Developing High Performing Organizations Through Diversity Maximization (Cluster Recruitment and Environment)

Source: HERE

Diversity can be a challenge but once mastered it can also take high performing human capital and make them exceptional and unmatched in the market. While many companies (nations) have highly skilled workers, and can develop more highly trained workers if needed, it is the diversity mixed with the right environment that leads to some of the highest performing teams. Innovation requires unique thoughts and ideas. An environment of openness to difference and diversity often creates open avenues of ideas and adaptations. In such environments, everyone must pull their full weight to maximize their unique contribution to solving ongoing problems. An environment of natural and fair competitive collaboration takes hold.

In my research on economic clusters, I desire to understand if an increase in rapid industry innovation can be improved by enhancing the essential rudimentary transactional aspects of a cluster. Through component building it may be possible to increase innovative activities 2-4X current innovative trajectory through focused industry co-development within a semi organically developed micro-economic environment (i.e. the components are implemented but they take root in their own unique way to blind to the cluster and improve the essential transitional micro adjustments that elude forced systems. DC MultiCluster and Transac Sub). Creating the right diverse growth environments is part of that process of idea sharing and exploring.

Diversity can create enriching organizational (i.e. company, nation, innovation cluster, etc.) environments that lead to improved team performance in key areas of innovation and management practices. New perspectives and new opinions helps teams adjust to master new talents and challenges. The same perspectives often lead to seeing the same problems in the same way and using similar tools in ineffective ways. When managed properly, diversity can lead to brainstorming new solutions through new insight from co collaborative development.

According to a study, 'Do Psychological Diversity Climate, HRM Practices, and Personality Traits (Big Five) Influence Multicultural Workforce Job Satisfaction and Performance?' it is possible to attract individuals with certain personality traits like agreeableness, emotional stability and extroversion to create multicultural environments (See Global Mindset).

This article explains that culturally diverse workforce job satisfaction predicts job performance. It suggests that managers and human resource professionals should develop psychological diversity climate among employees, upgrade HRM practices as per diversity needs, and attract individuals with certain personality traits such as agreeableness, emotional stability, and extroversions (Aldoghan & Bhatti & Juhari, 2019).

What the study points to is that it is possible to create open environments that are not only diverse but also enriched through advanced employee selection as well as general cultural enhancements. Thus, if someone sought to develop a global oriented business they may, depending on legal compliance of the locality, be able to attract personalities and enhance those personalities toward higher performance.

A general principle I might apply here is this...

Principle: The culture of an organization can have a big influence its ability to use diversity to enhance overall performance.

Principle: It is possible to select for those personality traits that can enhance an organizations mission through openness to people and ideas. 

 Aldoghan, M. & Bhatti, M. & Juhari, A. (2019). Do Psychological Diversity Climate, HRM Practices, and Personality Traits (Big Five) Influence Multicultural Workforce Job Satisfaction and Performance? Current Scenario, Literature Gap, and Future Research Directions. SAGE Open. 9. 215824401985157. 10.1177/2158244019851578.

Marines Meet Their Goals and Excel into 2024: Other Branches Struggling. Why?

The good news my fellow patriotic Americans is that we have serious recruitment going on in the Marine Corps. While the standards stay high, highly selective, people are flocking to challenge their best. They are coming to contribute and test themselves.

i.e. I think someone should ask them why they joined and how to get more of their friends. Recruitment survey to help out the other branches that may still be struggling as well as improve future Marine recruitment. 

Something like 33K open Marine positions were filled already and 30% of 2024's goals. They must be doing something right! When these Marines put their heads into something they can accomplish wonders. Hats off to them! Once, Always!

Fed Says that a Recession May not Happen at All: Economy May continue to Expand.

It appears from the next that the economy may continue to expand forward without a recession. The recession forecast was a very common recent forecast by many economists so to have a reversal in fortune is a good thing. In the article Recession fears vanish as U.S. economy shows staying power Federal Chair Dr. Jerome Powel is stating that we may avoid the recession completely and others are saying we may continue to expand (i.e. a new first time large scale digital age economic platform once homeostasis is reached.)

