How ISIS Will Damage Middle East Economies

Trade is the lifeblood of any nation, and when it is disrupted, there are consequences to the economy. In places where ISIS has taken root, traditional trading activities have been replaced. The risk of economic maladjustment in the Middle East grows by the day. ISIS not only destroys economic freedom in the lands they hold but also hampers the activities of the entire region.

War disrupts economies and ISIS is hardly the first to do so successfully. However, when wars are over many of the previous commercial lines will resume, and with effort, a nation will slowly return to its former self. In a few cases, nations like Iraq can even improve their economy by building updated infrastructure that catalyzes business growth.

ISIS isn’t a typical country engaged in cross-border fighting like we have experienced in the past. It is a a new nation spawned from the villages of other nations that seeks to globalize their brand to create new systems to ensure their empire continues to expand. ISIS ideology comes with new (old) ideas about commerce, economic exchange, and currency based in Eastern traditions and supported by millions of people.

If Afghanistan and Libya are examples, the future of the area doesn’t look bright unless things change. According to the World Bank, the % of GNP growth in Afghanistan and Libya are projecting downward trends until 2017 when problems are expected to stabilize. The difference is that ISIS, with their restrictive ideology, will hold those numbers down much longer.

The economic problems of Syria and Iraq also impact their regional trading partners. Turkey and surrounding countries have experienced slower growth over the past few years. These nations have an economic stake in ensuring ISIS doesn’t remain and should consider putting more effort into collaboration and counter-initiatives.

ISIS is one more challenge the world must overcome as many challenges before. Friedrich Nietzsche eloquently stated, “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” It is possible that Iraq’s and Syria’s economy could emerge out of this crisis stronger if they resolve their sectarian differences. Overcoming this challenge will require Shia and Sunnis to work together to reconcile their disputes by creating a new national identity that shuns division. Abundance can return again to the Cradle of Civilization between two rivers.

Organizational Justice Builds Better Companies

Organizations are collectives of people that create mini-societies with rules, beliefs, and symbols. As a society, there are inherent values that each person expects from their employer that helps build greater forms of trust and commitment. When those values are inconsistently applied and result in distributive and procedural injustice the financial failure of the company is not far into the future.

Distributive Justice determines who receives rewards in an organization while procedural justice describes the treatment of employees based upon the policies & procedures of the organization (Fields, Pang & Chiu, 2000). Employees expect that companies are willing to reward them fairly based on effort as well as have their rights protected by the organization.

When distributive and procedural justice breaks down it is usually the result of the inappropriate application of rewards and punishments. Agenda driven individuals will change the “unwritten” rules to ensure that the goals of making them look good and earn promotions are achieved. Poor management detracts from organizational objectives by wasting time and effort.

Employees will soon learn that the rules are not fairly applied and will either align themselves with the needs and opinion of the manager or leave the organization. People who need jobs to support their families are likely to accept poor management within an organization to maintain their livelihoods. As this encampment continues the value systems and culture of the organization adjust to a lower form.

What is the value of distributive and procedural justice? Job satisfaction and organizational commitment are related to perceptions of justice (Harvey & Haines, 2005). When people feel respected and treated fairly, they will have more commitment than employees who have been mistreated. The retention of progressive and knowledge-driven employees should be the goal of every organization.

Justice can be an elusive because it is subject to all types of interpretations. Those organizations that can create fairness in compensation and punishment are likely to reap the benefits of employee effort. Managers who place their interests first and the needs of the organization and its employee’s second do irreparable harm to employee trust and commitment. Each manager should focus their efforts on the organizational goals and aligning their styles appropriately.  Managing employees is about motivating them to see the value in themselves and the work they do.

Harvey, S. & Hains, V. (2005). Employer treatment of employees during a community crisis: the role of procedural and distributive justice. Journal of Business & Psychology, 29 (1).

Fields, D., Pang, M. & Chiu, C. (2000). Distributive and procedural justice as predictors of employee outcomes in Hong Kong. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21 (5).  

The Value of Applied Research and Alternative Publishing

Ask a crusty old academic and he/she will tell you that unless research is in a peer-reviewed journal it has no value and should be discarded as “junk” work. In contrast, talk to a seasoned CEO and he/she will tell you that if university research has any value in the market it will need to be applied to solve business problems. This divergence of thought and perspective is changing the way universities and corporations disseminate and use information.

There are some academic traditions that unnecessarily restrict the value of education and hinder the growth of the business community. Corporations are end users of information that apply research build products, enhance services, and improve operations. Failure to see the value of alternative methods of conducting, publishing, and using research beyond elitist journals defeats the purpose of academic studies.

CEO’s, executives, and consultants rely heavily on information to make strategic decisions. They obtain ideas   online, databases, libraries, magazines and personal knowledge. Few have direct access to university libraries and expensive subscription journals. When was the last time you saw a copy of a scientific journal on a CEO’s desk?

