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Harmony Forum

Peace from Harmony
Leo Semashko. Strategic management of harmonious peace

Leo Semashko and Tatiana Makarova

Strategic Sphere Management and Organizational Democracy

Stockholm, July 2005, Session "Social Change & Organizational Democracy"


Abstract

The branch organization, branch classes (workers, peasants, capitalists, intellectuals, bureaucracy), branch management and branch democracy correspond to an industrial society. The branch classes have created branch democracy adequate to them and branch management. Their new models are required for postindustrial (information) society.

On the basis of tetrasociology as the postpluralistic, four-dimensional and macrosocial theory, which unites western structural idea of spheres and oriental value idea of harmony, the sphere models are developing (about tetrasociology and sphere models look in more details: L.M.Semashko. Tetrasociology: Responses to Challenges. PolytechnicUniversity, St-Petersburg, 2002).

The foundation of sphere models makes tetrasociological idea about society as a system of four spheres of social reproduction: social, informative (cultural), organizational (political) and technical-economic (material). These spheres differ in the resource (subject, product and capital), which is reproduced in them. The social sphere reproduces human resource and social capital; the informative o­ne – information resource and capital, the organizational o­ne - organizational ("symbolical" according to Bourdieu) resource and capital, the technical-economic o­ne - material resource and capital. Each sphere unites a lot of its appropriate branches, corporations and enterprises. Four sphere classes of the reproduction correspond to four spheres, in which these classes are employed.

The spheres and sphere classes are equally necessary for the society therefore they aspire to social harmony (balance, proportion and cooperation) and generally conform to the law of harmony. At the same time the branches and branch classes, in view of their aspiration to maximize their own benefit, are antagonistic and disharmonious. They generally conform to a law of disharmony and define the order of disharmony in the industrial society kept until now. The modern branch democracy, and modern strategic management directed to maximize the own benefit of corporations and branches are also disharmonious. Therefore this management remains branch.

In contrast to branch management (as well as branch classes and democracy) tetrasociology enters the concepts "sphere management", "sphere classes", "sphere democracy" etc. The sphere management is the strategic management of spheres and sphere resources (personnel, information, capital, fixed capital) with the purposes of achievement of economic and social harmony at all levels: the enterprise (corporation), branch, region. Its functions are planning, organizing, motivating and controlling directed o­n balance, proportion and cooperation of spheres of reproduction and sphere classes. Tetrasociology arms sphere management not o­nly with conceptual apparatus (sphere, sphere classes, sphere resources etc.), but also adequate tools for its quantitative expression: sphere statistics, constructed o­n aggregation of the branch indices and o­n the appropriate information technology.

Social and economic harmonization of spheres, sphere classes and resources, which is provided by sphere management, is the major condition of efficiency of social reproduction, stability and prosperity of society. Economical harmony is an optimum economic efficiency of these spheres. The qualitative difference of sphere management from the branch o­ne consists in that it has never been engaged in management of spheres, and furthermore in their harmonization and cooperation. The branch management is focused o­n a competition instead o­n cooperation of social groups.

However, the sphere management does not suppress and does not exclude but limits and supplements the branch management and competition, laying in its basis. Sphere and branch management are dialectically connected as part and whole. Their correlation is similar to correlation of sphere (whole) and branches (parts). The subject of the latter is the branch or corporation (enterprise) while the subject of the former is the sphere as o­n organically whole units of branches and enterprises. In their modern dialectics, the branch beginning dominates but the sphere beginning is in rudimentary and suppressed condition which does not allow the organizational democracy to reach the order of social harmony. Modern social disharmony with all its defects: wars, terrorism, poverty of five billions people from six, criminality, ecological and other crises is the consequence of branch management. o­nly the sphere management together with the organizational democracy is capable of ensuring constant and constructive strategy of harmonization of spheres of reproduction and sphere classes in 21ft century. They can create the harmonious global order and new culture of peace, which will exclude wars, terrorism and extreme of social injustice, which was in the inherited from the industrial society. The sphere management is the future of strategic management. The country, which will be the first to use it, will proud itself outstripping and harmonious social and economic development.

 



Leo M. Semashko
Ph.D., A/Professor, member of ISA,
Director, Public Institute of Strategic Sphere (Tetrasociological) Studies,
St. Petersburg
, Russia

Tatiana A. Makarova
Economics Dr, A/Professor, Department ofManagement, StatePolytechnicUniversity,
St. Petersburg, Russia



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