I think there has been a trend since before Covid and this is the time the U.S. can maximize from the Industria Era to the Digital Era and with luck encourage market leadership for the next 50 years and provide high quality employment to the next generation. The U.S. has opportunities now but they are a one shot opportunity. Infrastructure, innovation, and human capital can bring back advanced manufacturing (The trend has started). 

If we miss our opportunities for whatever reason, no matter who points the finger at whom, we may run the risk of struggling to get back on our feet. Continue the trend toward growth requires bi-partisan effort and working together. Not something easy when most are trying to please one group or another and not thinking about the big picture. 

 We will have to wait to see if the elections sort of put a major dent in that growth or not. This is why politics should follow solutions and not visa versa. Economic stability and political stability are associated in the literature. Bipartisan solutions will build a great nation while political pandering will cause our future to dissipate between our fingers (What is a vote worth? Its worth a lot in a democracy)

As with all things, maybe, maybe not. Its just a possibility with a little probability if the trajectory continues. It could also go other ways depending on political events. The digital era economy will continue to develop because its practical but our ability to continue to lead it and improve our innovative capacity is another story.  (That is politics!).

Related thoughts and articles on the idea:

GDP Contracts 1st Q of 2020-Is It a Short Lived Shock and Digital GDP Recovery?

Digital GDP on Government's Mind. Can We Maximize Growth Through Cluster Development?

US May Out Perform China in 2033 If "American's" Learn to Compromise and Coordinate a National Vision

White House Discusses "Defying Predictions" and One Possible Explanation of a Digital Shift

The U.S. is Growing and China is Slowing (How Long will it Last?)

How Universalization of National Identity Leads to National Competitiveness (Human Capital and Socialized Sustainability)

The Delta County Conservation District (July 25th, 2023): New Members, Park Economics, and Sparks Flying!

People love our parks
They can be a bigger
enhancement to summer
tourism.

The July 25th, 2023 Delta County Conservation District was an interesting meeting where obvious disagreements came forward in public light. You can read more from TV 6's article 'Fireworks fly at Delta Conservation District board meeting' where members of the board discussed $73K that was to be dispersed to a CEO of the conservation for employee bonuses (I think I understand that correctly). Some are saying that the money was already earned and others are saying that they want to review the payouts more before agreeing.

If you have been watching the Delta County Commissioner meetings for some time you will get a better understanding of the various actions that were in play that led to this sparks flying situation (public disagreement). First there were questions about the money, then there was active interest in the board because of those questions, and now there are new board members who want more information. The newcomers appear untrusting of some of the actions of seasoned members.

Most of the time when situations like this arise, it is best to take a deep breath and be very open to all of the information because it creates an opportunity to reduce the natural propensity to oppose an opposite perspective. Working with, if one feels they have a good point, often leads to opening up of new resolution avenues through greater understandings. i.e. filling in open gaps and finding common grounds. 

Information on the Delta County Conservation District (This looks like the official site.). They have a 5 board members according to the site. (I saw 7 at the table so they may not all be board members in the video.). 

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has some information on conflict resolution that seemed somewhat relevant to the situation 'Conflict Resolution in Public Participation' The article discusses transparency may be a contributing factor to some of the disagreement and divergent viewpoints. People don't know what they don't know so that is why they are arguing. Once everyone is confident of the basic facts some of those disagreements will dissipate. 

(If you want some more information on the value of parks you can read 'Parks and Recreation Contribute to the U.S. Economy')

Sometimes there may be logical reasons why there are gaps in information and other times its worth looking more into those gaps if there are still reasonable concerns/questions. Transparency helps to increase the quality of the communication between the two entities and lessen those gaps. Right now some member of the community have concerns.

Stay tuned.....

