Some people think they create their own destiny - others believe the hands of chance rule them. The equivalent is factual for organizations and communities. That subsequent point of view leaves individuals annoyed and angry, feeling out of control and helpless. They freeze midway on the way to maturity. The results show in big and tiny lapses in ethics. One reason we're seeing so many troubles in the commerce world now is that as a society, we've mislaid our sense of ethics.
People who have stopped maturing and are stagnating at any given point of development may:
* constantly try to protect themselves against punishment, obeying rules only to make themselves feel secure
* exercise black and white thoughts, seeing people as either 'with them or against them'
* experience little sense of power over their lives
* aim for acceptance and support by conforming
Abraham Maslow speaks of a continuum of needs people have to satisfy before they can reach full maturity, which he calls self-actualization. In order, these needs are:
* bodily survival
* safety
* acceptance
* achievement
* self-accomplishment
Each of these wants presents a challenge a person has to satisfy before they travel on to a higher point of progress. If they don't succeed, they get stuck in a continual behaviour circle at that point, and they don't mature any further.
Infantile behaviour leads to all types of tribulations, both for individual people and civilization as a whole. One of the first signs of this infantile behaviour in a society is the existence of power hierarchies. Power hierarchies spur a complicated host of tribulations, counting: de-motivation, loss of health, low efficiency, monetary losses, bankruptcies and the manipulation of many for the advantage of a few.
Hierarchical values suggest that developmental immaturity is unavoidable: there are the rich and there are the poor, there are the employers and there are the employees, and these lines never change or blur. Not only companies support this theory, but entire societies: man has defined global regions as 'haves and have-nots.'
We observe illustrations of this on a daily basis in the news. We learn about CEOs who make overgenerous luxury acquisitions or receive a 'golden parachute' in spite of the fact that their corporation is bankrupt. In politics, we observe leaders rising to control rapidly, leaving social turmoil in their wake. We witness more extreme samples as militant extremists scheme and carry out offences against humanity.
People who fall behind and stay wedged in a lesser stage of maturing will remain helpless in opposition to the tidal waves of destruction in the contemporary mainstream. So much of this can be averted if leaders in commerce, politics, teaching, and regional communities would commit themselves to serving the people they influence helping them to grow and mature, to go forward in self-development. It's not adequate to sit and think about the dilemma, to speculate what could be done to help people become more ethical.
There are so many personal development and training opportunities available, especially in the business world. Providing this sort of ethical consciousness training for employees isn't just a matter of helping everyone to get along and be nice - it's an investment that pays enormous dividends that benefit everyone.
Those who toil near the objective of self-realization for themselves and for those near them will mature. Those who mature will create a healthy new model for trade and civilization, and will ultimately prosper in the future.
People who have stopped maturing and are stagnating at any given point of development may:
* constantly try to protect themselves against punishment, obeying rules only to make themselves feel secure
* exercise black and white thoughts, seeing people as either 'with them or against them'
* experience little sense of power over their lives
* aim for acceptance and support by conforming
Abraham Maslow speaks of a continuum of needs people have to satisfy before they can reach full maturity, which he calls self-actualization. In order, these needs are:
* bodily survival
* safety
* acceptance
* achievement
* self-accomplishment
Each of these wants presents a challenge a person has to satisfy before they travel on to a higher point of progress. If they don't succeed, they get stuck in a continual behaviour circle at that point, and they don't mature any further.
Infantile behaviour leads to all types of tribulations, both for individual people and civilization as a whole. One of the first signs of this infantile behaviour in a society is the existence of power hierarchies. Power hierarchies spur a complicated host of tribulations, counting: de-motivation, loss of health, low efficiency, monetary losses, bankruptcies and the manipulation of many for the advantage of a few.
Hierarchical values suggest that developmental immaturity is unavoidable: there are the rich and there are the poor, there are the employers and there are the employees, and these lines never change or blur. Not only companies support this theory, but entire societies: man has defined global regions as 'haves and have-nots.'
We observe illustrations of this on a daily basis in the news. We learn about CEOs who make overgenerous luxury acquisitions or receive a 'golden parachute' in spite of the fact that their corporation is bankrupt. In politics, we observe leaders rising to control rapidly, leaving social turmoil in their wake. We witness more extreme samples as militant extremists scheme and carry out offences against humanity.
People who fall behind and stay wedged in a lesser stage of maturing will remain helpless in opposition to the tidal waves of destruction in the contemporary mainstream. So much of this can be averted if leaders in commerce, politics, teaching, and regional communities would commit themselves to serving the people they influence helping them to grow and mature, to go forward in self-development. It's not adequate to sit and think about the dilemma, to speculate what could be done to help people become more ethical.
There are so many personal development and training opportunities available, especially in the business world. Providing this sort of ethical consciousness training for employees isn't just a matter of helping everyone to get along and be nice - it's an investment that pays enormous dividends that benefit everyone.
Those who toil near the objective of self-realization for themselves and for those near them will mature. Those who mature will create a healthy new model for trade and civilization, and will ultimately prosper in the future.
About the Author:
Victor Pinedo, Jr. is President of Corporate Transitions International. A consultant in organizational change since 1969, he invented Organizational Architecture, an organizational transformation program that is unique in its long-term effectiveness. He is the author of the best selling book on Organizational Architecture, Tsunami: Constructing organizations that are able to prosper in tidal waves. For more information, visit the link today!
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