Editorial Advisory Board Editorial Board

Editorial Advisory Board Dr. J.L. Raina, Ex-General Secretary, Petrotech Society, Delhi, India Mr. Jens Schultzer, CEO and Chairman, Oestre Pennehavevej 1d, DK-2960 Rungsted, Kyst, Denmark Mr. Malay Mishra, High Commissioner of India, Trininand & Tobago Dr. Mike Thompson, Visiting Professor of Responsible Leadership, Euro China Centre for Leadership and Responsibility, CEIBS China Europe, International Business School, 699 Hongfeng Road, Pudong, Shanghai 201206, P.R China Prof. Girishwar Mishra, ICSSR National Fellow & Editor, Psychological Studies, Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Delhi, India Dr. Ashoke Maitra, CEO, Sri Ramakrishna International Institute of Management, 8/1; Chandraudaya Society, Opp. Swastik Chambers, C.S.T Road; Chembur, Mumbai, India Dr. Dail Fields, Professor of Global Leadership & Business, Regent University, Editor, International Journal of Leadership Studies, USA Dr. Walter Baets, Director of the GSB, Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town, South Africa Prof. M.J. Xavier, Director – IIM Ranchi, India Dr. Balvir Talwar, Addl. General Manager, BHEL, New Delhi, India Prof. R.K. Gupta, Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, India

Editorial Board Prof. S.K. Chakraborty, Founder Convener, Management Center for Human Values, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, India Prof. Peter Pruzan, Professor Emeritus, Dr. Polit & Ph.D, Department of Management, Politics & Philosophy, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark Dr. Corné J. Bekker, Chair, Department of Biblical Studies and Christian Ministry, College of Arts & Sciences, Regent University, USA Prof. Laszlo Zsolnai, Director – Business Ethics Center, Corvinus University of Budapest and Fellow Associate Judge Business School University of Cambridge Prof. J.K. Mitra, Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi, India © 2013, Academy of Value Based Management (A Unit of ISOL Foundation). All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the copyright holder. Published by Academy of Value Based Management (A Unit of ISOL Foundation) In Collaboration with Bloomsbury Publishing India Pvt Ltd Vishrut Building, DDA Complex, Building No. 3 Ground Floor, Pocket C-6&7, Vasant Kunj New Delhi 110 070

International Journal on Spirituality and Organizational Leadership Volume 1, Issue 2, July 2013

Contents Message from the Editor

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1. Social Entrepreneurship, Self-interest, and Sympathy Abigail DeHart

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2. Kenotic Mysticism and Servant Leadership in the Letters of Clare of Assisi to Agnes of Prague Corné J. Bekker 3. Innovative Product Development at the Bottom of the Pyramid Kumkum Bharti, Rajat Agrawal, Vinay Sharma and Anita Sengar

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4. Rethinking Parsons’ Paradigm in the Context of Sustainability Mari Kooskora, Tarmo Kadak, Lea Roostalu and Merle Rihma

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5. How do Spiritual Influences and/or Practices Manifest Themselves in Venture Operations? Michael Marco, Florence Rodhain and Angelique Rodhain

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6. Values Based Entrepreneurship Through Servant Orientation: Guidelines from Indian Ethos N. Sivakumar and U.S. Rao

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7. The Spritiual Trilogy of Human Action for Ethical Business Responses: Moving Towards Corruption-Free Zone Shiv K. Tripathi and Umesh Mukhi

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8. Towards an Indigenous Model of Business-Social Partnership 118 Sunita Singh Sengupta Contributors 127

Message from the Editor Swami Vivekananda is mostly known as a spiritual leader but the main concern of Swami Vivekananda all through his life has been the economic prosperity of India. He sincerely tried to build a bridge between age old Indian moral and ethical approaches to life and modern economic needs of India. He emphasized the role of the state in ensuring a good quality of life for the common people. His concept for the masses came from his approach towards moral values and concern for their well being. He used to say, “...My idea is to show that the highest ideal of morality and unselfishness goes hand in hand with the highest metaphysical conception, and that you need not lower your conception to get ethics and morality, but, on the other hand, to reach a real basis of morality and ethics you must have the highest philosophical and scientific conceptions. Human knowledge is not antagonistic to human well-being. On the contrary, it is knowledge alone that will save us in every department of life... The more we know the better for us.” (Quoted from Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume II, p. 355). Spirituality, business and society need to be connected for creating sustainable development and growth of individuals, organizations and societies. This was always the focus of ISOL initiatives in various international and national conferences, summits, research and other academic endeavours. In the 1st International Conference on Integrating Spirituality and Organizational Leadership during February 7-10, 2007 we had research paper presentations on ‘Sustainable Development – The Spiritual Dimension’. In the International Research Workshop on Spiritual and Ethical Foundations of Organizational Development (SEFOD 2009) which was held during February 5-7, 2009 we had sessions on ‘Ethics in Good Governance and Sustainable Development’. ‘Ethics and Spiritual Values for Promotion of Environmental and Sustainable Development’ was the focal point of the 2nd International Conference on Integrating Spirituality and Organizational Leadership which was held during February 9-12, 2009 (ISOL 2009). SEFOD 2010 (The 2nd International Research Workshop on Spiritual and Ethiical Foundations of Organizational Development)

Message from the Editor  3

which took place during October 7-9, 2010 we had extensive discussions and research paper presentations on ‘Sustainable Management through Spiritual Leadership”. Recently at our 4th International Conference on Integrating Spirituality and Organizational Leadership held during January 10-12, 2013 we had extensive discussions in the form of Panel Discussions and research paper presentations of ‘Spirituality and Social Transformation’. The current issue is a Special Issue on Spirituality for Social Innovation and Social Change: Reaching the Bottom of Pyramid. We tried to invite papers on a varied topics related with the theme. 1. What is the relationship between spiritual practices and entrepreneurial creativity? 2. What is the nature of ‘conscious entrepreneurship’? 3. When/how/to what degree are entrepreneurial governance issues viewed through a spiritual lens? 4. How do spiritual influences and/or practices manifest themselves in venture operations? 5. Is enterprise management a form of self discipline? 6. What is the relationship between entrepreneur/entrepreneurship and compassion? 7. What are the specific behaviors of spiritual entrepreneurs? 8. What similarities and differences exist between spiritual entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship? 9. How does spirituality influence the role of entrepreneurship within society? 10. How does entrepreneurial theory and practice affect spiritual organizations? 11. CSR and Servant Leadership 12. Spirit of Servant Leadership: Insights from Spiritual Traditions 13. Spirituality: A Faithful Force for Good 14. Social Innovation Vis-à-vis Technological Innovation and Product Innovation The theme ‘Spirituality for Social Innovation and Social Change: Reaching the Bottom of Pyramid’ seems less researched. When we talk at the bottom of pyramid usually we find studies focusing on product innovation. Social innovation as a part of organizational culture is researched. However,

4  Message from the Editor

the spirit to serve when merged with social innovation and social change truly serves the masses and maximizes the triple bottom line. There is a need is to encourage scholars to do more serious researches in this area. It is a long academic path to travel which can reach its destination by the support and co-operation of all like spirited people. My sincere gratitude to all the scholars who contributed to this special issue and I seek support in forthcoming issues.

Sunita Singh Sengupta Editor International Journal on Spirituality and Organizational Leadership E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] Mobile: 91+ 9873167484

Social Entrepreneurship, Self-Interest, and Sympathy Abigail DeHart E-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT Traditionally, economic assumptions and theories are based on some form of rational choice theory, supposing that consumers make decisions based on calculated self-interest. Historically, this has also been the assumption about Adam Smith and his work Wealth of Nations, associating both with the term homo economicus because his theory entails structuring a self-interested society in economically beneficial ways. However, this interpretation of Wealth of Nations is too narrow because it neglects a crucial element to his analysis, i.e. the role of sympathy for a stable and economic order. Smith’s larger humanitarian purpose was to balance concern for the poor with the reality that some degree of self-interest is essential for upward mobility. To Smith, ethics was an integral part of economics. This paper will re-examine Smith’s account of the sociability of man, especially his account of the plurality of motivations in order to evaluate modern instances where traditional rationality models may not be enough, specifically when accounting for philanthropic organizations and social entrepreneurial movements. As some dissenters of rational choice theory point out, individuals do not always make rational and utilitymaximizing decisions. Furthermore, because social entrepreneurs face scenarios that are constantly changing, behavioral economic analysis is becoming increasingly relevant and necessary when experiencing, what would be traditionally labeled, “irrational” consumer behavior. Revisiting conversations about Smith’s role of sympathy as it relates to

ISSN 2321-4473 Print © 2013 Academy of Value Based Management International Journal on Spirituality and Organization Leadership, pp. 5–16.

6  Spirituality for Social Innovation and Social Change

self-interest will suggest that there are alternate human motivations causing us to act, and are worth examining because of their modern implications.

Introduction

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raditionally, economic assumptions and theories are based on some form of rational choice theory, supposing consumers make decisions based on calculated self-interest. Historically, this has also been the assumption about Adam Smith and his An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, associating both with the term homo economicus because his theory entails structuring a self-interested society in economically beneficial ways. Yet, as many scholars point out, this is too narrow an interpretation because Smith saw no disconnect between one’s economic, personal, and civic life. Still, some do see an irreconcilable gap between his two major works Wealth of Nations and Theory of Moral Sentiments, but this approach fails to recognize some of the primary underlying interests of Wealth of Nations. It aimed, as its full title suggests, to discover the nature and cause of a nation’s wealth, but its analysis of wealth also had a larger humanitarian purpose: to balance concern for the poor with the reality that some degree of self-interest is essential for upward mobility. It endeavored to design a society in such a way as to meet the basic needs of every citizen (Smith, 1904, p. I.i.10). Interpreting Smith to be simply promoting strict rationality in economic situations neglects a crucial element to his analysis, i.e. the role of sympathy for a stable and economic order. Scholars like Amartya Sen have done excellent work re-establishing the connection between Smith’s moral philosophy and his economic theory. Sen points out, and rightly so, that Smith understood ethics as an integral part of the political economy (Sen, 2010, pp. 51-2). In this eighteen-century world, it was not uncommon for one to be simultaneously engaged in moral and economic discussions; however, now there is a much wider distinction between the study of ethics and economics. This paper will re-examine Smith’s account of the sociability of man, especially his account of the plurality of motivations in order to evaluate modern instances where traditional rationality models may not be enough, specifically when accounting for philanthropic organizations and social

Social Entrepreneurship, Self-Interest, and Sympathy  7

entrepreneurial movements. As dissenters of rational choice theory point out, individuals do not always make rational and utility-maximizing decisions. Furthermore, because social entrepreneurs face scenarios that are constantly changing, behavioral economic analysis is becoming increasingly relevant and necessary when experiencing, what would be traditionally labeled, “irrational” consumer behavior. Considering these humanitarian features of Adam Smith’s work is important not only to historians of philosophy and economics, but it is also important because it has modern implications for economic analysis. Examining Smith’s role of sympathy as it relates to self-interest will suggest that there are alternate and conflicting human motivations causing us to act.

Self-Interest and Sympathy Smith’s account of sympathy is central to making the whole of his economic theory practical. For example, he thought that even in market societies, pity and compassion – experienced via the role of sympathy – would remain natural and unprompted as a motive of action (Smith, 1790, pp. II.ii.3-10, II.ii.13). It was because of his account of human sociability that he was able to, in good conscience, promote an economic theory that ran on self-interested calculations. He understood that theories provide society with ultimate aims, but the process of following these aims in no way precluded the necessity for moral and political dialogue. His was not a strict theory of calculating rationally self-interested actors, but necessarily entailed the moral implications of such acts. Smith realized there were some goods, like food, for which people needed short-term solutions. There would understandably be something wrong in telling people to take heart because, while they may die from starvation, in five generations their descendants will no longer be concerned with how to eat. He understood that while ideals provided guidelines toward which all policy should move, practical political practice still required good sense and humanity. To understand how Smith dealt with problems like food shortages, it is useful to examine a distinction he made between perfect rights and imperfect obligations. He maintained a difference between legal and moral duty, because, as Smith explained, if we say a poor man has the right to charity of the rich, we use “right” in a metaphorical sense (Smith, 1982). Benevolence could not be mandated; however, Smith also believed


sentiments would remain natural in a market system (Smith, 1790, pp. II.ii.1–10). So, for Smith, matters of distributive justice were not matters of law but morality, and yet he could hold this position because he also believed in the reliability of human emotions like compassion prompted by human imagination – a concept that will be discussed more fully in the following section. The problem, then, with narrowly viewing humans as self-interested and equating this with selfishness is the difficulty in accounting for instances where one seems to make a non-rational market choice. It ignores the reality of individual imagination as well as the alternate, and at times, conflicting motives that the juxtaposition of sympathy and self-interest generate. Understanding the role of sympathy as it relates to self-interest will suggest there are other significant human motivations causing us to act and that this reality cannot be ignored when making evaluations within market scenarios.

Conserving Altruism In the same way that alternating motivations should not be neglected in economic analysis, self-interest (which, again, to Smith is not identical with selfishness) cannot be discounted when considering charitable and altruistic actions. Yet, several decades ago British economist Sir Dennis H. Robertson (1954) advocated this separation in his paper, “What Does the Economist Economize?” Answering his title, he proposed that the most essential resource to economize was love. He alleged that being altruistic was a rare characteristic to be conserved, and accordingly, the field of economics should work so as to make public policy rely on self-interest in order to conserve this societal virtue. While his may be an extreme opinion, the general idea is more pervasive, namely, that humans mostly cannot be bothered to care for others so we should create systems to regulate human sociability. To look further into Smith’s role of sympathy and how it can get around this contention, it will be helpful to examine his response to one specific eighteenth century author, Bernard Mandeville, who similarly argued the rarity, if not nonexistence of altruism. Bernard Mandeville’s work The Fable of the Bees triggered immense public criticism in the eighteenth century because of his proposal that vices like vanity and greed result in publically beneficial actions. His paradox was, in


a sense, the trade-off between virtue and utility: to chase after one would ensure the loss of the other. Mandeville himself was a critic of systems claiming humans could have innate feelings of benevolence for one another and, instead, assigned socially regulating factors to self-interested passions like pride and vanity (Mandeville, 1962, p. 190). Smith picked up on the usefulness of self-interested behavior, though he denied Mandeville’s final implications of complete human egoism. Mandeville’s private vice/public benefit paradox placed the discussions of economic consequences and human nature together in such a way that was impossible for future economists to ignore. He argued that selfinterested vice played such a major role in economic development that it was impossible to get rid of. Smith was able to circumvent this purely self-interested account by drawing on the role of sympathy. He supposed the whole account of self-interest as found in Hobbes’s and Mandeville’s systems caused such commotion in the world because of “some confused misapprehension of the system of sympathy” (Smith, 1790, p. VII.III.7). Smith determined that an operational system of morals was partly based on its capacity to account for a good theory of fellow feeling. So, for example, Mandeville claimed that one’s motivation to help a beggar on the streets would stem from passions like pity that govern humankind: to walk away from someone in need would raise pity within one’s self in such a way as to cause psychological harm, and therefore any help given would be performed in order to relieve the unease of seeing another in suffering. Even though Mandeville’s was a narrow and incomplete theory of selfinterest, it was an important move by him to realize the shared emotion in pity, even if he chalked it up to vice. Smith noted this but responded by claiming that emotions stemming from sympathy are genuine and come from imaginary place switching. His theory of the impartial spectator used the role of individual imagination, enabling a person to enter into the imagined situation of another (Smith, 1790, p. VII.III.7). So, according to his theory, one does not merely consider how it would feel to be a beggar on the streets, she truly envisions how it is to be that person. She imagines actually switching persons and characters, and to Smith, the emotions that arise from this place switching are not in the least bit selfish (Smith, 1790, p. VII.II.99).


Much of Smith’s focus leading to his theory of human sociability had to do with moral motivations in order to explain where to ground morality. He held that mankind’s desire to better its condition was socially referenced in a desire for approbation: we self-regulate by sympathy and comparison. In this way, one’s economic life was intricately tied to morality because of natural human sociability; in order to fully understand the concept of an economic society, it involved a good account of human sociability. Unfortunately, these efforts towards understanding the complexities of human motivation lost some of their importance as economics emerged as its own discipline. It sought to rid itself of these unclear and confusing debates over what we should do, and instead established itself as a social science with a positivist bent. The object was to explain and predict, and to leave conversations about obligation to other fields. Motivation would be more clearly explained by the desire to make money, and other disciplines would take care of the rest. Often any moral obligation to society could be satisfied in other ways, like through the act of philanthropy. Even though philanthropy has done much good it can, at times, widen the distinction between one’s business and personal life. This is also problematic because when acting in the sphere of one’s “moral side” of life, the assumption could be that any motivation is entirely benevolent and so it is not necessary to press the matter further.

Philanthropy It is not only important, but also necessary to examine one’s motivation for engaging in philanthropy, and yet organizations can suffer from the illusion that it is not. Peter Singer, founder and advocate for “The Life You Can Save” openly dismisses questions of moral motivation and worries of self-interest (Singer, 2009, pp. 38–41). He claims such discussions are not relevant when faced with an even bigger moral dilemma, like knowing that a child across the world is dying and could be spared with a fivedollar donation from you. He argues that we have a moral obligation to “do what we can”, and any time spent worrying about self-interested motivations is beside the point. What approaches like this fail to see is that problems can be found precisely in the questions of motivation. If one was made to feel guilt by Singer’s argument and donated each month,


then the motivating work would be done by the fear of disapprobation from others. Moreover, there would be no further incentive to see the donation achieve its purpose. So, while good is being done, it can separate people from their moral ties to philanthropy. The issue of separation holds particularly true in instances of corporate philanthropy. In a sense, philanthropy can be used as a form of guilt relief. If one owns a particularly successful company but knows that its success is a direct result of unfair play, then it is possible one could ease this guilt by philanthropic giving. This philanthropy may result in public good, but if it also allows a penance system for unscrupulous business owners and prevents them from re-examining their methods, then it may not turn out to be in the best interests of the public. Motivation to give can also determine how interested one is in the results of their giving. Perhaps one could achieve public esteem by donating to an organization, but then not care to follow-up and see how the money was used. If the motivation to give was for public praise, then it has been achieved upon the initial giving and nothing further is needed. This difficulty echoes another Mandevillian problem to which Smith responded. Mandeville asserted that humans only associated with one another to receive pleasure from the esteem they sought. He claimed it was not the amiable qualities of humans but the hateful that made them sociable beyond other animals (Mandeville, 1988, p. 373). While Smith did not wholly accept this, they both agreed about the enticing nature of public praise and that it can, at times, be a more powerful desire than accumulation of money. Smith responds directly to Mandeville on this point in the Theory of Moral Sentiments, paying particular attention to Mandeville’s account of the role of pride. Smith rejects Mandeville’s contention that all public spirit and self-sacrifice are merely a clever ways to receive praise of society. He gets around this by drawing a distinction between the desire to become praiseworthy, which is not vice, and the desire of frivolous praise for anything whatsoever. He claims there is a tricky similarity between the two that has been exaggerated by Mandeville, but the distinction is made by separating vanity from the love of true glory. Both are passions, but one is reasonable while the other is ridiculous (Smith, 1790, p. VII.II.106). Crucially, though, Smith never lays to rest the importance of motivation to one’s


overall actions and acknowledges how there are alternate motivations to act which draw on both the system of sympathy and self-interest, e.g., one may donate out of some true feeling of sympathy, all the while knowing the move is socially advantageous. Smith gives some praise to Mandeville’s licentious system, because even though it was ultimately incorrect, it could not have made so much noise in the world if it had not, in some way, bordered upon truth. Smith noted that it was because of Mandeville’s clever, yet misplaced analysis of human nature that people began to feel the connection between economic activity and human desire. Recently, this problem distinguishing between the desire for honor and the desire to become what is honorable has been addressed by a noticeable paradigm-like shift from charity to philanthropy. Philanthropy is often held at arm’s length from the term “charity”, so as to avoid issues that arise when accounting for sustainability. Ideally, philanthropy would not only include the provision of aid, but also an interest in how that aid affects the overall outcomes of a person or community. Certainly this is an advancement from random acts of charity because it accounts for concerns of sustainability and upward mobility. It can reduce the number of those mainly interested in giving money for the public esteem they will receive. Being aware of one’s motivations is, then, important so as to achieve a clear understanding of one’s goals for philanthropic giving. Still, it is worthwhile to ask whether instances of philanthropy can, in fact, separate one’s economic and moral life. These very questions are put to the test by cultural movements toward social entrepreneurship.

Social Entrepreneurship I wish to focus on B Corporations as one specific instance of social entrepreneurial movements. Envisioning a new sector for the economy, B Corporations use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems thereby creating value for society and shareholders alike. By description alone this calls into to question the ability of the market to separate itself from discussions of what we ought to do. If one can be profitable whilst contributing to society, ought a business owner choose this method over keeping his work and philanthropy in separate worlds? This question was asked in the eighteenth century, albeit in a different context. One important difference to note between the two centuries is


the modern acceptability of the pursuit of wealth. Whether it stemmed from acceptance of the “economic man” or from realization that the market has been one of the most powerful change factors in human history, it is now it is conventional and expected to make accumulation of wealth a priority. This was not so in the eighteenth century when Smith was composing Wealth of Nations. Sometimes referred to as the “luxury debate”, this controversy was exactly what Mandeville pointed out in his Fable: if the desire for opulence is a vice, then it surely does a lot of good in the world. Progression from this has helped set the pursuit of money within a business setting on morally neutral ground. To take a quote from the website promoting B Corporations, their ‘Declaration of Interdependence’ states, “We envision a sector of the economy which harnesses the power of private enterprise to create public benefit (B Lab).” The similarity to Mandeville’s private vice/public benefit paradox is striking, and it is important in two ways: 1. To notice that in the twenty-first century, making a statement about using the economy for public benefit, far from being vicious and controversial, seems a welcome relief from modern trends. 2. To realize that part of what made Mandeville’s “private vice” acceptable to society was that it worked and it sparked a re-evaluation of human sentiments as they pertained to economic life. As the field of economics emerged as a discipline, the interest in considering it together with human behavior and ethics diminished. This would not be worth scrutinizing if it were true that corporations could adequately promote social wellbeing by doing nothing other than being self-interested actors; however, examples like the financial crisis of 2008 demonstrate that rampant self-interested – and somewhat self-regulated – financial competition does not result in social benefit. Still it is difficult to self-assess, and studies like “The Ethical Mirage” conducted by the Harvard Business School show that people will often shift the blame elsewhere (Tenbrunsel, Diekmann, Wade-Benzoni, Bazerman, 2009). Many times, people think they will act ethically in given situations, and even after they have done wrong will deny it by rationalizing their actions. Revisiting theoretical models like Smith’s impartial spectator could help to remedy this problem. Smith (1790) noted this difficulty in self-assessment and said:


We can never survey our own sentiments and motives, we can never form any judgment concerning them; unless we remove ourselves, as it were, from our own natural station, and endeavor to view them as at a certain distance from us (p. III.I.2). He goes on to claim that they only way we can do this is by viewing ourselves from a distance in order to imagine our impact on others. This process becomes especially important in a global economy as one may be separated by considerable distances from those impacted by his or her economic choice. Social entrepreneurships necessarily place the concept of social responsibility back into the market world, which raises the necessity for new investigations of human behavior and how it relates to economic calculations. As these trends increase, social entrepreneurship gives rise to the legitimacy of a somewhat normative approach to economics. This would allow for discussions about motivations beyond money, perhaps showing the power of other motivations to a system, for instance: desire for public regard and status. Reviving these components of eighteenth century discussions of moral motivations in regards to economics will not only prove interesting on a theoretical level, but can be used to develop modern behavioral economic analysis. Today, with advancements in sociology and psychology we have new understandings, which bring legitimacy to some of these theories of moral motivation (Berg, 2003, p. 412). Economist Amartya Sen sees Smith’s account of the sociability of humans, especially his account of the plurality of motivations, linking with recent work on evolutionary behavior (Sen, 2011, p. 258). However, part of the hesitation to associate economics with theories of human moral motivation lies with the inherent difficulty of ethics. While it is appropriate that aspects of economics can be measured scientifically, ethical mechanisms are not so easily figured. Still, whether acknowledged or not, economists do adhere to a predominant ethical view: utilitarianism. In a marketplace, most questionable actions are justified on the basis of utility. To counteract this and promote a more complex view of human nature, the field of behavioral economic analysis has emerged. Behavioral economists point out that axioms of rationality have typically been the standard analytic tool and, at times, alternate models should be used (Berg, 2003, p. 412).


I will examine one modern example in order to show the possibility of multiple motivations at play, and how this affects economic analysis. Unilever, a multinational consumer goods company, has been moving toward using 100% cage-free eggs in their products. Already they have accomplished a large part of their goal, but through the process, they noted consumers actually prefer to buy products made with cage-free eggs (Unilever). This doesn’t fit neatly into basic economic analysis because consumers are willing to pay more for a product due to ethical reasons. Once the company notes this consumer preference, normal economic approaches could still be used, as it is also financially beneficial for them to sell ethically produced products. The movement on their part toward ethically produced eggs makes it more likely that there were good motivations to this change, but what if a competitor catches on to this and begins selling cage-free eggs solely because they are in demand? Does this compromise any social good? Either way, it does seem to put a new responsibility on both the markets and consumers if there are more motivations to consider than the accumulation of wealth or the draw of low prices. This makes it possible for businesses to raise ethical awareness, but in a sense, it also creates a market for this ethical awareness. When viewing economics as a pure social science, concerned only with predictions based on an understanding of humans moved by rational self-interest, the normative aspect of economics is lost. It will, however, necessarily be brought back to public discussion with the rise of social entrepreneurship. Consumer behavior is more complicated than assumed, and a better understanding of human motivation – specifically how selfinterest can interact with sympathy – can lend itself to both understanding this behavior and creating standards for better business practice.

References [1] Berg, Nathan (2003). Normative Behavioral Economics. Journal of SocioEconomics 32(4), 411–427. [2] Mandeville, Bernard (1962). The Fable of the Bees. Edited by Irwin Primer. New York: Capricorn Books. [3] The Fable of the Bees or Private Vices, Publick Benefits (1988). Edited by FB Kaye. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund. [4] Robertson, Sir Dennis H. (1956). What Does the Economist Economize? reprinted in Economic Commentaries. London: Staples Press Limited.


