Recently I received an email from a reader an article of mine that much for me as an evangelist of Ethonomics. Evangelist by Ethonomics? I thought, hmmmm. . . Is what I am? Sounds like a 60s kind of guru, a cross between John Maynard Keynes and Aristotle.
According to Wikipedia Ethonomics goes down as the "provisional name for the discipline of formal mapping and defining the prioritization of values within value systems."
Okay, it's about values, and ifYou look at values, make decisions, you prioritize. Here, no real help. I had to pay more to a definition of what would characterize this concept for companies dig.
I found the answer was in the February 2009 issue of the magazine "Fast Company:
"The end of the modern financial system as we know it has cleared the way for an era of moral economy, or" Ethonomics. "We live in a world with scarce resources, but rich in ingenuity. Thus an upstart generation of entrepreneurs - andInnovators in the largest companies in the world - start businesses that are good for the world, and in the bottom row. They exert social change on urban revitalization, sustainable agriculture, green IT, alternative energy and online community-powered investment. Any company that claims to be truly sustainable, innovative and increasingly efficient with energy and natural resources, transparent and accountable and well below the line for human beings and other living thingsThings. Ethonomics is a blend of technology, design and social responsibility. "
After reading, I was feeling pretty good about an evangelist for Ethonomics. Ethical marketing boils down to is that business decisions are between the quest for profit and balanced as a responsible member of the Earth Community.
Before we have a golden age of painting, this concept completely "green" and argued that the facts and theories about global warming and environmental responsibility, which wefocus on the part that's all about doing what's good, on balance, for people.
Social responsibility means we all have an obligation to do what's right for society even as we advance our businesses and ourselves. Ethonomics infers this is something we must do.
For most of us still employed, greater than half of our waking hours each day are spent on the job. That is an enormous portion of one's life. Wouldn't it be nice if we could insist that those hours were rewarding and and do not meet the drama and full of fear. Remember to create productivity, if we each morning we could not wait to get to work and make a difference. Under the promise Ethonomics, this might be possible.
Finally, our "recovery" will not return us to where we were two years ago, but is a journey to a new place with new values, forged from the bitter reality of financial hardship. If we're lucky, our goal could be a place where businesses are conductedbenefit all persons having a "game" have in his success.
A company is its culture from the behavior and attitudes of employees. However, most traditional recruitment decisions in part on how each fit into base, rather than how he or she will help. A healthy company celebrates diversity - not just race, ethnicity, and other settings - by transforming itself and evolve with the employment of those who bring the differences and similarities.
Eachperson in a company is a symbol of the brand promise - what the company stands for. Each person can deliver it or deny it to customers. The true identity of a company is not in the product or service it provides but in the men and women, who proudly design it, make it, and deliver it, and, stand by it.
Who would deny that any company's greatest asset is its people? A thriving company has to have great people - a micro-society undergoing constant change to be better. Every interaction Among the players, the company will change the operation, if only a little. A healthy company is on a journey, constantly in flux, searching for momentum in terms of its mission while maintaining and adjusting the values.
But sometimes there is a bump in the road that causes a knee-jerk reaction. The emotional and financial sacrifices of the current recession has caused businesses and its values, new priorities. Massive layoffs keep trying to quickly Equity - an ugly runReasons to justify the dismissals.
Somewhere in our recent past, we took the premise that the success means to earn more, earn more money, more, and the development of information - no matter what the consequences. We cheered on a business trip, as if a blood sport. We convinced ourselves it was a good thing, if greater, the bottom line equity.
We bought into the premise that a good company always shave costs at every opportunity to get more value for theirShareholders when the company's most important asset - their employees - suffered.
There are only two basic ways to increase operating revenues (which ultimately trickles reduced to equity in the balance sheet) - Increasing the revenue or expenditure. It is a seesaw balancing act. One is a company that takes the other one is. So, when sales are down, cut costs. But time, enters into this calculation as well. You can not keep cuttingunlimited, you can not cut your way to success.
If you reduce expenses, such as personnel, you may have, on short notice. But sooner or later will begin the cuts, eroding product quality and customer service. Customers begin to longer delivery notice, endless call waiting, errors in billing, and the lack of care, informed people - where are they going? All for a temporary bump in shareholder value.
A shareholder has three things - bought and sold, andVotes cast at the AGM. It is very American, to take stock in the hope of prosperity always buy, but it is only a passive activity, the stock issuer. Investors do not have the value systems of companies in which they invest care. Their sole aim is financial profit.
Corporate officers are also required to Wall Street and the clique of analysts who scream about the economic situation or assets of a company directly with the owner. Of course, there is a fiduciary responsibilityOfficers to act in the best interest of the owners, but "best interests" is open to interpretation. Since the stunning collapse of Enron and other punishment, the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act has essentially the many for the sins of the few. Public companies are doing in more than concerns about the respect of great things, with great people trapped. Executives cower in fear that they may be made overpromise if the forward-looking statements and are personally liable.
What if the leadersof these companies had hunkered down when the recession started and looked to their employees for innovative ways to stem the bleeding? I'm suggesting that a little less desperation for the bottom line might have saved jobs, lessened the spooking of the American people, prevented some of the subsequent decline in consumer spending, and helped the credit markets rebound quicker. Sadly, the reality is in good times, employees are valuable; in bad times, they're expendable. Few companies leverage the innovation potential of their employees.
In spite of our American tradition of competitiveness, social responsibility may suggest that no one should win if someone has to lose. Should shareholders of a company's stock benefit from a lay-off? In the new post-recession economy, we must find a way to do what's right for society, to give back, even if it means making a little less profit.
There is talk of a "jobless recovery." One CEO I recently talked with told me it will be difficult to raise the rent, if "we were so successful, obtained from the survivors." I do not believe that companies can do anything without more than just a business plan for growth that put America back absolutely necessary to survive in the job. When renting started growing tomorrow, it would start the media frenzy. Each piece of positive news about our economy is contagious. He is building back the trust of consumers and the tonic, the people spending. Where is the demand forproducts and services, you need supply. To get supply, you need workers. To thrive, you need innovation. To innovate, you need motivated workers.
The only qualification to be a shareholder is you must own a share of stock. To be a stakeholder, you must have a stake in the future of your company and what it becomes - that's both owners and employees alike. Let's make it clear that we no longer want to just survive. We want to thrive. Let's look forward to being active stakeholders in this new era of Ethonomics that is only visible on the horizon, and welcome our new age of innovation in the workplace.
Perhaps, as we build again, we will find the courage as a leader of such shares and to promote stakeholder involvement, the really great people, great things can afford to use - to float on the spiral upwards.
Remember, it all starts with us!
Continued success,
John A. Lee, MA, MBA
Laguna Beach, CA
John.lee @ eventscheme.com