by Antonis Zairis*
The concept of culture is associated with a state of mind in which a grid of values, deeper beliefs and opinions, hypothetical but valid interpretations and perceptions are contained and embodied. This whole system of value approaches determines and shapes human behavior and situations. The democratic way of governance, the rule of law, excellence in education and respect for the law constitute the framework of values that a society is nurtured and admonished in order to shape its members’ respective attitudes of progress, prosperity and growth potential in an environment of social cohesion and solidarity.
Even our participation as a country, through our products, in international competitiveness indicators and in the international division of labor is a function of the production of high value-added products or of a value environment and a functioning democratic state that operates in a favorable way, with equality and egalitarianism, which welcomes investment by overcoming the difficulties of bureaucracy. In this context, the resources and potentials of Businesses will be exploited in the best way because there is precisely this cohesive web that synthesizes and unifies any different behaviors into a solid, unified form as a value culture e.g. of unique qualitative excellence or anti-bureaucratic consciousness and logic, which Governments, Political Leaderships, Businesses and Societies have to serve with targeted behaviors.
The value of Entrepreneurship, for example, is ’served’ by attitudes of innovative action, creative engagement, taking dynamic initiatives, making use of available resources, as well as anticipating and anticipating the needs of customers and taking risks if necessary. On the other hand, the value of Cleanliness, which is topical in the era of Covid and which we all experience, is one that imposes as expected behaviors the disinfection and thorough hand washing.
The deficit of a common Culture is therefore what contributes to regression, decadence, heteronomy and a move away from behaviors that are intended for growth, progress and creation.
It is therefore worthwhile as a social body, as mental entities, to turn and emphasize the main value components, to embody them as a "matrix" of culture, which will "give birth" to behaviors of high creativity, diversity, quality, beneficence, anthropocentrism and beneficial results for Society, Economy and Politics.
Firstly, the value component of the ’collective’ good and individual responsibility is what constitutes a serious long-lasting obstacle to the cooperative culture, to ’co-operating’, to the meeting and flourishing of synergies that for years now have been ’condemning’ society to lagging behind and inability to produce results, and ’rocking’ the political system to introversion and difficulty in making dynamic decisions.
The political parties’ incoherence on major national issues and on the obvious dominant problems and pathologies of the economy have not helped the country to form a consensual culture in order to get the right message across to society and to take effective actions to solve the problems. The preference for the option of division and discord for petty party interests and short-sighted political ambitions has been able to create only deadlocks and intractable situations for many years.
Secondly, the value component of the long-term visionary goal, which was permanently absent in politics, business and society, has been overlaid by short-term objectives of implementation and management. It is true there was difficulty not only in administering the major objectives but also in identifying them. Daily operational processing left no time for the generation of smart ideas, creative initiatives and investments with long-term benefits. In the current covid-19 crisis we all slowly began to understand the value of macro investments in production, logistics and research.
The absence of perceptive capacity and hence of upcoming events and incidents in Managers and Politicians has locked the country into managing the small, the daily one and finding it difficult to see the big picture and primarily what is coming. Effective strategic planning and long term focus requires a culture of macro vision and a spirit of collaboration.
Thirdly, the value component of Excellence in Education and the achievement of results and distinctive performance in the Business world was not served in the right way because, on the one hand, Education did not want to operate with standards and excellence and, on the other hand, there were many companies that did not operate on the basis of value-based standard results, did not invest in the lifelong training of employees, did not "succumbed" to the value of Corporate Social Responsibility but instead preferred easy transactions and dependence on the public sector.
This happened because largely there was a lack of confidence in the development of synergies that would ’defeat’ introversion and pave the way for participation in the international competitive environment with special claims as the premium, unique and excellent quality products and services existed but also the right people and worthy executives to support them. What was missing was the culture of organization, cooperation, collaboration, meeting, open communication, commitment and common purpose.
*Deputy Vice President of SELPE & Assistant Professor of Business Administration at the University of Paphos, Cyprus & member of the World Economic Forum (WEF)
By: N. Peter Kramer
