. A good coach will notice this improved determination and reward it with an increase in playing time during games, public praise of those players and giving them the opportunity to make clutch plays in the game. On the other hand the coach will do the opposite if the player is performing poorly with low motivation, and in extreme cases, the coach will make the decision to cut a player from the team. As you can see the role of a manager and a basketball coach is very similar. Characteristics of each can be carried over and applied to the other field, and in many ways a good manager would be very well equipped to be a basketball coach.

The 2.0 Business

The world the enterprise will face tomorrow is a very challenging one. As everyone closely follows the impacts of Web 2.0 in the community, the industry is trying to understand how to apply these new technologies to the business. There is no doubt that Web 2.0 can change an enterprise, but the real challenges are to understand how the technology can correctly be applied to the corporation. The aim of this article is to look further into Web 2.0 technologies, and understand how they can be applied to the world of business so that they have profound impacts on the overall management of an organization.

Before explaining how Web 2.0 technologies can be beneficial to an organization, it is important to picture the current problems that relate an organization and its technology. The first question that comes to mind is why companies need better technology? Emails, instant messaging, intranet, and corporate web site already exist to facilitate workers communication and capture knowledge work. One problem is that most workers are not satisfied with the technology in place. In a recently published survey on the media used by knowledge workers, all workers interviewed used emails, but 26% felt it was overused, 21% felt overwhelmed by it, and 15% felt that it actually diminished their productivity [1]. Another problem is that emails only allow the exchange of information between a sender and one, or possibly many, receivers. The information that emails contain cannot be searched or used by anyone else. Also, workers cannot leave feedback or comments on their appreciation of documents or other piece of information found on their corporate website. Often enough workers cannot find simple information such as “when is the next management meeting?”, or “when is our clients’ next visit?” Such problems show that current technologies are not able to capture the actual knowledge of workers.

In “the New Paradigm: Emerging Strategic for Leadership and Organizational Change”, Marilyn Ferguson presents her view between the old and new paradigm of management [2]. She describes that the structure of an organization will shift from imposed goals, competition, strictly economic motives, and centralized operations to more autonomy, worker participation, cooperation, spiritual values, and decentralized operations. What Ferguson sees in organizations already happened outside of it. Web 2.0 technologies like wikis, blogs, and tagging has broken up communication barriers between people. These technologies have allowed users to actively participate by providing ways to express themselves. The benefits of Web 2.0 that are given to the internet community can also be beneficial to the corporation. First, Web 2.0 technologies can tie together a corporate, customers, and employees. Social relations form the basis of families, organizations, and teams [3]. Companies who have understood how to use social networks have proven to be more productive, innovative, and healthier. Second, Web 2.0 technologies can facilitate knowledge and information to flow through the company. Wikis and blogs can capture knowledge at one instant, and permanently redistribute it over the intranet. This also allows the decentralization of information, and more collaboration between employees.

There is no doubt that the enterprise should use these new technologies. But the question is how should they be applied to the business model? Should managers control the level of information that is flowing, or should they restrict employees discussing about topics that are not related to the professional environment? And how can management really evaluate if these new technologies increases shareholders’ capital? Of course, the level of restriction and rules that should be allowed really depends on the company culture. But more interestingly, in the case study of an European investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW), CIO J.P. Rangaswami didn’t post any policies on how their new Wiki should be used [4]. When employees started blogging about non-work topics such as setting up a poker club, Rangaswmi was not very concerned. In fact, he affirmed that this could actually improve the level of communication, and insist people to use the blogs more often. A second fascinating fact about this case study is the reaction that people had when the new technologies came into place. At first, the employees did not really know what to do or the reasons why they should start using the wiki and blogs. The management had insisted not to advertise too much the use of these new technologies. Their goal was not to force employees to start blogging about what they had done during the day or start writing new definitions in the wiki. But they realized that starting off with wikis that contained some information increased people’s participation. It is true that, for instance, it is more interesting to add content to a blog or to a wiki if content already exists. And it is even more interesting when you know that millions of people are visiting the website where you are adding content. At the last conference on the future of Enterprise 2.0, a debate took place between Tom Davenport and Andrew McAfee on whether Enterprise 2.0 is a new revolution to the industry. Professor McAfee claims that “we’re just beginning to scratch the surface of the profound impact that Enterprise 2.0 will have on business.” Whereas Tom Davenport is more conservative and claims that “Enterprise 2.0 is just part of the natural evolution for the software industry and not the radical shift some claim it to be. [5]” Whether Professor McAfee or Tom Davenport is right, we do not know yet. Web 2.0 is a very new technology that has not even 5 years, and its application to the industry is even younger. Also, yet we cannot know what will be the benefits to the shareholders, but does it really matter since maybe the shareholders of today might not be the shareholders of tomorrow. One thing is sure, changes are taking place.