[5] Sen, Amartya (2011). Uses and Abuses of Adam Smith. History of Political Economy 43(2), 257–271. [6] Adam Smith and the Contemporary World (2010). Erasmus Journal for Philosophy & Economics, 3(1), 50–67. [7] Singer, Peter (2009). The Life You Can Save: How to Do Your Part to End Global Poverty, New York, Random House Publishing Group, 38–41. [8] Smith, Adam (1904). An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Edited by Edwin Cannan. Library of Economics and Liberty. [9] The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1790). Library of Economics and Liberty. [10] Lectures on Jurisprudence (1982). Edited by R.L. Meek, D.D. Raphael and P.G. Stein, vol. V of the Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, ‘Of Jurisprudence, Friday, December 24, 1762’. [11] Tenbrunsel, Ann E., Diekmann, Kristina A., Wade-Benzoni, Kimberly A. and Bazerman, Max H. (2009). The Ethical Mirage: A Temporal Explanation as to Why We aren’t as Ethical as We Think We Are, Research in Organizational Behavior, Harvard Business School, http://www.hbs.edu/ faculty/Publication%20Files/08-012.pdf. [12] “The B Corp Declaration.” B Lab. Accessed August 2, 2013, http://www. bcorporation.net/what-are-b-corps/the-b-corp-declaration. [13] Unilever. Cage-Free Eggs and Sustainable Dairy. Accessed August 2, 2013, http://www.unilever.com/sustainable-living/sustainablesourcing/eggs-dairy/.

Kenotic Mysticism and Servant Leadership in the Letters of Clare of Assisi to Agnes of Prague Corné J. Bekker E-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT This paper explores the spirituality and leadership of Clare of Assisi in the letters to Agnes of Prague. Successive repetitive-progressive pattern analysis of the letters to Agnes of Prague places Clare within the domain of servant leader and identifies her leadership values as congruent to Patterson’s theoretical model of servant leadership. Clare’s spirituality is one of appropriation of the kenosis of Jesus Christ. Clare of Assisi links her kenotic mysticism with her practice of servant leadership in an inter-dependant dynamic system of personal and communal transformation through radical self-emptying.

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he aim of this paper is to explore the spirituality and leadership of Clare of Assisi as expressed in the letters to Agnes of Prague within the matrix of servant leadership theory and kenotic mysticism by employing the interpretative dynamics of repetitive-progressive texture analysis of socio-rhetorical criticism. Clare’s writings are rich in theology and spirituality, and in the light of the constraints of this study, the focus is firmly placed on the kenotic and leadership dynamics in the letters to Agnes of Prague. Greenleaf ’s (1998: 18-19) seminal work on servant leadership defines the concept as follows: ISSN 2321-4473 Print © 2013 Academy of Value Based Management International Journal on Spirituality and Organization Leadership, pp. 17–49.


“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. He or she is sharply different from the person who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions.” Clare’s absolute commitment to poverty, her refusal to accept the markings and privileges of the religious temporal powers of her time and her vocation of service, place her within the domain of servant leader. Patterson (2003: 2), building on Greenleaf ’s definition describes servant leadership as a virtuous theory comprising of seven virtuous constructs. These virtues are (a) agapao love, (b) humility, (c) altruism, (d) vision, (e) trust, (f) empowerment and (g) service. Successive repetitive-progressive texture analysis of Clare’s letters to Agnes identifies these virtues as integral to her vision and ideology. Ledoux (1997: 27) defines Christian mysticism as, “…the experience of the interior and unifying encounter with the Divine Infinite that is the foundation of the Divine Being and of all existence.” Clare’s mysticism has been described as (a) profoundly Christological (Kourie 1993: 125), (b) affectionate (Mueller 2003: 103), (c) scriptural (Kourie 1993: 126), (d) theological (Ledoux 1997: 25), (e) incarnational (Kourie 1993: 125) and (f ) kenotic (Karecki 2000B: 2). Clare’s practice of voluntary poverty is rooted in the desire to imitate the kenosis (self-emptying) of Christ (Teresa 1995: 109) as expressed within the Christological hymn of Philippians 2: 5-11 (Kourie 1993: 126). Kenosis in Franciscan theology (Cronin 1992: 1) is seen as a “…resolute divesting of the person of every claim of self interest so as to be ready to live the Gospel of Christ in every aspect of living, freed from the dictates of personal preference.” Clare’s voluntary divesting of power, prestige and possessions find its theological context in her deep desire to follow in the footsteps of the kenotic Christ who emptied Himself and embraced poverty for the sake of others. Kourie (1993: 124) describes Clare’s commitment to radical poverty as transformational: “…Clare’s practice of poverty had as its aim the radical transformation of the person, the abolition of a narrow selfhood and the silencing of the all too natural tendency toward fragmentation and purely functional consciousness.” The kenotic mysticism of Clare leads to human authentication (Kourie 1993: 125) that allows for the leader to enter into the world of followers and focus on their humanity in the pursuit of service.

Kenotic Mysticism and Servant Leadership in the Letters of Clare . . .  19

Clare of Assisi and Agnes of Prague Clare of Assisi (1193/4-1253) was the first female leader in the history of Christendom to write a religious rule sanctioned by pontifical approval (Carney 1993: 19). Imbued with the evangelical vision she received from the preaching of Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) she rejected the prestige and privileges that her aristocratic family offered and instead opted for life of religious service and in doing so constructed a new kind of monastic life which is described by Karecki and Wroblewski (2003A: 3) as, “…an enclosed contemplative life in an urban setting with highest poverty.” The enclosed community of sisters that Clare founded at San Damiano was characterized, amongst other attributes, by a (a) contemplative focus on Christ (Karecki and Wroblewski 2000B: 17), (b) the primacy of the Bible as the Word of God (Karecki and Wroblewski 2000C: 13), (c) a counter-cultural ideology (Karecki and Wroblewski 2001: 15), (d) a preferential option for the poor (Teresa 1995: 7), (e) an appreciation for mission (Karecki and Wroblewski 2001: 13), (f ) charismatic healings (Duw 1992: 14) and (g) service to others (Karecki and Wroblewski 2001: 10). The religious community that Clare started quickly spread around the rest of Italy, Europe and the world. The Poor Clares (as the order is known today) boasts, almost 800 years later, over 20 000 active members in 76 countries. Agnes of Prague (1203-1282) was the daughter of King Premysl Ottokar I and Queen Constance of Bohemia (Karecki and Wroblewski 2003: 6). Several high-level suitors were proposed for Agnes at a young age (Henry VII of Germany and Henry III of England were two of these). Agnes was finally betrothed to the Emperor Frederick II (Mueller 2003: xvii). Influenced by the preaching of the missionary brothers of Francis, whom she heard preaching in 1232 (Armstrong and Brady 1982: 189), she rejected the alliance (De Robeck 1954: 55) and instead used her royal dowry to built a hospital, a monastery for women and a small convent for friars that would support the sisters (Mueller 2003: xviii). Agnes herself joined the monastery that she build and requested sisters who followed the form of life of Clare’s community in San Damiano (Mueller 2003: xviii). Agnes supported Clare in her pursuit of contemplative poverty and sought the same privilege of poverty from Pope Gregory IX that Agnes received (Karecki and Wroblewski 2003A: 11). Clare wrote four letters


to Agnes with the purpose to guide and lead her in her commitment to the Franciscan ideal and to Christ (Armstrong and Brady 1982: 189206). These letters were lost to the modern scholars until 1915, when Walter Seton discovered them in a 14th century manuscript (Karecki and Wroblewski 2003B: 5). Repetitive-progressive texture analysis of the letters to Agnes to Prague opens new avenues in the reading of these texts and provides contemporary readers and scholars with an opportunity to further explore the leadership and spirituality of Clare of Assisi.

Socio-rhetorical Criticism Repetitive-progressive pattern analysis is part of a larger approach to the interpretation of texts known as socio-rhetorical criticism. Robbins proposes a multi-dimensional approach to the analysis of texts and names it socio-rhetorical criticism (1999: 1). Robbins (1999: 1) writes: “…rather than being another method for interpreting texts, sociorhetorical interpretation is an interpretive analytical approach that evaluates and reorients its strategies as it engages in multi-faceted dialogue with the texts and other phenomena that come within its purview. The approach does not claim to be comprehensive. Rather, the claim is that the approach uses the insights of sociolinguistics, semiotics and ethnography in an inter-actionist philosophical mode that sets ancient, modern and post-modern systems of thought in energetic dialogue with one another.” Robbins (1991) attempts to integrate all the recent developments in linguistic, social and cultural studies in a highly programmed methodology that has as purpose to not only enlarge our understanding of the social and cultural dimensions of the text, but also to facilitate new avenues of exploration in textual interpretation such as organizational leadership. It is important to note that as much as socio-rhetorical criticism is a new approach to text analysis; it is based on and incorporates the accomplishments of past scholars working in varied fields, ranging from textual analysis, linguistic studies, sociology, anthropology and cultural observations (Gowler 1999: 1). This above-mentioned aspect of sociorhetorical criticism has made it difficult to formulate and define this new approach. Gowler (1999: 1) comments:


“…socio-rhetorical criticism is not a ‘methodology’ in the sense that it becomes an interpretive matrix imposed upon biblical texts like a straitjacket. Socio-rhetorical criticism, so far, developed over a period of 20 years in which Vernon Robbins and others wrestled with biblical texts, not imposing a method but investigating and adapting this approach to the complexities of those texts.” This new integrated approach to textual analysis introduces a certain paradigm shift in the way one perceives, understands and uses texts. Instead of seeing a text as a mere window through which one perceives meaning, one now focuses on the several layers or textures within the text as the key to interpretation. Robbins (1999: 1) writes: “…guided by the metaphor of a text as a tapestry rather than a site of windows and mirrors, socio-rhetorical interpretation has begun to focus not only on multiple textures of a text but also on multiple discourses that interweave with one another within those textures. The interweaving of multiple textures and discourses within a text creates an environment in which signification, meanings and meaning effects interact with one another in ways that no one method can display. Only an approach that is highly programmatic, complexly variegated and readily adaptable can begin to engage and exhibit the rich world that texts bring into the life of humans as they live, work, struggle, suffer, die, celebrate and commemorate together.” Socio-rhetorical analysis of ancient texts has not only opened a variety of new avenues for the textual, social and cultural analysis of text, but it has also provided us with a new context for multi-disciplinary exchange and discussion on the meaning, effect and use of texts (Gowler 1999: 12). In order to structure his integrated approach to textual analysis, Robbins proposes five broad categories of investigation (1996a, 1996b): • The inner texture of the text, which explores the inner textual texture of the text. • The inter texture of the text, which explores the inter-textual texture of text. • The social and cultural texture of the text, which explores the social and cultural dimensions of the text.


• The ideological texture of the text, exploring the ideological inner dynamics of the text. • The sacred texture of the text. Socio-rhetorical analysis is not a static approach to textual analysis, but in constant development, exploring further integrated social, cultural, linguistic and rhetorical avenues for interpretation.

Repetitive-Progressive Texture in Texts Repetitive-progressive texture analysis forms part of the “Inner texture” analysis in Robbins’ (1996a, 1999b) schema. Reading a text is a complex process (De Beaugrande and Dressler 1981) in which the text becomes “part of a communication transaction” (Vorster 1989: 22). It is this “communication transaction” that should be of great importance for readers of ancient manuscripts. Great attention should be given to how we bridge the gap of hundreds of years when we read these texts and how much of the meanings that we find in these texts come from the original author, reflecting the original setting and how much of the meanings derived, do we bring to the text? According to Robbins (1996a: 27-28) the act of reading is the beginning of the exploration of the “inner texture” of the text. In the act of reading the worlds of the author (real and implied) and reader (real and implied) combine to form this transaction of communication. Robbins’s method of socio-rhetorical analysis makes use of the inner texture of the text in order to explore this above-mentioned interaction between the author, text and the reader (Robbins 1996a: 30). In order to illustrate where this method of inner texture fits into the communication process, Robbins (1996a: 29) modifies the diagrams of Chatman (1978: 151) and Rimmon-Kenan (1983: 86) to include his method of unlocking the signs of meaning given by the author in the text (see Figure 1 below).

Figure 1 The inner texture of the text

In Robbins’s modified diagram (see Figure 1) the inner texture appears amongst the axis of the implied author and the narrator and characters,


who function as the vehicles of communication of the message. In the past, at this stage of interpretation, the reader would focus on formulating a profile of the real author and audience that stood outside the text. Language and text structure would not feature as the main area of focus. Socio-rhetorical analysis has as purpose to return to the text and to identify or explore the inner texture of the text and in doing so isolate the main areas of interest or intent of communication of the real/implied author and the real/implied reader or audience. Socio-rhetorical analysis takes this approach to the text even further and includes two further insights (Robbins 1996a: 30): • The results of this scholarly investigation into the identity and nature of the real/implied author and the real/implied reader or audience is brought into dialogue with other academic investigations of the text. Thus a more holistic picture is presented of the possible meanings of the text. • The second important insight that Robbins’s inner texture brings to the table of textual interpretation is the consent that the real reader or audience is an integral part in the construction of the inner text. Borrowing heavily from the insights of Anglo-American new criticism, Russian formalism and French structuralism, Robbins (1996a: 30) reminds us that “...a text does not truly become a text until someone reads it.” For Robbins (1996a: 30) it is clear that readers are as much involved with the communication of meaning as the author. Robbins (1996a: 30) states [inclusion mine]: “As soon as readers do this [reading], however, their own world of meanings and meaning effects works interactively with meanings and meaning effects from the ancient Mediterranean world to create the meaning and meaning effects of the text.” The arena of inner texture according to Robbins (1996a, 1996b) is in essence the assimilation of various interpretative techniques drawn from a wide variety of sources with the intent to present a more holistic picture of the texture of the text. It is in this assimilation that both the apparent strengths and weaknesses of this method are found. It is hoped that this approach will unlock greater meaning in the text, meaning that takes the interaction between real/implied author and the implied/real readers seriously.


Robbins (1996a, 1996b) identifies five areas of exploration in the study of the inner texture of the text: • • • • •

Repetitive-progressive texture Opening-middle-closing texture Narrational texture Argumentative texture Sensory aesthetic texture

Robbins (1996a: 46-50) formulates his repetitive-progressive texture of the text based on the work of Tannehill (1975, 1986/9) on Luke/Acts, Trible’s literary-feminist approach to Biblical narratives (1978, 1984) and Alter’s treatise on the nature of Biblical narratives (1981). Armed with Tannehill and Alter’s insights and heavily influenced by the work of Neirynck on duality and tripartite expressions in the Gospel of Mark (1972), Robbins (1981, 1982, 1984, 1987) published numerous articles and a book, mostly on the Gospel of Mark that merged all of these rhetorical devices into a singular workable approach to determine the repetitive-progressive structure of the text. More recently Robbins (1994a, 1994b, 1994c, 1994d, 1996a: 48) have been influenced by the work of Scott and Dean (1993) using worddiagrams to determine a “sound map” of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel. Robbins (1996a: 48-49) describes this next development in the quest for the repetitive-progressive structure of the text: “At this stage, the interpreter assigns only basic lexical meanings to the words in the text. This procedure withholds fuller meanings to allow sign and sound patterns to emerge. In other words, the emphasis is on relations of the signs and sounds rather than the content and the meanings. At this stage, the interpreter is exploring primary process and form, structured movement that produces meaning process and meaning effect.” For Robbins (1996a: 49) this synthesised approach to the determination of the repetitive-progressive texture holds promise of a new window on the meaning of the text and is a determined effort to take repetition and progression seriously in the quest for the meaning of a given text. Robbins (1996a: 50) proposes five possible questions in the rhetorical analysis of the repetitive-progressive texture of the text:


• What patterns emerge from the repetition of certain topics in the text? • What topics replace other topics in the progression of the text? • Is there continual repetition of the same word throughout the unit, or is there slight modification at almost every progressive stage? • Does the progression bring certain kinds of words together but not others? • Is there repetition that occurs in steps that create a context for a new word progression? In order to illustrate the particular repetitive-progressive structure of a particular text, it is helpful to make lists of words or phrases that appear repeatedly in the unit in the same or in a modified form (Robbins 1996b: 8). The next section of this paper presents several repetitive-progressive patterns in the letters to Agnes and these are used to explore the spirituality and leadership of Clare.

Servant Leadership in the Letters of Clare of Assisi to Agnes of Prague Patterson (2003: 2) proposes a theoretical model of servant leadership where the concept is defined as a virtuous theory comprising of seven virtuous constructs. These virtues are (a) agapao love, (b) humility, (c) altruism, (d) vision, (e) trust, (f ) empowerment and (g) service. These seven virtues are used as a matrix to explore possible repetitive-progressive patterns in Clare’s letters to Agnes. The repetitive-progressive patterns that emerge in the text are used to explore the spirituality and leadership of Clare of Assisi. Patterson (2003: 3) makes use of Winston’s (2002: 5) definition of agapao love as moral love, “doing the right thing at the right time and for the right reasons.” Patterson (2002: 3) further describes this “love” as characterized by having esteem for followers, honoring them and having their best interest at heart. Agnes never met Clare (Mueller 2003: 8) and is astonishing that she still chose to associate herself with Clare and an order that was at its beginning stages and not as highly organized as the Benedictine order that was right next to her family’s castle. Clare’s objective in writing to Agnes can be summed up in the end of her salutations in the first letter


(1LAg34): “…that by their help we may merit the mercy of Jesus Christ, and together with you may merit to enjoy the everlasting vision.” Clare’s love for and commitment to Agnes is not based on social relationship but on their mutual “desire for the poor Crucified” (1LAg13) and is communicated in her letters as she desires to teach Agnes to embrace this path of joy (Mueller 2003: 9). The letters to Agnes are acts of selfless love intended to lead Agnes to true fulfillment and joy. Table 1: Repetitive-progressive pattern illustrating Clare’s references to Agnes First Letter 1LAg1 esteemed and most holy virgin Lady Agnes daughter of the most excellent and illustrious King of Bohemia 1LAg8 virgin 1LAg12 most beloved sister Lady worthy of great respect spouse and the mother and the sister of my Lord Jesus Christ 1LAg24 a sister, spouse, and mother of the Son of the Father of the Most High and of the glorious Virgin 1LAg31 Your Excellency Your holiness

Second Letter 2LAg1 daughter of the King of kings handmaid of the Lord of lords, most worthy spouse of Jesus Christ very distinguished queen Lady Agnes 2LAg4 diligent imitator of the Father 2LAg7 an imitator of the holiest poverty 2LAg18 poor virgin 2LAg20 most noble queen 2LAg24 dearest sister and lady

Third Letter 3LAg1 Agnes most venerable lady sister in Christ blood-sister of the illustrious king of Bohemia sister and spouse of the most high King of the heavens 3LAg10 dearest 3LAg11 O Lady most beloved in Christ joy of the angels crown of your sisters 3LAg40 dearest one

Fourth Letter 4LAg1 illustrious queen spouse of the Lamb of the eternal King Lady Agnes special daughter 4LAg3 Agnes 4LAg4 mother and daughter spouse of the King 4LAg7 spouse of Christ 4LAg15 O queen spouse of Jesus Christ 4LAg17 Dearest daughter spouse of the most high King 4LAg27 O queen of the heavenly King 4LAg36 blessed daughter 4LAg39 dearest daughter


When Clare’s references to Agnes in her letters are analyzed, clear repetitive-progressive patterns of (a) honor, (b) esteem and (c) care emerge (see Table 1). Clare addresses Agnes with terms of (a) honor: Lady (3LAg11), Lady Agnes (1LAg1, 2LAg1, 4LAg1), Lady worthy of great respect (1LAg12), most venerable Lady (3LAg1), your Excellency (1LAg31), your holiness (1LAg31), daughter/blood-sister of the most excellent/illustrious King of Bohemia (1LAg1, 3LAg1); (b) esteem: esteemed/holy/poor virgin (1LAg1, 1LAg8, 2LAg18), spouse/mother/sister of Jesus Christ/King of Kings/ most high King of the Heavens/Lamb of the eternal King/the high King (1LAg12, 1LAg24, 2LAg1, 3LAg1, 4LAg1, 4LAg4, 4LAg7, 4LAg15, 4LAg17), handmaid of the Lord of Lords (2LAg1), very distinguished/noble/ illustrious queen (2LAg1, 2LAg20, 4LAg1, 4LAg15), queen of the heavenly King (4LAg27), diligent imitator of the Father/poverty (2LAg4, 2LAg7), joy of the Angels (3LAg11), crown of the sisters (3LAg11) and (c) care: most beloved/dearest sister (1LAg12, 2LAg24), sister in Christ (3LAg1), dearest one (3LAg10, 3LAg40), most beloved in Christ (3LAg11), special/dearest/ blessed daughter (4LAg1, 4LAg17, 4LAg36, 4LAg39), mother and daughter (4LAg4). Clare’s selfless attitude and esteem for her follower so evident in her letters, seem to fit both Winston’s (2002: 5) and Patterson’s (2003: 3) construct of agapao love. The virtuous construct of humility in servant leadership is described by Patterson (2003: 3-4) as the ability to focus on others, not be arrogant and to keep one’s own accomplishments in perspective. Clare makes use of very specific terms when she describes herself in the letters to Agnes in contrast to her lofty language in referring to her follower (see Table 2). She provides no aristocratic title for herself (even though like Agnes she came from an aristocratic family), she simply calls herself Clare (1LAg2, 2LAg1, 3LAg2, 4LAg2). She presents herself as the servant of Agnes (1LAg2, 1LAg33, 3LAg2, 4LAg2), a subject (1LAg2), handmaid (1LAg2, 2LAg1, 2LAg2, 3LAg2, 4LAg2), unworthy/useless (1LAg2, 1LAg33, 2LAg2), 3LAg2, 4LAg2) and most humble (3LAg2). If Clare must take position of leadership in regards to Agnes, she makes use of the descriptors of mother and poor little mother (4LAg1, 4LAg33). Clare’s use of humble references to herself in the letters to Agnes serves to keep the focus on Agnes, her follower. It is all about the follower in her letters. All of this seems to suggest that humility is one of the cardinal leadership values for Clare.

28  Spirituality for Social Innovation and Social Change Table 2: Repetitive-progressive pattern illustrating Clare’s self-reference First Letter 1LAg2 Clare an unworthy servant useless handmaid her subject servant in all things 1LAg33 Your servant, though unworthy

Second Letter Third Letter 2LAg1 Clare 3LAg2 Clare handmaid most humble 2LAg2 useless and unworthy unworthy handmaid handmaid servant

Fourth Letter 4LAg1 mother 4LAg2 Clare unworthy servant useless handmaid handmaids 4LAg33 poor little mother

Patterson (2003: 4) describes altruism as serving others for the sake of serving, as radical equality and seeking the fulfillment of others. Clare’s repetitive references to herself (see Table 2) as unworthy/useless servant/ handmaid (1LAg2, 1LAg33, 2LAg2, 3LAg2, 4LAg2) further serve to communicate a radical, if not extreme equality between leader and follower. The nature of this equality is expressed in the leader being a subject (1LAg2) and servant in all things (1LAg2) to the follower. Clare seeks the fulfillment and joy of Agnes. She wants Agnes to embrace poverty (see Table 3) because it as a “laudable exchange” (1LAg30). This will lead to Agnes receiving and possessing the “blessed and eternal life” (1LAg30). The humble attitude of Clare, relationship of equality and desire to see Agnes blessed and fulfilled is reminiscent of the virtuous construct of altruism as described by Patterson (2003: 4). Table 3: Progressive pattern illustrating Clare’s reference to the “laudable exchange” of poverty in the first letter to Agnes First Letter 1LAg30 What a great laudable exchange: to leave the things of time for those of eternity, to choose the things of heaven for the goods of earth, to receive the hundred-fold in place of one, and to possess a blessed and eternal life.

The construct of vision in servant leadership is described by Patterson (2003: 4-5) as a determined focus on the follower whilst providing


the follower with a vision that will provide the follower with “purpose, direction and dignity.” Clare’s vision can be described in one word: poverty (see table 4). The mystery of poverty for Clare is essentially part of the mystery of salvation and the Gospel (Ledoux 1997: 55). Christ emptied Himself (Philippians 2: 5-11) and became poor “…so that people who were in utter poverty and want and in absolute need of heavenly nourishment might become rich in Him by possessing the kingdom of heaven” (1LAg20). Ledoux (1997: 54) links Clare’s understanding of the poverty of Christ to her proclamation of the lordship of Christ: “The lordship of Jesus emerges from His poverty. Our salvation, which is linked to this lordship, comes from Christ’s abasement: Christ the Lord comes from the poor Christ.” Clare describes Gospel poverty as (a) holy (1LAg6, 1LAg13, 1LAg16, 2LAg7), (b) blessed (1LAg15, 4LAg22), (c) utter/utmost (1LAg20, 2LAg2), (d) astonishing (4LAg20), and (e) God-centered (1LAg17). Agnes is encouraged by Clare to embrace Jesus whose is described as (a) the poor Crucified (1Lag13), (b) the poor Christ (1LAg18), and poor and humble (3LAg4). As Agnes embraces poverty she will be a poor virgin (2LAg18), one of the poor ladies (2LAg2, 3LAg2) and so follow the example of her leader, who is a poor little mother (4LAg33). Clare communicates a vision/charisma of voluntary poverty that will enable Agnes to imitate the poor Christ and doing so attain to Christian Table 4: Repetitive-progressive pattern illustrating Clare’s references to poverty First Letter 1LAg6 holy poverty 1LAg13 most holy poverty the Poor Crucified 1LAg15 blessed poverty 1LAg16 holy poverty 1LAg17 God-centered poverty 1LAg19 the poor in this world 1LAg20 utter poverty 1LAg22 poverty 1LAg25 the poor

Second Letter 2LAg2 the Poor Ladies utmost poverty 2LAg7 holiest poverty 2LAg18 poor virgin the Poor Christ

Third Letter 3LAg2 the Poor Ladies 3LAg4 the poor and humble Jesus Christ 3LAg7 the arms of poverty 3LAg25 poverty in your chaste and virginal body

Fourth Letter 4LAg18 blessed poverty 4LAg19 the poverty of Him 4LAg20 O astonishing poverty! 4LAg22 His blessed poverty 4LAg33 poor little mother


perfection: “chaste” and “pure” (1LAg8). These theological elements in Clare’s letters become the vocational vision for Agnes. There is value congruence between Patterson’s (2003: 4-5) construct of vision and Clare’s focus on Gospel poverty. Patterson (2003: 5) describes the value of trust in servant leadership as closely aligned to the values of integrity and honesty that leads to credibility. The relationship between Clare and Agnes is one of radical equality. Clare does not only play the role of leader but also entrusts her vision and mission to Agnes, whom she describes as “the other half of her soul” (4LAg1). A repetitive-progressive pattern emerges when Clare’s petitions for prayer from Agnes are examined in her letters (see Table 5). Clare petitions Agnes six times for prayers (1LAg33, 1LAg35, 2LAg26, 3LAg42, 4LAg37, 4LAg39). These petitions serve, amongst other things, to engender trust in Agnes. A reciprocal relationship of trust and equality is communicated through the use of this rhetorical device. A cursory reading of Clare’s letters to Agnes shows that the relationship between her and her follower is not one of dominance but rather one of trust and integrity. Table 5: Repetitive-progressive pattern illustrating Clare’s petition for prayer First Letter Second Letter Third Letter 1LAg33 I also beg 2LAg26 as often as 3LAg42 and be sure You in the possible, to remember Lord, as please both me and much as remind my sisters I can, to your in your holy include in sisters to prayers Your holy pray for prayers me us 1LAg35 pray for me

Fourth Letter 4LAg37 please ask them to pray for me and my daughters in Christ 4LAg39 pray for us

The construct of empowerment in servant leadership is described by Patterson (2003: 6) as the willingness to entrust followers with power, leading them to personal transformation as they act on their values. Agnes started her religious vocation with the option of virginity when she rejected the political, marital alliances made for her by her father and communicated her desire for a celibate, consecrated life (Armstrong and Brady 1982: 189). Mueller (2003: 12-15) points towards the obvious connections between the life of Agnes and the legend of St. Agnes of Rome who was martyred for her virginity in the early years of the Church. Clare strengthens Agnes’ resolve and option of celibacy by providing her with a


theological foundation for her choice (see Table 6). Clare describes Agnes’ virginity as (a) holy (1LAg1, 4LAg8), (b) prudent (4LAg38), (c) to be esteemed (1LAg1) and (d) inviolable (1LAg13). Agnes is encouraged to imitate the virginity of Mary, who is described as (a) the Virgin (3LAg17) (b) the glorious Virgin (1LAg24), and (c) the glorious Virgin of virgins (2LAg24). Clare empowers Agnes to act on her inherent belief that obedience to God meant a celibate vocation for her. Table 6: Repetitive-progressive pattern illustrating Clare’s references to virginity First Letter Second Letter Third Letter Fourth Letter 1LAg1 esteemed and 2LAg18 poor 3LAg17 the Virgin 4LAg3 most holy most holy virgin virgin virgins a virgin 1LAg7 your virginity 2LAg24 glorious 4LAg8 most holy 3LAg25 your Virgin of virgin 1LAg8 virgin chaste and virgins virginal 4LAg38 the most 1LAg13 inviolable body prudent virginity virgin 1LAg19 the Virgin 1LAg24 the glorious Virgin

Patterson (2003: 6) describes the “core” construct of service in servant leadership as the voluntary choice of the interests of others over selfinterest. Clare refers to herself consistently as a servant/handmaid/ subject (1LAg2, 1LAg 33, 2LAg1, 2LAg2, 3LAg 2, 4LAg2) that is Table 7: Repetitive-progressive pattern illustrating Clare’s references to service First Letter Second Letter Third Letter Fourth Letter 1LAg2 an unworthy 2LAg1 handmaid 3LAg2 unworthy 4LAg2 unworthy servant handmaid servant 2LAg2 useless useless and servant useless handmaid unworthy handmaid handmaid her subject handmaids servant in all things 1LAg4 all who serve seek to serve 1LAg13 holy service 1LAg26 serve served 1LAg31 holy service 1LAg32 serve 1LAg33 Your servant, though unworthy


unworthy/useless (1LAg2, 1LAg33, 2LAg2, 3LAg2, 4LAg2). Agnes is encouraged by Clare o accept this vocation of service that she describes as holy (1LAg13, 1LAg31). The repetitive-progressive pattern (see Table 7) illustrating Clare’s references to service in the letters to Agnes serve to identify service as primary to Clare’s understanding of leadership.

