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Workflow languages comparison

Created by Torben Brosten, last modified by Benjamin Brink 13 Aug 2010, at 12:31 PM

Worflow languages comparison

The chart (see title's link) comparing UML/BPML etc. capabilites has helped me realize one of the benefits of OpenACS using tcl language. Hard-coded workflows are easily modifiable at the admin level. Using a meta language for actually programming the workflow is not necessary and introduces unnecessary complexity and meta-language level limitations.

The porting of sql-ledger and OpenACS ecommerce package as ecommerce-g2 is requiring the integration of both workflows. The combined workflows could use the OpenACS workflow package where users participate in the process, but the package adds a layer of abstraction which makes debugging and modifying workflow much more difficult for OpenACS admins. For example, the bugtracker has a much simpler workflow, yet workflow related problems can still plague some implementations.

For ec-g2 to work well, the ecommerce and accounting business applications need to remain transparent and changeable according to different workflow conditions, yet remain stable and fixed once a workflow pattern is established. The tcl code provides admin level flexibility and auditing without introducing aspects that could be vulnerable to a db level exploit.

To the extent that the code requires a robust (and fixed) workflow, the workflow shouldn't be modifiable by a workflow package anyway. So, the workflow package won't be used for the accounting aspects of ecommerce-g2. This is consistent with sql-ledger's workflow which provides access via roles and functional context. In OpenACS, roles are identified as groups of a specific group-type and context is a function of url/page yet much more flexible (see groups and permissions: http://openacs.org/faq/one-faq?faq_id=122349#316321 ).

--Torben 

Three perspectives of practicing leadership

Created by Ben Brink, last modified by Benjamin Brink 13 Aug 2010, at 12:30 PM

(c)2002 by Ben Brink

The Prince, The Servant-Leadership, and a historical perspective of the ancient origins of fresh ideas: universal selfless service from The Highest of the High.

introduction

Leadership is a thread of ever changing constants in the measure of power and its influence. Fundamental understanding and issues in leadership pivot on answering these questions: How does one measure power if it is not directly observable as a potential? In an experiment on leadership, how does one measure the influence of power when the number of control variables are far exceeded by environmental ones? This paper outlines three operating perspectives of leadership based on the differences between the objectively measurable and the experienced yet objectively immeasurable --the subjective, and draws some basic conclusions about the paradox of learning and teaching leadership dynamics.

The Prince

The Prince's method of leadership is based on a set of limited assumptions of collective human behavior in which actions are the result of applying consistently cynical social values. For instance, in chapter XVII, Machiavelli writes:

Because this is to be asserted in general of men, that they are ungrateful, fickle, false, cowardly, covetous, and as long as you succeed they are yours entirely

Machiavelli measures the use and mis-use of power from historical political records. Modern society professionalism draws similar conclusions from current marked patterns of behavior. Modern leadership measures intensity of leadership ability in ways not too different from Machiavelli: Loyalty of subjects, power to coerce or rule by authority, availability and mastery in using measurable resources such as military strength etc.

Legal practitioners make cynical Machiavellian assumptions of what to expect from others when protecting their clients. A grave misapplication of the practice of law happens when business and trade relationships are postured on the assumption that others will only exhibit cynical Machiavellian behavior. The worst of humanity may be witnessed in courtrooms, but these incidents are infrequent compared to the greater potentiality for positive moments experienced throughout life.

The Machiavelli perspective also carries into business decision-making. Business decisions are largely based on game-theory and competition. The one who wins is the one who doesn't play by the rules --the defector. MBA's love to shift risk to someone else without due compensation. Again, this is based on limited thinking. From an expanded perspective, according to Hardin's Tragedy of the Commons, eventually everyone loses in a competitive environment.

Economics is based on an inaccurate postulate that markets are most efficient when competitive. However, common experience suggests that markets are most efficient when cooperative. That is the basis for concepts like supply-chain management; where cooperation is valued, though limited in scope. Also, economics does not address the fact that few markets are 100 percent effective in trading resources. In competition, there are always losers. Economics assumes that some mechanism exists for losers to recover losses by changing, but opportunities may not be available. Machiavelli would have the prince discard any concerns for losers, because essentially the attitude is interpersonal competition ie. "each person for themselves" in an ocean of self-focused power mongers. Concerning oneself with the few losers is counter to maintaining Machiavellian prince status.

The Servant-Leadership

Servant-Leadership is essentially about the dual servant-master role of leadership, first defined by Robert K. Greenleaf (1904-1990) in 1970 as a new approach to leadership. He writes:

The servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. The best test is: do those served grow as persons: do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit, or, at least, not be further deprived? (Greenleaf)

Essentially, one leads by serving others in supporting their life-long personal growth and while striving for and meeting common goals. Larry C. Spears identifies ten character traits of a servant-leader as essential for leadership development. Listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community (Spears) are characteristics that can be measured objectively in much the same way that metrics valuate performance of Machiavelli's power-authority-leadership principles. Servant-Leadership addresses microleadership concerns that Machiavelli's macroleadership techniques ignore.

The idea of voluntary behavior control through persuasion instead of coercion is a significant difference between Machiavelli's leadership and servant-leadership. Yet, persuasion implies that the individual does not already possess the knowledge latently. This is a significant flaw in the practice of leadership. In part, the limitation is created by the very foundation of academic and scientific thinking that Servant-Leadership uses to establish integrity.

How does one differentiate between coercion and submission? Essentially they are two branches of the same tree --the imposing of one's viewpoint on another --voluntary or not. Needing to persuade also suggests a level of disrespect or contempt for the beliefs of others. Machiavelli makes the point that many of the prince's subjects will voluntarily submit to the prince's leadership because of a lack of will to fight it. In practice, one cannot wholly differentiate between subtle forms of coercion and persuasion. That is the basis of some ethics laws, for example on relationships in organizations --where one of two intimate parties holds a position of authority.

Mastery in Servitude

In 1938, Meher Baba (1894-1969) declared "Mastery in Servitude" to be the motto highlighting His leadership style of selfless service in universal work. His universal message declares the importance of "living the humility, purity and truth" (Baba, Universal Message) of divine messages given by past Avatars--Buddha, Krishna, Mohammed, Jesus, Zoroaster, Ram etc. that can be summarized as "Love God." How can loving God be a legitimate form of leadership? Note the parallels to servant-leadership in the following statement by Baba about practical psychological indicators of loving God:

To love God in the most practical way is to love our fellow beings. If we feel for others in the same way as we feel for our own dear ones, we love God. If, instead of seeing faults in others, we look within ourselves, we are loving God. If, instead of robbing others to help ourselves, we rob ourselves to help others, we are loving God. If we suffer in the sufferings of others and feel happy in the happiness of others, we are loving God. If, instead of worrying over our own misfortunes, we think ourselves more fortunate than many many others, we are loving God. If we endure our lot with patience and contentment, accepting it as His Will [karmic fate], we are loving God. If we understand and feel that the greatest act of devotion and worship to God is not to hurt or harm any of His beings, we are loving God. To love God as He ought to be loved, we must live for God and die for God, knowing that the goal of life is to Love God, and find Him as our own self. (Baba, 1986)

All but one of the servant-leadership characteristics appear to be an attempt to intellectually categorize properties of divine love (not an easy task): Listening, empathy, healing, awareness, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community. Of Machiavelli's coercion and servant-leadership's persuasion leadership characteristics, Baba takes no part: "I have come not to teach but to awaken. Understand therefore that I lay down no precepts." (Universal Message). By awakening, he implies that the knowledge and wisdom of a universal self exists latently inside everyone. Respect for individual variation of awareness is paramount. Furthermore, he explains an important characteristic of love:

