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Leadership for Community Social Responsibility - by J. Cottes
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

I am interested in the following questions: What is the role of organizations in creating individuals as products of the organization or system in which they work? Assuming organizations play a role, what are the implications for community and society? Are organizations the venue in which to affect societal and community change through the individuals that work there? Why would organizations care? Finally, how would it affect their bottom line, their work-culture, and their productivity?

To address this last question, Goleman in Primal Leadership offers that how people feel about working at a company can account for 20 to 30 percent of business performance. Getting the best out of people pay off in results and the leader plays a key role in managing that climate. Poor morale among front line service providers at a given point in time predicts higher turnover and a declining customer satisfaction of up to three years later. He adds that low customer satisfaction drives declining revenues. In addition, for every one percent improvement in service to clients, there is a two percent increase in revenue. This clearly implies that organizations should care about how their staff feels about the company in which they work.

As evident in the questions listed above, I am concerned about community and society. Canada is facing its tightest labour market in 35 years. In order for Canada to be competitive in the global market place employees will be called upon to be more productive with less human resources. This trend is more concerning in the increasingly rapid and constantly changing work environment that organizations face today. Bolman and Deal in Reframing Organizations state that organizations deal with complicated and uncertain environments by simplifying information and processes. They break complex issues into smaller more manageable pieces through specialization or division of responsibilities.

According to Senge in Presence, individuals “are out of relationship with all of nature because we’ve moved into a reductive kind of awareness that is based on alienation and separation.”

Perhaps we can find value in reuniting complex issues through new ways of leading and learning. Herein lies the opportunity to build capacity in the work-place and lead the way to building personal accountability in systems (complicated organizations) where accountability is typically diffused.

Without going into the implications or organizational systems on community and society, are organizations and the individuals that work for them, the venue in which to affect societal and community change? If individuals in those organizations were interested in positive outcomes for humanity, community or society were given the opportunity to impact these spheres through their work, perhaps this would contribute to a positive feeling about their company. The company is then creating a work environment to get the best out of people. In turn, business performance would improve. However, what is the leadership action if individuals in those organizations were not as interested in such positive outcomes for humanity, community and society?

- Written by Jennifer Cottes (From a larger paper on leadership learnings and self-reflection.)

References / Additional Reading:
Bolman, Lee G., and Terrence E. Deal. Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership. San Fransicso: Jossey-bass, 2008.

Bridges, Edwin M., and Philip Hallinger. Implementing Problem Based Learning in Leadership Development. Eugene: ERIC, 1995.

Goleman, Daniel, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee. Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2002.


Lynch, Kevin G. Fifteenth Annual Report of the Clerk to the Prime Minister on the Public Service of Canada”. (Ottawa, Ontario March 31, 2008). http://www.pco-bcp.gc.ca/index.asp?lang=eng&Page=information&Sub=publications&Doc=ar-ra/15-2008/table_e.htm, accessed March 2009.

Quinn, Robert E. Building the Bridge as You Walk on It: A Guide for Leading Change. San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004.

Senge, Peter, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers. Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future. New York: Doubleday, 2004.



April 7, 2009 | 1:00 AM Comments  1 comments

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ICTs and Women in Action - Isis International Manila

I am very proud that I an article I wrote over the summer is finally published in the ISIS International Manila Magazine, both on-line and in print. ISIS Manila is a feminist NGO dedicated to women’s information and communication needs. "Women in Action covers a broad range of issues affecting women globally, but focusing on the particular needs and concerns of women in the Global South, and forwarding a progressive perspective tempered by the experiences of the thirld world women's movements".

A Thanks to Maja, Maitreyi, Titi and Mahmoud for their generous input. I can't wait to get the magazine by snail mail. Here's where you can find it on-line:

The online version of Women in Action No. 2, 2003, issue on "Young Women" is now available at http://www.isiswomen.orgor http://www.isiswomen.org/pub/wia/wia203/index.html. The print edition will be off the press by the end of December 2003.

Women in Action No. 2, 2003
Theme: Young Women

Here is my article:
Young Women's Participation in International Conferences in the New Information Society
By Jennifer Cottes
The information society, driven by the "new" information and communication technologies (ICTs), has a dangerous potential to further marginalise young women.
http://www.isiswomen.org/pub/wia/wia203/cottes.htm

There are lots of other articles in this mag. Definitely worth the read!


December 30, 2003 | 3:41 PM Comments  0 comments

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Knowledge Management over Technology for Access

I was fortunate to be invited to a "lunch box" event at the International Development Research Centre to hear Dr. M.S. Swaminathan (Chairman of the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation) speak on "Bridging the Digital Divide in Rural India and Conserving Coastal Mangrove Wetlands". He outlined for us some guided principles for using ICT to benefit the poor and to reach the unreached. In this case he spoke of generating awareness around managing Mangrove forests.

So often we concentrate too much on the technology and not enough on the information. We need to focus on knowledge management if we want to benefit the poor. Some guidelines outlined for us were:
1) The technology must be user-oriented and user-controlled
2) Information generation must be “demand driven”
3) Content creation, rather than technology for access, should be a central focus
4) Value added information (knowledge) and a bottom-up process must be integrated for content creation

He emphasised that the best Knowledge Managers are local women. They are the ones managing the households and the livelihoods of their families. Therefore the technology must be gender sensitive (and socio-economic sensitive).

My fear is that youth have not been able to get this ground-level point, where the content is managed based in the NEEDS of young people working generate income of support their own livelihoods, especially, young people who are on merely trying to survive. Dr. Swaminathan also emphasised the importance of connecting the “scientist” with the poor. The scientist must be credible in the eyes of the local community to organise what knowledge is needed for local communities to succeed. Are there any youth-led ICT projects that achieve this? I sense that there are so many projects ideas, and projects that are started, but do not have the capacity to be fully implemented. This is often due to lack of funding, lack of mentoring and a lack of credibility.

It was great presentation and a great example of the need of knowledge communications for the poor. Visit Reaching the unreached: How can we use ICTs to empower the rural poor in the developing world through enhanced access to relevant information? for more information.

July 24, 2003 | 6:46 PM Comments  1 comments

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Giant Egg

Why an Egg?

A small town in Alberta called Vegreville chose a giant ukrainian easter egg (pysanka) as their monument. I grew up taking family trips out west to the mountains. This was a common stop on the road for me. What I didn't know was "Why?"!!
The town voted on the pysanka to symbolize the peace and security the Mounties offerings the area's pioneers and their descendants. As you probably have guessed, this area took in a large Ukrainian population, probably around the 1900's and earlier. What drew me to post this, was the innovation it took to design this in 1973 - new software and engineering and mathematical firsts. Who would have thought! As an 6, 8 or 10 year old, all you see is a giant easter egg. :)

June 24, 2003 | 2:56 PM Comments  0 comments

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Northern Lights

I was outside last night talking on the cordless around 11pm, when northern lights suddenly streaked across the sky. They were so beautiful!! Its been a while since I have seen them. Usually its hard to see them from the city, but last night,... oh, breathtaking. The weren't to the north either this time. Usually they droop in the northern horizon. Last night it was like stripes, a greenish / blue rainbown, straight up above my head. From one end of the sky to the other.

Ahhh, the great north! Did anyone else see them?

June 18, 2003 | 9:38 AM Comments  0 comments

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