Louis Schmier wrote today
>"....the needs of the organization and our needs as workers are the
same...."
>
> That line is a true statement, I wrote. Why do we each have the
> same needs? The answer is so simple and obvious. Yet, it is so ignored
> so often. Because contrary to all too common perverse and pervasive
> beliefs, all faculty are human, all administrators are human, all
students
> are human, and all staff are human.
I personally do not believe that the needs of the organisation and our
needs are the same.
Though we all are human, we still are men and women, students and teachers,
employers and employees and our needs will differ and they even will differ
inside the faculty and inside the group of students and so on.
First Problem
What are the needs of an organisation?
--------------------------------------
For example, what are the needs of an business firm? The needs of the
managers,
the needs of the employees, the needs of the shareholders? There surely are
conflicting
needs!
Or another example, what are the needs of a university? The needs of the
teachers,
the needs of the students, the needs of the administrators? There surely
are conflicting
needs!
To my opinion conflicting needs ar not 'artificial, man-made chasms and
barriers
separating us'.
For centuries economists have tried to answer those questions and they have
come
to the conclusion, that normally one can not find the needs of an
organisation
(the welfare of society as they call it) from the needs (the individual
utilities) of
their members. (This in essence is the famous 'Arrow Impossibility
Theorem')
Second Problem
How to bridge and overcome conflicting needs.
--------------------------------------------
This can not be done by 'concentrating on the seminal kindredness of our
human needs'.
Take an example (the BattleOfTheSexes-Example from Game Theory)
There is a couple (an organisation of a young man (Adam) and a young woman
(Eve)).
who want to spend their spare time either by dancing or by visiting a game
of soccer
but only one is possible..Adam wants soccer and Eve dancing but both
eagerly want to go
together. Now, what is the best decision? There is none (an economist would
say that there
are two Pareto-Optima). This problem can not be solved by 'humbly saw
ourselves in
each other .' because then Adam wants to dance (as to his opinion that is
the preference of Eve)
and Eve wants soccer (as to her opinion that is the preference of Adam).
Game Theory is full of examples that show that the needs of the individual
do not coincide with
the needs of society (however defined). Another example is the well-known
Prisoners Dilemma.
We have to live in a society where individual needs are in conflict to each
other and in conflict
with the needs of the society.
Make it a good day.
Winfried Reiss
University Paderborn
Germany
Louis_Schmier <[log in to unmask]>@JISCMAIL.AC.UK> on 10.06.2002
13:55:01
Please respond to Louis_Schmier <[log in to unmask]>
Sent by: Discusses staff and curriculum development in higher education
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Subject: Random Thought: We All Need
This weekend I was reading a short book called FISH. About half
way through it a passage jumped out and grabbed me: "....the needs of the
organization and our needs as workers are the same...." After I had
underlined those words, I closed the book, leaned back, and then closed my
eyes. After a few minutes, I opened my eyes, sat up, grabbed my pen, and
scribbled all over the margins.
That line is a true statement, I wrote. Why do we each have the
same needs? The answer is so simple and obvious. Yet, it is so ignored
so often. Because contrary to all too common perverse and pervasive
beliefs, all faculty are human, all administrators are human, all students
are human, and all staff are human. Because contrary to all too common
beliefs, without the flowing vibrancy of human spirit and activity our
campuses are empty and lifeless shells no more meaningful than vacant
conches lying on a beach that had had their lives sucked out of them.
Because contrary to common belief, the our campuses are not the things of
buildings or lawns or labs or fountains or libraries or technological
gadgets. Our campuses are people.
And, while each of us are distinct individuals, we each have
something overriding in common with each other: human needs. We are not
separated from each other as much as we think however we haughtily or
deferentially restrict ourselves to and allow ourselves to be placed by
others into separating and constricting categories. The needs of our campus
as an institution is the same as the needs of each faculty member, as the
needs of each staff member, as the needs of each student, as the needs of
each administrator: to be heard, to be noticed, to be appreciated, to be
understood, to be respected, to be loved, to be valued. We all--each and
every one of us as well as each and every one of them--need energy,
enthusiasm, purpose, meaning, creativity, belief, commitment,
perseverance, strength, confidence, dreams, hope, kindness, imagination,
flexibility, wholeheartedness, passion, compassion, authenticity, and
integrity.
What would it be like if we ignored the artificial, man-made
chasms and barriers separating us, if we bridged and overcame them by
concentrating on the seminal kindredness of our human needs, if we
spiritedly took our whole human selves onto our campuses and into our
offices and into our classrooms and into our relationships with each
other, and humbly saw ourselves in each other?
Make it a good day.
--Louis--
Louis Schmier www.therandomthoughts.com
Department of History www.halcyon.com/arborhts/louis.html
Valdosta State University
Valdosta, GA 31698 /~\ /\ /\
229-333-5947 /^\ / \ / /~\ \ /~\__/\
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