Love has to spring spontaneously from within; it is in no way amenable to any form of inner or outer force. Love and coercion can never go together; but while love cannot be forced upon anyone, it can be awakened through love itself. Love is essentially self-communicative;" (Baba, 1987, p. 8)

Mastery in Servitude is about loving God by loving others, yet God and concepts of the spirit (spirituality) is in the realm of subjective experience; God cannot be proven objectively. Baba states the limits of spiritual experience in an objective environment:

Spiritual experience has a hold on the deeper truths that are inaccessible to mere intellect; it cannot be born of unaided intellect. Spiritual truth can often be stated and expressed through the intellect, and the intellect surely is of some help for the communication of spiritual experience. But by itself, the intellect is insufficient to enable man to have spiritual experience or to communicate it to others. ...Intellectual explanation can never be a substitute for spiritual experience; it can at best prepare the ground for it." (Baba, 1987, p. 5)

conclusion

This report outlines the development of leadership from the objective to the human, with far-reaching truths about leadership from Machiavelli, progressing to Servant-Leadership, and ending with Mastery in Servitude. In breaking the rigid intellectual framework of leadership to its primary individual, spiritual perspective of loving God [self], leadership is ultimately viewed as subjective and therefore a lonely journey, since one cannot competently convey a subjective, intellectual interpretation of leadership measurement to others who do not view similarly. Nor can one ethically persuade others to accept that which they do not see or understand, but remains latently in them.

Bibliography and Citations

Baba, Meher. (1986) The Path of Love. San Francisco: Sufism Reoriented. (p.109). [online]. available from http://www.avatarmeherbaba.org/erics/lovegod.html

Baba, Meher. (1987). Discourses. (7th ed.). Myrtle Beach, SC: Sheriar P. [online]. (pp. 260-265) available from http://www.avatarmeherbaba.org/erics/sadhanas.html

Baba, Meher. Universal Message. In C. B. Purdom. (1971). God-man (pp. 343-344). [online]. available from http://www.avatarmeherbaba.org/erics/univmsg.html

Greenleaf, Robert K. (1970). The Servant as a Leader. In Larry C. Spears. (circa 2002) On Character and Servant-Leadership: Ten Characteristics of Effective, Caring Leaders. [online]. available from http://greenleaf.org/leadership/read-about-it/articles/On-Character-and-Servant-Leadership-Ten-Characteristics.htm

Hardin, Garret. (1968) The Tragedy of the Commons. Science 162. [online]. available from http://dieoff.com/page95.htm

Machiavelli, Nicolo. (circa 1520). The Prince. In W. K. Marriott (translator). (1998). [online]. available from ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext98/tprnc10.txt

Spears, Larry C. (circa 2002). On Character and Servant-Leadership: Ten Characteristics of Effective, Caring Leaders. [online]. available from http://greenleaf.org/leadership/read-about-it/articles/On-Character-and-Servant-Leadership-Ten-Characteristics.htm

On producing quality, open source, accounting software

Created by Torben Brosten, last modified by Benjamin Brink 13 Aug 2010, at 12:29 PM

producing quality, open source, accounting software

Damian Conway's reply to this question is particularly significant for managing ec-g2:

JJ: There are those in the Open Source Community that point out that greed is not sufficient motivation to produce quality software, which is often the labor of love. How can Joe Programmer (not this Joe programmer) learn to love developing accounting applications?

DC: He or she can't. No more than you can make a COBOL programmer love hacking kernel. People sometimes offer me contracts writing DB interfaces or building websites, but I tell them I'm not worth what I'd charge to do that. Because I'd be doing it strictly for the (very large amount of) money, rather than for love of the project. They wouldn't get my best.

Whatever software your trying to build, you need people who are inspired by the idea of that software. Even if they aren't virtuoso hackers: you can always teach a person to code better, or tidy their code after it's written; you can never teach a person to love your project. And without that emotional engagement, you'll never get the superhuman effort that's required to produce quality software.

Labyrinth design using string

Created by Ben Brink, last modified by Benjamin Brink 13 Aug 2010, at 12:27 PM

by Benjamin Brink, Aug 2009 

Some instructions for labyrinth design suggest using string to represent boundaries. This article describes an alternate approach inspired by the Cretan Labyrinth story about Theseus where the string represents the path walked ( http://dotsub.com/view/09b39d03-dd31-4d30-9f7b-1f351f440424 and  http://www.sacred-texts.com/etc/ml/ml07.htm ).

More about labyrinths at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labyrinth  

How to quickly generate labyrinth designs using string to represent the path walked

supplies:

• about 5 feet of string, preferably yarn or thread ie string that can make sharp corners. The string will represent the path (not the boundaries of the path).
  
• some thumb tacks, needles or other pins to hold the string in place as needed.
• a work surface, such as soft wood board, bulletin board or cardboard that can act as a flat "pin cushion."
  

Start at one end of the labyrinth path, though easier to build if starting at the path's end "center point". Then, arrange the string in a manner that follows these rules:

1. The string cannot cross over itself or overlap (go backwards).
2. The string should stay within the labyrinth's area.

Continue placing the string into a path and arranging the design until your design specifications are met. 

The result is a dynamically built labyrinth with one path.

fractal variations

Rules of repeatable, fractal patterns can be added to the basic rules of arrangement to create fractal labyrinth paths.

A fractal M labyrinth design. This diamond patterned labyrinth design follows a fractal pattern based on the letter M repeated in scale and reflected (upside-down). It resembles some traditional Native American tapestry patterns.

Ballroom Carousel labyrinth design. This fractal design repeats a curled wave-like pattern and varies in scale.

confined labyrinth space

If the full-size labyrinth will be occupying a limited space, you can add design guides to prevent over-sizing the labyrinth design. Determine the width and length of the area designated for the labyrinth. Determine how wide you want the labyrinth's path to be. Include half of the minimum border width on the sides of the path (same as border width between paths).

The maximum number of rows in the width of the labyrinth is the labyrinth's designated area's width divided by the path width.

The maximum number of rows in the length of the labyrinth is the labyrinth's designated area's length divided by the path width.

more examples

Chakravyuha labyrinth design ( from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labyrinth )

Dampened Spring Harmonic labyrinth design. This one is inspired from following the inner workings of a clock.

Nazca Lines inspired labyrinth design. The Nazca Lines could look like very large labyrinths ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazca_Lines )

Traveling waves labyrinth design. This one emphasizes balancing exponentially differing perspectives.

Wave Dynamics labyrinth design. This one is inspired from the features of waves (crest, trough, curl, tube etc) and surfing.

This document is a work in progress. Your feedback is welcome! See http://dekka.com/co/contact

The essence of generated structures

Created by Torben Brosten, last modified by Benjamin Brink 13 Aug 2010, at 12:26 PM

Generating (complex) structures

(c)2008 Ben Brink 

Software developers commonly reinforce the following principles in software development:

• 1. software is developed using lots of small, incremental steps
• 2. software-generated code helps keep code small and manageable
  
• most any process that does not fit the paradigm of item 1 or 2 is a sign of poor development practices, implying wastefulness or foolhardiness etc.

Solutions in software development that take a holistic approach (consider the problem in context of a greater wholeness of the system) and that suggest significant structural changes are often met with blind skepticism and criticism. Significant innovations are subsequently ignored or overlooked.  Christopher Alexander provides useful argument in support of holistic problem solving in his books "The Nature of Order".

In "book 2: The process of creating life" (page 198), Alexander refers to incremental changes as "gradualism":

"It [gradualism] says 'Yes of course, in the case of a complex structure, we cannot hope to get it right first time around, so we build it, run it, test it, fix it, change it . . . and keep on doing this so that it gets better.'  What has become known as Extreme Programming is a way of doing this for software development, with a very short cycle of evolution and adaption, repeated many times.