Kenotic Mysticism and Servant Leadership in the Letters of Clare of Assisi to Agnes of Prague Clare links her vocation to service with a mystical attraction to Christ who emptied Himself for others (see Table 8). Clare’s desire to serve and hope to facilitate a similar spiritual formation in Agnes, is fuelled by “an ardent desire for the Poor Crucified ” (1LAg13). Table 8: Repetitive-progressive pattern illustrating Clare’s reference to service through kenotic mysticism in the first letter to Agnes First Letter 1LAg13 Be strengthened in the holy service which You have undertaken out of an ardent desire for the Poor Crucified 1LAg31 be strengthened in His holy service

Both Francis and Clare were taken by the kenosis of Christ. Not only were they enthralled by this vision of the “poor Christ” (2LAg18), they sought to imitate Him. Karecki and Wroblewski (2000A: 12-13) write of Francis of Assisi: “…In the kenosis of Christ, Francis saw God’s infinite love for men and women in the condescension of the Word in becoming human and laying down of His life in Calvary. This coming down, this humbling, this stooping to become small, this humility and poverty, this minority was appropriated by Francis when he gradually stripped himself of all signs of power and status in order to identify with the poorest, the lepers.” Clare had the same vision. For Clare this “following in His footsteps” (2LAg7) were steps of love. Karecki (2000A: 2) comments: “…The Christ who captivated Clare’s heart was the poor, suffering Christ and response she consented to become His spouse. This is not an abstract


image or concept, but a person, the person of Christ. Clare’s poetic words to Agnes reveal a spousal intimacy that filled her with love.” This active contemplation of Jesus Christ is the way for transformation for Clare. Note the three-fold progression of terms (loved, touched, accepted) that are used in her first letter to Agnes (1LAg8) to describe the nature of the transformation: chaste, pure, virgin (Table 9). Another three-fold progression (place your mind, place your soul, place your heart) is evident in Clare’s third letter to Agnes as she described the transformative nature of Christo-centric contemplation (see Table 10). Table 9: Progressive pattern illustrating Clare’s reference to active contemplation in the first letter to Agnes First Letter 1Lag8 When You have loved [Him], You shall be chaste; when You have touched [Him], You shall become pure; when You have accepted [Him], You shall be a virgin. Table 10: Progressive pattern illustrating Clare’s reference to active contemplation in the third letter to Agnes Third Letter 3LAg12 Place your mind in the mirror of eternity; Place your soul in the splendor of glory; 3LAg13 Place your heart in the figure of the divine substance; And, through contemplation, transform your entire being Into the image of the Divine One himself 3Lag14 So that you, yourself, may also experience what his friends experience When they taste the hidden sweetness That God alone has kept from the beginning For those who love him.

This kenotic mysticism of Clare is rooted in a mimetic re-enactment of the self-emptying (kenosis) Christ as seen in the Christological hymn of Philippians 2: 5-11 (Kourie 1993: 127). This becomes the hermeneutical key for Clare in which she interprets the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and applies its meaning for her community and her time (Kourie 1993: 127). Christ is a mirror for Clare (the speculum perfectionis) and she encourages Agnes to gaze into this mirror daily (4LAg 14-27, see Table 11). Note again the three-fold progression in Clare’s instruction of active contemplation in the fourth letter to Agnes: look closely, consider,


ponder. As Agnes considers the voluntary poverty evident in the birth, life and death of Christ, she in turn is encouraged to burn strongly with the “fire of charity” (4LAg 27). It is important to note the choice of the metaphor of the mirror and the transformative dynamics that it communicates. This is highly reminiscent of similar imagery in Paul second letter to the Corinthians (3: 18). For Clare contemplation brings transformation that enables leaders imitate and reflect the virtues of God. Purfield (1989) comments: “Clare reminds us that contemplation is not a mere reflection but, rather, it is a participation and a transformation of the beholder. She emphasizes that as they are being transformed, Christians, in turn, have to become mirrors and to reflect God.” Table 11: Progressive pattern illustrating Clare’s reference to active contemplation in the fourth letter to Agnes Fourth Letter 4LAg14 Because the vision of him is the splendor of everlasting glory, The radiance of everlasting light, and a mirror without tarnish. 4LAg15 Look into this mirror every day, O queen, spouse of Jesus Christ, And continually examine your face in it, 4LAg18 Moreover, in this mirror shine blessed poverty, holy humility, and charity beyond words, as you will be able, with God’s grace, to contemplate throughout the entire mirror. 4LAg19 Look closely, I say, to the beginning of the life of this admired one, indeed at the poverty of him who was wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in a manger. 4LAg22 Consider also the midst of his life, his humility, or at least his blessed poverty, the countless hardships, and the punishments that he endured for the redemption of the human race. 4LAg23 Indeed, ponder the final days of this mirrored one, contemplate the ineffable love with which he was willing to suffer on the tree of the cross and to die there a kind of death that is more shameful than any other. 4LAg27 Therefore, seeing this, O queen of the heavenly King, you must burn ever more strongly with the fervor of charity!

Jesus is the paradigm and exemplar for Clare (Karecki and Wroblewski 2000B: 12). The kenosis of Christ is the primary act of God’s love for the world. Agnes is encouraged to make the kenosis of Christ her focus as she


desires to serve (see Table 12). Note again Clare’s three-fold progression of active contemplation in the second letter to Agnes: gaze, examine and contemplate. This understanding of Divine love leads to self-sacrificial service. Karecki and Wroblewski (2000A: 12-13) comment: “Rarely is it pointed out that the genius of Francis and Clare’s Charism is that they made kenosis the special hallmark of Divine Love…What kenosis shows and clearly demonstrates is that Divine Love is non-possessive, disinterested, self-giving.” Table 12: Progressive pattern illustrating Clare’s reference to active contemplation in the second letter to Agnes Second Letter 2Lag20 Gaze upon, examine, contemplate, most noble queen, desiring to follow your spouse, who is more beautiful than the sons of humankind, and who for your salvation became the vilest of men, despised, struck, and flogged repeatedly over his entire body, dying while suffering the excruciating torments of the cross. 2Lag 21 If you suffer with Him, with Him you will reign, grieving with Him, with Him you will rejoice, dying with Him on the cross of tribulation, with him you will possess mansions in heaven among the splendors of the saints

Kenotic mysticism allows the leader to transcend narrow selfhood (Kourie 1993: 124) and truly enter into the world of the follower. Raguin (1973: 111) describes this state as receptive. Raguin (1973: 111) notes: “…kenosis, then, places us in a state of receptivity. We develop an instinctive attitude of listening, trying to understand, letting ourselves be permeated with the atmosphere of our surroundings, passing beyond what is merely heard and seen to reach the personality of the people with whom we love, or those we may meet.” Kenotic mysticism in Clare’s letters to Agnes is a direct communion with the kenotic Christ. Ledoux (1997: 40) notes: “…in Clare’s view, Christian mystical experience achieves an encounter, a knowledge of and an existential communion with Christ.”


This communion with Christ leads to personal transformation of both the leader and follower and enables them to practice kenosis (self-emptying) as Christ did. This “resolute divesting” of possessions and power (Cronin 1992: 1) enables the leader and follower enter into a new union that is marked by equality and service. Raguin (1973: 112) writes: “…kenosis, then, is the gateway to mutual understanding, and beyond this, to an intimate sharing that is the consummation of a relationship in union…By dispossession of self we are able to absorb the amazing riches of others…” Kenotic mysticism and servant leadership are closely linked in Clare’s writings in an inter-dependant dynamic system of personal and communal transformation through radical self-emptying fuelled by a commitment to Jesus Christ.

Summative Comments In summary, successive repetitive-progressive pattern analyses of the letters of Clare of Assisi to Agnes of Prague suggest the following. Firstly, Greenleaf ’s (1998) description and Patterson’s (2003) theoretical model of servant leadership fit the leadership approach and values of Clare of Assisi. Secondly, Clare links her kenotic mysticism with her practice of servant leadership. It is her “ardent desire” for the “poor Crucified” that brings her to service. Finally, contemplation and appropriation of the kenosis of Christ enables the leader and follower to transcend a narrow vision of self and facilitates a radical commitment to others in service.

References [1] Alter, R., 1981. The Art of Biblical Narrative. New York: Basic Books. [2] Armstrong, R.J. and Brady, I.C., 1982. Francis and Clare: The Complete Works. New York: Paulist Press. [3] Carney, M., 1993. The First Franciscan Women: Clare of Assisi and her from of life. Quincy: Franciscan Press. [4] Chatman, S., 1978. Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. [5] Cronin, K M 1992. Kenosis. Rockport: Element. [6] De Beaugrande, R.A. and Dressler, W.U., 1981. Introduction to Text Linguistics. London: Longman.


[7] De Robeck, N., 1953. Saint Elizabeth of Hungary. Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company. [8] Duw, T.M., 1992. Saint Clare: A Light on the Way. London: Catholic Truth Society. [9] Greenleaf, R.K., 1998. Servant-Leadership. In Spears, L.C. (Eds.), Insights on Leadership (pp. 15-20). New York: John Wiley & Sons. [10] Karecki, M., 2000A. Clare and Christ. The Little Portion. Jeppestown: The Franciscan Institute of Southern Africa. — 2000B. The Generosity of God. The Little Portion. Jeppestown: The Franciscan Institute of Southern Africa. [11] Karecki, M. and Wroblewski, S., 2000A. Franciscan Spirituality: Franciscan Study Guide Series: Volume I. Jeppestown: The Franciscan Institute of Southern Africa. — 2000B. Franciscan Spirituality: Franciscan Study Guide Series, Volume II. Jeppestown: The Franciscan Institute of Southern Africa. — 2000C. Franciscan Spirituality: Franciscan Study Guide Series, Volume III. Jeppestown: The Franciscan Institute of Southern Africa. — 2000D. Franciscan Spirituality: Franciscan Study Guide Series, Volume V. Jeppestown: The Franciscan Institute of Southern Africa. — 2001. Franciscan Mission – The World is our Cloister: Franciscan Study Guide Series: Volume I. Jeppestown: The Franciscan Institute of Southern Africa. — 2003A. The Second Order: Franciscan Study Guide Series: Volume I. Jeppestown: The Franciscan Institute of Southern Africa. — 2003B. The Second Order: Franciscan Study Guide Series: Volume V. Jeppestown: The Franciscan Institute of Southern Africa. [12] Kourie, C., 1993. The Kenotic Mysticism of Clare of Assisi in the Light of Inter-religious Dialogue. S.A. Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 3 (1), pp. 124-140. [13] Neirynck, F., 1972. Duality in Mark: Contributions to the Study of Markan Redaction. Betl 31, Leuven University Press. [14] Patterson, P., 2003. Servant Leadership: A Theoretical Model. Unpublished paper presented at the Servant Leadership Research Roundtable. [15] Purfield, B.E., 1989. Reflections in the Mirror: Images of Christ in the Spiritual Life of Saint Clare of Assisi. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation at St. Bonaventure University, St. Bonaventure, New York. [16] Raguin, Y., 1973. I am Sending You (John 22: 21): Spirituality of the Missioner. Manila: East Asian Pastoral Institute. [17] Rimmon-Kenan, S., 1983. Narrative Fiction: Contemporary Poetics. London: Methuen.


[18] Robbins, V.K., 1981. Summons and Outline in Mark: The Three-Step Progression. NovT 23: 97-114. — 1982. Mark 1: 14-20: An Interpretation at the Intersection of Jewish and Graeco-Roman Traditions. NTS 28: 220-36. — 1984. Jesus the Teacher: A Socio-Rhetorical Interpretation of Mark. Philadelphia: Fortress Press. — 1987. The Women who touched Jesus’ Garment: Socio-Rhetorical Analysis of the Synoptic Accounts”, NTS 33: 502-515. — 1994a. New Boundaries in Old Territory: Forms and Social Rhetoric in Mark. New York: Peter Lang. — 1994b. Socio-Rhetorical Criticism: Mary, Elizabeth, and the Magnificient as a Test Case, in Malbon, E.S. and McKnight, E.V. (eds). The New Literary Criticism and the New Testament. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 164-209. — 1994c. The ritual of Reading and Reading a Text as a Ritual: Observations on Mieke Bal’s Death & Dissymmetry, in Jasper, D. and Ledbetter, M. (eds.), In Good Company: Essays in Honor of Roberts Detweiler. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 385-401. — 1994d. Interpreting Miracle Culture and Parable Culture in Mark 4-11. Svensk Exegetisk Arsbok 59: 59-81. — 1996a. Exploring the Texture of Text. A Guide to Socio-Rhetorical Interpretation. Valley Forge: Trinity Press. — 1996b. The tapestry of Early Christian Discourse. Rhetoric, Society and Ideology. London: Routledge. — 1999. Socio-Rhetorical Interpretation from its Beginnings to the Present, at http://rhetjournal.our.edu/RobbinsSNTS.html [19] Scott, B.B. and Dean, M.E., 1993. A Sound Map of the Sermon on the Mount. SBLSP 32: 726-39. [20] Tannehill, R.C. 1975. The Sword of His Mouth. Philadelphia: Fortress Press. — 1986/9. The Narrative Unity of Luke-Acts: A Literary Interpretation. Philadelphia: Fortress Press. [21] Trible, P., 1978. God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality. Philadelphia: Fortress Press. — 1984. Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives. Philadelphia: Fortress Press. [22] Vorster, W.S., 1989. The Reader in the Text: Narrative Material. Semeia 48: 21-39. [23] Winston, B.E., 2002. Be a Leader for God’s sake. Virginia Beach: Regent University.


Addendum The First Letter to Agnes of Prague* (1Lag - Before June 11, 1234) To the esteemed and most holy virgin, the Lady Agnes, daughter of the most excellent and illustrious King of Bohemia. 2 Clare, an unworthy servant of Jesus Christ and useless handmaid of the Cloistered Ladies of the Monastery of San Damiano, her subject and servant in all things, presents herself totally with a special reverent [prayer] that she attain the glory of everlasting happiness. 3 As I hear of the fame of Your holy conduct and irreproachable life, which is known not only to me but to the entire world as well, I greatly rejoice and exult in the Lord. 4 I am not alone in rejoicing at such great news, but [I am joined by] all who serve and seek to serve Jesus Christ. 5 For, though You, more than others, could have enjoyed the magnificence and honor and dignity of the world, and could have been married to the illustrious Caesar with splendor befitting You and His Excellency, 6 You have rejected all these things and have chosen with Your whole heart and soul a life of holy poverty and destitution. 7 Thus You took a spouse of a more noble lineage, Who will keep Your virginity ever unspotted and unsullied, the Lord Jesus Christ: 8 When You have loved [Him], You shall be chaste; when You have touched [Him], You shall become pure; when You have accepted [Him], You shall be a virgin. 9 Whose power is stronger, Whose generosity is more abundant, Whose appearance more beautiful, Whose love more tender, Whose courtesy more gracious. 10 In Whose embrace You are already caught up; Who has adorned Your breast with precious stones And has placed priceless pearls in Your ears 11 and has surrounded You with sparkling gems as though blossoms of springtime 1

* This is the translation of Regis J. Armstrong in Armstrong, R.J. and Brady, I.C., 1982. Francis and Clare – The Complete Works. New York: Paulist Press.


and placed on Your head a golden crown as a sign [to all] of Your holiness. 12 Therefore, most beloved sister, or should I say, Lady worthy of great respect: because You are the spouse and the mother and the sister of my Lord Jesus Christ, 13 and have been adorned resplendently with the sign of inviolable virginity and most holy poverty: Be strengthened in the holy service which You have undertaken out of an ardent desire for the Poor Crucified, 14 Who for the sake of all of us took upon Himself the Passion of the Cross and delivered us from the power of the Prince of Darkness to whom we were enslaved because of the disobedience of our first parents, and so reconciled us to God the Father. 15 O blessed poverty, who bestows eternal riches on those who love and embrace her! 16 O holy poverty, to those who possess and desire you God promises the kingdom of heaven and offers, indeed, eternal glory and blessed life! 17 O God-centered poverty, whom the Lord Jesus Christ Who ruled and now rules heaven and earth, Who spoke and things were made, condescended to embrace before all else! 18 The foxes have dens, He says, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man, Christ, has nowhere to lay His head, but bowing His head gave up His spirit. 19 If so great and good a Lord, then, on coming into the Virgin’s womb, chose to appear despised, needy, and poor in this world, 20 so that people who were in utter poverty and want and in absolute need of heavenly nourishment might become rich in Him by possessing the kingdom of heaven, 21 then rejoice and be glad! Be filled with a remarkable happiness and a spiritual joy! 22 Contempt of the world has pleased You more than [its] honors, poverty more than earthly riches, and You have sought to store up greater treasures in heaven rather than on earth, 23 where rust does not consume nor moth destroy nor thieves break in and steal. Your reward, then, is very great in heaven! 24 And You have truly merited to be called a sister, spouse, and mother of the Son of the Father of the Most High and of the glorious Virgin.


25 You know, I am sure, that the kingdom of heaven is promised and given by the Lord only to the poor: for he who loves temporal things loses the fruit of love. 26 Such a person cannot serve God and Mammon, for either the one is loved and the other is hated, or the one is served and the other despised. 27 You also know that one who is clothed cannot fight with another who is naked, because he is more quickly thrown who gives his adversary a chance to get hold of him; 28 and that one who lives in the glory of earth cannot rule with Christ in heaven. Again, [you know] that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 29 Therefore, you have cast aside Your garments, that is, earthly riches, so that You might not be overcome by the one fighting against You, [and] that You might enter the kingdom of heaven through the straight path and narrow gate. 30 What a great laudable exchange: to leave the things of time for those of eternity, to choose the things of heaven for the goods of earth, to receive the hundred-fold in place of one, and to possess a blessed and eternal life. 31 Because of this I have resolved, as best I can, to beg Your Excellency and Your holiness by my humble prayers in the mercy of Christ, to be strengthened in His holy service, 32 and to progress from good to better, from virtue to virtue, so that He Whom You serve with the total desire of Your soul may bestow on You the reward for which You long. 33 I also beg You in the Lord, as much as I can, to include in Your holy prayers me, Your servant, though unworthy, and the other sisters with me in the monastery, who are all devoted to You, so 34 that by their help we may merit the mercy of Jesus Christ, and together with You may merit to enjoy the everlasting vision. 35 Farewell in the Lord. And pray for me.

The Second Letter to the Agnes of Prague (2Lag – Between 1234-1238) To the daughter of the King of kings, handmaid of the Lord of lords, most worthy spouse of Jesus Christ and therefore, very distinguished queen, the Lady Agnes,

1


2 Clare, useless and unworthy handmaid of the Poor Ladies, sends her greetings and the prayer that Agnes may always live in the utmost poverty. 3 I thank the one who liberally bestows grace, from whom every best and perfect gift is believed to come, because he has adorned you with such a good reputation founded upon your virtues and has made you shine with the honors of so much perfection. 4 He did this so that once you have been made a diligent imitator of the Father who is perfect, you may deserve to be made perfect, so that his eyes may not see anything imperfect in you. 5 This is that perfection with which the King will unite you to himself in marriage in heaven’s bridal chamber where he sits in glory upon his starry throne, 6 because despising the heights of an earthly kingdom and the less than worthy offers of an imperial marriage, 7 you have been made an imitator of the holiest poverty, and in a spirit of great humility and the most ardent charity, you have clung to the footsteps of him with whom you have been worthy to be united in marriage. 8 Moreover, since I know that you are laden with virtues, I shall refrain from saying too much as I do not wish to laden you with superfluous words, 9 even though to you no word seems superfluous of those that could be the source of some consolation for you. 10 But because one thing is necessary, I invoke this one thing and advise you, by the love of him to whom you have offered yourself as a holy and pleasing sacrifice, 11 to be mindful, like a second Rachel, of your founding purpose always seeing your beginning. What you hold, may you continue to hold, what you do, may you keep doing and not stop, 12 but with swift pace, nimble step, and feet that do not stumble so that even your walking does not raise any dust, 13 may you go forward tranquilly, joyfully, briskly, and cautiously along the path of happiness, 14 trusting in no one and agreeing with no one insofar as he might want to dissuade you from pursuing your founding purpose or might place a stumbling block in your way, preventing you, in that perfection with which the Spirit of the Lord has called you, from fulfilling your vows to the Most High. 15 No concerning this, so that you may walk more tranquilly along the way of the Lord’s commands, follow the advice of our venerable father, our Brother Elias, minister general.


16 Prefer his advice to the advice of others and consider it more precious to you than any gift. 17 Indeed, if someone tells you something else or suggests anything to you that may hinder your perfection and that seems contrary to your divine vocation, even though you must respect him, still, do not follow his advice; 18 instead, poor virgin, embrace the Poor Christ. 19 Now that you have made yourself contemptible in this world for his sake, look upon and follow the one who made himself contemptible for your sake. 20 Gaze upon, examine, contemplate, most noble queen, desiring to follow your spouse, who is more beautiful than the sons of humankind, and who for your salvation became the vilest of men, despised, struck, and flogged repeatedly over his entire body, dying while suffering the excruciating torments of the cross. 21 If you suffer with him, with him you will reign, grieving with him, with him you will rejoice, dying with him on the cross of tribulation, with him you will possess mansions in heaven among the splendors of the saints, 22 and your name will be recorded in the Book of Life and will bring you glory among men and women. 23 This is why you may forever in eternity share the glory of the heavenly kingdom rather than what is earthly and transitory, eternal goods instead of those that perish, and why you will live forever and ever. 24 Farewell, dearest sister and lady, for the sake of the Lord, your spouse; 25 and constantly remember me, as well as my sisters-for we rejoice in the good things of the Lord that he is accomplishing in you through his grace-in your devout prayers to the Lord. 26 Also, as often as possible, please remind your sisters to pray for us.

The Third Letter to Agnes of Prague (3Lag – Early 1238) To Agnes, most venerable lady and sister in Christ, deserving of love before all other mortals, blood-sister of the illustrious king of Bohemia, but now sister and spouse of the most high King of the heavens, 2 Clare, most humble and unworthy handmaid of Christ and servant of the Poor Ladies, sends her prayer for the joys of salvation in him who is the Author of Salvation and for everything better that can be desired. 3 I am filled with such great joy about your well-being, your happiness, and your favorable successes through which, I understand, you are thriving on the journey you have begun to obtain the reward of heaven; 1


4 and I breathe again in the Lord with elation equal to my knowledge and belief that you are supplying in wonderful ways what is lacking both in me and in the other sisters who are following in the footsteps of the poor and humble Jesus Christ. 5 I am indeed able to rejoice, and there is no one who could separate me from such great joy. 6 since I already possess what under heaven I have yearned for, and I see that you, supported by some kind of wonderful claim on the wisdom that comes from God’s own mouth, are formidably and extraordinarily undermining the stratagems of the cunning enemy, the pride that destroys human nature, and the vanity that beguiles human hearts. 7 I see, too, that you are embracing with humility, the virtue of faith, and the arms of poverty the incomparable treasure that lies hidden in the field of the world and the hearts of human beings, where it is purchased by the One by whom all things were made from nothing. 8 And, to use as my own the words of the apostle himself, I consider you someone who is God’s own helper and who supports the drooping limbs of his ineffable body. 9 Who, then, would tell me not to rejoice about such great and marvellous joys? 10 That is why you, too, dearest, must always rejoice in the Lord, 11 and not let bitterness and confusion envelop you, O Lady most beloved in Christ, joy of the angels, and crown of your sisters. 12 Place your mind in the mirror of eternity; Place your soul in the splendor of glory; 13 Place your heart in the figure of the divine substance; And, through contemplation, transform your entire being Into the image of the Divine One himself, 14 So that you, yourself, may also experience what his friends experience When they taste the hidden sweetness That God alone has kept from the beginning For those who love him. 15 And completely ignoring all those who in this deceitful and turbulent world ensnare their blind lovers, you might totally love him who gave himself totally out of love for you, 16 whose beauty the sun and moon admire, and whose rewards, in both their preciousness and magnitude, are without end. 17 I am speaking about the Son of the Most High, to whom the Virgin gave birth and, after whose birth, she remained a virgin.


