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The Meaning of Work (and Cultural Considerations at the Example of Japan)

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  Introduction Definition of meaning Although ‘meaning’ isn’t reducible to a state-like single factor [1], the meaning of a concept (i.e., work) is related to how an individual does experience the significance of a situation that causes related inferential intentions to behave in a certain way [2]. While for many people the primary meaning of work lies in the earning of money for making a living, work provides also for … Continue reading →

Reverse Mentoring and its Benefits

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Traditional mentoring Self-improvement can be intimidating, and personal interactions with other, like in a mentoring relationship might be extraordinarily valuable [1]. In today’s fast-changing world the potential for mentoring, especially if creatively employed, might be an increasingly useful type of relationship [2]. Yet relatively few employees got into a company mentoring program [3]. Traditional mentoring generally takes place between a senior and a junior person in a similar career field … Continue reading →

What do younger talents want?

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Summary. Younger employees around the world tend to prefer more professional freedom, meaningful work, and work-life in their work. Asking only older senior HR managers might not provide sufficient insight into the generation Y’s thinking though. Listening directly to the younger employees is vital to positively influence job satisfaction, engagement, and work performance altogether. The youth’s resourcefulness, e.g., in digital media, could be used for backward/reverse mentoring to engage senior … Continue reading →

Talent (on other than the individual level)

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Some job performances (e.g., the financial results created by investment bankers) is often depending on external factors and is therefore at least difficult to explain and can serve as a reminder that causes of performance often need to be found on other than the individual level alone. This is interesting as it leads to less intuitive notions of talent such as team talent. Also, example conditions under which collective talent … Continue reading →

Positive Change Through Rewarding Virtue vs. Punishing Non-Compliance

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Men have made millions of laws to punish crimes, and they have not established even one to reward virtue; Virtue being a product not of the command of law, but of our own free will, society has no right whatsoever over it. Virtue on no account enters into the social contract; and if it remains without reward, society commits an injustice similar to that of one who defrauds another of … Continue reading →

Dr. Wayne W. Dyer: Inspiration for the Leader in All of Us

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Father of Motivation and Sage of Maui The life and work of author and speaker Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, who died at the age of seventy-five in 2015, provides the opportunity to reflect on leadership from a holistic perspective beyond a specific organizational setting or national politics. Dyer’s many best-selling books on the practical psychology of personal development towards a positive transformation for all of humanity [1] brought him the … Continue reading →

Compassionate leadership: If we all ‘lead,’ we don’t need ‘managers’ anymore

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There are significant differences between leadership and management In our contemporary world both leadership and management may be required and co-exist in different situations, but the identification and understanding of their distinguishing features is important if we want to use both of them effectively and eventually think about shifting the emphasis towards managers who are real leaders too. Having been in diverse leadership and/or management positions in educational institutions and … Continue reading →

Leadership Philosophy Illustrated by the Example of Robert Owen, Pioneer of the Cooperative Movement

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What are your beliefs and perspectives regarding leadership? What do you think makes an effective leader? Illustrated by the example of Robert Owen, the acknowledged pioneer of the cooperative movement, a leader’s goal, effectiveness, and fellowship is assessed. The brief analysis bases on evidence from research in relevant leadership theories. General Definition of Leadership Many of the greatest villains in history were, in some way, successful leaders when the definition … Continue reading →

Toot, no tweet anymore! Mastodon: The co-operatively run Twitter alternative

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Social networking, back in your hands The world’s largest free, open-source, decentralized microblogging network How awesome is that! For more information, check: https://joinmastodon.org/ Find your perfect community Mastodon isn’t one place and one set of rules: it’s thousands of unique, interconnected communities to choose from, filled with different people, interests, languages, and needs. Don’t like the rules? You’re free to join any community you like, or better yet: you can host your own, on … Continue reading →

Escaping (Psycho-)Logic Traps for Better Solutions

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Summary. Social traps are situations in which individuals take rational (and often egoist) short-term decisions that, however, lead to negative collective results in the long-term. Some psycho-(logic) traps involve an isolating and limiting view on available behavioral choices. Because everyone needs to feel competent to take future action, the failure trap lets people deny their potential for further learning and engage in task-irrelevant actionism. The sunk cost fallacy is such … Continue reading →

Egocentrism: Who can take whose empathic perspective?

