John Constantine wrote:
> I see in Ray's lamentation the disparity between the theory and the
> reality. From being educated as a singer to being unemployed and not
> singing. Simply a matter of choice? Simply a matter of winning over
> losing, the "losers" being the unemployed singers? Certainly easier to
> swallow if one thinks that "they" probably didn't deserve a job since
> they couldn't get one. Heavy stuff. (snip)
John,
Lots of good work in that post. Too much for me to cover at this time. A
couple of things, however; 1) it seems a very dangerous situation within a
society to have alienated a considerable section of the educational elite.
Down through history Artists have not been your most quiet, passive
citizens. 2) As is proven by the World Bank's turn around this week (see
below) irresponsibility for the sake of profit can only go so far before
chaos eliminates the possibility of good business. Perhaps we could label
the below article, the "Evolution of a Financial Learning Organization."
> from The Guardian Weekly Volume 157 Issue 1
> for week ending July 6, 1997, Page 19
> *The State in a Changing World; The World Development Report,
> (The World Bank)
>
> WORLD BANK IN SURPRISE POLICY U-TURN
>
> Charlotte Denny
>
> IN an astonishing volte-face, the World Bank in Washington has
> abandoned its long-running support for minimal government in
> favour of a new model based on a strong and vigorous state.
>
> Its latest report on world development*, published last week,
> calls for "reinvigoration of public institutions" and says the
> role of government has been vital in making possible the
> "dazzling growth" of East Asia. "An 'effective state' is the
> cornerstone of successful economies; without it, economic and
> social development is impossible," says the report. "Good
> government is not a luxury [but] a vital necessity for
> development."
(This is an amazing statement from one of the most fiscally conservative
institutions in the world. Bank President Wolfensohn has had good press
for his policies but they have often been harsh. REH)
> The bank says an effective state "harnesses the energy of
> private business and individuals, and acts as their partner and
> catalyst, instead of restricting their partnership". With the
> collapse of the communist economies and the crisis in welfare
> spending in the industrial world, the role of the state is in
> the spotlight around the globe, it adds.
>
> "For many, the lesson of recent years has been that the state
> could not deliver on its promise," said the bank's president,
> James Wolfensohn. "Many have felt that the logical endpoint of
> all of this was the minimalist state. The report explains why
> this extreme view is at odds with the evidence of the world's
> development success stories."
(I still have my political science book from the University of Tulsa, Poli
Sci 101 from 1959. Dr. Conklin professor. On the first day he spoke of
the tendency for Private Enterprise Economies in Democracies to become
more authoritarian and eventually despotic. It started with a demeaning
of the public service and ended in a public hero to rescue us from
ourselves, from the complexities of unbridled "let it be" brutalities.
Maybe this WB "evidence" is a hopeful sign. REH)
> But the bank itself has been identified with policies
> that have seen developing nations cut essential government
> services to try to balance their books. Aid recipients must meet
> stringent budget targets under its structural adjustment
> policies.
(The WBs most notable disaster was in the former Yugoslavia where their
previous policies led directly to the breakup of the country and the
horror of the Bosnian war. REH, see Chossudovsky, Univ. of Toronto)
> The bank now says that building an effective state is
> vital for development. It lists key tasks of government as
> including investing in basic social services and infrastructure,
> providing a welfare safety net, protecting the environment and
> establishing a foundation of law.
>
> Chief economist Joseph Stiglitz said the bank now believed
> markets and governments were complementary. "The state is
> essential for putting in place the appropriate institutional
> foundations for markets," he said.
(As we used to say in the sixties "far out!" One of my students a
singer/cantor/band leader commenting on the above statement, wanted to
know why it took them so long to figure that out. My reply was that
"common sense" often has little to do with economic projection although
they act as if the reverse is true. REH)
> The irony of this U-turn was not lost on many of the bank's
> critics. The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
> (ICFTU) said the bank had toured the globe during the 1980s
> recommending the paring down of government, the civil service,
> education and health services in the developing world.
(Sherri, how do you feel about Karma here? REH)
> Bill Jordan, leader of the Brussels-based ICFTU, welcomed the
> change of heart, but he added: "I regret that public
> institutions, public morale and essential services like health
> and education had first to be considerably eroded before the
> World Bank could come round to its current view."
(I spent the weekend with a prominent surgeon teacher of medical students.
For the sake of privacy I will not mention more except to say that he
basically mirrored the above about the U.S. foret into "private goods"
healthcare. He is recommending that his students go into military
medicine for the financial security. REH)
> For its report, the bank surveyed business people around the
> world and found that the countries that scored low marks for
> government effectiveness also suffered from low growth. "Many
> countries lack the basic institutional foundations for markets
> to grow," the report says.