18 May you cling to his most sweet Mother, who gave birth to the kind of Son whom the heavens could not contain, 19 and yet, she carried him in the tiny enclosure of her sacred womb, and held him on her young girl’s lap. 20 Who would not abhor the treachery of the enemy of humanity who, by means of the pride that results from fleeting and false glories, compels that which is greater than heaven to return to nothingness? 21 See, it is already clear that the soul of a faithful person, the most worthy of God’s creations through the grace of God, is greater than heaven, 22 since the heavens and the rest of creation together cannot contain their Creator and only the soul of a faithful person is his dwelling place and throne and this is possible only through the charity that the wicked lack. 23 For the Truth says: The one who loves me, will be loved by my Father, and I shall love him and we shall come to him and make our dwelling place with him. 24 So, just as the glorious Virgin of virgins carried him physically, 25 so, you too, following in her footsteps especially those of humility and poverty, can without any doubt, always carry him spiritually in your chaste and virginal body, 26 containing him by whom both you and all things are contained, and possessing that which, even when compared with the other transitory possessions of this world, you will possess more securely. 27 Regarding this, some kings and queens of this world are deceived; 28 even though in their pride they have climbed all the way up to the sky, and their heads have touched the clouds, in the end they are destroyed like a pile of dung. 29 Now, I thought that I should respond to your charity about the things that you have asked me to clarify for you; 30 namely, what were the feasts-and I imagine, that you have perhaps figured this out to some extent-that our most glorious father, Saint Francis, urged us to celebrate in a special way with different kinds of foods. 31 Indeed, your prudence knows that, with the exception of the weak and the sick, for whom he advised and authorized to use every possible discretion with respect to any foods whatsoever, 32 none of us who are healthy and strong ought to eat anything other than Lenten fare, on both ordinary days and feast days, 33 fasting every day except on Sundays and on the Lord’s Nativity, when we ought to eat twice a day.


34 And, on Thursdays in Ordinary Time, fasting should reflect the personal decision of each sister, so that whoever might not wish to fast would not be obligated to do so. 35 All the same, those of us who are healthy fast every day except Sundays and Christmas. 36 Certainly, during the entire Easter week, as Blessed Francis states in what he has written, and on the feasts of holy Mary and the holy apostles, we are also not obliged to fast, unless these feasts should fall on a Friday; 37 and, as has already been said, we who are healthy and strong always eat Lenten fare. 38 But because neither is our flesh the flesh of bronze, nor our strength the strength of stone, 39 but instead, we are frail and prone to every bodily weakness, 40 I am asking and begging in the Lord that you be restrained wisely, dearest one, and discreetly from the indiscreet and impossibly severe fasting that I know you have imposed upon yourself, 41 so that living, you might profess the Lord, and might return to the Lord your reasonable worship and your sacrifice always seasoned with salt. 42 Stay well, always in the Lord, just as I very much desire to stay well, and be sure to remember both me and my sisters in your holy prayers.

The Fourth Letter to Agnes of Prague (4Lag – Between February and Early August 1253) To the other half of her soul and repository of the special love of her deepest heart, illustrious queen, spouse of the Lamb of the eternal King, the Lady Agnes, her own dearest mother and, among all the others, her special daughter, 2 Clare, unworthy servant of Christ and useless handmaid of his handmaids who live in the Monastery of San Damiano in Assisi, 3 sends greetings and her prayer that Agnes, together with the other most holy virgins, will sing a new song before the throne of God and of the Lamb, and will follow the Lamb wherever he goes. 4 O mother and daughter, spouse of the King and all ages, even if I have not written to you as frequently as both your soul and mine would have desired and longed for, 5 do not for a moment wonder or believe in any way that the fire of my love for you burns any less sweetly in the deepest heart of your mother. 6 The truth is that a shortage of messengers and the obvious perils of travel have hindered me. 1


7 But now, as I write to your love, I rejoice and exult for you in the joy of the Spirit, spouse of Christ, 8 because like that other most holy virgin, Saint Agnes, you have been in an astonishing way espoused to the immaculate Lamb, who, having assumed responsibility for all the vanities of this world, takes away the sins of the world. 9 Happy, indeed, is the one permitted to share in this sacred banquet so as to be joined with all the feelings of her heart to him 10 Whose beauty all the blessed hosts of the heavens unceasingly admire, 11 Whose affection moves, whose contemplation invigorates, Whose generosity fills, 12 Whose sweetness replenishes, Whose remembrance pleasantly brings light, 13 Whose fragrance will revive the dead, And whose glorious vision will bless All the citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem. 14 Because the vision of him is the splendor of everlasting glory, The radiance of everlasting light, and a mirror without tarnish. 15 Look into this mirror every day, O queen, spouse of Jesus Christ, And continually examine your face in it. 16 So that in this way you may adorn yourself completely, Inwardly and outwardly, Clothed and covered in multi-colored apparel. 17 Adorned in the same manner with flowers and garments Made of all the virtues as is proper, Dearest daughter and spouse of the most high King. 18 Moreover, in this mirror shine blessed poverty, holy humility, and charity beyond words, as you will be able, with God’s grace, to contemplate throughout the entire mirror. 19 Look closely, I say, to the beginning of the life of this admired one, indeed at the poverty of him who was wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in a manger. 20 O marvellous humility! O astonishing poverty! 21 The King of the angels, The Lord of heaven and earth is Laid to rest in a manger! 22 Consider also the midst of his life, his humility, or at least his blessed


poverty, the countless hardships, and the punishments that he endured for the redemption of the human race. 23 Indeed, ponder the final days of this mirrored one, contemplate the ineffable love with which he was willing to suffer on the tree of the cross and to die there a kind of death that is more shameful than any other. 24 That mirror suspended upon the wood of the cross from there kept urging those passing by of what must be considered, saying: 25 O all you who pass by this way, look and see if there is any suffering like my suffering. 26 In response let us with one voice and in one spirit answer him who is crying out and lamenting: I will remember this over and over and my soul will sink within me. 27 Therefore, seeing this, O queen of the heavenly King, you must burn ever more strongly with the fervor of charity! 28 Furthermore, as you contemplate his indescribable delights, riches, and everlasting honors, 29 and heaving a sigh because of your heart’s immeasurable desire and love may you exclaim: 30 Draw me after you, Heavenly Spouse, we shall run in the fragrance of your perfumes! 31 I shall run and not grow weary until you bring me into the wine cellar, 32 until your left hand is under my head and your right arm blissfully embraces me; and you kiss me with the most blissful kiss of your mouth. 33 As you are placed in this contemplation, may you remember your poor little mother, 34 (knowing that I have inseparably inscribed the happy memory of you on the tablets of my heart, for I regard you as dearer than all others. 35 Why say more? Let my physical tongue be silent, as it is said, and let the tongue of the Spirit speak. 36 O blessed daughter, since in no way at all could my bodily tongue express more fully the love that I have for you, that which I have written is certainly inadequate. 37 I beg you to receive these words with kindness and devotion, seeing in them at least the motherly affection, by which every day I am stirred by the fire of love for you and your daughters; please ask them to pray for me and my daughters in Christ. 38 Indeed, inasmuch as they are able, my own daughters, and especially the


most prudent virgin, Agnes, our sister, beg you and your daughters to pray for them in the Lord. 39 Farewell, dearest daughter, together with your own daughters, until we meet at the throne of glory of the great God, and pray for us. 40 I must now commend to your charity, as fully as possible, our dearest bearers of this letter, Brother Amato, beloved by God and human beings, and Brother Bonaugura. Amen.

Innovative Product Development at the Bottom of the Pyramid Kumkum Bharti, Rajat Agrawal, Vinay Sharma and Anita Sengar E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] ABSTRACT The understanding of the poor consumers by the marketers is limited to offer products in smaller quantities of substandard quality and that too without finding the actual needs of the poor consumers. Since poor consumers are guided with limited financial resources, therefore, the marketer should cater to the unstated and unmet needs of the bottom of the pyramid consumers to maintain long term profitability and sustainability. The aim of this study is to investigate the issues that need to be addressed to promote innovative product development at the bottom of the pyramid markets. Furthermore, the significance of co-creation in product development for the bottom of the pyramid consumers is studied. In this paper, literature has been assimilated to find out the factors that are important and necessary for innovative product development to the bottom of the pyramid consumers. Additionally, the role of co-creation in product development for the bottom of the pyramid consumers has been studied. The manuscript uncovers the underlying factors associated with co-creation in product development for the bottom of the pyramid markets. This also projects the importance of certain factors that strengthens and stimulates the importance of innovative products for the bottom of the pyramid consumers. The findings of the study can be used to formulate market development strategies for the bottom of the pyramid consumers and thereby offering the products and services in accordance to ISSN 2321-4473 Print © 2013 Academy of Value Based Management International Journal on Spirituality and Organization Leadership, pp. 50–61.

Innovative Product Development at the Bottom of the Pyramid  51

the needs of their target consumers, i.e. the bottom of the pyramid consumers.

Keywords: Bottom of the Pyramid, Co-creation, Innovative Products, New Product Development.

Introduction

O

ver years, marketing has evolved from a concept to a full-fledged discipline and has guided marketers in taking decisions associated with segmentation, targeting, positioning and marketing mix. However, it shall also be noted and acknowledged that marketing is relevant only when a market exists. Thus, it will not be wrong to say that without a market, marketing is meaningless. Bottom of the pyramid (BOP) is one such population where markets are yet to be developed to meet the needs of the customers. Therefore, the role of a marketer towards the bottom of the pyramid markets is centered on three major factors. Firstly, identification of the bottom of the pyramid consumers’ needs. The need identification of the bottom of the pyramid consumers can be made by engaging them at different levels of the product development and by building relationships with the local community. Secondly, conversion of the desired customer needs into innovative products while maintaining profitability. The innovative product development at the bottom of the pyramid can be made by increasing the participation of the target population, i.e., bottom of the pyramid consumers in the product development. Lastly, maintaining the sustainability at the bottom of the pyramid markets. Since, the right understanding of the needs backed by the innovative product development for the BOP markets shall be governed with the culture of sustainability in each activity performed. Sustainability at the bottom of the pyramid markets can be fostered with structured market development that will satiate the consumers unmet and unstated needs followed by the right marketing approach. The significance of the structured marketing approach is even more important for the bottom of the pyramid markets as compared to developed urban markets because the majority of the population is illiterate, governed by poor infrastructure and resultantly less aware about suitable products that will satiate their needs. With structured marketing approach we mean educating the bottom of the pyramid consumers about the benefits of


mindful consumption (Sheth et al., 2011) and simultaneously spreading awareness about the appropriate use of products through demarketing (Kotler and Levy, 1971; Kotler, 2011). The relevance of the structured marketing approach is strategic for any marketer as it holds the key to attain sustainability. The absence of structured marketing approach in the developed urban markets has resulted in conspicuous consumption and has majorly contributed towards environmental degradation. Therefore, the third and the most important role a marketer needs to play is maintenance of sustainability at the bottom of the pyramid markets. However, in the present manuscript, our purview of detailed expression will only be over the need identification and innovative product development at the bottom of the pyramid markets. This manuscript is organized into three sections. The first section provides the need of innovative product development at the bottom of the pyramid markets. The next section covers the significance of customer involvement in the new and innovative product development. The last section gives the factors important for the customer involvement or customer participation in the innovative product development that are beneficial for the marketers as well as for the BOP consumers. In the subsequent sections the research findings are presented followed by the discussion and scope for further research.

Innovative Product Development: Need of Bottom of the Pyramid Markets The needs of the bottom of the pyramid consumer are different from the developed urban consumers. As per marketers, identification of the bottom of the pyramid consumers’ needs is one of the biggest challenges (GSM Association, 2009). The presence of certain factors like low income (Jaiswal, 2007; Karnani, 2007a; Karnani 2007b; Subrahmanyan and Gomez-Arias, 2008), geographical dispersion (Karnani, 2007), high level of diversity & cultural heterogeneity (Gollakota, Gupta and Bork, 2010), lack of accessibility (Karnani, 2007a; Karnani, 2007b), lack of affordability (Prahalad, 2005), lack of availability (Vachani & Smith, 2008), costly physical distribution of goods and services (Karnani, 2007; Bartels, 1968; Prahalad and Hart, 2002), lack of formal education (Prahalad, 2002; Prahalad and Hart, 2005; Sen, 2000), poor infrastructural development


inclusive of transportation, communication, media and legal (Prahalad and Hart, 2002; Karani, 2007a; Karnani, 2007b) and extremely price conscious consumer (Karnani, 2007a) has increased the difficulty level in understanding the needs of the BOP consumers and also called upon a need to develop the specialized products for the bottom of the pyramid markets. Furthermore, the differences between the BOP and the developed urban markets with respect to the lifestyle and economic aspects have led to the generation of the demand of the innovative low cost products at the bottom of the pyramid markets. Therefore, marketers’ can address the needs of the innovative yet affordable products for the bottom of the pyramid markets by incorporating the BOP consumers into the product design, development and innovation process. Also, innovative product development with the collaboration of the BOP consumers is relatively easier because majority of the BOP population resides in the emerging economies and these markets are governed by the strong value system and high value personal relationships. Therefore, development of the strong partnerships with the customers, suppliers, and member of the value chain and generation of the participative work environment will help in understanding the customers’ needs and converting those needs into the product development process (Mundim et al., 2011).

Business Models of Bottom of the Pyramid Markets As per Prahalad (2009), BOP markets can be an extraordinary source of innovation, hence, BOP community should be incorporated for the specialized and innovative product development that cater to the needs of the bottom of the pyramid population. Indeed, the conventional business models are not successful in the bottom of the pyramid markets and should not be replicated by the marketers by making the cosmetic/ incremental changes into the existing business models. However, to serve the bottom of the pyramid markets, organizations have to rethink and reorganize the mind-set, business approach and need to generate the breakthrough innovations, a term coined by Clayton Christenson, in the business models and in the product development. The examples of successful business models at the BOP like Muhammad Yunus Grameen Bank model (Bangladesh), Kulendei Francis microfinance model (India), HUL i-Shakti distribution channel management model (India), SKS


Microfinance Model (India), Narayana Hrudalayaya affordable healthcare model (India), Shankara Netralaya affordable eye treatement model (India), ITC e-choupal farming proceeds collection and knowledge development model (India), Fabindia community ownership business model (India) and AMUL dairy products assimilation and distribution model (India) are few of the examples of the innovative business models that are different from the conventional business models. The above mentioned organizations are successful examples of businesses that are profitable as well as foundation builder of a strong socially and culturally developed market. Therefore, we propose that to capitalize the business opportunities at the bottom of the pyramid markets, organizations have to rethink and unlearn the existing business practices (Hart, 2007) and need to address the BOP markets differently. Additionally, to develop the bottom of the pyramid markets in its entirety organizations have to develop the “native capabilities” where mutual partnerships and co-creation are the founding stones of development. Organizations optimistic to enter into the bottom of the pyramid markets can replicate the already established business models successful at the bottom of the pyramid and can even derive business practices from them.

Innovative Products for Bottom of the Pyramid Markets Organizations often understand bottom of the pyramid markets as the low priced, low quality product markets where the consumer desire for the bare necessity products. However, as a marketer it is imperative to find whether this assumption holds true in the real sense or not. Indeed, the products specially designed and developed for the bottom of the pyramid is successful at the bottom of the pyramid markets. It is proven with the successful acceptance of the products like Tata Swacch (India) – using paddy husk ash for water filtration, GE Vscan – an innovative, affordable and low cost ultrasound machine by GE for the developing economies of rural population, GE Mac800 (USA) – a portable low-cost ECG machine for the rural population, Husk Power System (India) – uses locally grown rice husks to produce electricity that employees a unique and cost-effective biomass gasification technology, solar power based ATMs by Vortex installed in the rural areas of erratic power supply, Aakash Tablet (India) – a low cost portable internet connected touchscreen tablet computer, 1298 Ambulances (India) – for the poor people who cannot afford to pay more,


Aravind Eye Care (India) – affordable low cost eye treatment hospital, Bharti Airtel (India) – cheapest mobile talk in $1 US cent per minute and Godrej Chotu Cool (India) – a refrigerator designed and developed for the bottom of the pyramid markets. Therefore, from the above stated examples it is clear that the BOP markets have the unstated and unmet needs that can be brought to surface by the marketers that delve into the research of finding the right products for them. The identification of the needs of the bottom of the pyramid markets is a result of the search and research by the marketing agencies, R&D department and through building an active involvement with the BOP. Thus, organizations that are shifting towards BOP markets with the contention of considering them as merely an extension of the urban markets need to revisit and question their mind-set and ideology of profitability vis-à-vis serving the bottom of the pyramid markets by earning moderate profits.

The Close Watch: How Bottom of the Pyramid Markets should be Developed? From the examples of the successful BOP business models and innovative product development for and with the BOP it can be assumed that subaltern markets are profitable, scalable and sustainable. Additionally, the needs of the BOP consumers are different and should be addressed differently. Also, need fulfilment of the BOP has been made by making alterations in the business models and products altogether. Therefore, we propose that marketers serving the bottom of the pyramid markets should develop the innovative products because of the existence of factors like consumers’ willingness to pay more (Brocklehurst & Evans, 2001), consumers longing for quality products (Prahalad, 2005), extensive preference of unit purchases (Karnani, 2007a; Karnani, 2007b), and presence of traditional and greater sense of community (Karnani, 2007; Gollakota, Gupta and Bork, 2010) as compared to their urban counterparts. These factors, in association with change in the business models and products are few of the reasons that may motivate the BOP marketers to start viewing bottom of the pyramid differently and BOP market development methodically. Also, it is suggested that use of cocreation in the product development at the bottom of the pyramid can be made as it will be advantageous for the marketing organizations in


two ways. Firstly, product development through co-creation will help in building relationship with the local community and ultimately lead to building of social capital. Secondly, product development through co-creation will help in understanding the unmet and unstated needs of the BOP population. Due to these observations, the motivation of the present research in the bottom of the pyramid markets is undertaken to find out the relevance of the co-creation in understanding and then increasing the demand of the products in these markets. The relevance of innovative products is pivotal for meeting the latent needs of the consumers. However, in doing so product development must start from a deep understanding of functionality, not just form (Prahalad, 2005). Therefore, in the next section of our manuscript we have made an attempt to identify the reasons that demonstrate the importance of customer participation or customer involvement in the product development.

Relevance of Customer Participation in the Innovative Product Development for the Bottom of the Pyramid Markets To identify the needs of the bottom of the pyramid consumers’ active involvement of the user and provider is desired. As per Kristensson et al., (2002), user involvement is helpful in capturing the latent needs of the consumer. However, marketers should consider customers as members of the organization and be seen as active players and not as ‘passive audiences’ (Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2000). Thus, to satiate the needs of the bottom of the pyramid consumers, the development of products and services for and with the consumers is extremely important (Matthing et al., 2004). Moreover, customers have the potential to bring in additional capital, natural resources, innovations and other tangible or intangible resources during the product development process (Lengnick-Hall, 1996) that further propels the organizations to become customer centric. Therefore, organization should use the resources and the tacit knowledge of the bottom of the pyramid population in the product development. The process of using the tacit knowledge of the bottom of the pyramid markets for the product development is adopted by the marketers for over few years. However, the innovative products developed at the BOP markets have found their demand in the advanced


and developed markets as well. Therefore, to develop the wisdom centric approach, intensive customer-marketer interaction is foreseen. The process in which the convergence of customers and the firms’ role takes place is termed as co-creation (Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2000; Ramaswamy, 2005). Indeed, the product or service development through co-creation at the bottom of the pyramid is significant as it leads to value creation – an important enabler for the organization. Here, on the basis of literature and our understanding, we have catapult the reasons that necessitates the customer participation in the product development. (a) Price sensitive consumers: Bottom of the pyramid consumers is price sensitive, thus participation in the product or service development will help both the solution developer (marketer) and solution seeker (BOP consumer) to bargain for a just and affordable priced product. For instance, Bharti-Airtel scheme of offering $1 US cent per minute is one example that has helped the bottom of the pyramid consumers to meet their need of communication at a lower cost. (b) Educating the customer: BOP consumers’ participation in the product or service development will educate the consumers about the right use of the products and will also justify the products, requirement in the lives of the BOP consumer. Innovations in educating a semiliterate group on the use of new products can pose interesting challenges (Prahalad, 2005). Therefore, it is advisable to incorporate the BOP consumer in the process of product development from the ideas generation stage so that such challenges can be accommodated. (c) Communication: The obstacle of poor communication and weak expression of the desired products and product features can be overcome through active participation of the user and the service provider. Participation can be increased by increasing the social capital, raising the level of belongingness, trust and education. Education leads to awareness and gives an opportunity to communicate. (d) Trust: Joint product development or co-creation will bring transparency, hence the building of trust between the solution provider and the solution seeker. According to Jaworski & Kohli (2006), open dialogue increases the trust between the customer and the firm. However, open dialogue can be facilitated by increasing the participation of both the parties towards a common goal.


(e) Relational consumers: Customer participation or involvement in the product development will build relational consumers over transactional consumers. However, it is suggested that customer participation in the product or service development should be done consistently and coherently. Also, the participation of the right customers with an ability to contribute in the solution development is desirable for design and development of the products. (f ) Saves cost: Active participation between consumer and provider in the product and service development will facilitate the free flow of communication, feedback transmission and detection of loopholes at the early stage of the process, product or service development, thus, saving cost. Without basic skills, it is impossible to develop one’s potential or to contribute in anything more than a rudimentary manner to society (Greaney, 1999). Therefore, customer participation in the innovative product development requires skill development at the BOP. (g) Social capital: Social capital is an enabler for co-creation at the bottom of the pyramid markets: According to Fuller, J. et al. (2011), in co-creation exercise a sense of community evolves over time. Noticeably, the bottom of the pyramid markets has strong social capital as compared to their urban counterparts (Sen, V., 2012). Additionally, in the emerging markets majority of the bottom of the pyramid population resides in rural areas where social capital is higher (Hofferth & Iceland, 1998; Beaudoin & Thorson, 2004). Therefore, co-creation exercise when rightly projected at the bottom of the pyramid can help in understanding the customers’ latent needs and designing the products and services as desired by them. To encapsulate, the benefits of co-creation in the product development increases the importance of customer participation. However, evidence from the literature purports that absence of willingness at the bottom of the pyramid affects the participation in the product development that eventually hampers the co-creation. Therefore, there is a need to identify the factors that makes co-creation practice by the organizations a success. The factors that determines the importance of customer participation in innovative product development shall be leveraged and communicated to reap the economic and non-economic benefits.


Conclusion Need identification of the bottom of the pyramid consumers is important for the designing and developing the right products. However, the development of the right and need based products is essentially important as it will reduce the cost to the marketer on one hand and increase the level of satisfaction of the consumer on the other. It is concluded that for devising the right and need based products for the bottom of the pyramid markets, active involvement of the consumers with the marketers at all the stages of product development and even after product development is essential. The BOP development, according to the BOP (2.0) protocol, is suggestive of building native capabilities and the examples of the manuscript proves the validity of BOP (2.0) protocol that how organizations have profitably served the BOP markets by building reputation and by becoming an integral part of the BOP community. However, we propose that to develop the BOP markets successful business models should be studied and replicated, innovative products meeting the specific needs of the BOP shall be developed with the active engagement of the local community and use extensively co-creation as an exercise through which reach, intensity, and identification of needs, building of reputation, goodwill, profitability and sustainability can be attained. Therefore, we purport that the bottom of the pyramid are like the only child that need more attention, more inputs in the form of time and efforts and need to be dealt with patience, perseverance and with a different mindset and should not be seen as the quick return churners, but, if nurtured well will lead to the holistic development of economic, social, cultural, moral, intellectual and aesthetic aspects.

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Rethinking Parsons’ Paradigm in the Context of Sustainability Mari Kooskora, Tarmo Kadak, Lea Roostalu and Merle Rihma E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] ABSTRACT This paper examines Talcott Parsons’ adaptation, goal attainment, integration and latent pattern maintenance (AGIL) paradigm or AGIL scheme in the light of the concept of sustainability. It will be argued that Parsons’ AGIL scheme provides a general model of sustainable development, where values (L) have the most crucial role, as it was underscored by Parsons. Additionally, we demonstrate some examples about the use of the AGIL as a research methodology. Thereby, our paper gives an account of and the reasons for the widespread use of Parsons’ AGIL scheme in future sustainability studies as well as for more in-depth surveys of his works.

Keywords: AGIL Paradigm, Sustainability, Values.

Introduction

A

ccording to Schwartz (2009), ethical values serve an important purpose with respect to establishing ethical corporate culture, ethical behavior and decision-making, and leading to better financial performance. Many authors at different times have stressed that values are rationally and emotionally binding, giving long-term orientation and motivation for actions (Kaiser, 2013; Koller et al., 2010; Hawkes, 2001; Evan, 1980; Parsons, 1949 & 1937). ISSN 2321-4473 Print © 2013 Academy of Value Based Management International Journal on Spirituality and Organization Leadership, pp. 62–72.

Rethinking Parsons’ Paradigm in the Context of Sustainability  63

In his paradigm, Talcott Parsons identifies four different essential functions, or “functional imperatives” for any organization. Several researchers have pointed out Parsons’ role in the development of modern organization theories, such as open systems where organizations interact with their environment (Fukushima & Shiratory, 2008; Shiratory, 1994; Rokkan, 1965) and structural functionalism, in which organizations are explained in terms of contributions to maintaining the system and continuity (Trevino, 2001, 2009; Appelrouth & Edles, 2008; Wallace & Wolf, 2005; Fox et al., 2005; Gerhardt, 2002; Habermas, 1987; Holton & Turner, 1986). The opponents of Parsons have claimed that his theory is too abstract to be understood and implemented in practice (see for example, Michaels 2006; Gerhardt, 2002, pp. 1-5). In this paper we will first discuss main characteristics of sustainability and compare them with Parsons’ paradigm to show that these two theories overlap in numerous ways. In the second part of the paper, we will focus on the usefulness of Parsons’ paradigm in different studies. A summary is given in the last section of the paper.