Yes I know that this isn't the video of the meeting. However, the article did get me to think about our own wonderful fireworks. We host different kinds of fireworks on and off YouTube 🙈

The Garden House: The Economics and Health Benefits of Gardens

The Garden House
2023
Gallery

Gardens are something many people engage in and enjoy as a past time as well as a micro farming method. Not only do they improve the aesthetic value of the properties but also seem to enhance other aspects of the area. Food security rises and general health increases. Some may opt for personal gardens and others may desire a more community approach. I think both are just fine.

I talked to two people about gardens in the past week. 1.) Wanted to start a garlic farm on his shared family property and the other said he had 10 pints of herbs come out of a relatively small space. I experimented with my garden box and think I will be adding at least three more (to be built during the winter), 4 apple trees and 2 cherry trees. Escanaba has a community garden and seems to be putting more in (They are volunteer). You can see it HERE.

Anyway, here are some benefits of gardens....

1. Healthy Lifestyle: Gardening as a general lifestyle brings benefits that include exercise, stress, and social connection. Review a meta analysis on gardening. 'Gardening is beneficial for health: A meta-analysis'

2. Economic Benefits: It would appear that gardening also increases the community in many ways that range from property values all the way over to better weight health. A few bucks seem to go a long way in our pockets and our tummies. I took the information below from 'Community Garden Statistics in 2023 (Latest U.S. Data)'

1. Community gardens increase surrounding property values by up to 9.4%.
2. Average community garden yields about 20.4 servings of fresh produce per 11 sq. ft.
3. Community gardens can lower household food security concerns by up to 90%.
4. Every $1 invested in a community garden yields around $6 worth of produce.
5. Community gardens have a positive impact on neighborhood security.
6. There are over 29,000 community gardens in the 100 largest U.S. cities.
7. Community gardeners eat 37.5% more fruits and vegetables than non-gardeners.
8. Common reasons for garden participation are access to fresh foods, health benefits, and to enjoy nature.
9. Women community gardeners are 46% less likely to be overweight than their neighbors.

Escanaba City Council Regular Meeting (July 20, 2023): Cold Water, Fish Cuisine, Open Committees and the Rise of Thebes in the U.P.

View of Thebes
1819,
by Hugh W. William
Representation as a place that has
greater influence then its size.

While watching this super short Escanaba City Council meeting we see governance humming along as the new and improved begins to emerge from its multidecade slumber. A town is in the process of transition and becoming more important than just good food, great outdoor activities and great people! It is becoming reconnected to the global market in a new way.....

(Escanaba is becoming a hot spot investment and vacation destination of the Upper Peninsula.  A type of Thebes emerges from the depths of Bay de Noc waters. A first of its kind.) 

Just take a mental snap shot of what it looks like today and compare that with say 5 years from now (Maybe it grows, maybe it declines, maybe it stays the same. I think its an undiscovered gem that is on the verge of being discovered. Time will tell if there is something or nothing, because there are lots of steps in between and market factors that come into play. However, I think its recognized as a unique place.)

You can see what these cities can sometimes look like. The Environmental Protection Agency has some information on Smart Growth

 You can read the July 20th, 2023 Escanaba Agenda. I pulled out a few key points to remember.

-Clean Water State Revolving Funds (CWSRF): Just shy of $2 mil. The fund is offered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). With all the new water and sewage improvements I think that our infrastructure is improving. Likewise, we have our own water sources. What would also be nice is to have our own electric generation. i.e. solar or other. 

It takes a little time but things do change. For example, we once had outhouses and now have toilets. Likewise, we used to only clean our dishes with Cold Water but now we have other cleaning options like running water. 🤷

-Need additional board members for various committees. This is a good way for people to really get involved. If you want to improve something, or take an interest in something, go ahead and join up. I think you would call the city hall and say "I'm interested in serving my community and would like to get on one of our open committees." Then ask if they provide free snacks for meetings.