(They also act like individuals who hate their creditors and make war.
Unfortunately in Yugoslavia it was against themselves. The only country
that the austerity has worked on is New Zealand where the pass along ended
when it got to the Maoris. I don't remember the reference but it is on
the internet. REH)
> Corruption and crime emerged as serious problems. The bank found
> countries with high levels of corruption had low investment and
> growth. The report says the consequences of bribery do not end
> with paying off the officials and then getting on with business:
> "Government arbitrariness entangles firms in a web of
> time-consuming and economically wasteful negotiations."
(So the question is: Does aggressive "Private Goods" economics encourage
corruption in government, weaken integrity and ultimately create low
investment and growth with their constant harassment of public servants
and other "Public Goods" industries? i.e., Public Health, education,
police, national defense, the legal system, religion, the arts and public
charities. REH)
==================================================
So, dear list,
What are the responsibilities of a LO as it moves and grows? How much of
the problem is the models and the ideals as we struggle towards
"Self-Actualization under Capitalism"? To finish let me put three
definitions from two different dictionaries on the LO table. Most of the
media aims these at the "welfare state." Considering the above article
and the psychological personality of the average corporation, I propose
these definitions as an insight not into the poor but into the culture
that we are daily dealing with as well as the organizations that we create
through our ideal definitions:
The first two are from the Oxford Economic Dictionary by John Black 1997
(Plain Paperback) and the second is from the Tabors Cyclopedic Medical
Dictionary 16th Edition,1989, F.A. Davis Pub. (Beautifully bound like a
bible as befits a medical book, but not very productive).
>From Oxford University: "A DICTIONARY OF ECONOMICS" by John Black
ECONOMIC MAN: A person who is entirely selfish and entirely rational.
While such a person in pure form is a caricature met only in economic
models. there is a sufficient element of this in enough people to make
economic models relevant to real life. Real people are in various ways
both better and worse than economic man. Economic man may only obey laws
because of the penalties for being caught, and only keep bargains from
concern for his reputation, but he is free from malice and dogmatic
resistance to change.
FREE RIDER: A person or organization who benefits from a "public good"
but neither provides it nor contributes to the cost of collective
provision. They thus free ride on the efforts of others. The free-rider
problem means that many public goods are underprovided, or have to be
provided by governments which can collect taxes to pay for them. The same
problem occurs internationally, when governments prefer to leave others to
bear the costs of international institutions to maintain world security,
and the expensive measure needed to restrain global warming or destruction
of the ozone layer.
From: TABOR'S CYCLOPEDIC MEDICAL DICTIONARY:
PSYCHOPATHIC PERSONALITY:(archaic, modern term "ANTI-SOCIAL Personality
Disorder") A type of personality disorder characterized by disregard of
the rights of others. It usually begins prior to age 15. In early
childhood there are lying stealing, fighting and disregard of authority.
In adolescence there are usually aggressive sexual behavior, excessive use
of alcohol, and use of drugs of abuse. In adult-hood these behavior
patterns continue with the addition of poor work performance, inability to
function responsibly as a parent and inability to accept normal
restrictions imposed by laws. This type of personality disorder is not
due to mental retardation, schizophrenia, or manic episodes. It is much
more common in males than females.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
It is so much easier to keep our "eye on the prize" of how we can
facilitate pure profit in a company, complain about the intervention of
government or society in our wishes and compare what we do to a game. But
the people whose life's work is more than the hiring of a simple skill or
a temporary computer program that will be out of date in three years, are
not really appropriate subjects for game theories, or "winner take all"
zero-sum points of view. Competition within these professions is often
around the solving of a creative problem that is too expensive to be
"profitable" for many years. I do not mean to say that there isn't a
place for these standard widgit business activities and companies in a
civilized society. I believe that there must be a diversity of forms and
structures if a society is to function. After all, if the society decays
so do we all.
Learning Organizations are IMO organizations that evolve to maintain their
place in the scheme of things. There is no true competition across
advanced professions only within those professions. It has often been
said by economists and politicians that a composer can make a living
teaching, but a good teacher makes a lousy composer and we often forget
that learning advancement cannot be part-time.
This is what concerns me about our flexible business structures but that
is another thread. For those of you who have read to the end with me.
Please don't hesitate to offer counter data or argument, that is how I
learn and grow.
Thank you and good night, 3:00 Wed. morning July 9
[Host's Note: Hmmm... Ray, I thought I was the night-owl around here!]
Ray Evans Harrell, artistic director
The Magic Circle Chamber Opera of New York, Inc.
mcore@idt.net
--Ray Evans Harrell <mcore@IDT.NET>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>