Sustainable Economic and Social Development Through Institutions

Thesaurus defines ‘organization’ as an entity that comes together and works for a collective goal in a structured and streamlined manner, impacting its own performance and clearly separating it from its own environment. Institutes, on the other hand, are entities that go beyond processes and people. Institutes stand for organizations that possess its own values, integrity and culture. And this is what distinguishes them from organizations. Often, people mistake one as the synonym of the other. Every institute is an organization, however, vice versa is not true.
Since historical times, India has been the breeding ground for various innovative and non-conventional institutes—some of which are remembered even today because of their impact on human behavior and society in general. Even today, educationists consider some of the famous ancient Indian learning institutes, such as Taxila (now in Pakistan) and Nalanda, as one of the highest seats of learning. The concept of Gurukuls (a Vedic school where students, or disciples as they were called, lived along with their teachers) was pioneered in India. Here the “shishya” (the student) devoted his early years in the hands of the “guru” (the teacher)—who guided his entire childhood till he attained maturity and passed on all his learning and wisdoms acquired during the course of life. The common theme around all these delivery methods was to impart an all-round personality development and character building to the individual. And it was this holistic approach towards education and life in general, that India could sustain its lead on economic, social and political front for a long time.
Institutes Shape Human Behavior
“There is some 'threshold ' effect, beyond which, further increments in knowledge or improved attitudes no longer influence behaviors.” – Becker
Human behavior is dependent on one’s individual beliefs, attitude and emotions—all of which, in turn, are influenced by the external environment or institution. Becker also reiterates the fact (in above lines) that theoretical knowledge impacts human behavior only to a certain extent. It is correctly said, “Individual behavior responds to normative expectations of social settings”, which in our case is institutions. Institutes, by definition, are not restricted to educational institutes. Some of the very ubiquitous forms of institutes include professional organizations/companies, provided they conform to the above standards.
Family, being the most basic institute an individual encounters with, can be classified as a primary institute. Two of the above intrinsic factors, beliefs and attitudes, are largely shaped by the family-level and social upbringing an individual is exposed to. Having been born and brought up in the cosmopolitan capital of a culturally diverse country like India, my personal experiences corroborate that family and the ethnic background form the first set of influencers in an individual behavior. I was able to appreciate this fact all the more during my schooling and engineering years, where I interacted with people from various ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, and nationalities on a daily basis. Each one of us had a different perspective and consequently a different approach towards an issue.
Every company/work place has its own culture. As a working professional spends majority of his/her time at his/her work environment, its culture starts impacting professional’s ideology. Institutes go beyond time and people, and at work place, their ability to shape human behavior arises from their organizational structure, design and culture—all of which is based on its set of shared values, mission and vision statement. For instance, the very famous Indian conglomerate, the Tata group is an embodiment of the ethical code of conduct in the corporate world. Key to such sustainable institute building can be explained by one of the famous Organizational Behavior models – the 7S model, where each and every aspect of organization building is designed and aligned to the set of shared values. In most organizations, shared values is just another ‘S’ aspect, whereas in institutes they take the center stage (refer to the pic). Shared values of the institutes influence its mission and vision statement, which in turn, influences organizational structure, systems, style, etc. In TATA’s case, each employee, irrespective of hierarchy, firmly believes in the “Tata Code of Conduct”. In fact, sustainability of the Tata group has been tested time and again and each time it has come out in flying colors. The “duty before self” culture of the Tata group was clearly manifested when its entire staff, top to bottom, was working only to ensure the safety of their guests during the terrorist attacks of 2008 at the Taj Hotel, Mumbai (India). It was a perfect example of trickling down of the company values, which impacted their behavior in the hour of crisis.
Need for Institution Designing
In the western world, economic growth occurred over a large span of time, due to which shift in social and cultural values occurred gradually. On the contrary, economic growth in the eastern countries, especially India, has occurred quite rapidly (primarily over the last decade). Consequently, the Indian society is still in a state of flux between the western and the eastern ideologies. There is a visible shift from the traditional cultural roots with incomplete acceptance of the western culture, leading to a widespread emotional immaturity in the society. In the recent past, this lack of emotional maturity has been spurring negative sentiments and uncalled for incidents (such as the recent Nirbhaya Case—a paramedical student was gang-raped and later on brutally assaulted to death in a moving bus in the national capital, New Delhi). This fast pace growth rate in the country has also raised socio-economic inequality on various fronts (rural-urban divide, caste/religion-based inequalities, and disparities between states of the country), leading to encouragement to terrorism, insurgency, etc. These are the most burning and pressing issues as they involve the most valuable resource on Earth - human being. This issue becomes all the more grave as population in India is booming at a stupendous rate, and such issues are a kind of rot on my country’s development.
India is currently poised to cash its demographic dividend. However, incidents in the recent past have raised concerns regarding capitalization of this dividend. Unfavorable developments, be it on economic, social or political front, occur due to emotional immaturity among the individuals of the society. I hail from a city that is notorious for crime against women. It has been named as the “rape capital” of the country: in 2012, rape and molestation cases rose by 23.43% and 10.65% to 706 and 727, respectively. Every second day, I have seen and, quite sometimes, experienced eve-teasing. More bothering is the issue that in the absence of efficient government machinery, there is a clear lack of will among the people to fight for change. As institutions have a significant impact on one’s social, economic and political behavior, I strongly believe, they also bear the responsibility of making participants intellectually and emotionally strong. Academic institutes, such as schools and colleges, play a vital role of shaping an individual’s behavior for one spends his/her most impressionable years there. Hence, there is a clear and urgent need for efficient institute designing.
