talkYing

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

I Miss

Being in a group, and working for something that is greater than
yourself and something that you believe in.

posted by Ying at 2:58 PM  

2 Comments:

  • Hi Ying,

    I've also had same feelings, and I bet the same goes pretty much for all our colleagues who've tasted the same excitement ;-)

    And this doesn't apply only for not-for-profits; there's a study by Manfred Kets de Vries and Elizabeth Florent-Treacy called "Global Leadership from A to Z: Creating High Commitment Organizations" (a summary available for free; the whole article is available through Elsevier for subscribers. Published in Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 30, No. 4, pp. 295-309).

    One of their main findings in the study was that there is a universal motivational need system, which is best met with three "meta-values": community, pleasure, and meaning.

    A quote from the original paper: "Meaning. As one CEO said, "People will work for money but die for a cause." It is extremely motivation for employees to feel that they as individuals are contributing something to society through their efforts. This sense of meaning motivates people towards higher commitment--a willingness to experiment and to make an exceptional effort."

    I surely hope this view spreads in the corporate world! And well, according to the article, the leaders interviewed from companies like Virgin Atlantic Airways, ABB, BP, Nokia, Deutsche Bank, Vodafon, Novo Nordisk, Danone, Bang & Olufssen, ABN-AMRO, Aegon, Ericsson, Lucent Technologies, Nissan Motor, Goldman Sachs, Unilever, Xerox and Novartis already understand this, either consciously or unconsciously. So it should be a matter of time, until mimetic isomorphism kicks in and other players will follow the market leaders :)

    By Jarmo, At 7:00 PM  

  • Hej Jarmo,
    Surprised to find someone who has similiar thoughts and done so much thinking on this.:)..Thanks for sharing the article, wayy cool!
    I actually had a discussion with my friend in sweden about this as well, and he was saying that more is needed than companies being involved in csr, as employees want to satisfy their higher needs of self actualisation, and its no longer as simple as just throwing cash or doing some voluntary work. In the future, business models could look like this, be built solely around a social cause,and having real profitable products to sustain its dev. And its more likely to be a new startup company as currently big companies have deep entrenched histories making the most money or being the best in product. Guess for now, if you cant get that level of satisfaction, you have to seek other sources! :)

    By Ying, At 10:55 AM  

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