Replying to LO23718 --
>Ken Te Tau wrote:
>
>I have recently read the Dance of Change and would like to ask a question.
>
>In an organisation that is a charitable trust, (non-profit) how do you
>promote good governance where employees have no ownership prospects? In
>particular, in a school setting.
My initial reaction to this was that I was appalled. It seemed to me that
there was an underlying assumption about human beings that they could only
value something if they personally owned it! For me, this represents an
impoverished view of humanity and I have strong doubts as to whether
prospects of ownership would lead to good governance as implied this
question.
However, on reflection, I thought that this was a too literal
interpretation of "ownership prospects" and that a more metaphorical
interpretation might be called for. An important aspect of ownership of a
"for profit" business is the balancing of conflicting interests such as
those between suppliers and customers, between employees and capital, etc.
A successful balancing act results in a sustainable business that provides
the owner with an acceptable return on investment, roi.
This model transfers quite well into the non-profit sector. There is an
issue as to whether the employees are prepared to manage, internally, the
conflict of interests or whether they just accept those favourable to them
personally and project the unfavourable aspects onto others.
Roy Benford
Fulmer, UK
--"Roy Benford" <roy@benford.demon.co.uk>
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