With the venue of Web 2.0, many organizations and businesses started to see how they can apply this technology to their corporate. As Web 2.0 is the new buzzword, Enterprise 2.0 started affecting the minds of CEO’s and managers. By looking further into Web 2.0 technologies, we have seen that they can also take place into the business environment, and that there are some rules that must be respected in order for them take place. Reinforcing the fact that employees should not feel forced to use blogs and wikis, and to not restrict what the content of a blog should be two methods that management should use if they want to increase the social network of their corporation. However, until now, Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 are still at an early stage, only time will tell us how we can really benefit from these technologies.

[1] Davenport T.H. Thinking for a living. Harvard Business School Press. Published 2005, p. 126. Available at http://books.google.com/books?id=De1D3rKLJBIC&pg=PA126&lpg=PA126&dq=26+felt+it+was+overused+21+felt+overwhelmed+by+it+and+15&source=web&ots=d-VFBQ2qvt&sig=2iLj8wNcwH8yi4TAbHLg9keVp18

[2] Ray. M. and Rinzler A. 1993, The New Paradigm in Business: Emerging Strategies for leadership and Organizational Change. New Consciousness Reader. 1993

[3] Grossetti Michel. Where Do Social Relations Come From? University of Toulouse. France. Available at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VD1-4F1GW6N-1&_user=458507&_coverDate=10%2F31%2F2005&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000022002&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=458507&md5=b3fb7e6d41e51377b5e12a51e3bc16ae

[4] McAfee A. Enterprise 2.0: The Dawn of Emergent Collaboration. MITSloan Management Review. Vol 47. No 3. 2006

[5] Conference on Enterprise 2.0. The Collaborative Technologies Conference. Boston June 18-21. 2007

The Emperor Penguin as a Model for Corporate Teams

Living under the harshest weather conditions on Earth, the emperor penguins have developed a strong organizational model in order to survive. Such wise model sets an archetype for team collaboration and effective team management. Their behaviour can be conveniently analysed from a systems thinking perspective in order to provide a new paradigm for team leaders in the 21st century.

The story about penguins is far more than a story about survival; it is one about supportiveness, collaboration, commitment, interdependence, synergy, family and love. It all starts in April when thousands of penguins gather together to begin their 100-mile march towards the rookery where they were born. The rookery is far from the sea and thus there is no food available. However, it is the only safe place to breed avoiding the risk of the new-borns accidentally falling to the sea. Although it appears hard to remember the way given that ice blocks shift from year to year, their leadership system enables them to reach their destination because the penguin who knows part of the path becomes the leader until he gets replaced by another penguin who knows where to go from there. No penguin would assume leadership and make decisions unless it is certain to know the way. Once in the breeding ground, they mate and wait for the egg to hatch. Because the mother is tired and close to starvation, she must pass the egg to the father and march towards the sea to get food. Meanwhile, the father must keep the egg warm and survive without any food for five months facing the winter that brings temperatures below -80C. In August, the mother returns to feed the new-borns and the father can finally go back to the sea to feed. From this point, the mothers and fathers take turns to go for food until December when they abandon their chicks.

Even though it sounds simple at first, it is a very complex task to keep their eggs alive and survive the weather. In fact, several mothers, fathers and new-borns die in the process due to cold or starvation. Nonetheless, the secret for their survival lies in their organizational behaviour, the group formation, the norms, roles and collaboration. They have a unique model of shared leadership combined with trust which enables them to collectively remember the way to the rookery. Additionally, their success is mostly due to the fact that they act as a system instead of as an individual. When the worst winter blizzards arrive, the tribe’s only defence is the group itself. Thus, they form a collective organism uniting their bodies to break the wind. Since the centre of the assembly is warmer, they take turns to be in the middle. This is a valuable example of how coalition defeats individualistic systems; penguins are a model for alliance, not competition. As systems thinking theory suggests, they are interdependent of each other thus each penguin cannot be studied in isolation. Furthermore, those who walk alone have a very remote chance of survival. Clearly, for penguins, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts which is a valuable example for managers seeking synergies in their team.