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Egocentrism occurs as part of preschoolers’ development in the so-called pre-operational stage and means the inability of a child to differentiate between its own and other people’s thoughts [1]. In other words, children would not realize the suffering of others as such at all [2]. This poses a quite depressive outlook and may not correspond to own experience and observations. Aren’t there more empathy-promising possibilities than such a radical and … Continue reading →

How poorly do we understand animal-human (dis-)similarity?

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The question of animal-human similarity is essential to decide whether animals should be treated alike [1] and whether animals possess rights [2]. What characteristic determines a human being as distinct from animals? What about people with genetic anomalies or other disabilities on the one hand side, and, for example, especially well trained chimpanzees on the other [3]? Proponents of animals’ legal status as private property that can be exploited by … Continue reading →

Cooperatives in Japan (Article Series): Part 4/4 – Overview of the Japanese Cooperative sector

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Overview and Conclusion article for Part 1 – Part 4, please see here. In this article, several Japanese co-operatives of different types and from various sectors are briefly introduced. The goal is not to create a directory in the sense of a comprehensive list, but rather to distill essential characteristics of the co-operative sector and the solidarity economy in Japan. The facts presented in this article need to be understood in … Continue reading →

Cooperatives in Japan (Article Series): Part 3/4 – The Japanese Social Economy, Policymaking, and Co-operative Governance

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The “Third Sector” (Social Economy) Overview and Conclusion article for Part 1 – Part 4, please see here. The “third sector,” or social economy, is the space of social issues that are left by government and private sector (corporate) failures. It is the arena in which the two actors after-negotiate how to share the burden to resolve the problems they feel could fire back if not addressed.   Japanese governmental statistics … Continue reading →

Cooperatives in Japan (Article Series): Part 2/4 – Cooperative Advantages

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Overview and Conclusion article for Part 1 – Part 4, please see here. To make it clear right up front: cooperation isn’t just an idea; it is instead a universal need and natural law for human thriving, be it in one’s spiritual connections, interpersonal relations, or business matters. Member-owned cooperative organizations as they are institutionalized are not only an alternative to shareholder directed corporations; they are necessary for a fairer working … Continue reading →

Cooperatives in Japan (Article Series): Part 1/4 – Challenges and the Necessity for Cooperatives

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Overview and Conclusion article for Part 1 – Part 4, please see here. The article presents Japan-specific details related to economic, demographic, and cultural challenges that can potentially be addressed by a more cooperative economy. Despite national peculiarities and unique cultural phenomena, the background against which the issues have to be seen should not be forgotten. When analyzing why social and environmental problems cannot be improved, one will always be … Continue reading →

Cooperatives in Japan (Article Series): Overview

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English articles about different types and industry sectors of cooperative organizations in Japan remain somewhat limited and represent scattered knowledge that would benefit from interlinkage. The series of articles in hand that I have published to the Platform Cooperativism Japan (PCJ) Consortium builds on a literature review that has proven useful in contributing to the creation of a holistic contemporary picture of the cooperative landscape in Japan. Japan is known … Continue reading →

The People’s Disruption: Platform Co-ops for Global Challenges (November 10-11, 2017 / The New School, New York City)

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    The People’s Disruption: Platform Co-ops for Global Challenges November 10-11, 2017 / The New School, New York City The first platform cooperativism event in 2015 popularized the #platformcoop concept, and the conference a year later brought together co-op and union leaders to push the model forward. This third event will zero in on ways that platform cooperatives can help to address some of the future’s most urgent challenges. … Continue reading →

Culture Blindness and Academic Capitalism

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Summary. The advancement of a genuinely global science beyond Euro-American mainstream, the reduction of international research inequalities, and the mitigation of adverse effects of academic capitalism are important to make progress in understanding and helping humanity worldwide. 

A Reply to the Article “Obedience” (ashiftinconsciousness.wordpress.com)

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A Reply to the Article “Obedience” (ashiftinconsciousness.wordpress.com). PLEASE VISIT. Comment: Impressive (depressing) figures. Thanks for sharing as this is of uttermost importance. I’m practicing here for drafting letters to Gates and co. Why do these rich/powerful not change the world for the better? Because they just habitually might not change their convictions that made them multi-billionaires? Because they don’t see the chain of causes leading to inequality? Regarding Bill Gates, … Continue reading →