..I am in favor of small steps, of adaptation through trial and error, and of what we may call evolutionary adaptation..  [However]

The real essence [of all generated structures] lies in the structure-preserving transformations which move the structure forward through time, and which are primarily responsible for the success of the generating process. The needed transformations are not merely trial-and-error steps, or some neat way of continually checking and making things better...

To assume that the point of generated structures is merely slow, step-by-step evolutionary adaptation, is to make the same mistake that early adherents of Darwinism made in biology -- to assume that small steps alone, modification coupled with selective pressure, would be sufficient to get a genotype to a new state, hence to create entirely new organisms... and so on."

The work needed to progress the evolving organism (or system) becomes much much more difficult when limiting manipulations to the periphery of the system, especially when considered in context of the Principle of least action.  Fundamental, structural changes to existing systems can be necessary to the progress of an evolving system when the evolution of the existing structure has reached its maximum potential. 

Code for ethics: Ethics fore code

Created by Ben Brink, last modified by Benjamin Brink 13 Aug 2010, at 12:23 PM

(c)1999 by Ben Brink

"There is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, more dangerous to manage than the creation of a new system; For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institutions and merely lukewarm defenders in those who would gain by the new" (Machiavelli). [this quote is a bit over used nowadays, but valid nevertheless.]

i. introduction

"Ethical conduct lies at the core of all business. We do business with those we trust; we get business from those who trust us. [For example,] ..the investment manager, being perceived as trustworthy is essential because investment transactions involve the direct exchange of significant volumes of assets, often without a face-to-face meeting or the traditional handshake. Investors base their trust on a firms reputation for financial performance and ethical soundness. When an investment management firms ethical stance comes into question, trust is extremely difficult to rebuild, damaging the firms reputation and ability to compete" ("Ethics at the Core").

Ethics is at the core of decision-making, yet it also is an ever moving target of abstraction. To be most valuable, ethics must be adaptable to situations of uncertainty and change. Ethical code must shed light and insight into how to solve dilemmas, some of which are unique or situationally too infrequent to be practical to code solutions for individually. Ethical codes must act as a set of guiding signposts on the path of life. Yet, increasing the scope of application of ethics and values often results in paradoxical statements, rendering code subject to loopholes and logic/classification or rationalization traps. Consider this existing example of ethical standards retrieved from the Project Management Institute:

"In the pursuit of the project management profession, it is vital that ... [project managers] conduct their work in an ethical manner in order to earn and maintain the confidence of team members, colleagues, employees, employers, customers/clients, the public, and the global community."

The ethical standard refers to ethics in the preamble. The preamble is thereby subject to most any interpretation of ethics. Further in the document, PMI attempts to define ethics by clustering it with a behavioral envelope ie. "ethical and professional manner." One can infer ethical behavior from professionalism. How does PMI define professionalism?

"Professionalism" can be defined as a combination of knowledge, ethics, standards, a service motive, and a sanctioning organization. "Knowledge" refers to the specialized body of knowledge unique to the profession and to the effective transmission of this knowledge. "Ethics" refers to the moral philosophy of the individuals in the field... ( http://www.pmi.org/publictn/inbox/pro.htm )

PMI defines professionalism as part ethics and ethics as part individual morality and professionalism. This is enough to make any confused person looking for guidance or certainty to seek other forms of psychological shelter or help. Can anyone rely on this kind of ethical code for decision making?

Do ethics codes influence organizational behavior?

"When the onus is on the individual, individuals will reach decisions based on the same ethical standards they live by" not necessarily company policy or rhetoric (Naisbitt, page 177).

Naisbitt recognizes that one tends to rely on oneself for better judgment in complex circumstances when the assistance of others does not seem necessary. PMI also recognizes the "moral philosophy of the individuals in the field." Mark Schwartz confirms in his Ph.D. thesis paper that "it is very rare indeed that a code would directly influence the behavior of an employee" (Deck). Still, Schwartz identifies eight metaphors describing how codes seem to at least indirectly influence decisions and behavior (Deck):

1. As a "rule book", the code acts to clarify what behavior is expected of employees.
2. As a "sign post", the code can lead employees to consult other sources to test whether certain behavior is appropriate.
3. As a mirror, the code provides a way for employees to confirm whether certain behavior is acceptable.
4. As a magnifying glass, the code encourages the employee to look more carefully at what is said and done.
5. As a shield, the code can give support to employees in challenging unethical requests.
6. As a smoke detector, the code can help to warn of danger while there is time to prevent harm.
7. As a fire alarm, the code may motivate employees to report violations.
8. As a club, the code spells out the consequences of inappropriate conduct.

These metaphors suggest some kind of foundation for establishing a practical, useful ethical framework or policy. The specific codes are not as important as an ethically aware organizational culture that remains adapting.

I. An Effective Organizational Ethics Policy

An effective organizational ethics policy can reduce legal risk, reduce operational uncertainty, increase organizational flexibility, and provide a foundation for organizational culture and shared meaning. In reducing operational uncertainty, the organization depends less on bureaucracy and therefore runs more efficiently. By increasing organizational flexibility, workers are more able to handle unforeseen circumstances, thereby reducing supervisory resource loads. An ethically aware organization with a publicized ethics code can increase customer confidence and reputation among peers and colleagues.

I.A. Elements necessary for an effective organizational ethics policy

1. organization-wide involvement.

In order for an ethics policy to be used organizationally, it must be formally and informally sanctioned by its members. Sanctioning is most readily accomplished in a group by involving the group in the decision-making or ethics creation process. An ethical climate is more important in affecting ethical behavior than the actual ethics code.

2. recognize diversity in individual and circumstance.

Ethics needs to be respectful of the diverse nature of the collection of individuals and their ethics. Ethics must be accepted by each in order for it to function as an organizational directive. One can surmise that religion is a topic in some businesses because it indicates a level of core ethics and values that predicts behavior and therefore control by senior management (with their interest in security and reducing risk). However, religions, with their narrow perspective and intolerant dogma, are too single-focused for diverse organizational settings. Also, coercion of individuals into ethical behavior is not ethical, nor does it create lasting ethical behavior. Ethics can be nurtured without forcing dry or unsympathetic doctrines on others by practicing critical thinking and other autonomous problem solving strategies. Allowing organizational members to participate in the process increases likelihood that all will be considered in the ethics building process, creating a most natural, respectful and adapting application of ethics.

3. be practical.

Ethics must be practical in application to be useful. Ethics should be one of the first mental tools used in decision-making. Lofty phrases with ambiguous meaning, and complex decision structures do not lend themselves to practical, memorable utility.

4. provide a degree of individual-initiative or opportunity (and self-esteem building).

Organizational sanctioned challenge creates opportunity and risk. These are circumstances useful for learning and practicing ethics which strengthen the ethically focused organizational structure. Providing organizationally sanctioned opportunity also creates an environment for personal growth which empowers workers and increases self-esteem. Self-esteem is an important factor in individuals taking action on decisions with ethical basis. Ethical goals that are steadfast and ideal (visionary), but not necessarily attainable or describable in their purest form, help to maintain a window of opportunity for those who seek opportunity for growth within the organization (and in alignment to organizational values). An organization's culture can shift temporary and moving priorities to more long-term objectives that are focused on ideals.

5. use critical thinking and other functional problem solving strategies.

Without using critical thinking, decisions are based in ignorance. Any action taken on behalf of incomplete or inaccurate conclusions can result in more harm done than if no code existed at all. Intelligent action is an integral part of ethical awareness and decision processes (Kavathatzopoulos). It is more important to nurture the tools needed for ethical behavior than teaching ethical behavior (conclusions of ethical thinking)(Kavathatzopoulos)

"The participants in the program are trained to use the autonomous critical method, which implies analysis of concrete situations and adoption of critical reasoning in order to find optimal solutions. The autonomous critical method in decision making and solving business ethics problems means that decision-makers focus their attention on the concrete problem: they identify it, they make it explicit, and they formulate it in order to be able to work with it. They define their own position, duties, commitments, and feelings. They also take into consideration the interests and needs of other actors. They generate alternative solutions to the problem, they weigh them against all the values involved, and at the end, as a result of this process, they make a decision and choose a course of action. Reflection upon decisions made and evaluation of actual consequences has to follow" (Kavathatzopoulos).