Parsons’ Paradigm as a General Sustainability Model Essence of Sustainability Waas et al. (2011) do not distinguish in meaning between sustainable development and sustainability. Here we are in agreement with them and also use these concepts synonymously. Additionally, there is a large degree of arbitrariness in the concept’s interpretation, and there are probably as many definitions (and even controversial views) as people dealing with the issue, each with their own focus (Waas et al., 2011; Gladwin et al., 1995). At the beginning (in the 1980s and 1990s), the concept of sustainable development was broken out into three parts or the so-called pillars of sustainability – economic growth, social inclusion and environmental balance (Brundtland Report, 1987; Elkington, 1998). Now it has been suggested that a more consistent analytical breakdown is to distinguish four domains of economic, ecological, social and cultural


sustainability (Hawkes, 2001; CEMAT, 2003). For example, Hawkes (2001, pp. 34-35) suggests that the four pillars of sustainability are cultural vitality (including wellbeing, creativity, diversity and innovation), social equity (justice, engagement, cohesion, welfare), environmental responsibility (ecological balance), and economic viability (material prosperity), which provide a framework for community discourse, for debate about the values that inform our society. The essence of sustainability is well-defined by Waas et al. (2011) who pointed out four fundamental sustainability principles: (1) the normativity principle, (2) the equity principle, (3) the integration principle, and (4) the dynamism principle. In their words (Ibid, pp. 1645-1647): • first, sustainable development always implies societal and normative choices, which are ultimately based on the values we maintain – the values define or direct us to goals, frame our attitudes and views, and provide standards against which human behavior can be judged; • second, the equity principle refers to the long term or futurity aspect of sustainability (inter-generational equity), the realization of contemporary social equity (intra-generational equity), the need for act locally think globally (geographical equity or global responsibility), and to democratic and participatory governance systems, involving concerned stakeholders in decision-making (procedural equity). • third, in need of whole system’s perspective (holism) sustainability should harmoniously integrate various traditional (including socio-economic and institutional) development objectives with environmental ones, which means that all sustainability principles should be applied together (i.e. integrated), and that mutually supportive benefits should always be sought; • fourth, sustainable development is always a process of directed – sustainability oriented-change, and not a “defined end-state” – society, the environment and their interaction are subject to a continuous flow of change and as a result sustainable development is not a “fixed state of harmony”, but instead an ongoing evolutionary process. These four sustainability principles are bounded up with each other and can be defined as rules of action towards sustainable development (Ibid, p. 1645).


Talcott Parsons’ AGIL Paradigm Talcott Parsons was one of the developers of structural functionalism, and in his framework of functional analysis, the concept of “society”, which was for him society as a whole, or the various institutions such as the family within society is replaced by that of the “social system” (Trevino, 2001, pp. 16-31). In order to survive and continue, each social system has four characteristics that must be met (Parsons & Smelser, 1956, pp. 16-26): 1. A: adaptation to the environment (to maintain resources); 2. G: goal attainment (to establish priorities of actions); 3. I: integration (to coordinate and maintain the stability of internal relationships); 4. L: latent pattern maintenance or latency (to preserve the core values of the system). These functional needs can be remembered by the acronym AGIL, which form Parsons’ AGIL paradigm or AGIL scheme (Segre, 2012, p. 26). During the 1950s and 1960s, Parsons gradually produced a theory of four functionally specialized subsystems of society, where these abovementioned functions are correspondingly given to the four subsystems of the social system: A to the economic sphere; G to the policy sphere; I to the social sphere, and L to the cultural sphere (Parsons, 1951; Parsons & Smelser, 1956; Parsons & Shils, 1962). Subsystems, as designated by the acronym AGIL, are hierarchically ranged in the order of decreasing access to information and increasing use of energy (Segre, 2012, p. 36). Parsons here uses the term “cybernetic hierarchy”, where adaptation (A) holds the highest position (Parsons, 1961, pp. 36-72; Segre, 2012, p. 36). In achieving continuity, vice versa, latency (L) has a crucial role because values motivate the members of any social system voluntary to act in such a way that is expected by their social system (Parsons, 1961, p. 40; Appelrouth & Edles, 2008, p. 361). At the same time, the balanced performance and co-operation of all four subsystems is required (Parsons & Smelser, 1956, pp. 16-17). For example, Segre (2012, p. 28) explains: “Through the ‘patternmaintenance function’, the values and individual commitment required


for conforming to the normative patterns are preserved. Through the ‘goal-attainment function’, the system is able to meet its needs, such as preserving its integrity in the face of changes to its environment. Through the ‘adaptation function’, which makes it possible to obtain physical, cultural and economic facilities, the system obtains and distributes within itself what is necessary to achieve its goals. Finally, through the ‘integrative function’, it maintains itself as a unit, its differentiation notwithstanding, in so far as it performs the integrative function. The latter takes up and assimilates the functional contributions provided by the subsystems.” Additionally, as each of the four subsystems is in turn analyzable by another application of the same four-function paradigm, the need for latent pattern maintenance also exists within all of the subsystems of the social system, including the economy. For example, the great depression of 1929 was rooted in a lack of faith in the banking systems or in Parsons’ terms, a failure in latent pattern maintenance (Appelrouth & Edles, 2008, pp. 361-362). For Parsons, social systems are also action systems because a social system is “a mode of organization of action elements relative to the persistence or ordered processes of change of the interactive patterns of a plurality of individual actors” (Parsons, 1949, p. 24). He defines that the action is a process in the actor-situation system, which has a motivational significance for the individual actor or in the case of collectivity, for its component individuals (Ibid.). Parsons stresses that equilibrium is only a theoretical point of reference and that an action system is never completely stable – actions must be understood as processes in time and not isolated from one another (Parsons, 1949, p. 45; Appelrouth & Edles, 2008, pp. 351-355). Critics argue that this theory is unable to explain changes in social systems, so by the late 1980s, functionalism and Parsons were more or less discredited (Wallace & Wolf, 2005, pp. 58-61). In the words of Parsons (1951, pp. 204-205), “the process of change in the social system is exclusively determined by its culture and the configurational processes of culture development”, and “as our knowledge of the laws of social process develops we will be able to say more and more about the conditions under which certain types of states of affairs in various parts of social systems,


and in the external variables impinging on them, tend to lead to various types of change” (Ibid., pp. 490-493). Roostalu and Kadak (2013) showed that the AGIL scheme can be interpreted as the four sustainability principles from Waas et al. (2011): the normativity principle means L (latency or values), the integration principle means I (also integration), the equity principle means G (goal attainment), and the dynamism principle means A (adaptation). Of course, Parsons did not use the term “stakeholder” but he stated that: 1. latent pattern maintenance includes tension management (Parsons, 1949, p. 701); and 2. the basis of social action can be termed voluntarism (Parsons & Smelser, 1956, p. 18). Parsons also pointed out a fundamental phenomenon “that may be called the ‘complementarity of expectations’, in the sense that the action of each is oriented to the expectations of the other” (Parsons, 1951, p. 15). Moreover, the study of Roostalu (2011) indicated that in Parsons’ theory, the following 11 most cited sustainability indicators are presented: economic, ecological, social, and cultural sustainability, stakeholder involvement, holistic systems thinking, ethical sustainability (including trust), linking and balancing of local and global, measurement of targets and results, technological and social innovation. For example, Parsons (1949, p. 44) distinguished two main aspects of adaptation: (1) technological and ecological aspects; and (2) socio-cultural aspects. In addition, he stresses the significance of learning process in socialization i.e. role-orientation (Parsons, 1951, pp. 74-75). Therefore, we argue that Parsons’ AGIL scheme provides a general sustainability model.

Examples about the Use of Parsons’ Paradigm Analysis of Theories of CSR Garriga and Melé (2004, p. 51) note that the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) “presents not only a landscape of theories but also a proliferation of approaches, which are controversial, complex and unclear”.


Their article “tries to clarify the situation, ‘mapping the territory’ by classifying the main CSR theories and related approaches in four groups (Garriga & Melé, 2004): • instrumental theories, in which the corporation is seen as only an instrument for wealth creation, and its social activities are only a means to achieve economic results; • political theories, which concern themselves with the power of corporations in society and a responsible use of this power in the political arena; • integrative theories, in which the corporation is focused on the satisfaction of social demands; and • ethical theories, based on ethical responsibilities of corporations to society.” Their inspiration for that was “rooted in four aspects that, according to Parsons (1961), can be observed in any social system: adaptation to the environment (related to resources and economics), goal attainment (related to politics), social integration and pattern maintenance or latency (related to culture and values)” (Ibid., p. 52). In our opinion, the use of Parsons’ paradigm has given a really good systemic and holistic overview about the different CSR approaches in past and today. For example, Friedman’s viewpoint that the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits characterizes the first group while the theory of sustainability as well as Freeman’s stakeholder normative theory belong to the fourth group (Ibid.).

Analysis of Carroll’s Pyramid of CSR Carroll divided corporate social responsibilities into a four-level pyramid, naming separately economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities (Carroll, 1991). According to Garriga & Melé (2004), this approach represents the third group. Kadak and Roostalu (2013) suggest that in the AGIL scheme, the levels of Carroll’s pyramid can be interpreted as follows: economic responsibility as A, philanthropic responsibility as G, legal responsibility as I, and ethical responsibility as L. Hence, in the


Carroll’s pyramid (which is an integrative system), all four subsystems of the AGIL scheme are represented. So, we can conclude that Carroll’s approach is a holistic systems thinking theory.

Analysis of Legal Acts In the case study of Roostalu (2011), the legal acts that regulate the activities of Estonian public sector were under investigation. Using Parsons’ AGIL scheme, these acts were grouped as follows (Ibid.): • acts describing general managerial issues and tasks or acts of adaptation (A); • acts providing a framework for the strategic management of public organizations or acts of goal attainment (G); • acts setting accounting and reporting tasks of public organizations or acts of integration (I); • acts of ethical tasks or acts of latent pattern maintenance (L). It was showed (via using sustainability indicators) that although the acts of strategic tasks support sustainable development, there is no integration of these principles in the acts of everyday reporting and motivation of officials (Ibid). Hence, again the use of Parsons AGIL scheme was good for a holistic assessment.

Discussion and Conclusions Hawkes (2001, p. 8) stressed that “a society’s values are the basis upon which all else is built. These values and the ways they are expressed are a society’s culture”. In the Parsons’ AGIL scheme, values hold the highest position, “and can therefore rule and control (but not determine) the other elements of the social system, and in general, of the action system” (Segre, 2012, p. 45). Our results indicate that Parsons’ AGIL scheme provides a model of sustainabity and is applicable in different studies, where holistic systems’ thinking is important. In the view of Habermas (1987, p. 199), Parsons’ AGIL scheme is “without parallel in its level of abstraction and differentiation, its social


theoretical scope and systematic quality… No theory of society can be taken seriously today if it does not at least situate itself with respect to Parsons”. Holton and Turner underscore that “we are dealing with an author who is both massively influential and also heavily criticized and rejected” (Holton & Turner, 1986, p. 6) and “there are very strong reasons for reading and re-reading Parsons without the blinkered prejudices of the critique of functionalism” (Ibid., p. 10). Our results confirm these viewpoints. Moreover, as Parsons’ theory has been criticized as being too abstract to be used constructively in empirical research this paper refutes such claims.

Acknowledgement This research was supported by the European Social Fund’s Doctoral Studies and Internationalisation Programme DoRa.

References [1] Appelrouth, S. and Edles, L.D. (2008). Classical and Contemporary Sociological Theory: Text and Readings, London: Pine Forge Press. [2] Brundtland Report (1987). Report of World Commission on Environment and Development. Our common future. Retrieved June 22, 2013 from http:// www.un-documents.net/our-common-future.pdf [3] Carroll, A. (1991). ‘The Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility: Toward the Moral Management of Organizational Stakeholders’, Business Horizons, 34(4), 39–48. [4] Elkington, J. (1998). Cannibals With Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business. New Society Publishers. [5] Evan, W.M. (ed.) (1980). The Sociology of Law. A Social-Structural Perspective. New York: The Free Press. [6] Fox, R.C., Lidz, V. and Bershady, H. (2005). After Parsons. A Theory of Social Action for the Twenty-first Century, New York: Russel Sage Foundation. [7] Fukushima, M. and Shiratory, H. (2008). ‘Do Minorities Matter?: Inequality and Inequity in Public Secondary Education in Maryland’, Interdisciplinary Information Sciences, 14 (2), 177–182. [8] Garriga, E. and Melé, D. (2004). ‘Corporate Social Responsibility Theories: Mapping the Territory’, Journal of Business Ethics, 53(1/2), 51–71.


[9] Gerhardt, U. (2002). Talcott Parsons: An Intellectual Biography, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [10] Gladwin, T.N., Kennelly, J.J. and Krause, T.S. (1995). ‘Shifting Paradigms for Sustainable Development: Implications for Management Theory and Research’, Academy of Management Review, 20(4), 874–904. [11] Habermas, J. (1987). Theory of Communicative Action, Boston: Beacon Press. [12] Hawkes, J. (2001). The Fourth Pillar of Sustainability: Culture’s Essential Role in Public Planning. Melbourne Common Ground P/L. [13] Holton, R.J. and Turner, B.S. (1986). Talcott Parsons on Economy and Society, New York: Routlee & Kegan Paul Inc. [14] Kadak, T. and Roostalu, L. (2013). ‘Management Accounting Problems and Perspectives in the Local Government of Estonia: An Analysis from the Viewpoint of Parsons’ Paradigm’, Journal of Modern Accounting and Auditing, 9(1), 20–36. [15] Kaiser, M. (2013). ‘The Value Isobars Project and Value-Based Science Policy’, in Proceedings of the Conference ‘Ethical Issues of Privacy and Data Protection’, Tallinn, 9-10 January, 1–5. [16] Koller, T., Goedhart, M. and Wessels, D. (2010). Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies, 5th Edition, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. [17] Michaels, R. (2006). ‘The Functional Method of Comparative Law’, in Reimann, M. and Zimmermann, R. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Law, Oxford University Press, 339–382. [18] Parsons, T. (1961). ‘An Outline of the Social System’, in T. Parsons, E.A. Shils, K.D. Naegle and J.R. Pitts (Eds.), Theories of Society. New York: Simon & Schuster, 36–72. [19] Parsons, T. (1951). The Social System. Glencoe: Free Press. [20] Parsons, T. (1949). The Structure of Social Action, Glencoe: Free Press. [21] Parsons, T. (1937). The Structure of Social Action, Columbus: McGraw-Hill Company. [22] Parsons, T. and Shils, E.A. (1962). Toward a General Theory of Action, USA: Harvard University Press. [23] Parsons, T. and Smelser, N.J. (1956). Economy and Society, New York, NY: Free Press. [24] Rokkan, S. (1965). ‘Zur Entwicklungssoziologischen Analyse von Parteisystemen: An Anmerkungen für ein Hypothetisches Modell’, Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 17 (3), 675–702. [25] Roostalu, L. (2011). ‘The Challenges of Law in Promoting Sustainable Development’, in Proceedings of South East European Doctoral Student Conference, 19-20 September, Thessaloniki, 126–150.


[26] Schwartz, M.S. (2009). ‘Ethical Leadership Training: An Aristotelian Approach’, in Proceedings of the 22nd EBEN AC. Athens, 1–29. [27] Segre, S. (2012). Talcott Parsons: An Introduction, New York: University Press of America. [28] Shiratori, H. (1994). ‘Theoretical Foundation of Sub-Culture-Based Politics: Reconsidering Early Works of Stein Rokkan’, J. Behav. Soc. Sci., 3: 78–89. [29] Trevino, A.J. (2009). Talcott Parsons on Law and the Legal System, Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. [30] Trevino, A.J. (2001). Talcott Parsons Today, New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers. [31] Waas, T., Hugé, J., Verbruggen, A. and Wright, T. (2011). ‘Sustainable Development: A Bird’s Eye View’, Sustainability, 3(10), 1637–1661. [32] Wallace, R.A. and Wolf, A. (2005). Contemporary Sociological Theory: Expanding the Classical Tradition, London: Pearson.

How do Spiritual Influences and/or Practices Manifest Themselves in Venture Operations? Can Volunteerism be the Unexpressed Demonstration of a Powerful Spiritual Practice Manifested in an Effective Social and Economical Activity? Michael Marco, Florence Rodhain and Angelique Rodhain E-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT This article is a presentation of the phenomenon of volunteerism. It will give the keys of a better understanding of the activity, and especially how it can be considered as a powerful spiritual practice which is used in venture operations. Step by step in this article, volunteerism will be shown in its all forms and all different way of application. Its range, scale and extent in the world will be presented. The interest of taking a serious consideration of it will be explained while listing the positive effects volunteerism can have on the individual, as physical as mental. The spiritual heritage of volunteerism will be also examined and put in perspective with the present situation of the International project of Auroville.



Introduction

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umerous studies are presented here and confirm that when people engage in volunteerism, the result is increased absorption, retention, attraction, morale, and other such positive benefits. The concept of volunteerism is exemplified in the city of Auroville and is a principal driving force in the running of the city; indeed Aurovilians are considered as volunteers and stewards of the township, and its inhabitants have dedicated their lives to this project since 1968. In this article we will present recent studies which show that even among visitors to the city, a considerable number of them dedicate their time to volunteer, for short or long periods, to contribute to the development of the township project. Where does volunteerism come originally from? Which values does it carry? What is its spiritual contribution? What are the benefits for the city, the entrepreneurs and the individuals? Does the world perceive the contribution of volunteerism at its real value? How has this alternative way of working shaped the development of an international city that is growing both economically and spiritually? How has volunteerism contributed to the growth of projects in Auroville which have achieved international dimensions? How can this concept be implemented in classical organizations in a way to benefit all, employers and employees? The purpose of this article is to present an actual picture of volunteerism and to answer to all these questions in order to understand this phenomenon better. This article can address the entrepreneurs willing to innovate by reconsidering the labor force. Professor Israel Kirzner (1973) describes the entrepreneur as a man who perceives and pursues economic opportunities in the face of uncertainty and for whom alertness is the fundamental quality. Through his alertness, the entrepreneur is able to foresee economic developments that other actors have overlooked.1 In this paper, it will be argued that Volunteerism can be conceptualized as an economic opportunity for development. A closer look on the phenomenon of volunteerism and its contribution to both self development and economical growth is indispensably called for. There is no agreed methodology for measuring the extent of voluntary engagement and this makes the task difficult. However, the studies we

How do Spiritual Influences and/or Practices Manifest Themselves . . .  75

present here and which are only a part of numerous studies, attest to the universality of volunteerism, its universal spread, massive scale and impact. A more in-depth study of volunteerism is crucial for several reasons: to better understand human-resources management, how organizations can consider the interests of both employers and employees, and the impact of inspiration and spirituality as a driving force for self and economic development. These themes are encapsulated by the term ‘volunteerism’ which can be defined as a form of work that finds its specificity in the fact that the people employed do not receive any financial remuneration in exchange for their work. This aspect is particularly important when considering a spiritual approach to economic activity. According to Helen Clark (2011), Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), “the terms which define volunteerism and the forms of its expression may vary in different languages and cultures, but the values which drive it are common and universal: a desire to contribute to the common good, out of free will and in a spirit of solidarity, without expectation of material reward.”2 Volunteerism indeed represents a platform of interaction where financial profit does not take place, but where business can still be successful. To the question “How do spiritual influences and/or practices manifest themselves in venture operations?” a spiritual enquiry is here facilitated by the concept of gratification, mostly intangible, that volunteers gain in exchange of work. More specifically, this could be the experience of being a ‘worker’ in resonance with the ‘work’ being done. In addition, the first United Nations State of the World’s Volunteerism Report (2011, p. 7) emphasizes how volunteerism is a means by which people can take control of their lives and make a difference to themselves and to those around them. These ideas give rise to the essential question: Can volunteerism be the unexpressed demonstration of a powerful spiritual practice manifested in an effective social and economical activity? The study of this question then justifies the adoption of the following plan:


• On the first hand, we will show how present is volunteerism in the world, in various fields of work in order to express the powerful capacities of this activity. • On the second hand, we will focus on the impact and mutual benefits brought about volunteerism, first on the individuals, on the companies and then on the society with numerous examples of achievements in various countries. We will show then why I can be effectively used for a socio-economical activity. We will finish the article with a study of one of the origins of volunteerism through the traditional Gurukul system of India in order to show its spiritual potential. And thus its application and manifestation in the International Township Project of Auroville will make the link between the spiritual concept and an effective socio-economical activity.

For a Recognition of the Importance of Volunteerism in the World The measurement system to evaluate volunteerism value suffers from a lack of consensus on economic data: voluntary organizations are developing tools and instruments to monitor the economic value of their volunteers’ contributions. However, national statistical offices vary greatly in terms of data collected and their interest in measuring economic value of volunteering. Difficulties are arising from the inconsistency in approaches to quantifying volunteer numbers, time dedicated and activities undertaken. Where calculations have been made, there is usually no consensus on estimated economic value due to differing ways of valuing volunteer work. This article does not use figures on monetary value provided by Member States. Instead, it uses gross estimates of the economic value of volunteering based on the common replacement cost method for all countries. The term “replacement cost” or “replacement value” refers to the amount that would have to be paid if the work performed by a volunteer is performed by a paid staff member. Recent country-level studies, largely in developed countries, of the size and composition of volunteering have proven a solid basis for discussions of many aspects of volunteerism. For example, the 2007 Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating, conducted by Statistics Canada,


recorded a total of 2.1 billion volunteer hours with both an increase in the number of volunteers (5.7%) and volunteer hours (4.2%) from 2004.3 In 2004, in the United States, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor indicated that 62.8 million people had volunteered for an organization at least once in the previous 12 months. The bureau of Statistics of Australia found that, in 2007, 5.2 million people volunteered for as sum of 713 million hours of work, equivalent to 14.6 billion Australian dollars of paid work time. The study showed that 34% of the adult population volunteered (36% of women and 32% of men). To empower a community to recognize its own contributions, an action research study in Jansenville, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, based on community calendars mapped the amount of volunteer time, skills, goods in-kind, money that community-based, non-governmental and faith-based organizations received from members in the community. The results translated in a total of 19 years and 8 months of unpaid labor a year. In a community where the local government estimates that 60% of families live in poverty, the total contribution of volunteering was estimated to have a value of 53,000 US dollars generated by 4343 people across 378 households. This valuing of community assets has been eye opening, motivating and inspiring S. Country Respondents to participants, encouraging them No. (in million) to build on their “investment”.4 1. China 1,306 The Johns Hopkins Comparative 2. India 1,094 Nonprofit Sector Project (CNP)5 3. United States 296 provides a common survey form 4. Indonesia 229 to participating countries with 5. Brazil 186 suggested questions and examples 6. Pakistan 158 of the kinds of activity about 144 which respondents would be asked. 7. Bangladesh 143 “Think about the past months. 8. Russia 9. “Volunteer Land” ca. 140 During that time period, did you 129 help, work, or provide any service 10. Nigeria or assistance to anyone outside your 11. Japan 128 family or household without receiving Source: Volunteering – Johns Hopkins compensation?” Respondents who Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project; answered “no” were then prompted Population: United States Census Bureau.


to think broadly about such activities even if they thought it “natural that everyone would do such a thing in a similar situation.” While this also applies to formal types of volunteerism, it is especially relevant for the informal types often so embedded in cultures and traditions that they may not even be considered volunteering. This makes the task of measuring more challenging. The CNP estimates that, between 1995 and 2000, the number of volunteers contributing through voluntary organizations in 36 countries, taken together, would make the ninth largest country in the world in terms of population with about 140 million volunteers. In the same 36 countries, volunteers comprised 44% of the work force of civil society organizations representing the equivalent of 20.8 million fulltime workers. Using a “replacement cost” approach, CNP calculated the economic contribution of volunteers in the 36 countries to be 400 billion

Note: * 36 country average. Source: Salamon, L. (2008, April). Putting volunteering on the economic map of the world. Paper presented at the IAVE Conference, Panama, Costa Rica.


US dollars annually. This represented, on average, 1.1% of GDP in these countries. However, in developing and transition countries, volunteer work represented a somewhat smaller 0.7% of GDP. In developed countries, volunteer work represented 2.7% of GDP.6 These figures, among many others, have been contributing to the recognition of the value of volunteerism from the International Community. In fact, the United Nations proclaimed 2001 the International Year of Volunteers (IYV), and the European Union designated 2011 as the “European Year of Volunteering”. The international community recognized then the essential contributions which volunteers make to the progress, cohesion, and resilience of communities and nations. Yet, the phenomenon is still misconstrued and undervalued; the contributions of volunteers are not always factored into development strategies and often remain at the margins of development debate. All too often, the strong links are overlooked between volunteer activity on the one hand and peace and human development on the other (UNV, 2011).7 Isn’t it time for the contribution of volunteerism to the quality of life, and the well-being in a wider sense, to be understood as one of the missing components of a development paradigm that still has economic growth at its core? “People are the real wealth of a nation”; with these words the first Human Development Report (HDR) began in 1990 a forceful case for a new approach to thinking about development. Development is about expanding the choices available to people so that they may lead lives that they value. Economic growth is only one means of increasing people’s choices (HDR, 2011).8 The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 2002 attended to extend the notion of volunteerism as an additional valuable component of national development planning to development cooperation policy. The Resolution of the General Assembly contained what follows: “Recognizing and building strategically on rich, local traditions of voluntary self-help and mutual aid can open the way to building up a new constituency in support of development efforts. Forging a link in the mind of the general public in countries providing development assistance between domestic volunteering in those countries and volunteering in countries receiving assistance can also help enlist public support for development cooperation” (A/RES/56/38, p. 2). Since the International Year of Volunteerism considerable progress has been achieved, especially in the developing world, in responding to the


four major themes identified for the year, namely greater recognition, facilitation, networking and promotion of volunteerism. Governments have developed an extensive list of recommendations for actions to support volunteerism. These are contained in the UNGA Resolution 56/38 adopted in 2001. Among the key consideration was “Neglecting to factor volunteering into design and implementation of policies could entail the risk of overlooking a valuable asset and undermine traditions of cooperation that bind communities together”9 These recommendations have been supplemented by subsequent resolutions from the United Nations General Assembly10, and also emphasized in successive reports of the United Nations Secretary-General.11 In 2011, a decade after the IYV, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) wrote a report. It coincides with an intense debate about the type of societies that we wish to see, for ourselves and for the future generations. In 2003, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Evaluation Office (EO) stated in their report that globalization is rapidly transforming cultural and social norms, bringing benefits to some but exclusion and marginalization to others. Many people feel a loss of control over their lives.12 Marian Harkin, Member of the European Parliament, said in 2011, “People often feel powerless in the face of globalization; like flotsam and jetsam on the waves with no stable anchors. Volunteerism can be an anchor for people as they affect change in their own community of place”.13 About measuring the value of volunteerism, the international community has recognized the need for governments to “establish the economic value of volunteering to help to highlight one important aspect of its overall contribution to society and thereby assist in the development of informed policies” (UNGA, 2010, p. 5).14 This chapter confirms that volunteer action is found the world over and is huge. Taking the measure of volunteerism, in all its diversity and rich expressions, is occurring in many places and in many different ways. However, it is still at a very early stage and presents considerable challenges. The range of studies mentioned here points to the diversity of issues covered as well as the absence of common approaches. Due to the highly variable definitions, methodologies and purposes among national,


regional and global initiatives, it is not yet possible to provide a composite picture of the dimensions of volunteerism by country, region or any other categorization. However, the purpose here is not, in any way, to curtail current and new initiatives aimed at measuring volunteerism. These meet specific needs. They help to add to the knowledge base on volunteerism. As such, they should be encouraged and supported, especially in the developing world. So to the question “Can volunteerism be a powerful practice (or means) for venture operations?” the answer can be “Yes”. Indeed, as the International Community recognized the importance of this kind of activity, all the governments are now encouraged to take this practice into consideration in their development plans. But this doesn’t explain the reason we decided to choose volunteerism as a great spiritual practice manifested in venture actions. The next chapter will then be dedicated to the effects and impact of volunteerism on economical actors which include individuals, but also companies, organizations and the society. We will demonstrate the potential of volunteerism to affect in a better way the actors involved in a venture operation.

