Ethics by Design: Strategic Thinking and Planning for Exemplary Performance, Responsible Results, and Societal Accountability

88 Ethics by Design

the desired outcome is clear: better health. And yet, “doing

more” isn’t translating into better health. To yield better health,

a Mega-level outcome, a system transformation is in order.

That entails starting with the true desired outcome (better

health, or higher employment or decreased abuse—whatever

your organization is in the business of) and then aligning that

ultimate outcome strategically down through the very Macro

and Micro level objectives of your organization, on into your

processes and inputs.

Strategic planning starts at the level of what results (not

what products) you deliver to external clients and society—the

Mega level. Then, you plan what results your organization will

deliver outside itself—the Macro level. This level of results

includes any increased sales, timeliness, increased efficiency

or ease of use, graduation rates, number of cases handled and

resolved, and so forth. The most common objectives are written

at the Macro level, when a company states it wants to be the

leading organization in what it delivers (e.g., the leading pro-

ducer of greeting cards or the leading engineering program in

the United States). And then finally, you plan for the quality of

products, as when a company sets objectives around fewer

defective parts or more paper goods produced from recycled

and recyclable materials. Those desired objectives then align

downward into the critical processes for the organization to

accomplish those ends and the necessary resources the

organization can use to get there.

Aligning Societal Level Objectives

Down Into Your Organization

Let’s look at some detailed examples of good objectives at the

Mega, Macro and Micro levels, and then examine how to align

and why alignment is so important. These examples span

across settings to demonstrate how these sorts of objectives

can be developed in any environment. The first three examples

are used with permission from an article on writing useful

objectives by Moore, Ellsworth & Kaufman.

4

Nailing Mud: Socially Responsible Strategic Planning 89

A Mega-Level Example Objective

Among the new expectations for organizations is a growing

demand from their customers or constituents for them to be

socially responsive and responsible. Mega-level objectives

represent the planner’s tools for achieving these expectations.

An example provided earlier—a military example—shows how

an entity can clearly articulate Mega-level objectives:

By the conclusion of Ramadan, non-combatant civil-

ians residing in the Province will suffer no greater rates

of violent death or injury than those seen from baseline

crime rates in surrounding countries deemed by the

United Nations to be “at peace.” All coalition force

operations will be conducted in accordance with U.S.

and international law, as indicated by no upheld suc-

cessful prosecutions of coalition personnel in military or

international courts for offenses causing loss of life,

limb, and/or livelihood. There will be no loss of non-

combatant civilian life attributed to coalition force

operations as certified by Provincial government or

United Nations monitors.

Examples of Mega-level outcomes are measured based on

the set of 13 societal results covered in chapter 2. These

include such indicators as health and well-being, conse-

quences of pollution, accidents, discrimination, poverty, sub-

stance abuse, disease, shelter, war and/or riot, harm to envi-

ronment, starvation (or malnutrition), child abuse, partner/

spousal abuse, and self-sufficiency. Notice how, in this military

example, desirable societal results are stated clearly and focus

on measurable outcomes. In addition, the objective details pre-

cisely what will be measured and by whom or by what criteria.

It establishes a very clear standard for what the desired social

impact of the military in that region will be. There are many

additional examples across other industries provided at the end

of this chapter.