6. ethics code maintenance should be ongoing.

People cycle in and out of an organization sporadically. Without popular acceptance of the ethical code, the system collapses. To keep the system alive in practicing the ethics codes (and therefore organizationally legitimate), the ethical codes or values must always be available for discussion to engage new workers in the ethics codes and so that the members can reach a level of acceptance or commitment to them organizationally. This process suggests that direct manipulation of ethics or declarations of changes made outside of the ethics maintenance process may detract from their value or influence on organizational behavior.

7. consistency between policies and actions (Deck) --reducing hypocrisy

There needs to be some kind of verification or feedback process to confirm that action taken meets the ethical principles and values followed.

8. ethical leadership, fair treatment of employees, and open discussion of ethics in the organization.(Deck)

The ethics building process should be monitored or carefully guided by someone who is familiar with the various aspects and who can help keep the process moving without coercing or directly interfering with or otherwise undermining organizational-wide participation.

9. values based ethics

Values oriented ethics results is smaller code (Kay) and seems more successfully implemented than rule or code based methods (Deck).

I.B. Destructive forces

Ethics programs are not necessarily constructive to an organization. "...The wrong ethics program can actually make things worse" (Deck) This supports Nasbitt's statement that each person tends to rely on their own concepts of ethics. If an organization's ethics are perceived to be secondary in importance to protecting senior management, or giving absolute authority to upper management etc, then the concepts of individual and organizational ethics tends to be undermined, having an ineffective impact on the organization or worse (Deck).

II. Processes in the development and implementation of an ethics policy

Most of the key elements of an ethics policy are straightforward to understand even if they require some work to implement:

1. organization-wide involvement.
2. recognize diversity in individual and circumstance.
3. be practical.
4. provide a degree of individual-initiative or opportunity (and self-esteem building).
5. use critical thinking and other functional problem solving strategies.
6. ethics code maintenance should be ongoing.
7. consistency between policies and actions. (reducing hypocrisy) (Deck)
8. ethical leadership, fair treatment of employees, and open discussion of ethics in the organization.(Deck)
9. values based ethics

Each one is addressed for clarification purposes, and to suggest ways to initially develop or maintain the ethics policy.

1. organizational-wide involvement.

Motivating all members of an organization to take part in project can be challenging. Focusing intially on opinion leaders can help engage everyone. Some common characteristics of effective team members [opinion leaders] or project leaders include (Meredith and Mantel, page 122):

• High-quality technical skills ...
• Political sensitivity...
• Strong problem orientation...
• Strong goal orientation...
• High self-esteem

These are similar characteristics of people that one hopes to foster in the organization through practicing ethical behavior. One should identify ethically oriented leaders to act as informal mentors to help increase at least the appearance of ethical building activity. The goal is to increase the overall individual input and constructive feedback of others. Each new idea or perspective should be seriously considered at least once prior to open discussion (constructive) criticism --to emphasize the thoughtful and respectful attitude needed to keep an inviting atmosphere and win-win support from most everyone.

2. recognize diversity in individual and circumstance.

Recognizing and respecting diversity is a prerequisite to getting organization-wide involvement. There should be a sense of unity in the diversity of the organization without extraneous or arbitrary conforming pressures.

3. be practical.

An emphasis should be placed on the applicability of the domain and range of the ethical codes to real situations. The following is compelling argument and conclusions by William Kingdon Clifford on the topic of business ethics. No matter how compelling it might be to some (including this writer), it does not lend itself to practical use:

"The goodness and greatness of a man do not justify us in accepting a belief upon the warrant of his authority, unless there are reasonable grounds for supposing that he knew the truth of what he was saying.  And there can be no grounds for supposing that a man knows that which we, without ceasing to be men, could not be supposed to verify."

"In regard, then, to the sacred tradition of humanity, we learn that it consists, not in propositions or statements which are to be accepted and believed on the authority of the tradition, but in questions rightly asked, in conceptions which enable us to ask further questions, and in methods of answering questions.  The value of all these things depends on their being tested day by day.  The very sacredness of the precious deposit imposes upon us the duty and the responsibility of testing it, of purifying and enlarging it to the utmost of our power.  He who makes use of its results to stifle his own doubts, or to hamper the inquiry of others, is guilty of a sacrilege which centuries shall never be able to blot out."

4. provide a degree of individual-initiative or opportunity (and self-esteem building).

Like recognizing diversity, providing a degree of opportunity for individual-initiative in a necessary part of implementing ethical behavior, and increasing its behavioral influence. If individuals do not have the opportunity to practice ethical behavior, then they only get to practice when the organizational risks are greatest, leading to mistakes and less effective ethical conformance. Providing an environment of opportunity is also an important organizational empowering tool for increasing self-esteem --an important under emphasized component of job satisfaction.

5. use critical thinking and other functional problem solving strategies.

The most troublesome element could be critical thinking and other functional problem solving strategies. Thankfully, Total Quality Management and best practices directives have worked out techniques for using a multitude of functional problem solving strategies as part of continual improvement. The following principles and values could provide a set of ethical values and principles to start from for meeting the requirements of this element of ethics. For companies planning on doing business internationally, these principles are aligned with the ISO9000 standards of management requirements that companies usually have to meet in order to do business in Europe and other places. By implementing these values as part of ethics development, the organization can make an easier transition to meeting more detailed requirements later. The key principles in a culture that support continual improvement include (list from Bounds, page 90):

• The importance of determining what customers value as opposed to what management thinks they need.
• A customer versus an organizational focus
• A focus on optimizing organizational performance rather than maximizing functional end results
• A focus on the processes and systems that cause results and not the results themselves
• The importance of experimentation for knowledge and openness to new information
• Mistakes that lead to organizational learning are acceptable
• The importance of continuous improvement versus working to specification or adherence to the status quo.
• Performance improvement comes from process/system improvement and not just improving people.
• To improve processes/systems, managers must seek out root causes of problems.
• Continuous improvement is demanded at every level of the organization.

6. ethics code maintenance should be ongoing.

Ongoing refers to the continuous process of keeping ethics and ethical behavior as a guiding tool in decision making. Putting the tool to use periodically sends a nonverbal message of lacking commitment to the process and detracts from its importance and the need for relying on ethics to shape behavior at any moment. Maintenance of ethics should be integral to functions and operational training ("Ethics at the Core").

7. consistency between policies and actions --reducing hypocrisy

Ethical policies loose significance if after making ethical decisions, the organization or its members take different action than what is supported in the decision process. Ethics as a guiding set of principles and values becomes undermined, lacking credibility for relying on it in the future.

8. ethical leadership, fair treatment of employees, and open discussion of ethics in the organization

Ethical leadership includes fair treatment of employees, and open discussion of ethics within the organization. Ethical leadership is having others share in the commitment of ethical behavior, and includes capitalizing on peoples strengths, covering for their weaknesses, knowing when to take a dominant role, when to punish or reward, and when to let others take the forefront of activities. (Meredith and Mantel, page 130)

9. values based ethics

In defining ethics, one has to consider the multidimensional aspect of ethics. One must inevitably consider the expression of knowledge which can be expressed in two ways; one kind uses the mind to rationalize with words, and the other something else. An illiterate person may not be able to read a code of ethics yet know ethics and practice ethical behavior. Value based ethics tends to reduce the number of words to express ethical knowledge, while increasing the scope of its application. This is the best one can hope for in describing the ideal ethics of spontaneous, principled action based on knowledge and experience.