Institution Designing for Sustainable Economic and Social Development
By definition, sustainability refers to the conscious effort of selecting “contribution” over “consumerism”. Hence, to achieve it, each and every unit in the society: academic institutes, work-places, NGOs or nation as a whole, has to base and align its strategy, structure, systems, etc. on the basis of its set of shared values. Live examples of this concerted approach can be found in the world around us. Some of these are discussed below:
As academic institutes bear the responsibility of “nation builders”, their pedagogy should include plan for all-round mental and physical development. India has an enriching history of delivering education beyond the conventional routes. These non-conventional routes of imparting education were sidelined during the colonial period in India. However, from the past few decades, various religious trusts (such as ISKCON and madrasas) have again revived this traditional route of education delivery in the country. I got the opportunity to understand and appreciate the underlying philosophy of such institutes during my schooling: where modern scientific knowledge was blended with spiritual values and ethos at every level, in order to provide holistic development to students. My current educational institute, S.P.Jain Institute of Management and Research, also believes in the same philosophy, which is why, curriculum for management education here couples with value-based education through lessons from religious texts (The Bhagwad Gita). Participants are taught management concepts through real-life responsibilities – a concept known as “learning by doing”. Thus, the “knowing, doing and being” concept is followed with utmost sincerity and the participants are put through various ethical tests to completely imbibe the “values” concept. Such rigorous trainings at classroom and beyond classroom levels instill the institutional culture in the individual and thus shape his/her economic, social and political behavior.
Work place is another important institute that shapes an individual’s behavioral traits. In order to avoid emotional distress and non-aligned individual behavior, organizations today are taking extreme care of designing their strategies and policies that are in sync with their set of shared values, which influence their mission and vision statement. This is because unless such alignment is present, synergies between various activities of a firm cannot be achieved. An organization is surely on a path of sustainable development if it is able to simultaneously create value for all its stakeholders—customers, employees, shareholders and society. For this very reason, more and more companies today are adopting “greener initiative”: which could include re-designing business processes to reduce resource consumption or switching to more “environment-friendly” alternatives. For instance, my work organization significantly reduced its paper consumption by adopting two simple measures—complete switch from paper cups to ceramic mugs, and compulsory double side paper printing policy. On one hand, these measures created value for the shareholders, by reducing costs; while on the other hand, they contributed their share in sustainable measures.
Although all Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) are primarily focused on shared value of care, compassion and integrity, however, only those NGOs sustain and grow economically that conduct all their activities in a way that value system is not jeopardized. Having been closely associated with one such organization ‘Akhil Bhartiya Netraheen Sangh’ (The All India Blind Association), I got opportunity to learn how these organizations are still holding onto their values while embracing technological solutions. In order to be economically self-dependent, the NGO has trained its visually-challenged members in the art of candle and incense stick making. However, the NGO still stands by its values and does not allow employ child labor for these tasks. We require more and more such NGOs for the sustainable development of the social sector.
Owing to its own traditions, cultural and spiritual values, each nation in itself is a perfect example of an institute. Only few nations, such as Singapore, in the world truly function as an institute and those who do have been experiencing sustainable economic development. Singapore, as a nation, strongly believes in its set of shared values (such as zero tolerance for corruption); thus policy making and implementation activities are in-sync with its shared values. Such integrated approach towards nation building has made the country one of the most preferred destinations for foreign businesses. Consequently, it has been experiencing sustainable social, economic and political development at a tremendous pace. And such nations can be built if all the sub-institutions: academic institutes, work places and NGO, work with the same philosophy.
Way Ahead
A nation is built up of people and people are governed through their intrinsic behavioral factors (such as beliefs and emotions), which in turn, are influenced by institutes. Thus, rightly defined, an institute is an entity that weaves into the societal fabric along with generating long-term financial gains. Building and sustaining such an entity is a challenging task and requires exceptional leadership skills. Twentieth century has witnessed various charismatic leaders, such as Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa and Ratan Tata, each of which has been successful in developing a sustainable institute impacting social, economic and political spheres of everyone associated. However, it is easier said than done because such institute requires standing against the tide of time: trait of an internally strong and truly courageous personality. Hence, in order to have more and more sustainable institutes, we need to support and reward authentic leaders—who have high set of values and have the courage to stand by them, come what may. Only such an action can build our sustainable nations and ultimately a sustainable world.
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References http://www.englishforums.com/English/InstitutionVsOrganisation/xxpqm/post.htm http://www.visualthesaurus.com/app/view http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2011/11/25/mumbai-india-terrorism http://news.oneindia.in/2013/01/19/shame-delhi-retains-indias-rape-capital-title-1133665.html http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2011/index.html Papers:
‘Organizational Alignment: The 7S Model’, 9-497-045, Harvard Business School (19, November 1996)
‘Social Action Theory for a Public Health Psychology’, Volume 46: 931-946, Ewart CK, American Psychologist (1991)

References: http://www.englishforums.com/English/InstitutionVsOrganisation/xxpqm/post.htm http://www.visualthesaurus.com/app/view http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2011/11/25/mumbai-india-terrorism http://news.oneindia.in/2013/01/19/shame-delhi-retains-indias-rape-capital-title-1133665.html http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2011/index.html Papers: ‘Organizational Alignment: The 7S Model’, 9-497-045, Harvard Business School (19, November 1996) ‘Social Action Theory for a Public Health Psychology’, Volume 46: 931-946, Ewart CK, American Psychologist (1991)