Volunteerism – A Great Impact for the Development Mutually of Individuals, Economical Actors and the Society Beyond economic data, there is ever more research into the nature and motivations of volunteers. These include studies that look at student volunteering in 12 countries;15 senior well-being in Europe;16 people in Israel on welfare benefits who volunteer;17 the role of religious organizations in promoting volunteerism in Latin America;18 and volunteerism policies and legislation globally.19 In this chapter, we attempt to take the measure of volunteerism, looking also beyond the numbers. Calculating the dimensions and value of volunteerism, including economic value, is obviously important. Yet numbers are not the whole story. Some argue that putting a figure on volunteering detracts from its intrinsic values in terms of its impact on communities and causes on the volunteers themselves. Others would say that the main contribution of volunteerism, its true value, lies in creating


harmonious societies marked by high levels of social cohesion and wellbeing, also factors which are very hard to quantify. “Putting people at the centre of development is much more than an intellectual exercise”, notes the HDR 2010 (p. 2). “It means making progress equitable and broad-based, enabling people to be active participants in change”.20 Volunteerism can be a highly effective and practical means of building on people’s capabilities in all societies and at all levels. It also provides a channel through which these capabilities may enhance the well-being of individuals, communities and nations. “By volunteering people realize their assets which include knowledge, skills, and social networks, for the benefit of themselves, their families and their communities. The values of volunteerism are extremely relevant in strengthening the capacity of the most vulnerable to achieve secure livelihoods and to enhance their physical, economic, spiritual and social well-being. Moreover, volunteering can reduce the social exclusion that is often the result of poverty, marginalization, and other forms of inequality. Volunteerism is one path to inclusion among population groups that are often excluded such as women, young and older people, people with disabilities, migrants and people living with HIV/AIDS” (UNV 2011, p. 9).21 In 2006 at the Fifth African Development Forum, organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, a study entitled “Youth Volunteering for Development: Africa 21st Century”22 was presented. The research, covering nine countries, showed how young people’s capacities develop when they volunteer. They become active developments agents in their communities. Moreover, it emphasized how volunteer programmes can be linked to policy frameworks on a sustainable basis. The outcome statement declared: “It is essential, therefore, that African governments, working with their developments partners, foster the spirit of volunteerism among young people” (UNDESA, 2007, p. 110).23 In 2010 and 2011, both African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) launched regional youth volunteer corps to contribute to peace and development in their regions. The 2010 National Survey of Volunteering conducted by a peak body Volunteering Australia, found that 83% of volunteers say that


volunteerism has increased their sense of belonging to their community. The survey highlights the important role that volunteering plays in providing opportunities for people to learn with 26% saying the training received as part of their volunteer work has helped them to acquire an accreditation/qualification. The survey also found that volunteerism plays an important role in social inclusion in Australian society. The survey found that volunteering can help reduce feelings of personal isolation, offer people skills and social contacts, support a greater sense of self-worth and challenge stereotypes about different groups.24 On a more business oriented vision, numerous studies and research have been made in United States and United Kingdom looking at the impact of volunteerism on employees and their employers. AAA of Northern California has found a positive correlation between employee promotion and those who volunteer. The company attributes this relationship to increased visibility of employee skills to management. By offering their expertise, volunteers are able to refine and enhance their job skills while increasing networking opportunities; this is particularly important for recent college graduates.25 The top business benefits associated with supporting volunteer activities included26: • • • •

providing personal development opportunities for employees (76%) helping to motivate staff (72%) bringing new skills/experience/ideas into the organization (69%) enhancing corporate reputation (69%) or increasing respect for the organization (60%)

A survey carried out by Time Bank through Reed Executive showed that among 200 of the UK’s leading businesses: • 73% of employers would recruit a candidate with volunteering experience over one without. • 94% of employers believe that volunteering can add to existing skills. • 94% of employees who volunteered to learn new skills had benefited either by getting their first job, improving their salary, or being promoted.


Businesses that promote Family Volunteering also report significant results27: • • • •

70% 57% 15% 12%

report report report report

improved public and community relations. greater employee commitment. more productive employees. fewer hours lost for family responsibilities.

The author Claire McCartney (Senior Researcher at Roffey Park Management College) said: “Volunteering is becoming increasingly important for employers – and not just for their corporate responsibility. It is clear that well managed policies to support staff wishing to take part in volunteer activities can deliver significant business benefits in areas such as staff development and retention.” The Chartered Institute of Personnel Development 2005 Flexible Working survey of 585 UK organizations found that staff retention was the main reason for organizations introducing flexible working practices. In the same survey, 70% of HR professionals said that flexible working had a positive effect on employee motivation: “Volunteering led to a successful business.” Beyond business profitability the Corporation for National and Community Service, with a series of studies and researches has shown the benefits of volunteerism on individuals28: • A strong relationship between volunteering and health: those who volunteer have lower mortality rates, greater functional ability, and lower rates of depression later in life than those who do not volunteer. • Volunteering also leads to improved physical and mental health. • Recent studies on the relationship between health and volunteering demonstrate that the benefits of volunteering are not limited to the recipients of the volunteer services. A study found that in general, volunteers report greater life satisfaction and better physical health than non-volunteers, and their life satisfaction and physical health improves at a greater rate as a result of volunteering.29 In conclusion, entrepreneurs should consider volunteerism as an important alternative human resource. Of course cost-related factors are the main motivation to increasing volunteerism in small businesses. The three volunteer-costs that must be addressed then are employee compensation,


organizing the volunteer effort with a focus made on their motivation, and worker longevity loss. A central thesis running through this article is that the values inherent in volunteerism endow it with far-reaching potential for human development. This motion of development includes factors such as solidarity, social inclusion, empowerment, life-satisfaction and individual and societal well-being. The well being of individuals is intrinsically linked to their contributions to the lives of others. With this chapter we begin to touch the very point of volunteerism. We found here an activity spread world wide and with records of its benefits for everyone which has been involved directly or indirectly. And the benefits can be much beyond the simple production of goods or services, the individuals are affected, their collectivity represented by their company or community, and then it can be the whole society which can benefit from the influence of volunteerism. Now the last question remains unanswered, “can volunteerism be considered as a spiritual practice, and if so how can it be manifested in a venture operation?” In fact it is for this reason that the Auroville project shows a very interesting living experience by using mainly volunteer force. Based on a ancient Indian tradition of Ashram, and made to be an example, the demonstration of an advanced society supporting the progress of humanity, can Auroville represent the bridge between the past and the future, the tradition and the need of modernity, the immaterial spirit brought into a material word?

The Traditional System of Gurukul as Found Working in the International Township Project of Auroville The country of India is of particular importance in regard to its fabulous spiritual traditions. The Gurukul System is an ancient Indian philosophy of education. The notion of a “guru” in Indian culture makes an important reference of how knowledge and guidance for self spiritual development is transmitted/exchanged through the dedication, commitment and energy that the student/devotee brings by volunteering in the household and participating in chores as part of the Guru (teacher) who can be thought


of as a guide, father and role-model. In this way volunteerism has become a prevalent notion among Indian people. Life in a Gurukul meant keeping to strict discipline. Students lived in very simple surroundings, practiced celibacy and cultivated virtue and discipline under the custody of their guru’s confidence and attention. Amongst themselves, students lived together as equals, regardless of their social status, and acquired the same knowledge from their guru. They had to render services like cooking food and cleaning shared environs. At the end of the training, students come out as responsible individuals. This type of training was designed to increase personal responsibility.30 In this system of education the gurus or teachers did not charge any fees and so in exchange for the teachings, the students were voluntarily serving their guru. In this way, the learning and living space was well maintained benefitting the community, while the students/volunteers received satisfaction from the teachings of the teacher/guru. The high interest in this system is thus the relation between the process of learning and the work. In this way spiritual practices can manifest in venture operations. In fact it is for a spiritual teaching that the student work and this work is also done applying the teaching for an activity responding to the need of a community. In some extent, regarding the basic conditions of being allowed to live in these communities, it can be compared to volunteerism. In fact, the student were not getting any material reward in exchange of their work, they were only receiving a spiritual teaching. That was the reason of their work. And actually, even this teaching was based on self-giving, renouncing to the ego, surrendering to life. It was taught that it is by serving unconditionally a community and never expecting anything in return that one can feel the beauty of life and its simplicity. This Gurukul system was tradition in India but during the colonial era it began to be replaced by the system established by the colonizers and became almost extinct, save in some remote areas. Nowadays in India, there exist throughout the land numerous spiritual centers known as Ashrams. Here, people live together, dedicated to the teachings and philosophy of a Guru or spiritual master. Thus in this centers, it is not hard to find someone while receiving spiritual upliftment


and teachings ‘offering service’ or ‘seva’ at any point in time, or in other words, volunteering by contributing towards the maintenance and organization of the center. In the case of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram (SAA) in Pondicherry, thousands of volunteers arrive every year from all over the world to offer their services to the Ashram maintenance, teaching, farming, music arts and crafts. It is noteworthy that the SAA is one of the richest ashrams in India, demonstrating well the impressive contribution of volunteer service framed within a strong cultural tradition based on self spiritual development.31 Here again the volunteer system is strongly integrated in the daily life of the Ashram, and because their motivation and interest in the teaching is so strong that their dedication is unconditional. This is one of the main reason of the success of this Ashram. The SAA is all the more interesting because its Founders also founded, in 1968, the Universal Township of Auroville 16 kilometers away from the Ashram, intended as a site for the manifestation of an actual human unity in diversity. People from all countries of the world including India have in the past forty five years of its existence come to Auroville to volunteer and contribute to its growth while endeavoring to live a life dedicated to the ideals of Auroville: human unity and international understanding. Having spent a large number of the formative years planting trees and eking out a living in an arid and barren land, Aurovilians have today created a fertile forest in what was once desert and are now growing a sustainable community of their own. The lifestyle here reflects a universal culture of healthy living, beautiful handicraft, world music and dance, various healing practices, educational research and alternative and ecological ways of living, forestation, organic agriculture, village development, earth construction, alternative technologies, renewable energies, water treatment, etc. In this context though, the highly interesting facts on Auroville are the percentages regarding people who come here as volunteers. With a population of only 2000 adults, Auroville welcomes every year about 8,000 foreign visitors, among whom 28% arrive as volunteers.32 It


is clear then that volunteerism is of importance in the development of the International Township Project. Volunteers to Auroville mostly come from Europe and North America, and are not necessarily only young people in need of adventure but also mature people leaving their daily lives and occupations to come to serve in Auroville. Actually every category of age is represented here. It is thus common in Auroville to be volunteering in a project in any one of its various fields of activity/research. The results of a survey of a large sample of entrepreneurs show that an important part of the units in Auroville owes their success to the input of volunteers. This resource permits them to start concretizing and improving innovative ideas, and to launch high quality projects. In this context what often happens is the combination of temporarily skilled workers (volunteers) and the permanent local people help to create a sustainable way of running projects. The economical aspect of volunteerism can then contribute to the growth of the business as well as the development of human unity. Units in Auroville work autonomously regarding their organization and the volunteers they engage. There are more than a thousand units working in dives fields which can be agriculture as well as education or construction. Almost every unit needs volunteers because the population of the city (2000 adults) is not enough to supply the human resources needs of all the units and their budget cannot permit them to engage local people as employees. Sometime it can also be a problem of skills which can only be found in westerners’ profiles. Due to this freedom of organization, every unit is independently working at recruiting volunteers and running its business to make it successful. In Auroville the success doesn’t come from making or growing profits, but from making work an experiment which was based on either sustainable development, or social improvement, or ecological technique creation, or new education approach, or research evolution…

Conclusion Communities are suffering due to the growth of secular societies but at the same time it may be possible to bridge that expanding gap through volunteering.


Volunteering is ultimately about helping others and having an impact on people’s well-being. “What better way is there to connect with your community and give a little back? As a volunteer, you certainly return to society some of the benefits that society gives you.” is the common speech among Aurovilians. All these different surveys, studies and research show clearly that the activity of volunteerism is already well-known in the world, but maybe not yet recognized seriously by governments in their development plans. For this the International community, through the United Nations and the European Union, are of good influence to press in this direction for the following years. We saw that most of the time this experience of volunteering is benefiting as well the individuals directly involved but also the receivers of this help and work done by them, then the organization using then cost free workers, and finally the company who decided to encourage their employees to volunteer. After all if all these different actors of the economy are positively affected by the concept of volunteerism, why the society wouldn’t? And to relate to the topic launched by the ISOL Journal, can volunteerism be a spiritual practice manifested in a venture operation? We demonstrated that for some extents volunteerism can find its root in the Indian tradition of Gurukul which is known to be a much respected way of spiritual teaching. Volunteerism presents the basics of a spiritual work done individually through voluntarily work without conditions and expectations, no material reward but the pleasure of working for a good cause, a purpose going much beyond our own individuality. The question now is to know if every organization running volunteers’ activity does have such results, if a special organization of work is needed to permit to the individual to realize that, if there is a need of a guru to achieve this, if the spiritual dimension can be ephasized… Besides that, on a more practical way, this inquiry on volunteerism addresses the entrepreneurs and even the Governments interested in reducing health problems and expenses, unemployment and civic spirit of the citizens for a more ecological and social approach of life.


Notes 1. Israel Kirzner, Perception, Opportunity and Profit: Studies in the Theory of Entrepreneurship (Chicago, 1973). 2. United Nations Volunteers, State of the World’s Volunteerism Report 2011, Foreword, p. 4. 3. Hall, Lasby, Ayer & Gibbons, 2009; Statistics Canada, 2008. 4. Wilkinson, Maposa (2009). 5. The CNP project aimed to document the civil society sector through national studies, to explain differences among countries and to evaluate the impact of civil society organizations on the wider society. The project employs a comparative empirical approach that features a common framework, set of definitions and information-gathering strategies and a network of national and international advisory committees to oversee progress and help to disseminate results. The study was launched in 1992 in an initial set of 12 countries and has since expanded to 45 countries representing a wide range of social, economic and religious contexts. The CNP collects data on organization-based volunteering through specially commissioned standardized surveys administered by Local Associates, professional survey firms or government agencies. The surveys are typically population based using representative random samples of 1000 to 2000 people, although organization-based surveys were used in some places, often relying on sampling methods focused on representative regions, where suitable sampling frames were unavailable Variables covered included the number of volunteers, the hours volunteered and the distribution of these hours among activity fields defined by the International Classification of Nonprofit Organizations (ICNPO). This allowed the translation of volunteering into the equivalent number of full-time workers which was then related to the economically active population of the country to control for the variations in the size of different countries. 6. Lister M. Salamon and Stephanie Geller, Nonprofit Policy Priorities for the New Administration, Listening Post Project Communiqué #11: Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies, October 22, 2008. 7. United Nations Volunteers, State of the World’s Volunteerism Report 2011, Overview, p. 7. 8. Human Development Reports, The Human Development Concept, 2011, Overview, p. 1. 9. United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) (2002b). Recommendations on support for volunteering (A/RES/56/38) [Resolution adopted by the General Assembly at the fifty-sixth session – Agenda item108], p. 2. 10. UNGA, 2002b; UNGA, 2003; UNGA, 2006; UNGA, 2009.


11. UNGA, 2002a; UNGA, 2005; UNGA, 2008. 12. UNDP and EO, 2003. Volunteerism and Development, in Evaluation Office (Ed.), Essentials. New York, 13. United Nations Volunteers (UNV), 2011. SWVR High Level Advisory Board Meeting [Unpublished summary report]. Bonn, Germany: UNV. 14. UNGA, 2002b, p. 5. 15. Lesley Hustinx, Ram A. Cnaan and Femida Handy, ‘Navigating Theories of Volunteering: A Hybrid Map for a Complex Phenomenon’, Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 40(4): 410-434 (2010). 16. Debbie Haski-Leventha, Elderly Volunteering and Well Being: A CrossEuropean Comparison Based on the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) Data, International Society for ThirdSector Research and The Johns Hopkins University 2009 She analyzes the relation between volunteering and well being among 30,023 Europeans aged 50 and above in 12 countries. 17. Shlomo Mizrahi, Eran Vigoda-Gadot and Nissim Cohen (2009). ‘The New Public Management: Trust, Participation and Performance in Welfare Supply Organizations’, in Zobida, Hani & Mekelberg, David (eds.), Sixty Years of Israeli Democracy: Reality and Vision, The Israeli Political Science Association, pp. 133-161 [NPM – Trust, Participation and performance]. 18. Cristina Calvo (2008). The Role of Religious Organizations in Promoting Service and Volunteerism in Latin America, Service Enquiry, Civic Service and Volunteering in Latin America and the Caribbean. 19. A Research Report for the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme submitted by the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) and the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL), September 2009. 20. UNGA, 2002b, p. 3; Annex: Recommendations on Ways in which Governments and the United Nations System could Support Volunteering. I. General Considerations, Point 4. 21. United Nations Volunteers, State of the World’s Volunteerism Report 2011, Overview, p. 9. 22. Leila Patel, Helene Perold, Rene Carapinha and Salah Elzein Mohamed, 2007, Volunteer and Service Enquiry Southern Africa (VOSESA)’s fivecountry cross-national study. 23. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (NDESA), 2007, p. 110. 24. ProBono News (2010). 25. ‘How Employees Volunteers Multiply Your Community Impact, On Philanthropy’, Stannard – Friel, 12/2/05. 26. ‘Giving Back, Giving Time’, HR Magazine, April 2008, Vol. 53, Issue 4. 27. Points of Light, Journal, 2000.


28. Robert Grimm Jr., Kimberly Spring, & Nathan Dietz, 2007, The Health Benefits of Volunteering. 29. Marieke Van Willigen (2000), ‘Differential Benefits of Volunteering Across the Life Course’, Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 55B(5): S1-S11. 30. Springer, Subject Teaching and Teacher Education in the New Century: Research and Innovation, 2002, p. 194. 31. An Anthology of Essays ‘The Relevance of Integral Education in the 21st Century’, Publisher: Sri Aurobindo Education Society, New Delhi, p. 164, ISBN 978-81-88847-26-6. 32. A data study of the compulsory Indian immigration registration form filled by foreigners when they come to Auroville, analyzed by the Savi office for the year 2011.

Values Based Entrepreneurship Through Servant Orientation Guidelines from Indian Ethos N. Sivakumar and U.S. Rao E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] ABSTRACT Servant orientation provides a superior and purposeful dimension to entrepreneurship. This paper discusses the guidelines provided by Indian ethos for values based entrepreneurship. Relevant scriptural guidelines have been culled to show the integration of servant orientation into various aspects of values based entrepreneurship. Using these guidelines entrepreneurship can contribute towards the ultimate goal of “Samastha Lokah Sukhino Bhavanthu”.

Introduction

T

raditionally, firms have been judged on how well they serve stockholders. But in the 21st century – a new era of ecological limits, corporate ethics crises and rising social expectations – this traditional focus offers too narrow a definition of success. Firms rely upon healthy relations with many stakeholders. That means not only creating healthy returns for shareholders, but also emphasizing good jobs for employees, a clean environment, responsible relations with the community and reliable products for consumers (Kelly, 2006). The global financial crisis of 2008 exacerbated the need for business institutions to be more service oriented – concerned with the needs and



expectations of several constituencies rather than be overly self-centred. It is in this context that the philosophy of servant leadership becomes meaningful – a philosophy through which institutions can view themselves as servants of stakeholders and society at large. Indian ethos has a rich tradition of providing guidelines to various institutions for pristine service orientation. Chakraborty (1985) in this regard states “authentic and human response organizations can be founded only on principles and theories as are consonant with the Indian ethos at the deepest Universal level”. This paper is an attempt to understand the principles of values based entrepreneurship through the prism of servant leadership based on the guidelines from Indian ethos. The paper is structured as follows: after a brief introduction to the concept of servant leadership, the paper explains the integration of servant orientation into various aspects of values based entrepreneurship. Appropriate guidelines from a variety of Indian scriptures have been highlighted in this regard.

Servant Orientation – Features and Elements The entire philosophy of servant leadership revolves around the idea of service. Page and Wong (2000) define a servant leader “as a leader whose primary purpose for leading is to serve others by investing in their development and well being for the benefit of accomplishing tasks and goals for the common good”. There are several features of servant leadership. According to Patterson (2003), the servant leader: • • • • • • •

leads and serves with selfless love; acts with humility; is altruistic; is visionary for the followers; is trusting; is serving; and empowers followers.

Nagy (2013) describes different facets and elements of servant leadership. The servant leader:

Values Based Entrepreneurship Through Servant Orientation  95

• • • • • • • •

believes himself/herself as “first among equals”. uses power honestly. understands the importance of day-to-day details. listens to and cares for his or her constituents. helps people get what they want. stretches his or her constituents. inspires others to service. adapts to fit the situation.

Through its servant orientation, the philosophy of servant leadership can be integrated effectively into values based entrepreneurship.

Aspects of Values Based Entrepreneurship Values based entrepreneurship is a total process which integrates a number of aspects (Chakraborty, 1985; Sankar, 1991). The first step in values based entrepreneurship involves, defining the entrepreneurial philosophy which provides the basic purpose of the organisation and the raison d’être of its existence. Based on the organisational philosophy the basic values of the leader and the other members of the organisation are established and steps are taken to build an organisation culture which promotes ethical behaviour. Stakeholder policies are then developed based on the organisational philosophy and values. Finally when the members of the organisation face the day to day situations they have to take decisions which are in turn based on values. Thus the aspects of value based entrepreneurship can be identified as: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Organisation philosophy; Leadership philosophy; Organisation culture; Stakeholder policies; and Decision-making process.

Indian ethos emphasised a servant orientation in each of these aspects. The following parts of the paper explain how servant orientation can be integrated into values based entrepreneurship. Guidelines have been culled out of a variety of Indian scriptures like Valmiki Ramayana,


Shanthi Parva and Viduraniti of Mahabharatha, Manusmriti, Arthashastra, Brihaspatismriti Yagnavalkyasmriti and the Upanishads. The references to the chapter and verse number of the scripture have also been mentioned along with the guideline.

Servant Orientation in Organisation Philosophy Becoming a servant leader begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first (Greenleaf, 1977). The first aspect of values based entrepreneurship is envisioning the organisation philosophy. Organisation philosophy explains the primary reason for an organisation’s existence. Indian ethos shows that “service to the society” must be the main motto of any venture. This is described in terms of the duties of the king and the administrative machinery as shown below: • The dharma of the ruler ordains that the subjects must be protected at all costs (Valmiki Ramayana: 7.83.12). • Protection of subjects is the very essence of kingly duties. The protection of all creatures is regarded as the highest duty of kings (Shanthi Parva: 58.1). • The King must have an attitude of promoting universal good and welfare (Manusmriti: 7.54). • Administration should be rooted in the conduct of the King and bring about security and well being to all living beings. It should endow the subjects with spiritual well being, material well being and happiness (Arthashastra: 1.5.2 and 1.4.11). • Guilds have to provide relief to helpless and poor people. The income of the guild should be bestowed on disadvantaged people who are either aged, blind, diseased, mentally deranged or such other deserving person (Brihaspatismriti: 17.12 and 23). The above guidelines show how the governance philosophy was totally service based. As Liden et al. (2008) point out, servant leadership shows promise as a way to build trust with employees, customers, and communities. This is exemplified in the vision statement of Excel Industries, an agro-chemicals manufacturer in India: “we dedicate ourselves to make humble contributions to the country, industry, rural society and our company through technology, innovation and through individual


and collective endeavour. Satisfaction of our shareholders, customers, our own people, suppliers, institutions, investors, society and community is paramount to us. We will make wholehearted efforts for the fulfilment of this objective through our interactions and interdependence with them. We have a responsibility towards industry and community. Rural community is the heart of India. We will be friends and contributors to well-being of both the industrial and rural community. Not only through our products and services, but also through our knowledge and expertise, we will be of assistance to community and industry. We will work and contribute, learn and grow together in the spirit of ‘Saha Viryam’ (unity and balance)” (excelind.co.in, 2013).

Servant Orientation in Leadership Philosophy The second aspect of values based entrepreneurship is leadership. Leadership philosophy involves delineating leader values and characteristics. Spears (2004) articulates ten characteristics of a servant leader namely listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and community building. Indian ethos considered leadership as values based. Shanthi Parva in this regard gives the following list of values for a king who would act as a servant leader: • • • • • • • • • • • •

Righteousness Kindness Cheerfulness Sweet speech Liberality Activeness Non-covetousness Impartiality Wisdom Non-vindictiveness Self control Equanimity


• • • • • • •

Fortitude Forgiveness Non-boastfulness Good company Quality of sharing Promise keeping Freedom from lust

The above list is quite exhaustive to ensure that the focus of the leader would remain on service. Servant leaders build trust by selflessly serving others (Greenleaf, 1977). The theme of serving others before oneself extends from the workplace to home and community. In all aspects of life, servant leaders practice this service orientation. Indian ethos always stressed that the king and the administrators must consider themselves as the servants of the citizens. This is emphasised in the following guidelines: • The King should be ever active to carry out the management of social well being (Arthashastra: 1.9.38) which will in turn lead to spiritual well being and happiness (Arthashastra: 1.7.6, 9.7.60 and 9.7.81). • A King should do good to others even before solicited (Shanthi Parva: 93.9). • Leaders of the guilds should be pure in body and mind and free from avarice. Further they should be acquainted with the rules of morality and should do what is in the welfare of the society and the organisation (Yagnavalkyasmriti: 2.191). • A King should never install a wicked son on the royal throne. (Arthashastra: 1.17.51). Servant leaders create a unique relationship with stakeholders. Self-interest should not motivate servant leadership; instead, it should ascend to a higher plane of motivation (Greenleaf, 1977; Pollard, 1996). According to Indian ethos, servant leaders must develop a selfless relationship with stakeholders. This is reflected in the following statements: • The King should always bear himself toward the subjects as a mother towards the child in her womb. As the mother, disregarding those


objects that are most cherished by her, seeks the good of her child alone, even so, without doubt the King’s conduct should be towards the subjects. The King who is righteous should always behave in such a manner as to avoid what is dear to him, for the sake of doing that which would benefit the people (Shanthi Parva: 56.44–46). • In the happiness of the subjects lies the King’s happiness, in their welfare the king’s welfare; whatever pleases himself he shall not consider as good, but whatever pleases his subjects he should consider as good (Arthashastra: 1.19.34). Servant leaders serve as role models (Liden et al., 2008). Arthashastra similarly states, “when the King is active the servants become active following his example. If he is remiss they too become remiss along with him” (Arthashastra: 1.19.12). Voluntary reciprocity is an important aspect of servant leadership. Servant leaders rely upon service, and in so doing, they endear the followers to the leaders in reciprocal relationships (Stone et al., 2003). This is pointed out in the following guidelines: • When the King looks after the welfare of the subjects, they feel exceedingly gratified with him and in turn share with the King both his weal and woe (Shanthi Parva: 89.23). • The citizens of Ayodhya were looked after by Lord Rama like a father looking after his children, with due regard to what was conducive to their good, what was agreeable to them and what brought happiness to them. The whole world felt injured by the suffering inflicted on its protector (Lord Rama) even as a tree with its flowers and fruits is damaged by injury caused to its roots. For, Sri Rama, is the root of the tree of humanity, while others are flowers and fruits, leaves and boughs (Valmiki Ramayana: 2.57.14 and 2.33.14-15). Servant leadership values and characteristics were exemplified in the entrepreneurship of Jamsetji Tata, the founder of the Tata business empire in India at the start of the nineteenth century. Saklatvala and Khosla (1970) describe, ‘‘Jamsetji had a deep understanding of the psychology of labour. He tried to improve the factory environment in which the men had to work. Jamsetji impressed on all around him that in the conduct of relations between employers and employees, the latter’s interest and


welfare should be borne fully in mind. Arrangements were made for the filtration of water so as to reduce the chances of disease, for the provision of sanitary huts, for the distribution of fire extinguishers and automatic sprinklers throughout the sheds and for the opening of a grain depot from which the workers could draw supplies at cost price or even below when conditions of scarcity prevailed. Jamsetji spared no expense and no effort where the well being of the workers was concerned, thinking not only of the broad problems but also of every detail’’.