Management considerations in ethics development and implementation

A considerable amount of management's time is spent persuading outsiders, senior management, clients/peers and operations team members of the benefits of one part or another of the organizational process. Part of motivating and persuading others in the benefits of a continuous process such as ethics includes understanding and being able to express why it exists. Managers must understand its intent and how its success (or failure) can be verified. They need to express it naturally in their own language and in the language of others. They should maximize conditions for success. Support from top management is critical; As is a network of individuals strategically providing advanced notice of impending dilemmas or operational stressors. Its management's role to experientially know the process and environment surrounding it (Meredith and Mantel, page 126-7). Management needs to lead by listening and responding to the needs at the front-line or organizational boundary.

Scope of ethics management

One of management's guidelines rests in understanding the practical limits of management and where its boundaries of influence should stop. "Ethics is about people and process" ("Ethics at the core"). The elements of ethics helps define these guidelines for management. Ethics should be an integral part in defining objectives and implementation of each process. This keeps ethics central to management and a priority in organizational operations. Ethics becomes a part of doing work well. ("Ethics at the Core")

Ethical conduct and operations success

Organizational behavior (of its people) is the embodiment of organizational ethics. Worker performance should consider the method or process used in reaching accomplishments more important than the accomplishments reached."Organizations with a shared commitment to recognizing and examining ethical dilemmas stand the best chance of prospering through [situations of] dramatic change" ("Ethics at the Core").

III. Safeguards necessary for employees who report behavior contrary to the corporate ethics policy

Culturally practicing ethics is the primary safeguard for organizational members --from an organizational standpoint. Having most organizational individuals drawing from an ethical foundation translates into organizational support. Without organizational sanctioned action, unethical action becomes subject to numerous individual and process filters that tend to resist the unethical action, especially at collective points of individual opportunity and group effort.

Organizations that manage vast amounts of resources also manage risk. Rules and regulations are adopted to manage risk objectively and consistently. Regulations are shaped by ethics. So, enforcement of regulations can mirror ethical compliance safeguards. The Securities Institute of UK states that enforcement code has these requirements ("Higher Standards"):

1. be sufficiently broad to be effectively complied with
2. make financial sense [read: practical] if they are to become accepted norms
3. have the strong support of opinion leaders [read: managers and organizational, cultural acceptance]
4. have an effective implementation mechanism
5. be transparent and easy to interpret

The elements of ethics previously outlined suggest that implementation of ethics in operational/functional processes naturally includes safeguards for employees who report behavior they believe is contrary to the ethics policy. Some of these factors include critical documentation, fair investigation processes, and consistent discipline when indicated ("Ethics at the core").

Safeguarding ethical behavior can be also be a priority in auditing organizational operations, policies and records. Through the review process, an additional look at questionable behavior from professionals, outside the day-to-day local processes, can reinforce ethical standards and suggest compliance or corrective action where questionable behavior is documented (or more strictly, where there is a lack of documentation to support critically needed ethical behavior).

Bibliography and Citations

Bounds, Greg, Lyle Yorks, Mel Adams, Gipsie Ranney. Beyond Total Quality Management . NY: McGraw-Hill, 1994.

Business for Social Responsibility. March 2001. online. worldwide-web. (from: http://www.bsr.org/ )

Center for Ethical Business Cultures. March 2001. Online Worldwide-web (From: http://www.cebcglobal.org/ )

Clifford, William Kingdon. The Ethics of Belief . Online Worldwide-web (retrieved from: http://ajburger.homestead.com/files/book.htm Febuary 2001)

Deck, Michael. "Codes of Conduct: Are They Successful?: Michael Deck, Keynote for the Conference Board of Canada." Online brochure. PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP. November 1999. online. internet. (from http://www.pwcglobal.com/extweb/manissue.nsf/DocID/F70DD54E6EA5C43D8525682C00563B62 )

"Ethics at the Core: risk management and beyond" PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP. Perspectives. Feb. 2000. online. internet. ( from http://www.pwcglobal.com/extweb/pwcpublications.nsf/DocID/A7C1D05C183D23CB852569150040715F )

Ethics Officers Association. March 2001.online. worldwide-web. (from: http://www.eoa.org/ )

"Internal Auditor (Treasury and risk management) Ref: WEB4164." European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Job specification. 8 March 2001. (from: http://www.ebrd.com/english/recruit/JOBADS/web4164.htm )

"Higher standards of integrity needed." Securities Institute . press release. 23 Jan. 2001. online. worldwide-web. (from: http://www.securities-institute.org.uk/comms/press.htm )

Kay, John. "Securities Institute Annual Lecture 2000." Securities Institute (UK). 28 Feb. 2000. online. internet. (from: http://www.securities-institute.org.uk/comms/lecture2000ext.pdf )

Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince .[book citation on available at this time]. online. internet. alternate translation from: ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext98/tprnc10.txt )

Meredith, Jack R. and Samuel J. Mantel, Jr. Project Management: A Managerial Approach . 3rd Ed. NY: J Wiley, 1995.

Naisbitt, John. Global Paradox: The Bigger the World Economy, the More Powerful Its Smallest Players . NY: William Morrow, 1994.

"Project Management Institute Member Ethical Standards." Project Management Institute. online. worldwide-web. March 2001. (from: http://www.pmi.org/membership/standards/ethical.htm )

"Social Accountability code 8000." Social Accountability International . online. worldwide-web. March 2001. (from: http://www.sa-intl.org/sa8000.htm )

Worldbank. March 2001. online. worldwide-web. (from http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/governance/corpethics.htm )

Headlines: Amateur astronomers discover new star system.. (contest writing submission)

Created by Benjamin Brink, last modified by Benjamin Brink 13 Aug 2010, at 12:22 PM

A true story, submitted to a telescope.com writing contest:

Headlines: Amateur astronomers discover new star system, 2 planets and white dwarf orbiting blue giant.

Sept 24, 1974 Studiously examining the components of a newly acquired telescope, my friend asked if I would join him in assembling the instrument. How could I refuse? At ten years old, we had some spare time to dedicate to astronomy. Having read some books on planetary science, solar and extragalactic astronomy, I was a local resource for discussing planetary conditions and deep space things. My friend was the local expert on stellar phenomenon. Neither of us were familiar with observational astronomy, but we weren't going to let that stop us. We were too excited for delays. The sun was setting. The telescope began taking on a characteristic silhouette.

Our excitement was fed partly by the possibility that we could see something previously unseen. We arrived at this state of observational astronomy through rational thought:

• Only a third of the world shares the same dark, night sky.
• Only a small fraction of people with a similar view would be looking at the dark sky (most sleeping or indoors, or experiencing cloudy skies etc).
• There are not that many telescopes in the world. Neither one of us knew anyone else who had one. Only a small fraction of observers would be looking with telescopes.
• Telescopes have a narrow field of view.
• The larger the telescope usually means the smaller the field of view (to help gather more light about a more distant object in a shorter period of time). This means experts [with bigger telescopes] are looking at a much smaller part of the sky!
• Expert astronomers take images of one object for many nights in a row. They are constantly looking at the same small part of the sky.

Therefore, we quite possibly could see something new.

The cool, summer night sky was unusually calm and clear for central Cambridge Massachusetts. We setup on the roof of our eight story apartment building, which shielded us from direct light of streetlights and approaching cars. There was a slight haze, which we understood made for clear viewing.

We spent an hour pointing the telescope toward the waxing moon and familiarizing ourselves with the mechanics and practices of observation.

