Beyond Leadership: Balancing Economics, Ethics and Ecology, Revised Edition

Structures to be Considered (a Background)

As much as change has to be acceptable to Second and Third World managers, participative management needs to be acceptable to the unions as and when they exert influence. This is not always the case, because of the fear of the loss of their credibility and power base. In order to understand this phenomenon we need to explore certain political and constitutional realities.

The current debate in countries such as South Africa (until recently) and the former Soviet Union has become bogged down in discussing the kinds of institutions which will bring about change rather than identifying the type of shared values on which a future society should be based. Logically, we can accept that common vision and value systems play a greater role in determining the institutions of government than the other way round.

If participative bodies are set up merely to share problems, then such bodies will be stillborn. They will always be viewed with suspicion and as a management ploy to exploit labor. A way has to be found in which to take account of the principle of the consent of the managed through genuine democratic institutions and structures within the organization.

Both socialists (old-paradigm unions) and conservatives (old-paradigm management) have always endeavored to devise codes to serve and protect their own interests and solve all problems by means of regulations. Driven by egalitarianism – the doctrine of the equality of mankind – the socialist ...