Assuming that the CEO understood academic jargon, it is still doubtful the company would be willing to pay the costs associated with high-end academic journals. There is a growing crisis where academic knowledge is becoming restrictive and inflexible reducing the amount of potential users (Stemper & Williams, 2006). Most businesses won’t have access to groundbreaking research until it is widely available in the market.

The value of research is not based on the quality of the journal, but a number of times the research is used and applied to problems. It is possible that university research agendas include pushing for business application and measuring a number of times it has been quoted by others (“Applying Research”, 2004). Companies are willing to support universities that create useful informational products.

Improving innovation in business relies on ensuring that the information from academic research is making its way into industry. Reducing bottlenecks and restrictions improves information flow, and increases the likelihood it will reach intended audiences. Open-access journals and alternative publication sources create a more direct connection to industry and should not be discarded based on tradition. The value of academic research is in its usefulness and its ability to enhance industry innovation versus the type of journal it originated. 

Stemper, J. & Williams, K. (2006). Scholarly communication: turning crisis into opportunity. College & Research Libraries, 67 (11). 

“Applying Research”. (2004). Applying research and building value: business faculty at work. Georgia Trend, 20 (3).

 

Tips on Being a Professional “Beach Bum”

Spend a little time on the beach and you will see a class of beachgoers that spend a greater portion of their day on the beach. These are the people that surf, jog, volleyball, lay out for hours on end. A few beach bum tips will help you shed your power tie in no time.

What is a professional beach bum? It is a person who spends most of their free time on or around the beach. Some may commute to the sand, but most live near the ocean. They are the locals that you see early in the morning and late at night when everyone else is gone.

Ok...I will probably never be a real “beach bum” but spending more time on the beach is hopefully in my future. A few hours a week won’t do much but may get me to beach bum “poser” status. Even if I don’t have the time, at least I can look like it.

The first thing you notice is that beach bums don’t wear the latest fashion. They are casual and come to realize that expensive clothing gets lost, dirty, or ruined. Why wear a $500 pair of glasses if you are going to sit on them?

Professional bums chronically are engaged in coastal activities. Their lives revolve around the beach, and they spend every moment they can outdoors enjoying the weather. You can see the deep-toned tan on their skin.

Beach bums either own a junky van or use alternative transportation. Commuting bums take their rusted out van, packed with gear, to the beach early and find the best spot. Locals don’t bother to drive because of traffic and prefer to bike or skateboard around.

Beach bums frequent the places far away from vacationers. If you want to be a be a local you have to stay away from expensive tourist traps and spend your time in the local dive bars and diners. Every beach bum knows the best 99 cent taco hot spots.

If you are likely ever to be a professional bum you will need to have a beach bum personality. Time is measured by the sun, and the outside world ceases to exist. When there is so much sand, the hourglass ceases to work.

It may take some time to learn how to be a professional beach bum, but you can do it if you practice “nothingness”. As you graduate from vacationer to local you will notice your persona change from the stuffy to the stuff less. Few things matter much on the beach other than how much time you have before you have to return to ordinary life.

Developing Innovative Capital Through the Subconscious

Creativity leads to innovation that improves organizational functioning by solving problems. As more problems are resolved, the organization continues growing to become competitive on the market. Even though the subconscious influences creativity and problem solving, it is has been ignored as pseudo-science despite impacting almost everything in our lives; including solving business problems.

Creativity relies on our ability to resolve problems that lead to the survival of both ourselves and society. Creative people like Einstein are honored because they have the capacity to develop new solutions to long unsolved problems. Without the use of the subconscious, creativity would have never been turned into a useful form.

Problem-solving requires preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification (Grupas, 1990). A creative person studies a problem and develops a knowledge base, allows possible solutions to incubate in the subconscious, percolates a solution into a conscious form that is verified through research.

The reason the subconscious is so powerful is that it is a self-organizing system that continually makes associations/connections between information (Andreasen, 2011). As the brain builds framework for handling environmental knowledge, it also connects, categories and comes to conclusions of perplexing problems.

The speed and ability of the mind to do this is based on the intelligence level of the individual. Intelligent people are better able to process greater amounts of information and find associations faster. When put to substantial use that innovative creativity has tangible value for business that want to invent new ways of doing things.

People with creative minds don’t often think like everyone else. They use a divergent system of reasoning that creates many different solutions that are eventually pruned back to the most useful ones. This is in contrast to the general population that has been socialized through schooling to use convergent thinking that relies on step-by-step processing models already planned out by someone else.

Divergent thinking can cause difficulties interacting with people. Many intelligent people lose jobs and opportunities only because of the restrictive social circles inherent in most businesses. They may say things that are true but also run against conventional wisdom that doesn’t sit well with ego driven individuals.

Open environments that respect the diversities of people, and the way in which people process information, are more likely to develop innovative environments. Restrictive, position-oriented, highly controlled conditions will restrict innovation. By developing the right open-minded environment, a company can foster the bringing forward of subconscious ideas to develop higher forms of intellectual capital.