Vega was the first star we pointed at. Amazingly, it wasn't a point of light. Its disk could clearly be seen. Surely the surface aberrations were fluctuations of its gaseous exterior. We would have to read more about that later. This powerful refractor had already exceeded our expectations!

Next we slew the scope to a star near the horizon. Once focused, this blue giant's disk was clearly eclipsed by two planets in the same orbital plane. Eureka! One planet had twice the diameter of the other. The larger planet had an apparent diameter about one fifteenth the star's. Gas giants! A dimmer star was to the right, yet in line with the same orbital plane. Most stellar systems are binary. Were we looking at a white-dwarf and two gaseous giants orbiting a star? Time to re-examine our observations...

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Commentary, prologue (and spoiler): For the non-astronomers out there, Vega looked like a disc because our telescope optics were really poor. The second star we looked at was actually the planet Jupiter and several of it's moons.

Strategic alliances between business and nonprofits

Created by Ben Brink, last modified by Benjamin Brink 13 Aug 2010, at 12:21 PM

(c)2002 by Ben Brink

Strategic Alliances Between
Business And Nonprofit Organizations For
Increasing Impact Of Philanthropic Work:

Economic, Sociological, and Cultural-Anthropological perspectives

This paper discusses the dynamics that create value in forming strategic alliances between business and nonprofits for increasing impact of philanthropic work. Economic and sociological qualities suggest some foundations for relationship formations, followed by a broad abstracted cultural-anthropologic view suggesting one way on how evolving cultural limitations can be viewed to address needs with philanthropic work in evolving cultural environments.

Public and private sector organizations have some identical organizational dynamics, management pressures, and methods of determining operational requirements, such as the use of ethics, critical thinking, decision-making, determining requirements, planning, implementing, and verifying results. However, the processes often result in different methods of practice because government, charities and other nonprofit organizations have different sets of requirements, ethical values and priorities than commerce-based organizations. US government agencies serve the people; Agency economics are not usually tied to marketplace forces. Missions from forprofit and nonprofit companies tend to have different objectives also.

A. An Economic Perspective

Economics is a "social science that seeks to analyze and describe the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth" ("economics", n.d.). Business and nonprofit organizations are legal entities that function primarily in the domain of economics. To understand alliances between business and nonprofits, one needs to understand the economic environment that they operate in, and the advantages and limitations of both types of operations.

1. Nonprofit Organizations

Non-profit organizations tend to serve social needs including areas where market-driven economics do not work, such as providing low-cost services to the poor, or special medical funding to the medically uninsured, caring for the environment etc. Promoting art and teaching children in "club" formats may seem more on the fringe of commercial. This paper does not address the merits of the definition of legitimate nonprofit objectives. It is important to recognize that nonprofits practice a different set of values and organizational culture than forprofit companies.

2. Forprofit Companies

Businesses are forprofit companies. They exist to create high yields for stakeholders --shareholders and owners-- by increasing profits. Businesses wage economic war on each other. The marketplace is the front-line. Businesses are free to market to narrow segments or broad ranges of the market. They set prices and give priority to maximizing profit over environmental and other socially responsible concerns. For profit companies tend to ignore those having limited purchasing power because potential profits are limited.

3. Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)

SRI is not an economic entity, but a way of doing business that attempts to balance profit with economic and social concerns. SRI is a growing secondary financial market geared to match investors with businesses that operate by SRI or "green" principles.  The green principles differentiate SRI businesses from standard forprofit companies. Green investors are motivated to improve social and environmental conditions, but do not want to just give funds away --as donors do when giving to charity. Green investors, like regular investors, want to spend money with some kind of a return on investment --even if risk of loss is involved.  The secondary market of investment funding includes a significant number of investors who want to invest in SRI businesses, projects and ventures.

SRI fund indexes evaluate operating-decisions and principles of companies --indicating levels of social and environmental responsibility as well as economic and financial returns (Investor Responsibility Research Center, 2001). The combination social and financial returns are described as double or triple bottom-line, instead of the single financial bottom-line. The three main strategies of SRI "include screening, community investing, and shareholder activism" (SocialFunds.com, 2002). In other words, 1. goals that include directly improving the environment, recycling, reducing pollution, etc.  2. operating with a responsible set of social and ethical values. and 3. financial return on investments. The SRI way of doing business struggles to reconcile nonprofit values in the realm of forprofits.

SRI businesses can make great returns on investments as records indicate at socialfunds.com. Yet questions remain on how competitive companies can be when putting long-term community goals over short-term profits. Can they reach the top tier of a financial performing index to attract economically biased investors? With SRI, other priorities are as important as profit, and so the question may not be relevant in the narrow context of economic performance alone. SRI uses metrics similar to nonprofits' socially responsible metrics.  Priorities are shared between an economic bottom-line, a socio-societal bottom-line, and an environmental bottom-line producing a 3 point measure of total operations impact.

4. Philanthropic Work By Nonprofits, Forprofits And SRI

Nonprofits arguably perform the greatest amount of philanthropic work per capita by definition. Philanthropic work is central to organizational goals. SRI arguably performs the next greatest amount per capita, since SRI uses metrics similar to nonprofits as well as business. Businesses arguably perform the least amount of philanthropic work, since economic profit dominates motive.  Still, businesses, in addition to nonprofits and SRI, can provide great value for philanthropic work. The strengths and weaknesses of each operational environment needs to be analyzed to find out how each can provide value to the other in philanthropic work.

a. Nonprofits' Advantages

• tax-exempt status. In the US, nonprofit organizations can qualify for and obtain tax-exempt status. Tax exemptions allow nonprofits to direct more expenditures to their missions, since a percentage of income is not paid to taxes instead.

b. Nonprofits' Limitations

• unrelated business income tax. In exchange for tax-exempt status, nonprofits are restricted to operate within the narrow scope that they have been authorized to operate. Income from any other activity is taxable as "Unrelated Business Income Tax" (UBIT) (Internal Revenue Service, n.d.). To avoid any risk of UBIT expenses, nonprofits do not waiver from their scope of operations --even if doing so may help them better reach their objectives. Operating conflicts sometimes include making decisions that reduce the risk of loosing income to taxes, thereby preventing nonprofits from maximizing the nonprofit charitable goals in the presence of greater opportunity.  Reducing risk of UBIT potentially prevents gains in significant output towards goals.
• lack of implementing business strategies. Nonprofits operate according to philanthropic and cooperative goals. Socially responsible values are predominate in decision-making and culture, helping to prevent UBIT and minimizing possible benefits of implementing some economic principles such as economies of scale and performance analysis to achieve goals. Profitability may not be considered a legitimate metric during strategic planning. Cost efficiency may not be a priority also, when socially responsible metrics are valued over economic metrics. Still, economic metrics can help identify waste and organizational trends.
• not investment tools. Nonprofits accept donations, but cannot accept investments (Internal Revenue Service, n.d.) --where investors expect a return.

c. Forprofits' Advantages

• opportunity from weakness. Forprofits potentially create opportunity for nonprofits by having negative or nonpositive impacts in the noneconomic areas of social concerns such as environment, while making a profit.
• practically unrestricted economically. Can invest in other companies and nonprofits. Can make donations, and can seek donations. Forprofits are not encumbered with the aforementioned UBIT or investment barriers beyond the restriction on investing in nonprofits.

d. Forprofits' Limitations

• social stigma. Some companies may carry a social stigma such as from a historic negative environmental incident or ongoing production practice that subjugates creating alliances with SRI or nonprofit sources.

e. Socially Responsible Investing's Advantages

• reputation. SRI funded companies depend on their public reputation for investment valuation opportunities.