Servant Orientation in Organisation Culture Organization culture is defined as “the commonly used and relatively stable beliefs, attitudes and values that exist within the organization” (Williams et al., 1989). An ethical culture is important for the practice of values based entrepreneurship. According to Hoffman (1990), “a major reason why we have witnessed outbreaks of corporate wrongdoing, recently as well as in the past, is not that people are less ethical than others, but rather business gives so little thought to developing a moral corporate culture within which individual can act ethically”. Servant leadership works towards creating an ethical culture through service orientation. Liden et al. (2008) observe, “most importantly, servant leaders instil in followers the self-confidence and desire to become servant leaders themselves. Through this transformation of followers into servant leaders, a culture of servant leadership is created”. Indian ethos emphasised the need for creating an organisation culture of service. A service oriented culture can be created by defining member values and appropriate culture building practices. Regarding service oriented values for members the following guideline was proposed by Indian ethos: No minister should cause any excellent object of pleasure to be made for his own personal use (Arthashastra: 5.6.43). Servant leadership oriented organisation culture requires proper hiring and training. Herman (2008) in this regard points out that hiring leaders and organizational members who possess the qualities of a servant leader and by developing training programs to further develop servant leadership behaviours in organizational members is an approach to build a culture


of servant leadership. Indian ethos stressed the need for proper hiring as highlighted below: An intelligent King should appoint employees, each fit for the office assigned to him having first ascertained their qualifications in respect of truthfulness, purity, sincerity, knowledge of moral codes, conduct, self restraint, compassion, strength, energy, dignity and forgiveness (Shanthi Parva: 118.2). The culture of Excel industries shows the servant orientation. According to an executive of Excel, “as a manager in-charge of technical services to farmers, I have ensured that our sales personnel are really service personnel, who not only just take orders of purchase from the farmers but also provide technical services to them” (excelind.co.in, 2013).

Servant Orientation in Stakeholder Policies According to Graham (1991), servant leaders are sensitive to the needs of numerous stakeholders, including the larger society, and servant leadership encourages followers to engage in moral reasoning. Indian ethos has listed a variety of policies to be implemented by the king and the administrative machinery to serve the needs of several stakeholders. Some of these include: • Community development works: The king should cause villages to be settled, make lands to be cultivated, cause irrigation works to be built and set going work on mines, factories, forests and trade routes (Arthashastra: 2.1.1-39). The king should settle down and build a town in a country where the climate is pleasant, cultivation is easy, which is not subjected to epidemic diseases and where people can easily find their livelihood (Manusmriti: 7.69 and 70). • Crisis management: During a famine, the king should make a store of seeds and foodstuffs and show favour to the subjects or constitute the building of public works with the grant of food or share his provisions with them (Arthashastra: 4.3.17). • Consumer welfare: The controller of customs should cut out goods that are harmful to the people and that are worthless. He should make goods that are highly beneficial duty free (Arthashastra: 2.21.31). The officials should examine all weights and measures (Manusmriti: 8.403).


• Environmental and ecological welfare: The king should establish an animal park where all animals are welcomed as guests and given full protection (Arthashastra: 2.2.4). Horses which are incapacitated for work by war, disease or old age shall receive food for maintenance (Arthashastra: 2.3,27). • Public safety: The king should keep a check on thieves, burglars and protect the people from them with the help of his officers and the army (Manusmriti: 9.266–269). • Public morality: The king should continuously get information from play houses, concert rooms, taverns, assembly houses to keep these places under control (Manusmriti: 8.264). Further the king is supposed to abolish gambling and such other vices (Manusmriti: 9.221). • Corporate social responsibility: The Brihaspatismriti enjoins the guilds for the construction of a house of assembly, of a shed for accommodating travelers with water facilities, a temple, a pool or a garden. These guilds also had to provide relief to the helpless and poor people (Brihaspatismriti: 12.11-12). The smriti also states that ‘the profit of the guild shall be bestowed on the mentally deranged, the aged, the blind, to women or children, to those afflicted by disease or such other deserving people’ (Brihaspatismriti: 17.23). Several inscriptions give an account of the performance of social responsibilities by businessmen. The Gupta inscriptions (quoted in Majumdar, 1969) state that ‘a noble and unequaled temple of the bright rayed sun was caused to be constructed by the silk cloth weavers as a guild with the stores of wealth acquired by the exercise of their craft’. The Sanchi Stupa inscriptions (quoted in Mookerji, 1985) states that ‘the casing of a temple was done by the workers in ivory of Vedisa who had organised themselves into a guild’.

Servant Orientation in the Decision-Making Process The final aspect of values based entrepreneurship deals with the decision-making process. Values based decision-making process involves incorporating values in decision-making and creating service oriented decision-making codes. Harvey (2001) in this regard states that “…chasing


profits is peripheral; the real point of business is to serve as one of the institutions through which society develops and exercises the capacity for constructive action”. Indian ethos aimed at incorporating values based decision-making to promote service orientation. This is seen in the following guidelines: • The king should have ministers who speak keeping virtue in view, who zealously pursue good, who are devoted to the welfare of the citizens, who are wise and intelligent (Viduraniti: 35). • A counsellor is he who tends an advice which is proper as well as conducive to the interests of the kingdom. A counsellor must be valiant and full of learning, must have controlled his senses and must have a good family background (Valmiki Ramayana: 6.14.22). • The king should institute a righteous custom not initiated before and continue one initiated by others and he should not institute an unrighteous custom and should stop any, which have been initiated by others (Arthashastra: 13.5.3, 4 and 24). • The king should also punish traders for adulterating commodities or those who behave dishonestly to customers or those who cheat customers by selling spurious goods (Manusmriti: 9.286–287 and 9.257).

Transcendental Spirituality and Servant Leadership The most important distinguishing characteristic of servant leadership is its spiritual core and essence. Horsman and Henry (2001) have found a significant relationship between personal dimensions of spirit and servant leadership. Further, servant led organizations had higher levels of workplace spirituality (Herman, 2008). This is because the covenant-based and moral-laden relationships that servant leaders promote are imbued with spiritual values (Sendjaya et al., 2008). Baba highlights the essence of spirituality by stating, “true spiritual practice lies in joining hands and working for the progress of society as a whole” (Baba, 2008). This is reflected in the guidelines of Indian ethos. For instance:


• The servant orientation was considered as the basis of realising spiritual fulfilment. This is reflected in the Manusmriti ‘by protecting the people and by removing impediments to their welfare, Kings who are solely intent on guarding their subjects, attain spiritual fulfilment’ (9.253). • According to Valmiki Ramayana ‘the King who is always attentively protecting all people dwelling within his Kingdom like his own life, attains fame which lasts for many years and attains spiritual merit and bliss” (3.6.12–13). These guidelines are founded in a spiritual philosophy of life as expounded in the Vedas. The Brihadharanyaka Upanishad (4.3.32) in this regard states: ‘the realisation of Brahman (Atman) is the highest goal, and that is the greatest bliss’.

Servant Leadership and Achievement of Purpose Servant leadership has become popular among corporate in the recent times. Spears (2004) states that an increasing number of companies have adopted servant-leadership as part of their corporate philosophy or as a foundation for their mission statement. Among these are the Toro Company, Synovus Financial Corporation, ServiceMaster Company, The Men’s Wearhouse, Southwest Airlines, and TD Industries. In India companies like Excel Industries, Tata group of companies among others have a strong service orientation. Indian ethos explained the achievement of purpose through servant leadership using the example of Rama Rajya: ‘When Lord Rama ruled, there were no ravages of disease. The world was rid of depredators and no one was overtaken by calamity. Gladness was everywhere and everyone was keen on dharma. The trees with their outspread boughs were perennially giving fruits and flowers. Rains were timely. All classes of people were free from greed, busy with their own duties. They were content to follow their several ways of life. The city and the villages were filled with people who were happy and well fed. No one died a premature death and none was afflicted by disease. When Rama ruled his subjects were devoted to dharma and had no use for untruth. They were all comely to look at and were devoted to righteousness’ (Valmiki Ramayana: 6.131.90–100, 99.15).


Conclusion This paper has discussed the integration of servant orientation into values based entrepreneurship using guidelines from Indian ethos. Servant orientation gives a new dimension to values based entrepreneurship. The discussion shows that Indian ethos concentrates on making entrepreneurship more purposeful, which according to Baba (2008) helps in achieving the ultimate aim of “Samastha lokah sukhino bhavanthu” (Let all the worlds live in welfare).

Dedication The authors humbly dedicate the paper to Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, The Revered Founder Chancellor of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Prasanthinilayam.

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[10] Kelly, M. (2006). ‘The Methodology Behind the 100 Best Corporate Citizen Rankings’, Business Ethics 20(1), 28. [11] Liden, R.C., Wayne, S.J., Zhao, H. and Henderson, D. (2008). Servant Leadership: Development of a Multidimensional Measure and Multi-level Assessment. The Leadership Quarterly, 19(2), 161–177. [12] Majumdar, R.C. (1969). Corporate Life in Ancient India, Kolkata, Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyay. [13] Mookerji, Radha Kumud (1985). Local Government in Ancient India. New Delhi: Daya Publishing House. [14] Nagy, J. (2013). Servant Leadership: Accepting and Maintaining the Call of Service. Retrieved from http://ctb.ku.edu/en/tablecontents/sub_section_ main_1121.aspx [15] Page, D. and Wong, T.P. (2000). A Conceptual Framework for Measuring Servant Leadership. In S. Adjibolosoo (Ed.), The Human Factor in Shaping the Course of History and Development. University Press of America, Lanham, MD. [16] Patterson, K. (2003). “Servant Leadership: A Theoretical Model”, unpublished doctoral dissertation, Graduate School of Business, Regent University. [17] Pollard, C.W. (1996). The Soul of the Firm. Grand Rapids, MI: Harper Business and Zondervan Publishing House. [18] Saklatvala, B.S. and Khosla, K. (1970). Jamshetji Tata, Builders of Modern India Series, Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India, New Delhi. [19] Sankar, Y. (1991). Value Based Management for the Information Society: Some New Perspectives. Toronto, Canadian Scholars Press. [20] Sendjaya, S., Sarros, J.C. and Santora, J.C. (2008). Defining and Measuring Servant Leadership Behaviour in Organizations. Journal of Management Studies, 45(2), 402–424. [21] Spears, L.C. (2004). Practicing Servant-Leadership. Leader to Leader, 2004 (34), 7–11. [22] Stone, A.G., Russell, R.F. and Patterson, K. (2004). Transformational versus Servant Leadership: A Difference in Leader Focus. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 25(4), 349–361. [23] Williams, A., Dobson, P. and Walters, M. (1989). Changing Culture. London, Institute of Personnel Management.

The Spiritual Trilogy of Human Action for Ethical Business Responses Moving Towards Corruption-Free Zone Shiv K. Tripathi and Umesh Mukhi E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] ABSTRACT The industrial and economic growth has also brought a set of ethical and moral challenges in terms of organizational responses to wider social, economic and environmental issues. During last two decades there have been rising concerns towards the role of private sector organizations in promoting an ethical societal climate through their actions. The corruption is seen at the centre of most of the sustainability challenges worldwide. The active involvement of international agencies in preventing and fighting corruption has lead to a new paradigm of universally accepted business actions. Despite enormous efforts, the problem seems to increase at relatively wider rate than the efforts towards solution. The present article explores how insights from Vedic knowledge could be applied to develop ethically aligned businesses in the emerging business environment. By reviewing relevant literature, the article shows that the spiritual path of Integrated Devotion, Action and Knowledge (IDAK) is a possible framework for analysis and prevention of ‘ethical failures of businesses’ displayed in terms of different forms of corruption.

Keywords: Business Ethics, Vedic Management, Business Corruption, Managing Anti-Corruption, Responsible Management



Introduction

S

ince the time immemorial, the businesses have always been under question for their ethical behavior and consequently, ethical impacts on the different stakeholder groups. The ethical fall of many business organizations during last two decades offers a strong ground for questioning relevance of the business management practices. Despite strong declared commitment to integrity, ethics and values, the companies like Enron, Volkswagen and Siemens are the good example of different forms of business corruption, irrespective of geography or size (Enron, 2000; ACTE, 2007). This raises a serious concern on what went wrong in such well-managed and competitive organizations. These are just a very few samples of hundreds, thousands and millions of businesses across the world, engaged in practices beyond universally acceptable ethical standards. Often the public sector organizations and executives are criticized and blamed for their irresponsible behavior in promoting corruption. However, analyses of one recent encyclopaedia of corruption (EEF, 2013) indicate that the most of the corruption activities involve multiple parties and related business participation acts as catalyst to this. This makes the situation more alarming, as business acts both as ‘player in’ and ‘catalyst of ’ corruption and thus, fueling the problem. History indicates that it is very challenging to establish one common ground for measuring ethical behavior of the organizations. A business practice considered good at a place in name of ‘competitive advantage’ could easily be criticized and rejected on ‘moral grounds’ in other context. Perhaps, this opportunist variation in interpretation and understanding of ‘ethical and moral behavior of business’ has been one of the most pressing challenges that limit the long-term ethical sustainability of the enterprises in the wider context. One thing is clear that in order to be transparent and ethical; the businesses need to move beyond the geographical or other categorization while defining impact on different stakeholder groups. However the task is not so easy in view of high variation in socio-cultural context across the world. It requires a unifying approach which could harmonize and evolve a set of universal human values, acceptable to all irrespective of geographical, social and cultural contexts. A number of scholars in different contexts have tried to address the business ethics and values linkage in different ways. Some scholars link

The Spiritual Trilogy of Human Action for Ethical Business Responses  109

it to human values and human dignity paradigm while others look at it from the systems, perspectives (Chakraborty, 1990; Chakraborty, 2003). There have also been good number of studies linking the different cultural traditions and their deep-rooted wisdom to the management (Sengupta, 2005; Sharma, 2006, Tripathi, 2007). The focus of the most of the studies is to justify the human dimensions influence in the management and thus, move towards an acceptable sustainable management-model. In addition to theoretical explorations, some of the global action initiatives have directly focused on business corruption and started moving further with focus on managing anti-corruption efforts in the organizations. However, from the theoretical perspective, there appears to be strong need to develop a common ground for understanding the fundamental cause of corrupt behavior and address the problem through an acceptable and adaptable framework. Keeping this at focus, the present article more specifically aims to explore the following issues? (i) How the general business behavior has displayed the ethical responses during different phases in history? (ii) How spiritual orientation can be useful in analyzing the science of human action? (iii) What are the significant insights from the Vedic literature for ethical human actions? (iv) How the Vedic insights could be used to develop anti-corruption efforts in the businesses? Although the article is conceptual in nature and based on the review of literature and observations, an attempt has been made to be qualitatively logical and rational in linking the issues. Also, it focuses only on the businesses, which are engaged in corrupt practices and in no way attempts to generalize the corruption behavior scenario of the organizations or the individuals working in it. The article finally aims at developing a fresh approach towards understanding, analyzing and promoting the ethical behavior of organizations.

Ethical Responses of Businesses: A Historical Perspective Fundamentally and historically the root of the act of indulging in business is for sustenance of the individual as a self to earn his/her livelihood and


later on sustaining the family, community or kingdom or nation at large. In this particular context, it is interesting to see how ideology of the business has developed in the west and east during the colonization and post colonization era. It is evident that in ancient times European colonial powers colonized many nations across the world, for which one of the root cause is business and trade. For example France colonized African nations like Tunisia, Algeria and many more, Portugal colonized Brazil, Spain in Latin America and The Great Britain colonized Asia, Australia, South Africa, United States and India. The Indian history offers a good example of business-politics-ethics interface. Particularly, in midst of 1700 ad the company known as The East India Company was the main trade partner in Indian Subcontinent which dealt with the trade of cotton, tea, indigo and many other spices (see Chaudhuri, 1978). Soon after the establishment of trade the company succeeded in developing the interest of colonizing the nation rather than establishing formal trade relations. Hereafter the company was dissolved and powers were transferred to the Queen to formalize the colonial powers of Britain on Indian Subcontinent. This was followed by the first Indian battle for independence in 1857 and later on the national freedom struggle of India. According to Chaudhuri (1978), European expansion in Asian region was the part and process of greater economic and political agenda. Thus what was once a formal business or more or less an ethical trade took no time to transform into a trade and business which didn’t considered basic human rights but a greater power play of political and economic supremacy. It is here, we can trace the one of the roots of unethical behavior. In case of American context, business involved slave trade practice which was for cultivation of cotton, corn and many other professions. It can be seen how business diluted itself in two fold objective , the first being self-sustenance and the second being using the unethical means for economic and political interest. A good number of unethical corporate behavior examples can be traced in modern context as well. Between 2000-02 American markets had a wave of scams (see “The Corporate Scandal Sheet”, n.d.), amongst which Enron was just merely one of them. Similarly India has faced the season of scams like 3G Spectrum Scam, Satyam Scam, Coal Gate Scam to name a few, apart from that it is not surprising to see business men making headlines of being accused for certain unethical practices. One can easily find such examples across the different contexts.


The situation reflects how economy started playing central role in the governance system, which was further strengthened over a period of time. It also brought serious issues in terms of ‘conflicting interests’ of the different sub-systems in the society. Post-Independence contexts, whereas colonies were freed, the constitution came into existence giving rise to national institutions for enforcing regulations. With separation of power and theoretical separation of interests, businesses appeared to be distant from the direct governance but gradually found way to participate in governance decision with electoral funding. In case of non-democratic governance systems, participation was considered even easier. Furthermore, with globalization many international agencies like UN Global Compact came into existence to play as a catalyst in shaping the scenario of responsible business and trade practices. However as Business scandals have consistently shattered, there has been consequential effect in terms of various amendments in laws and strict compliance and contingency measures for social, economic and political welfare. Thus, putting forth the major question in front of policy makers, after all through, by what means ethical business practices can be achieved? It is in this quest we tend to seek whether the responsibility of responsible behavior at organizational level and individual level can be altered by laws or are we denying to look outside the box and ignoring the holistic view of moral and social responsibility as stakeholders.

Spiritual Wisdom and Science of Human Action Indian Subcontinent has been the centre of the spiritual mélange since centuries. The region was a fertile land of creation and diffusion of spiritual knowledge. The Vedas, Puranas and Upanishads provided the guiding framework to lead the way of life as human. Thus, Vedas also dictated certain rules and conduct of the man, for example one of the obligations was to offer a puja, i.e. to meditate on the divinity along with chanting of sacred names known as mantra. Whereas Vedas where highly technical in nature and were comprehended by limited set of people known as Brahmins , folklore tales of Puranas, and epics such as Ramayana and Mahabharata provided much simpler interpretation of the conduct of life. As per the epics, It is evident that the society at that time was also surrounded by the unethical behavior as shown in Ramayana about how


Ravana abducted Sita, and in Mahabharata how Pandavas were dethroned and it is where the scriptures provided the guidelines as of how to live and tackle with such uncertainties of life (Pattanaik, 2010; Press, 1997). As the conducts of life remain tacit in nature, it is observed that these conducts were exemplified and practiced by the Mahapurushas (great men) and Rishis (sages). It could be said that whereas and whenever it was felt that society was going in wrong directions, these were always a group of people who upheld their core responsibility to be the pillars of guarding the Dharma of society (Code of conduct). Thus the incarnations of Lord Vishnu in form of Shri Rama and Shri Krishna and conduct of Sage Ved Vyas, Agasthya Mahamuni and many more great men like Saint Jyaneshwara, Saint Tukaram, and Saint Kabir have done immense amount of scholarly as well as practical contribution in laying out the blueprint of Dharma which uphold the universal values. Similarly for countrymen at those times, it was easier to follow and imitate the footsteps of an objective personality rather than reciting sacred texts and memorizing the conducts of life. Thus, aforementioned the mélange of multiple texts, history and traditions of Indian spirituality offer us a wide range of scholarly work which has been carried forth in forms of numerous traditions such as nritya (dance) story telling (puranas), sangeet (Music), Havan ( offerings to sacred fire), puja (devotion towards supreme) and many more. A point to be noted here is that despite a wide spiritual literature, one comes across the resonance of spiritual wisdom which is more or less the same as extolled by Ramayana, Mahabharata, The Bhagwata Gita and Vedas. Let’s take the example of a typical tradition in India, often people in business use the term “Shubh Labh”, here Shubh means Sacred, or Pure and Labh: Means Welfare in Profit in holistic terms. Thus, as a matter of precondition one has to have a state of purity or sacredness to derive the overall profit, welfare or wellbeing in any action. And therefore as we witness in India, all the aspects of life, the traditional classical dance, classical singing, obligations in charity and daily spiritual obligation to meditate, and even the act business were all directed towards one common purpose, i.e. to attain the state of purity by the means of karma yoga (action), gynan yoga (knowledge) and bhakti yoga (devotion). It should be also noted that scriptures were also criticized that it advocated ritualism as well but nevertheless scholars fail to notice that the essence of all scriptures remain same, they all speak about introspection at individual level, all


of them speak about process of self-realization and accomplishing ones duty or profession is a way to achieve self-realization. In this process of self-realization one naturally gets acquainted with the universal values of non-violence, harmony, compassion, upholder of truth, justice and peace. These principles cannot be taught as they are tacit in nature, they become imbibed in a man’s character as he undergoes the experience of self-realization, he treats his work as his duty and tapasya (austerity) and a pathway to achieve the self-realization as extolled by pious men. Whereas for west it has been challenging to accept anything beyond rational as, eastern values across Asia has reflected these similar values of humanism in the national and even business culture of china, japan and India.

Spiritual Trilogy of Human Action for Ethical Business Responses As mentioned before, the way of conduct being exemplified by Mahapurushas, Shri Krishna an incarnation of Lord Vishnu played a vital role in the epic of Mahabharata. Through his heroic traits and deep spiritual knowledge he was the principal character of the epic and thus as part of the epic conversation during the time of war, he mentors his friend Arjuna who is in distress to lead the war against his own kith and kin accused of corruption, malice and unethical conduct. This sacred conversation between Arjuna and Shri Krishna is known as The Srimad Bhagwadgita (The Gita, 2007), it summarizes the philosophy of human action in form of three different arts, i.e. ‘Knowledge,’ ‘Action’ and ‘Devotion’ (Tripathi, 2002). Some scholars analyze these factors as three different ways to realize ultimate satisfaction being derived from

Figure 1 Spiritual Trilogy and Human Action Integration


the excellence in human actions. However, some scholars don’t treat this as mutually-exclusive and thus conceptualizing it as an evolutionary and integrated process. The mechanism can be explained through Figure 1. For performing every human action, there are three different factors: • Knowledge about action, it’s purpose and impact • Devotion towards the implementation • Action or how different steps being implemented Referring to the Vroom’s theory of motivation (Vroom, 1964) it can be seen that the human motivation is the function of ‘valence’ and ‘expectancy’. It can be seen that the Spiritual action trilogy of Bhagwadgita clearly establishes this model in a more comprehensive and complete manner. Knowledge and understanding about the task helps one to relate oneself with the purpose and establish valence. The knowledge about the action further helps in ensuring positive expectancy. When combined together, the basic action starts. If one is devoted to the action, he/she will be free from pair of opposites particularly in terms of ‘fear of losing’ and ‘joy of victory’. This makes the action an enjoyable experience and as the cycle repeats, the learning towards perfection enhances and thus, further contributing towards Integrated Devotion, Action and Knowledge (IDAK) and it keeps on going. The concept is applicable to all human actions, irrespective of time, space and context. However, the stronger IDAK, the more the ability to see the ‘truth of action’ and thus, nullifying the adverse impact from the sphere of external forces, if any. This helps in developing preventive models to ethical problems when deployed systematically in organizational systems and processes.

Managing Anti-Corruption Efforts through IDAK Approach The corporate corruption is seen as a form of ethical failure, arising from the dominant decision making and action influences within the organizations. The modern studies identify a list of factors that motivate corrupt behavior and practices but most of the identified causes or factors


appear to be symptom or indicators of the problem. A more in-depth philosophical analysis shows that ‘greed’ becomes a pivotal factor in driving unethical and corrupt behavior in the organizations. Applying IDAK approach to this problem indicates that the greed could be function of: • • • •

Lack of knowledge about the true purpose of human action Lack of knowledge about consequence of the action Lack of knowledge about the ‘required means’ to perform action Attachment towards short-term result and gains and in other words lack of ‘action orientation’. • Lack of devotion towards task and thus minimizing the IDAK strength. As the action is implemented and performed with absence of IDAK, it results into gradual shift towards short-term gains and when the cycle repeats, it becomes a problem with untreatable symptoms. Therefore, in order to balance the spirit of the work, the spiritual trilogy must be balanced at different levels in the businesses from Board-Room to the Front-Line staff. Although it is strongly suggested that the organizations develop their own IDAK systems depending on the requirements of the context, the following steps could be useful in developing an IDAK Integration model. Step 1: Engage the stakeholders in Defining Common Purpose and Limits of Permissible Deviation Step 2: Educate and Train about purpose, methods and consequences of individual and group action within and outside the organization Step 3: Measure the Knowledge Level and Profile the Groups and Individuals on Knowledge Map Step 4: Align incentive system to encourage long-term devotion self-controlled evaluation Step 5: Monitor and Coach (But remember to adopt the practice first) Figure 2 A Five-Step Framework for Managing Anti-Corruption through IDAK Integration


The suggested five step framework could be useful in initiating the selfcontrol anti-corruption culture within the organizations. However, the ethics level individuals depend on a number of factors and therefore, the effectiveness of this model should always be evaluated in terms relative improvement in knowledge mapping. Further, looking at the practical personality limitations, the approach should only be treated as suggestive with due consideration of context of the action and the organization, but certainly after ensuring the transparent mission, vision and broader board-objectives.

