Development Revisited: A Sociological and Managerial Analysis–Part 8

Prologue

It is an undeniable fact that economic development is a function of management. Without effective management, then, no economy can truly develop. In this third part of the series, we continue our examination of economic development from the perspective of the Value Pyramid of Management (VPM).

Over the centuries, management has largely been shaped by the interests of the capital owner. Shareholder value maximization, therefore, has been the pursuit of management. This has often led to trampling other more important stakeholders in management.

The VPM which was propounded by this author seeks to correct the erroneous view that has been held over the years by management and that has significantly held back true development. It holds that, rather than the shareholder being at the top of the pyramid as the most critical and important stakeholder, his place is really at the bottom!

At the apex, we have nature, followed by society/humanity. Next are human resources which also precede customers/suppliers. Management is next and as mentioned earlier, the shareholder is at the bottom.

                     Fig.1.The Value Pyramid of Management (VPM)

Human Resources

As in the case of management in an organisation, an economy’s greatest resource is their human resources or people. But did ‘developed’ economies on the road to development really recognize this fact? And are ‘developing’ economies appreciating it? Let’s find the answers to those questions using the following parameters: The family, the youth, education and leadership.

The Family

The state of the family, the source of human resources, is the first most important indicator of the nature of the economic development of a nation; whether it is true or false. In true economic development, nothing is allowed to interfere with what is called the basic unit of society, and by extension, the basic economic unit.  It is treated as sacrosanct. Yet, in most economies, especially the ‘developed’ ones, this institution is the most battered!

In some of the previous parts in this series (parts IV and VII), we discussed quite extensively this phenomenon, so I won’t say much for now. But suffice to say the family has been torn apart in the name of development and ‘making ends meet’. Without a good home and proper education how can an economy expect to have human resources that can really deliver the goods and sustain it?

The Youth

The youth constitute what society calls the ‘future leaders’. Yet, how much attention is given to these on the road to economic development? How much direction is given them? As stated earlier, the family is the most battered of society’s institutions. And this has no wonder adversely affected the youth as well.

As we grow, we have many questions about the wild world we find ourselves in; we need explanations; we need guidance. Who provides these? How many parents do so any longer when most of them are clueless themselves? And government—what help does it provide? Almost nothing!

As society continues to ruin the youth in the name of economic development can it claim innocence from liability and the consequences therefrom? Certainly not! No amount of material goods can give hope to the youth.

But since that is the pursuit of false economic development, the future holds nothing meaningful for the disillusioned youth. And if that is the state of the ‘future leaders’, you can only imagine where the world is headed!

Education

Most of our human resources no longer receive quality informal education. And at the national level, formal education is more of brainwashing than enlightenment. The direction in which policy makers want to take the economy, as they call their vision, is what determines the content of formal education.

While that in itself is not wrong, due to the limited knowledge and understanding of the future by leaders, this kind of education has often produced human resources that are skewed in their way of thinking. Some would quickly argue that this is the case in ‘developing’ countries only. But no, it is the case in so-called ‘developed’ countries as well.

For example, students are taught distorted history. And villains of history are projected as heroes. This was aptly couched by Peter Tosh in his track “You Cant Blame the Youth”: “You teach the youths about Christopher Columbus and you said he was a very great man. You teach the youth about Marco Polo and you said he was a very great man. You teach the youths about the pirate Hawkins and you said he was a very great man. You teach the youths about Pirate Morgan and you said he was a very great man”.

As an instance, when his flagship Santa María went aground on a sandbank after he had ‘discovered’ a large mountainous island near Cuba that he named La Isla Española (Hispaniola) and could not be refloated, it took the natives to help the crew of Columbus to salvage everything possible. Here was his own testament about the natives: “They love their neighbors as themselves, and they have the softest and gentlest voices in the world and are always smiling,”

Yet, what was Columbus’s motive? He had ominously and brutally observed in his log earlier: “These people are very unskilled in arms. . . . With 50 men you could subject everyone and make them do what you wished.….I have great hope in Our Lord that Your Highnesses will convert all of them to Christianity and they will all belong to you.” And so he did on his second voyage!

Through genocide, rape, slavery, colonization and other forms of atrocity, Columbus decimated these peace-loving, humble people he later called ‘cannibals’!

So if villains  like this are what the children are taught in school as ‘victors’ should society blame them if they turn out to be what they learned in the name of ‘development—cruelty, deception, manipulation and moral bankruptcy? And how can an economy really develop if its human resources have and display such traits?

Leadership

Who is providing leadership for the youths in ‘developing’ and ‘developed’ economies? What effect is this kind of leadership having on the human resources for today and tomorrow?

In politics, there’s widespread corruption and immorality. If the children look up to these highly respected leaders in society what do they learn from them as role models?

We find the same kind of situation in the business world. Couple this with the failed leadership by parents, religious leaders and teachers what do we expect our human resources to be?

Quick-fixes

The pursuit of power, prestige, fame and wealth is what society promotes as leading to development. So the youth chase after these things. Motivated by Darwinian Economics, when they start working selfishness is at the heart of their motives—how to acquire those ‘desirable’ things. The result is stifled creativity, dishonesty, gruffness and the like. Do these augur well for productivity? Certainly not!

In an attempt to provide quality human resources for their economies, leaders throughout the world have often gone for quick fixes. As ad-hoc as these measures are, nothing is solved! The reason is that the foundation is not being checked.

When society comes to the realization that the pursuit of power, wealth, prestige and fame—its foundation—is what has caused all the problems of mankind, that is when it will begin to re-lay it. The right foundation for true economic development is built on love, respect, humility, honesty, contentedness, altruism and the like—qualities that are ridiculed in the Darwinian economy. And if that foundation becomes what determines the purpose of education and work, quality human resources will emerge, productivity will increase and social well-being will be better. Until then, we might as well forget about improved human resources. But who is bold enough to start that revolution?

The author Jules Nartey-Tokoli is Founder and Group CEO at Groupe Soleil Vision, comprising Soleil Consults, LLC, NubianBiz dot Com and Soleil Publications. He has lived and worked in both Ghana and the United States, having extensive experience in Strategy, Management, Entrepreneurship, Premium Audit Advisory and Web consulting. He has also published several articles on Strategy and Management among others.