f. Socially Responsible Investing's Limitations

• no investing in nonprofits. Just as nonprofits are barred from taking investments (by definition of financial structure), SRI investors cannot work with nonprofits because investors expect an economic return at some point.
• metrics not standardized. SRI exists in many markets, yet metrics for company compliance to SRI values has not been standardized, and compliance data is inadequate.  Numeric indexing does not yet portray adequate scenarios for comparison between companies. (Investor Responsibility Research Center, 2001)
• subject to abuse. Compliance is difficult to verify since much information comes directly from the company. Market compliance is basically limited to companies that are sanctioned as SRI compliant by lack of evidence to the contrary.  (Investor Responsibility Research Center, 2001)

5. Philanthropic Work Through Coordinating Nonprofit And Forprofit Qualities

a. Forprofits Investing In SRI Companies

Corporate consumers that use forprofit services might consider investing in the SRI companies as a means to recover some expenses, since corporations get a substantial tax benefit from investing in other corporations --"corporate dividends" (Internal Revenue Service, n.d.). Corporate nonprofits tend to not invest in other corporations because it likely results in UBIT (Internal Revenue Service, n.d.). Forprofit corporations, like other investors, cannot use this approach to invest in nonprofit corporations. Instead, corporate investors promote other forprofit corporations they invest in --resulting in forprofit flexibility with advantages of minimizing expenses.

b. Forprofit Conversion To SRI Practices

Producers that want to transition to socially responsible methods can find themselves in a bind. Conversion to a double or triple bottom-line can be economically risky when business principles are not adhered to. For example, if a forprofit company does not make provisions to at least appear as if it is trying to make regular profit, the company can be taxed as if it had earned a regular profit anyway. The IRS' Alternative Minimum Tax and Applicable Federal Rates impose taxes, such as when offering extra-low loan rates as incentives for triple bottom-line projects (Internal Revenue Service, n.d.). Also, if a company continues to not make a profit, it will fail economically eventually.

c. Coordinated Advertising With Nonprofits

Forprofits can leverage their economic strengths to gain SRI or "green" status. They can partner with nonprofits to gain recognition in concern for socially responsible and ethical principles. "Cause-related marketing" (CRM) is a traditional model of nonprofits and businesses working together, where a product or service is marketed and a portion of revenue donated to the nonprofit for "the cause"; Both promote and benefit from CRM. (Cause, n.d.)

d. Leveraging Resources With Nonprofits

Forprofits can leverage their resources to help secure long-term assets (and reduce long-term debt) to the mutual benefit of nonprofits. For example, a business could buy a larger building anticipating eventual expansion, letting extra space to nonprofit organizations until the space is needed. Also, forprofits are sometimes in a position to absorb short-term changing needs that complement market changes and social responsibility. For example, as a market shrinks or region experiences negative growth, assets can be given or traded to nonprofits, instead of divesting --providing immediate tax write-offs while reducing economic burdens on nonprofits.

e. Coordinating Services With Nonprofits

Forprofits can license or offer services to nonprofits, increasing the effectiveness of nonprofit services. Forprofits may also be able to offer nonprofits services and goods with greater efficiency and quality than nonprofits can manage internally. For example, a homecare meal delivery service might be able to create more value in meals or more meals from monetary donations, by coordinating with a forprofit restaurant or catering service. Forprofits might assist during peak demand periods.

More profoundly, for-profits may be able to offer higher-quality, socially responsible products and services directed to professional organizations and corporate customers at a profit, while assisting nonprofits in the low-income market segments by providing tools and services, such as during off-market periods! In any case, forprofits that provide products to a large range of market segments may help increase a company's overall economic health by creating conditions that help a company adapt to fast market changes, such as by switching to low-overhead operations during off-peak times.

6. Conclusion

By building strategic economic relationships between forprofit and nonprofit companies, forprofit companies become important assets to socially responsible objectives by assisting nonprofits in socially responsible practices. Nonprofit and for-profit companies, regular corporations, governmental organizations, and entrepreneurial networks, can create strategic alliances that work within the current economic system by taking advantage of economic benefits while working within the limitations of forprofit and nonprofit organizations.

B. A Sociology Perspective

Sociology is a social science that among other things, studies the institutions structured from society, the dynamics of their forces, and how they maintain stability and create changes ("sociology", n.d.). In addition to economics, the sociology of nonprofit and forprofit institutions needs to be addressed. This report portrays to extremes  the differing cultures and values between forprofits and nonprofits to show contrast and simplify the discussion of a wide range of cultural variation from organization to organization. To understand the social importance of strategic alliances between forprofits and nonprofits, one needs to understand the concerns and dynamics of the social environment that they operate in.

1. Polarizing Forces Of Increasing Globalization And Meeting Social Needs

Rosabeth Moss Kanter explains in her book "World Class," how the increasing economic effects of globalization will create increasing challenges for localities (regions and communities) in meeting their social needs.  As corporations become globally market oriented, their headquarters are likely to move away or become foreign owned. The corporations will likely invest less in local social causes than their locally owned and operated counterparts (Kanter, p.192). Kanter states that communities will face five challenges --one of which is specific to social concerns:

To use new models for civic engagement and leadership development, in which community service is an integral part of a business career and social capital is developed by teams of diverse people working together on community projects (Kanter. p.369).

Kanter's conclusion is based on experience and observations regarding increasing economic pressures on business, and resulting polarizing sociological reactions by individuals and communities, stressed by globalization changes in society.

2. Reconciling Polarizing Forces

To counter the polarizing issues, businesses are under increasing pressure to find new ways of addressing social concerns that are compatible with business' strategies and have a measurable impact beyond current nonprofit performance levels (Kanter. pp.192-3). Kanter's observation adds new requirements to strategic alliances between nonprofits and forprofits --combining and unifying the goals of both cultures in the global and local perspective.  Kanter proposes the following paradigm of sociological-economic objectives (p.370):

• that the best social program is good jobs;
• that the best jobs are those that provide linkages and capabilities for the global economy;
• that the best source of those jobs and capabilities is a world-ready business;
• that the way to attract and keep world class companies is to build a strong community, one that adds value to the company's business through its core global skills, welcomes newcomers, and offers a high quality of life;
• that a desirable community is one that can work together to address its problems and build a healthy business climate that creates good jobs... which is the best social program

This paradigm does not rule out the necessity for ongoing philanthropic work where markets have failed. The paradigm highlights the coming need for business to work with nonprofits in coordinated efforts --strategic alliances. Nonprofits can increase their value to business objectives by formulating strategies that target any of the above objectives while staying within their narrowly defined operational guidelines. 

3. Sociological Strategies With An Economic Basis

In addition to the economic-based alliances proposed earlier in this paper, Kanter proposes some sociological-economic hybrid strategies evolving from requirements to reconcile globalization and community needs, including:

• "Develop regular areawide civic forums for communication and mutual understanding between business [,nonprofits] and government. Use the forums to... remove obstacles to a healthy.. community life." (p.371)
• "Extend education in quality problem-solving skills to the schools" (p.371).
• "Help minority companies join networks as equal players" (p.373).
• "Ensure that mentoring programs for minority businesses make them 'world-ready' from the start" (p.373).
• "Support 'learning alliances' to offer training, compare best practices, share success stories, and provide internships across companies [and organizations]" (p.376).
• "Develop school-to-work apprenticeship programs that offer students the chance to gain job skills" (p.377).
• "Mount a civic leadership development program in which the next generation of leaders forms project teams to tackle community problems" (p.377).
• "Link community service to employee development and training, and help volunteers get credit or credentials as part of their career development" (p.377).
• "Use the agenda of newer, technology-based industries as the basis for new forms of civic contribution. Offer schools and not-for-profit institutions as sites for demonstrating the value of new technologies" (p.378) and use the technology for helping meet philanthropic goals.
• "Help not-for-profit organizations understand the implications of strategic philanthropy and become better business partners by teaming with others to multiply their impact. Find ways to measure the quantity and quality of community service, so that not-for-profits can value the time they receive (not just the dollars) and those engaged in community service can reach a high performance standard and get 'resume credit' for their activities" (p.378).