-Bar and fish restaurant selling fresh fish would be nice i.e. fish market and fish restaurant. (Delta County Hedge, Hotel-Marina-Ships)

Update on Hate (07/27/2023): Supporting Police and Supporting Reform Are the Same

The Declaration of Independence
1818
John Trumbull

For most of my life I pretty much always thought police wanted to do the right thing and protect the public. The vast majority of them still do and that is why I give the profession its due respect. I have even helped police out in many cases because it is our general duty as society to maintain safe streets in which we all can thrive. However, in recent years I have seen clan based systems persist and then distort the intent, purpose and public trust of policing. 

No matter what, these guys are going to hate me. I'm part of the second class citizen group (Those that don't belong to a narrow sliver of ethnocentric and overentitled fellow Americans.). Not everywhere am I treated that way, but here I'm the target because I witnessed a level of corruption, defended myself/family from one of their clan leaders, then a large group of clan affiliates, and in turn told them the truth "Not all police are bad, but the clan based system that developed in the backrooms of departments and social clubs is immoral, bankrupt and inherently dangerous". 

I get it! I'm the outlier who didn't fit within their preexisting notions of who is and who is not allowed in "their town". It makes no difference if my historical branches supersede theirs (much like this clan network views Native Americans in the area). It would appear to be somewhat a true statement that their concern is having unchecked power of the community and not the greater purpose of policing (They work for us, we do not work for them. If we do, our democracy is done because we made the switch to autocracy. Freedom House has some good information on the dangers of autocracy. HERE.)

What I encourage our fellow Americans to do is politely and peaceable ask our leaders to care enough about the majority of society and the policing/justice institution to consider the following:

(Just FYI in case your the ideological kind. I'm a light R with lots of liberal friends. It means that I look at things more rationally then your average politician. I'm not all R and I'm not all L. I choose things based on their moral conscious and practicality. I'm like the vast majority of American's whose voice gets drowned out by selfish others. P.S. I'm also not a politician and for the most part think I've lost interest in it once I saw how destructive it can be in the past few years.) 

1.) Strengthen the ability of police to catch bad guys/gals who harm our communities. When it comes to crime there should be no racial, religious, or ideological differences in policing and outcomes. When good cops do good stuff we should encourage them to set the cultural expectations so as to crowd out the ethnic-religious clan based networks (These groups that often have ethnocentric far right/left ideological leanings are third world in orientation. Every nation that fell did so on dissolution of institutional trust.). We want good people to stay and we want bad apples to leave so as to make the profession attractive to the best and brightest this country can raise.

2.) Ensure civil rights are the 110% and policing 100% to maintain democratic balance. That should also include easy to find complaint forms on their webpages, do not go directly back to the departments without being vetted first, and when there appears to be racial/religious aggressions it is reported to State and Federal Authorities. i.e. paper trail that helps uncover illegal activities and would be difficult to ignore if proficient and repeated (Must of the bad behavior is shadow behaviors designed to avoid detection. The community has eyes and can report these behaviors if they know they won't be retaliated against. In this case, it appears they retaliated.)

3.) Start listening to their stakeholders and not pander to the hyper political structure. It is much more honorable being voted out of office doing the right thing then to sell your soul for the wrong thing. Makes no differences if you are Democrat or Republican. Our Constitution and the freedom of our people should always outweigh the needs of the smaller group of movers and shakers. We are managing a whole society to live free, happy, and productive with the best lives we can. They are not here to support someone else's lifestyle. Conversation should float up and down freely to maintain a proper national course.

 (There is a nice poem I wrote a decade ago on protecting our freedoms from generation to generation. Haiku: Eagles Eggs  Patriotism is a deeper connection to the essential truths of our way of life. A citizens we should be good people and help each other. We always advance our collective goals.).

*This article is obviously fictitious and is meant for general learning. We know it could never, ever, ever happen! If it did, we would correct it right away! Feel free to click off and enjoy the rest of your day. "bigotry is the disease of ignorance, of morbid minds; enthusiasm of the free and buoyant. education & free discussion are the antidotes of both." Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, August 1, 1816