Similarly, penguins are very successful in reducing entropy and chaos by establishing lasting interpersonal relations. During the year, they only have one mate and one chick so they can memorize their sound in order to find them when they return from the sea. Their relationship lasts for months as they take turns for taking care of the chick or going to the sea for food. Occasionally, they are able to spend time together as a family. Unfortunately, human relationships in teams are rarely as successful because when people get separated by distance, the relationships tend to cool down and experience chaos.

The emperor penguin is a prototype for successful teams that gives managers a valuable insight into principles and practices for effective teams. Most importantly, penguins have a clear and elevating goal: the survival of the new-born. In order to succeed, corporate teams must also define an exciting goal or vision that is achievable and which all the members believe is important. Second, penguins are a legitimate example of unified commitment following the motto “all for one and one for all”. They must remain solidary to survive the weather and share the cold and warm positions within the group. To illustrate their commitment, the father must remain alone the coldest months of the winter without any food in order to keep the egg warm while the mother returns. When he can go back to the sea he has lost half his body weight reaching starvation. Additionally, penguins have a policing instinct. For example, when the mothers lose their chick after a strong storm they feel an unbearable sorrow and their frustration leads them to try to steal the chick from another couple but the entire group doesn’t allow it so everyone defends the attacked couple. Similarly, in the corporate world, team members must feel untied by their commitment to achieve their elevating goal and have an attitude of solidarity instead of rivalry.

Furthermore, penguins, as well as corporate teams, need external support and recognition to keep the members encouraged. In the case of the penguins, their reward is the chick itself growing up. Similarly, corporate teams have multiple recognitions and external support to feed the enthusiasm of its members. Another particularity of penguin’s organization is their shared leadership approach. Often times, teams are more effective when leadership responsibilities are shared instead of having a single authoritarian leader. On the other hand, team members must be competent in knowing how to perform their job. Penguins have a clear vision of what their role is and how to achieve it. Similarly, corporate teams must know how to leverage their skills and knowledge to fulfill their objectives. Lastly, penguins are a good example of cohesiveness, which is an essential attribute for teams to be successful. Penguins have a sense of belongingness to the team; they walk together and face the storms together. When corporate teams or not cohesive they might be victims of rivalry, hidden agendas and lack of collaboration.

According to Steven Beebe and John Masterson[1], there are five principles to follow in order to enhance team effectiveness. First, the expectations and rules must be clarified. For penguins, as well as for humans, it is important that all group members agree to their role and the general procedures. Second, everyone must learn the strengths and weaknesses of each member. For instance, the father penguin is known to be able to survive the coldest months without food and their egg is known to be extremely sensitive to the cold. By knowing this, penguins can organize utilizing the members’ strengths to protect the weak points. Next, the team should identify barriers that may keep them from achieving the goal. This step is useful to identify and overcome potential difficulties. Penguins for example are aware of the risk of the ice melting before the chicks are old enough to swim thus they walk for miles to a thick ice ground. Fourth, teams should develop a plan and put it into action. With a plan there will be less chaos and everybody’s actions and tasks can be coordinated. Consider the penguin who started marching late and died walking alone. The reason of his misfortune was failing to follow the strategy of walking together. Finally, evaluate the plan and team procedures. This step is important because even the best laid plans might have unexpected obstacles thus a re-evaluation is necessary to determine the new course of action. As an example with penguins, the mothers are often caught by predators as they feed, so the father who is waiting for her return must realise that maybe she is not coming back. Thus, father penguins decide at some point to abandon the chick and walk to the sea to avoid their own starvation.

The organizational strategy of penguins seems to overcome most of the threats for their survival; but more generally, they developed a highly efficient system of practices for group collaboration. Consequently, when managing a team or becoming part of a group, it is extremely useful to take into consideration the principles under which penguins operate to achieve their goal.

[1] Beebe, S. & Masterson, J. (2006). Communicating in Small Groups: Principles and Practices

References:

Beebe, S. & Masterson, J. (2006). Communicating in Small Groups: Principles and Practices – 8th Edition. U.S.A.: Pearson Education

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Penguin

The March of the Penguins (2006), Warner Independent Pictures and National Geographic.