Conclusions The review indicated that the universally accepted spiritual values could be used effectively to ensure ethical behavior of the organizations through ethical managerial actions at individual level. The spiritual trilogy derived from Vedic knowledge offers a practical approach to analyze and align the human action to expected level of ethical responses of the organizations. The IDAK framework explains how knowledge, action and devotion are combined and thus, make it a continuous evolutionary process resulting in movement towards self-realization through internalization of the ‘action’. A five-step approach can be used by the organizations to develop a context-specific IDAK system. The approach looks into cause of the ‘ethical-response imbalance’ problem in the organizations than merely treating symptoms. It is expected that the careful adoption of the spiritual trilogy based IDAK framework would help in promoting anticorruption behavior of the organizations and thus moving them towards corruption-free zone.

References [1] ACTE (2007), ‘Anti-Corruption Training and Education’, U4Brief, CHR Michelsen Institute October 2007, No. 13, p. 2 (retrieved from http://www. cmi.no/publications/file/2762-anti-corruption-training-and education.pdf on 09/09/2012) [2] Chakraborty, S.K. (1990), Human Response Development, Wiley Eastern, 1990. [3] Chakraborty, S.K. (2003). Against the Tide: The Philosophical Foundations of Modern Management. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.


[4] Chaudhuri, K. N. (1978). The Trading World of Asia and the English East India Company: 1660-1760. Cambridge University Press. [5] EEF (2013), ‘Encyclopedia of Ethical Failure’, Department of Defense, Office of General Counsel, Standards of Conduct Office, USA (Updated July 2013), accessed online from: http://www.dod.mil/dodgc/defense_ ethics/dod_oge/eef_complete_2012.doc on 26/08/2013 [6] Enron (2000), Enron’s “Code of Ethics”, July, 2000 (Retrieved from http:// www.thesmokinggun.com/file/enrons-code-ethics?page=2 on 02/09/2012) [7] Forbes (2002) The Corporate Scandal Sheet. (nod). Forbes. Retrieved August 29, 2013, from http://www.forbes.com/2002/07/25/accountingtracker.html [8] Pattanaik, D. (2010). Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata, New Delhi; New York: Penguin. [9] Press, G. (1997). Sri Ramacaritmanasa with Hindi Text and English Translation 786 (English and Hindi Edition) (Fourth Reprint 2009 edition). Gita Press. [10] Sengupta, S.S. (2005), ‘Perceived Dimensions of Societal and Organizational Cultures and Their Impact on Managerial Work Behaviour’, Journal of Management Research, Vol. 5(3): 143-172. [11] Sharma Subhash (2006). Management in New Age: Western Windows Eastern Doors. New Delhi: New Age International Publishers. [12] The Gita (2007), The Bhagwadgita (The Song Divine), Tenth Reprint, Gita Press, Gorakhpur. [13] Tripathi S.K. (2007), ‘Managing Business As A Spiritual Practice: The Bhagwadgita Way to Achieve Excellence Through Perfection in Action’ in Integrating Spirituality and Organizational Leadership (Eds.: Sunita Singh Sengupta and Dial Fields), McMillan Advanced Research Series, New Delhi. Proceedings of International Conference on Integrating Spirituality and Organizational Leadership, February, 2007. [14] Tripathi, S.K. (2002), Principles of Management in the Light of Indian Psycho-Philosophy: A Study with Special Reference to Srimad Bhagwadgita (Doctoral Thesis), Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith, Varanasi (India). [15] Vroom, V.H. (1964), Work and Motivation. New York, NY: Wiley & Sons.

Towards an Indigenous Model of Business-Social Partnership Sunita Singh Sengupta E-mail: [email protected]

B

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usiness is not separate from society… companies are not only engines of economic growth but also pivotal agents of social and political integration (Fombrun, 1998, p. 28).” Organizations are sub-systems of society. They can function and remain healthy only when the bigger system remains healthy, just as organs of a body cannot function effectively when the body as a whole, is not healthy. The health of the society is therefore a necessary concern of organizations. The concern cannot be one of passive observer. It has to contribute actively to the enhancement of the overall health of the society (Singh Sengupta, 2002). According to Robert Solomon, author of the highly-praised Ethic and Excellence – Achieving corporate excellence in today’s global economy requires business leaders to take seriously the idea that “the purpose of business is to do what business has always been meant to do – enrich society as well as pockets of those responsible for the enriching” (1992, p. 181). As corporations enter the new millennium with more institutional power than ever before in history, fulfilling this mandate may become one of the most important challenges a manager will have to face (VidaverCohen and Altman, 2000). Business organizations of today are much bigger than in the past and the impact of their operations on society are much wider. They have much greater potential to do much greater damage than ever before, through


Toward an Indigenous Model of Business-Social Partnership  119

thoughtless actions, if they do not focus on the long-term consequences. Considerations of patronage may blind them to excesses. There is need to consciously transcend the limited interests of a corporation and glorify its causes in terms of the greater good. This development perspective emphasizes issues that can be seen arising from the very definition of “development”. In 1991 two leading development experts (Brown and Korten, 1991) defined development as: “… a process by which the members of a society develop themselves and their institutions in ways that enhance their ability to mobilize and manage resources to produce sustainable and justify distributed improvements in their quality of life consistent with their own aspirations.” This definition emphasizes the need for people who are often outside the traditional social-political-economic power structure – the marginalized – to become actively engaged and influential in development processes. People are poor not just because they do not have money, but because they do not have connections and a role in the system which produce wealth. Poor people do not degrade the environment as a goal, but through lack of options and education (Waddell, 2000). Therefore, to establish the partnership between business and the rest of the society it is essential that business encompasses the development concerns and address issues of deep power structures and strives for empowerment of partners. This is not an easy task, given the stereotypes held by government, corporate and NGOs of one another. Further, how well an NGO or business is able to empower the community or place things in perspectives for all sides is dependent on their understanding of the local culture (Ali, 2000). The better the understanding higher are the chance of linking people with the development initiatives in order to make them self-sufficient. In all this, business does have a legitimate role to play in contributing towards public-policy development. The current business environment is creating new definitions of what it is to be a socially responsible company or a good citizen. The Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum (Nelson, 1996) has offered the following definition: “A company which responsibly manages its economic, social and environmental impacts in each of these three areas aiming to minimize


negative impacts and optimize positive ones, and builds accountable and transparent relationships with key stakeholder groups.” This concept of managing economic, social and environmental impacts is at the heart of sustainable development for business. Business has an important role to play in the development of public policy. For example, companies can help central and local governments to develop appropriate fiscal, regulatory and institutional structures aimed at: (i) Tackling obstacles to responsible private sector investment. (ii) Contributing to education, training, local economic development, employment and environmental policies and frameworks. Secondments of staff, both full-time and part-time, is an interesting development in this respect – harnessing the skills and experience of business leaders to contribute to and facilitate the development of public policy (Wilson, 2000). The managerial practices today, thus, require a good combination of pragmatic and reflective approach. The pragmatic approach will enable it to realize its business obligations and the reflective approach will help in meeting its societal obligations (Singh Sengupta, 2002). Some lessons can be drawn from Panini’s nine rules as identified by the commentators: Samjana (Technical rules), Paribhasa (Interpretive rules), Vidhi (Operation rules), Niyama (Restrictive rules), Pratisedha (Negation rules), Atidesa (Extension rules), Vibhasa (Optional rules), Nipatana (Ad-hoc rules) and Adhikara (Heading rules). These rules will help the organizations frame its strategies in order to have a holistic thinking with respect to its activities framed in physical context and functional context. The two determines the identity of the organization. The physical context of the organization is how it places itself in the society and the functional context is related with its business strategies. The need is to have a synergy between physical and functional relationship (Singh Sengupta, 2001). Many companies realize that with their elevated status as the dominant social institution, comes elevated responsibility. Beyond the philosophical reasons, a sustainable community outreach program makes good business sense.


The underlying essence in business-social partnership indicates a commitment of all the parties for creating a sustainable community. Economic development should pave the way of social progress. It is pertinent to use Social Contract Theory in order to build a broad societal framework to establish a mutually beneficial partnership between business, government and people. The Social Contract is a very natural and significant way of expressing the reciprocal duties of subject and sovereign (Gough, 1963). It represents Social Union in which, “…each member voluntarily renounces his freedom in certain directions, in return for the advantages which he expects from association with the other member of the society” (Gough, 1957, p. 217).

The Road Ahead The interaction between the corporation and other sectors has resulted in various organizational and strategic responses of the corporation, with a mounting complexity of organizational artefacts, such as new internal departments like environmental affairs units, new organizations like BSR, etc. With this growing complexity, a critical corporate challenge involves improving internal co-ordination and the growing number of inter-sectoral connections, in ways that support its basic business objectives (Waddell, 2000). Waddock, in her seminal work on social partnerships, made great strides in identifying the phenomenon and characteristics of corporate-community collaboration (1988). According to Waddock: “A partnership is a commitment by a corporation or a group of corporations to work with an organization from a different economic sector (public or nonprofit). It involves a commitment of resources – time and effort – by individuals from all partner organizations. These individuals work co-operatively to solve problems that affect them all. The problem can be defined at least in part as a social issue; its solution will benefit all partners. Social partnership addresses issues that extend beyond organizational boundaries and traditional goals and lie within the traditional realm of public policy – that is in the social arena. It requires active rather than passive involvement from all parties. Participants must make a resource commitment that is more than merely monetary.”


Waddock’s definition serves to capture effectively the broad parameters of what constitutes partnership between socially-driven and market-driven entities. However, the definition does not answer what motivates the partners (particularly business) to come to the table; what drives them to remain there; and what mechanisms must be in place to help ensure that partners achieve their side of the “win-win” equation (Googins and Rochlin, 2000). Wilson and Charlton (1993) begin to get at this idea as they note: “It has been suggested that a partnership should seek to achieve an objective that no single organization could achieve alone – an idea described by Huxham (1993) as ‘collaborative advantage’. This is a common concept in business where strategic alliances and joint ventures are only entered into when there is added value to be derived from organizations working collectively…. The risks and benefits of the venture need to be shared, so when success is achieved all partners are better off. This implies that there needs to be a degree of mutuality of benefits across partner organizations.” While the government (or “public sector”) has always been active with the other two sectors, private sector organizations have only recently begun to get involved in partnerships to tackle issues of the day such as education and community development. The examples across the globe suggest that these partnerships are loosely arranged, largely unexamined, and exist only in very crude forms at the present. What passes for partnership defies clarity of conception – representing a vast terrain of idiosyncratic arrangements with minimal agreement on definition and composition, and even less agreement on the criteria of effective partnerships. In practice, the rhetoric of partnerships appears to outpace their reality (Googins and Rochlin, 2000). The Rhetoric of Partnership. Administrators from business, government, and civil sectors make grand commitments to encourage and form relationships, while in practice this often amounts to putting new label on old clothes. In a system of shareholder capitalism, business has often been regarded by those advocating a stakeholder perspective as something of a misfit in efforts to contribute to social welfare and the broader common good. From the shareholder perspective, citizenship manifests itself in wealth creation, job creation, and paying taxes to the state. Furthermore, citizenship has become operational through traditional forms


of philanthropy, constituting the primary relationships between the firm and its external community. This form of citizenship is in effect not created as an exchange relationship, but rather as a “giving” or “giving back” role as captured within some vague concept of corporate responsibility. In effect, it creates a handout mentality by which communities see the corporation as a source of funding and compete for some slice of that philanthropic pie. The corporation dispenses its largess based on levels of profitability and in areas where it decides it wants to contribute. With the demands and influence of shareholder capitalism, most firms often prefer to stay on the sidelines rather than paying active roles or becoming entangled in the complexity of today’s social problems. As a response more and more major institutions and intermediaries across the sectors of society have entered the fray in an attempt to encourage corporate-community involvement and to catalyze the formation of cross-sector partnerships. Among these organizations are The United Nations, The World Bank, The Ford Foundation, The World Business Council for Sustainable Development, etc. (Googins and Rochlin, 2000). The tactics that these organizations have taken is to encourage the organizations to define and pursue the formation of strategic corporate-community partnerships. Elkington (1998), in assessing the new environment for corporate responsibility, creates the triple bottom line, further expanding measures of business success by contending that financial gain, environmental sustainability, and community well-being are equally important in achieving business goals. The discovery and acceptance of partnership between business and rest of the society as a key organizing theme for building sustainable societies will of course take a great deal of construction and reconstruction, given the gaps which currently exist and the long history that has tended to keep the sectors more separate than unified (Googins and Rochlin, 2000). The time has come that we need to think and move beyond Triple Bottom Line. An Indigenous Model of Business-Social Partnership will hatch the way for the business houses to move beyond triple bottom line. It aims at social cohesion and therefore, the active collaboration between government, business and society becomes very important. The model rests on two assumptions:


(a) the parties are ready to make reciprocal commitments in co-operation with each other to further social cohesion, and (b) that all parties in the partnership see themselves as having a role in solving social problems in society. If this is so, then such partnerships are influenced by the national culture. There are instances that suggest that corporate social responsibility in capitalist societies is more tilted towards enlightened self-interest of business houses whereas in non-capitalist countries, like India, it is still in the form of altruism (Singh Sengupta, 2002).

Towards an Indigenous Model of Business-Social Partnership A number of business-social partnerships have been established to enhance core business processes, including improving production skills, integrating local expertise and knowledge in to production activities, and complying with requirements for environmental and social impact assessments and monitoring. An increasingly relevant project-level driver of business-social partnerships is the need of the local operating company to protect and promote its local reputation. Local and national governments hosting natural resource investment projects are increasingly identifying the advantages of full alignment of corporate social development initiatives with national and regional plans. Such alignment can add value to the efforts of all parties involved in implementing the plan: government departments, NGOs, small and medium sized companies and community based organizations (Warhurst, 2001). Thus, the need is to develop a broad societal framework with special emphasis on local cultures for organizing the corporate interface with society. This will lead to the development of a new socio-economic developmental model where relationships between the companies, government and NGOs play a central role in achieving just and sustainable communities. In order to make our communities and cities more sustainable, a political culture of community involvement, stakeholder participation and consensus building must continue to be built, fostered and maintained. The move is towards making local economy viable, and at this juncture, the concept of Village Swaraj given by Mahatma Gandhi seem to be very relevant and important. If the partnership between business and rest of


the society at local level is aimed at, then we need to: (1) identify local resources, (2) make full use of local resources by reviving small-scale industries. Once, this is done then it is likely to lead to a self-sustaining condition where the local economy is made viable for the well being of the common man. This will enable us to link economic progress with the social progress. This indigenous model of socio-economic development emphasizes the developmental role of the organizations and all those that matter in the economic growth of the society. However, this can only be achieved when “a development conscience” is generated amongst the people. Because the all round development of society is achieved through the betterment of the individual and his economic well-being. Thus, the road ahead is of: Village Swaraj – making local economy viable. Village Swaraj was the dream of Mahatma Gandhi and it means, “…Village Swaraj is man-centered non-exploiting decentralized, simple village economy providing for full employment to each one of its citizens on the basis of voluntary co-operation and working for achieving self-sufficiency in its basic requirements of food, clothing and other necessities of life” (Vyas, 1962, p..xvi). Co-operatives as units of economic development need to be more focussed and developed by such business-social partnership. This is likely to create an environment for mutually beneficial crosssector partnership. Partnership in such a situation should take the role of facilitator and each member involved in this partnership must have an understanding of how partnerships will generate value for him or her. In this context, intermediaries have an important role to play. The need is to develop leadership at the grass root level through variety of mechanisms such as, action research, managerial expertise, and training and development that will work to understand and then catalyze partnership formation. It is a purported partnership and it lies on the strength and character of the local culture to establish systems for mutual gain and commitments.

References [1] Ali, S.A. (2000). “Shades of Green: NGO Coalitions, Mining Companies and the Pursuit of Negotiating Power”, in Jem Bendell (ed.), Terms for Endearment, UK: Greenleaf Publishing Ltd, pp. 79–95.


[2] Brown, L.D. and Korten, D.C. (1991). “The Role of Voluntary Organizations in Development”, IDR Reports, vol. 8 (1), Boston, MA: Institute for Development Research. [3] Elkington, John (1998). “Cannibals with Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business”, London: New Society Publishers. [4] Fombrun, C.J. (1998). “Three Pillars of Corporate Citizenship: Ethics, Social Benefit, Profitability”, in Noel Tichy et al. (eds.), Corporate Global Citizenship: Doing Business in the Public Eye, San Francisco: The New Lexington Press, pp. 27-42. [5] Googins, B.K. and Rochlin, S.A. (2000). “Creating the Partnership Society: Understanding the Rhetoric and Reality of Cross-sectoral Partnerships”, Business and Society Review, 105 (1), pp. 127–144. [6] Gough, J.W. (1957). “The Social Contract: A Critical Study of its Development”, Great Britain: Oxford University Press. [7] Nelson, J. (1996). “Business as Partners in Development”, London: Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum. [8] Singh Sengupta, Sunita (2001). “Globalization and National Development”, in D. Panduranga Rao (ed.), WTO & Competitiveness: Challenges for Indian Business & Management Education, New Delhi: Excel Books, pp. 29-43. [9] Singh Sengupta, Sunita (2002). “Business and Society”, New Delhi: Discovery Publishing House. [10] Solomon, R.C. (1992). “Ethics and Excellence”, New York: Oxford University Press. [11] Waddell, S. (2000). “New Institutions for the Practice of Corporate Citizenship: Historical, Intersectoral and Development Perspectives”, Business and Society Review, 105 (1), pp. 107-126. [12] Waddock, S. (1988). “Building Successful Social Partnerships”, Sloan Management Review, Summer, pp. 17-23. [13] Warhurst, A. (2001). “Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Social Investment: Drivers of Tri-sector Partnership”, Journal for Corporate Citizenship, pp. 57-73. [14] Wilson, A. (2000). “Making Community Investment Work”, Discussion Paper No. DP/118/2000, Geneva: Ashridge Centre for Business & Society. [15] Wilson, A. and Charlton, K. (1993). “Making Partnerships Work” (London: J. Roundtree Foundation, 1999), 10, Huxham. [16] Vidaver-Cohen, D. and Altman, B.W. (2000). “Corporate Citizenship in the New Millennium: Foundation for an Architecture of Excellence”, Business and Society Review, 105 (1), pp. 145–168. [17] Vyas, H.M. (1962). “Village Swaraj”, Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House.

Contributors Abigail DeHart Grand Valley State University Michigan, United States E-mail: [email protected] Angelique Rodhain MRM, Ph.D Co-Director University of Montpellier 2, France Anita Sengar Research Scholar, Department of Management Studies Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee Uttarakhand – 247 667 E-mail: [email protected] Corné J. Bekker, D. Litt. et Phil. Chair, Department of Biblical Studies and Christian Ministry College of Arts & Sciences Regent University, USA Professor of Biblical and Ecclesial Leadership School of Business and Leadership Regent University, USA E-mail: [email protected] Florence Rodhain MRM, Ph.D Co-Director University of Montpellier 2, France Kumkum Bharti Research Scholar, Department of Management Studies Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee Uttarakhand 247667 E-mail: [email protected]

128  Contributors

Lea Roostalu, MBA Doctoral Student, Estonian Business School (EBS) Controller, Tallinn City Office Member, European Business Ethics Network (EBEN) Vabaduse väljak 7, 15199 Tallinn Estonia E-mail: [email protected] Mari Kooskora, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Estonian Business School (EBS) Director, EBS Ethics Centre Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Management and Change Member, European Business Ethics Network (EBEN) Lauteri 3, 10114 Tallinn Estonia E-mail: [email protected] Merle Rihma, MBA Doctoral Student Tallinn School of Economics and Business Administration (TSEBA) Administrative Staff, Tallinn Pedagogical College Akadeemia tee 3, 12618 Tallinn E-mail: [email protected] Michael Marco Ph.D Student, Management Science University of Montpellier 2 France E-mail: [email protected] N. Sivakumar Associate Professor, Department of Commerce Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning Brindavan Campus Kadugodi Bangalore 560 067 E-mail: [email protected]

Contributors  129

Rajat Agrawal Assistant Professor, Department of Management Studies Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee Uttarakhand 247667 E-mail: [email protected] Shiv K. Tripathi, Ph.D Professor, Mzumbe University Dar Es Salaam Campus Tanzania E-mail: [email protected] Sunita Singh Sengupta, Ph.D Founder & Chairperson Integrating Spirituality and Organizational Leadership Foundation New Delhi, India E-mail: [email protected] Tarmo Kadak, Ph.D Associate Professor Tallinn School of Economics and Business Administration (TSEBA) Tallinn University of Technology Member, European Accounting Association (EAA) Akadeemia tee 3, 12618 Tallinn E-mail: [email protected] U.S. Rao Professor Department of Management Studies Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning Prasanthinilayam Campus Prasanthinilayam 515134 E-mail: [email protected] Umesh Mukhi Ph.D Fellow, Audencia Nantes Ecole de Management Nantes, France E-mail: [email protected]

130  Contributors

Vinay Sharma Assistant Professor Department of Management Studies Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee Uttarakhand – 247 667 E-mail: [email protected]

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International Journal on Spirituality and Organizational Leadership SPECIAL ISSUE ON:

SERVANT LEADERSHIP FOR ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION Volume 2, No. 1, January 2014 Issue Guest Editors Corné J. Bekker, D. Litt. et Phil. Chair, Department of Biblical Studies and Christian Ministry College of Arts & Sciences Regent University, USA Professor of Biblical and Ecclesial Leadership School of Business and Leadership Regent University, USA E-mail: [email protected] Prof. U.M. Amin Director, Center for Management Studies Jamia Millia Islamia Maulana Mohammed Ali Jauhar Marg, New Delhi, India E-mail: [email protected] Prof. Ramnath Narayanswamy Professor of Economics & Social Sciences Indian Institute of Management Bangalore Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore, India E-mail: [email protected] International Journal on Spirituality and Organizational Leadership is a peer-reviewed bi-annual journal. The Volume 2, Number 1, January 2014 issue seeks articles on “Servant Leadership for Organizational Transformation”. The various topics for paper submission are given below:

Topics for Submission 1. 2. 3. 4.

The Concept of Servant Leadership: Insights from Scriptures Servant Leadership: Concept, Measurement and Implications Servant Leaders Across Cultures Monasticism and Organizational Leadership

5. Building Corporate Social Responsibility through Service Leadership 6. Servant Leadership, Sustainable Development and Ecosystem Management 7. Creating Virtue Based Organizational Practices Through Servant Leadership 8. Servant Leadership for Creating a Culture of Collective Pride and Enlightened Citizenship at Workplace 9. Servant Leadership for Organizational Transformation

Guidelines for Authors Articles published in the International Journal on Spirituality and Organizational Leadership should be original, insightful and interesting, theoretically strong and/or application oriented and clearly communicates the nature of their contribution in relation to role of spirituality in renewing the contemporary management praxis. Particular emphasis will be placed on potential practical applications. Authors may submit abstracts or proposals to the guest editors for review prior to completing a peper. Empirical studies are encouraged. We encourage authors to write manuscripts in a simple and concise way so that the clarity of exposition is revealed. Guidelines are as follows: Articles should not ordinarily exceed 20 double-spaced pages (using one-inch margins and the Times New Roman 12-point font) inclusive of references, tables, figures and appendices.

Submission Requirements When authors submit their manuscripts to IJSOL for publication consideration, they agree to abide by IJSOL publication requirements. Specifically an author must agree that manuscript has not been submitted anywhere else for publication and will not be submitted to another publication entity during the review period of IJSOL.

The Review Process When manuscript received the initial review is made by the Editor about the suitability of the manuscript for IJSOL. The Review Committee consists of ‘Guest Editor’ and three reviewers from Editorial Board. The Committee is empowered to make all publication decisions. All submissions will be blind reviewed. The IJSOL strives to provide constructive feedback to the authors within approximately two months. In order to increase the probability of acceptance at IJSOL we encourage authors to get their manuscript peer reviewed at their own level. Authors are responsible for making sure that they have not duplicated an article already published or accepted. Authors should certify on the cover page of the manuscript that the material is not published, copyrighted, accepted or under review elsewhere. Journal neither charges any processing fee nor pays any honorarium to authors. Unaccepted papers are not returned.

Deadline for paper submission: November 5, 2013

Address for Correspondence Prof. Sunita Singh Sengupta Editor International Journal on Spirituality and Organizational Leadership E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] Mobile: +91-9873167484

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COLLECTIVE PRIDE AND ENLIGHTENED CITIZENSHIP IN THE WORKPLACE Volume 2, No. 2, July 2014 Issue Guest Editors Dail Fields, Ph.D Professor and PhD Program Director School of Business and Leadership Regent University Virginia Beach, VA 23464 USA E-mail: [email protected] Len Tischler, Ph.D Professor of Management Management/Marketing Department Kania School of Management University of Scranton Scranton, PA 18510, USA E-mail: [email protected] The International Journal on Spirituality and Organizational Leadership is a peerreviewed bi-annual journal. The Volume 2, Number 2, July 2014 issue seeks articles on “Collective Pride and Enlightened Citizenship in the Workplace”. Possible topics for papers include:

Topics for Submission 1. Citizenship in Ancient and Contemporary Civilizations and Implications for Modern Organizations 2. Collective Pride within Organizations – Antecedents and Consequences 3. Virtuousness in Organizations and Organizational Citizenship Behaviour 4. Eupsychian Management 5. Collective Psychological Health at Work

6. Value Based Leadership for Employee Engagement 7. The Psychological Implications of Spiritualityin the Workplace

Guidelines for Authors Articles published in the International Journal on Spirituality and Organizational Leadership should be original, insightful and interesting, theoretically strong and/or application oriented and clearly communicates the nature of their contribution in relation to role of spirituality in renewing the contemporary management praxis. Particular emphasis will be placed on potential practical applications. Authors may submit abstracts or proposals to the guest editors for review prior to completing a paper. Empirical studies are encouraged. We encourage authors to write manuscripts in a simple and concise way so that the clarity of exposition is revealed. Guidelines are as follows: Articles should not ordinarily exceed 20 double-spaced pages (using one-inch margins and the Times New Roman 12-point font) inclusive of references, tables, figures and appendices.

Submission Requirements When authors submit their manuscripts to IJSOL for publication consideration, they agree to abide by IJSOL publication requirements. Specifically an author must agree that manuscript has not been submitted anywhere else for publication and will not be submitted to another publication entity during the review period of IJSOL.

Submission Deadline February 15, 2014

The Review Process When manuscript received the initial review is made by the Editor about the suitability of the manuscript for IJSOL. The Review Committee consists of ‘Guest Editor’ and three reviewers from Editorial Board. The Committee is empowered to make all publication decisions. All submissions will be blind reviewed. The IJSOL strives to provide constructive feedback to the authors within approximately two months. In order to increase the probability of acceptance at IJSOL we encourage authors to get their manuscript peer reviewed at their own level. Authors are responsible for making sure that they have not duplicated an article already published or accepted. Authors should certify on the cover page of the manuscript that the material is not published, copyrighted, accepted or under review elsewhere. Journal neither charges any processing fee nor pays any honorarium to authors. Unaccepted papers are not returned.

Address for Correspondence Prof. Sunita Singh Sengupta Editor International Journal on Spirituality and Organizational Leadership E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] Mobile: +91-9873167484