The point here is : organizations survive or fail based on the inherent
economics of the organization.
--- In [email protected], underscore <listmanster@...> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Jan 18, 2011 at 9:41 AM, Anand Manikutty
> manikuttyanand@... wrote:
> > couple : Ashoka's armies and the people who built the Pyramids. In
each
> > case, there was a tangible result, viz., the conquest of Kalinga,
etc. and
> > the construction of the Pyramids.
> > My original point remains : Christianity and Islam don't hold any
records as
> > being the first time a group of humans came together for a common
cause.
> > And, in fact, to my original point, I will add one more :
Christianity and
> > Islam do not hold any records in terms of longevity either. Consider
the
> > aboriginals of the Andamans. They are a people who have been united
for a
> > common cause for much longer than Christianity, the cause being
their own
> > survival.
>
> The difference is that Christianity, Islam are motivated and
> encouraged by acts of proselytizing and conversion (Christianity was
> perhaps the first, neither the pharaohs, nor the romans or the greeks
> had such a motivation. ). To put it crudely -- this is kind of like a
> software virus -- i get infected -- and then i convert someone else
> ...and so on -- it ensures growth and a long and happy life for the
> faith.
The point to note is that that is not the only way organizations
survive. What you are saying is that organizations can grow by
assimilating other organizations, or by employing an aggressive
recruitment campaign. I am not saying that that is wrong. However, there
are other ways for organizations to survive and even grow.
Organizations can grow by paying attention to its own internal economics
and, as a result, being economically vigorous and dynamic.
Take family firms. India was, in ages past, prosperous (at least certain
sections of Indian society were). They were successful in exploiting the
geographical and other advantages given to them. (Just being one of the
countries along the Spice Route/Silk Route/miscellaneous trade route/...
is not enough. It is important to take advantage of the opportunities.)
There were family firms in India that were successful (over centuries!)
in taking advantage of these sorts of opportunities.
Family firms as a form of organization have been successful not only in
India, but the world over. In fact, even today, even in America, family
firms are *dominant* and control a significant fraction of the American
economy. They exercise and maintain their own control through a variety
of means. (Check out this paper ( [1]) by Belen Villalonga and Raphael
Amit to get an idea of how this is done in America today). > One can see
this overwhelming force of conversion by taking an example
> of any of the numerous african tribes -- they have slowly become
> disengaged from traditional faiths and beliefs ...eventually they will
> lose them. The same will happen to the Andaman aboriginals (in their
> case the conversion is to "modernization" -- probably television,
> alchohol , junkfood, clothing )-- the sheer numbers are completely
> against them.
But individual tribes may be survive and proselytization is not the only
path to success. Witness : the success of Hinduism/Buddhism. The way
Hinduism has survived, in my opinion, is by making the 'right' arguments
based on reason, at least the best available reason of the time, and
hoping to change minds as a result. An organization does not need to
have an explicit recruitment campaign (what would be called
'proselytization'/'conversion' in the context of religious organization)
to survive.
Anand
[1] Villalonga, Belen and Amit, Raphael H., How are U.S. Family Firms
Controlled? (July 1, 2007). Available at SSRN:
http://ssrn.com/abstract=891004