Although these strategies unify business and nonprofit goals, they are somewhat business centric in that they do not span meeting the needs of the entire range of nonprofit goals and social needs. Both nonprofits and businesses can benefit from strategic alliances in other ways that are unique to their industry and social objectives. Regardless of the variations, businesses will likely lack incentives to support some kinds of charitable work, but that is beyond the scope of this report. 

4. The Philanthropic Culture Brings Value To Alliances Also

One particularly important new strategy is missing from the list of strategies: filling the experiential-educational void in how the business culture is to value, evaluate, and communicate socio-societal values and meaning in business practices.  Nonprofits could benefit from this sociological problem by operating philanthropic service seminars and learning projects --consistent with Kanter's strategies and objectives, and oriented to providing business professionals with experiential knowledge needed to put meaning with however business culture rationalizes and valuates social concerns.

Denis Collins suggests that graduate MBA programs augment MBA student learning with service learning, where students volunteer for community service, including "feeding the homeless, volunteering at social service agencies, serving as environmental advocates, working with low-income community centers, lobbying on behalf of disenfranchised groups, and developing business plans for firms operating in inner-city neighborhoods." This process also provides opportunity for business students to learn ways for measuring students' and others' performance using noneconomic metrics --essential for increasing alignment of business and charitable goals as proposed by Kanter. These service-learning projects could also provide opportunity for businesses to use internal resources to begin and maintain SRI initiatives, and provide new social networks to help address and adapt to changing social needs.

5. Conclusion

Increasing economic and sociological pressures of globalization are creating new opportunities for nonprofits and forprofits to work together --forming strategic alliances for philanthropic and business purposes.  Global commerce, viewed as anti-social and anti-local by critics, can fuel opportunity for increasing positive impact on philanthropic work by creating strategic alliances between business and nonprofit organizations. Both nonprofits and forprofits have valuable resources to contribute to developing economic and social needs.

C. A Cultural-Anthropology Perspective

Cultural anthropology (CA) is one of two major branches of anthropology. The other is physical anthropology. CA is the study of cultures in all its variations and manifestations. The majority of CA research is based on "archaeology, ethnography and ethnology, folklore, and linguistics" ("cultural anthropology", n.d.). However this report discusses the topic from the systems approach, exploring the evolution of culture in seeking ways to identify paths to solving evolving problems. Principles, tools and techniques of systems engineering are commonly applied to technology and engineering, but are also starting to be applied to basic social and economic problems ("systems engineering", n.d.). Social science uses the social-systems approach ("social science", n.d.), suggesting it is a better discipline for this discussion. However, social science focuses more on studying individual cultures and intercultural dynamics from a collective behavior perspective; Whereas CA includes studying of evolutionary forces in all cultures from sociobiological ("sociobiology", n.d.), instinctual origins to "security of life"("culture", n.d.) and beyond.  The evolutionary trait of cultural anthropological studies is most significant for this third discussion, which starts with a definition of human culture.

1. Human Culture, Social And Economic Segmentations

Human culture is a set of human fabricated environments, "sociocultural systems", where each sociocultural system has structure and function. "As culture evolves, sociocultural systems (like biological systems) become more differentiated structurally and more specialized functionally, proceeding from the simple to the complex" ("culture", n.d.). In the systems approach, complexity refers to the state of a system to have a level of complexity in its properties, operation, or behavior that is not fully predictable, as interpreted by interacting systems and observers --commonly the research community ("complexity").  The current welfare society and socially responsible "kinship" cultural segmentation has origins in the preliterate Tribal sociocultural system. The economic sociocultural system is based on property distinctions, specialization of labor, and trade that evolved with literacy. ("culture", n.d.) From this new perspective, businesses are structures of economic culture, and nonprofit organizations are structures of tribal (social) culture.

2. Origins Of The Evolutionary Trait In Human Culture

The patterns of human social interaction, however deep their biological and psychological roots, are not simply direct instinctual expression, or the playing out of a built-in psychological drama. They are.. somewhat distinct answers to essentially the same questions posed by human biology and by generalities of the human situation. They are complex answers, ways which have been built up over time, experiments in living.. [creating and changing customs] that different cultures have worked out in the course of which new and varying needs themselves have generated. (Edel & Edel., 1959)

3. Function Of Economic And Social Sociocultural Segmentations

One can infer from Edel and Edel that economic and social cultures have similar primary functions (goals) in spite of differing structures.  Beliefs and thoughts precede actions (behavior) addressing sociobiological problems and sociological problems of the human condition. Behavior, common values and beliefs emerge as customs that define an evolving culture. Economic and social culture segmentations represent two different, co-existing, complex systems in the pursuit of solving problems facing humanity.

4. Trends In Evolving Structures

A common dynamic of interacting with complex systems is represented in Edel and Edel's above quote: As solutions are implemented, more complex problems emerge. In systems engineering, the previous remark can be thought of as a symptom of applying an oversimplified solution to a more complicated problem, visa versa, or the result of misunderstanding the problem or the system to begin with. The increasing complexity of cultural structures (rules and customs) hints at the ever increasing fragmentation of partial solutions --not to mention stress between cultural habits and changing customs. Evolving economic and social systems seem to follow the same trend of increasing in complexity and fragmentation.  Likewise, the solution seems to suggest the increase of specialization and narrow focus (localization) to utilize new methods of solving problems (within the system environment). Economics problems suggest more specialized economic solutions. Social problems suggest increasingly elaborate social programs (solutions).

5. Solving Problems By Bridging Cultural Segmentation Structures

Within the human sociocultural system containing the economics and social segmentation systems,  addressing economic problems exclusively with economic solutions can be viewed as a linear problem solving methodology, resulting in incomplete solutions. Addressing social problems exclusively with social programs is linear thinking also. By abstracting current problems to the entire human sociocultural perspective, solutions involving one or more segmentation frameworks can be used to bypass limitations from another segmentation structure in solving problems it creates. By viewing problems from the greater perspective of humanity, social cultural structures can be used to bypass limitations from economic cultural structures in solving problems created by current economics. Similarly, economic cultural structures can be applied to solving social problems.

6. Some Current Problems Facing Humanity

The structure of economic cultures and social cultures (among other cultural segmentations and types ("culture", n.d.) remain inadequate in solving structural problems of humanity from separate sub-system perspectives. Social and economic crisis continues around the world. Social tools are narrowly applied to solve social problems or economic ones. And economic tools are applied to solve economic problems or social ones. The challenge of solving problems is greater than spreading wealth or happiness; the challenge is in coordinating intelligent action from various systems including economic and social structures.

6. Conclusion

"Strategic alliances between business and nonprofit organizations" is about bridging contrasting cultural structures for common functions and goals. Alliances between economic and social cultures help solve existing social needs problems and economic problems of globalization as outlined in the sociological discussion of this report (according to structural advantages and limitations outlined in the economic discussion). Beyond the specific topic covered by this report, the discussion about the systems approach to solving problems identifies some long-term historical cultural patterns that can help shape strategies for solving sociocultural based problems into the future.

D. Implications And Final Statement

The cultural anthropological discussion suggests that strategic alliances will evolve, forming new cultural structures with new problems that will need different solutions. That is the nature of complex systems. The cultural anthropologic view of humanity as an evolving system of structures and functions can be used to help solve problems yet unforeseen.  In pursuit of solutions to humanity's changing conditions and concerns, humanity must seek unifying cultural forces that bridge the differences and dilemmas of existing cultural structures while respecting them. "Strategic alliances between business and nonprofit organizations for increasing impact of philanthropic work" outlines some current opportunities for bridging cultural divides in solving problems facing humanity.

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