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Promotion of conscious and consistent application and optimization of the concept of Three Basic Synergies (physical, mental, spiritual) in healthy organizations

Development of collective morale and efficiency as functions of leadership

Organizations as embodiments and mechanisms of the members' individual and collective empowerment through synergy

Repudiation of personality-centered organizational practices with 'superman'-type, superstar, 'infallible' or dictatorial leaders, on the one hand, and nominal, fans-club-type or slave-type members, on the other.

  1. Total Human Development and Harmony Through Synergism

  2. Holistic Health Care and Medicine

  3. Deep Ecology and Harmony with Nature 

  4. Sense of History and Sense of Mission

  5. Civics and Democratic Governance

  6. Culture as Community Creativity

  7. Light-Seeking and Light-Sharing Education

  8. Gender Sensitivity, Equality & Harmony

  9. Reconstructive/Restor-ative Justice

10. Associative Economics, Social Capital and Sustainable Development

11. Synergetic Leadership and Organizations

12. Appropriate/Adaptive Technology

13. Mutual Enrichment of Families and Friendships

14. Human Dignity and Human Harmony: Human Rights and Peace

15. Aesthetics Without Boundaries: 'Art from the Heart'   

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“VEMGASC”:
Orientation and Process Consciousness

By Ed Aurelio C. Reyes

Prof. Reyes is one of the foremost champions in the Philippines of the serious study and conscious application of the synergism principle on various fields of human concern.  He taught synergism-oriented subjects of Applied Cosmic Anthropology, the doctoral program of Asian Social Institute (ASI) in Manila.

This "Outline of Notes for Discussion and Application" is based on the author's "Notes and Outlines for Discussion, Application and Evaluation" first written as part of the author's The PSE (People's Self-Empowerment) Challenge, which came out in 1996 in a pilot edition with a very limited number of copies.

MANY ORGANIZATIONS have become victims of their own muddled-headed thinking, especially in adopting organizational processes and repeated tasks mainly because they see these being done by other groups.  This is imitation without understanding, or obedience, without comprehension, to prescriptions of powerful advisers or powerful benefactors who enforce mindsets and organization development systems as requisite to the release of donated alms. 

And its wreaking havoc on these organizations' directional clarities, period-to-period priorities and organizational efficiency, to name a few adversely affected aspects of their respective collective lives as organizations.

The following article is an attempt to help us all make more sense of terms we use to refer to items of orientation and items of organizational processes:

A. ORIENTATION CONSCIOUSNESS:

Orientation consciousness pertains to giving due importance to individual and collective clarity of mind regarding the overall premises, framework, directions and thrusts of activities and regarding their focused, firm but creatively- and responsibly-flexible relationship with, and application to, specific policies, plans and tasks.

Orientation outlines generally cover the following, more or less as ordered here: vision, mission, goals, approaches, strategies. One very important element that is usually omitted or inadequately addressed is the environment scan.

Vision: descriptive picture of society desired by the organization/institution and the individuals comprising it. The end of such description should be focused on a specific aspect (of the ideal society) which pertains to the specific area of concern of the (existing or proposed) organization/institution.

Environment Scan: Description of present-day environment where the “external environment” is the reality contrasted to the Vision and the “internal environment” pertains to the existence, strengths and impacts of this entity and the various other orgs/institutions/agencies (including GOs) that work along lines at least similar or related to the specific part of the Vision.

Mission: Definition of this entity’s basic purpose stated as its own concrete role in helping move reality from what is described in Environment Scan towards what is described in the Vision. This role is to be defined on the basis of the Vision and the Environment Scan.

Goals: Targets for achievement within a time frame, like for example a five-year phase in the performance of its Mission.

Approaches and Strategies: These pertain to principles of conscientization, mobilization, organizing, and other functions and the selection of an appropriate specific design of interplay that identify hierarchy of priorities, succession of moves, etc.

Constitution or Charter: Document that sets in black and white the basis of unity and mode of internal and external operation of the organization.

The preamble declares the Vision and Mission (and, optionally, the principles) of the organization and its mandate (act of adoption/promulgation); the name of the organization (along with, optionally, a description of its seal/emblem) is declared to faithfully reflect its nature, Mission and scope; the purposes are enumerated as specifics of the Mission and elaboration of the Goals minus the timeframe; the definition of membership (criteria, prescribed profile, classifications, method of recruitment and acceptance, rights, and duties/responsibilities), the leadership leading bodies and (officers, their functions and process of selection), and structures (existence of chapters, committees, and/or task groups’ plus “ways and means”) should all reflect the Approaches and Strategies of the entity.

More specific standing policies, called By-Laws, may be appended to the Constitution or Charter.

B. PROCESS CONSCIOUSNESS:

This pertains to the attainment and maintenance of consistency between the purposes and the means to achieve them, as defined by the principles reflected in the Vision.

Elaboration: if Vision seeks Justice, processes should be fair; if Vision seeks Democracy, processes should serve the people’s synergy for empowerment (PSE), including the members’ collective self-empowerment in matters internal to the organization. For example, if Vision seeks Truth, processes should be open and aboveboard.

Two extremes are to be avoided in Process Consciousness:

1) the “Machiavellian” extreme which is fixated on result no matter how this is attained

2) the bureaucratic extreme which is fixated on process even to the total or near-total sacrifice of results.

C. SYNTHESIS:

For an organization/institution to keep going about its work without clarifying to itself and to all others concerned its basic orientation is to risk being direction less or anarchic.

But the mechanical enumeration of points under the headings “Vision”, “Mission,” etc. would not suffice. Much investigation, consultation and discussion has to be undertaken for the Vision-Mission-setting work to be accomplished well.

Those leading in this work have to combat all tendencies toward impatience, simplistic thinking and mechanicalism.

Once a definitive Vision-Mission statement is set, preferably from well-thought-out proposals from the leadership and processed by a genuine “synergism of the minds,” this must be promulgated clearly and widely.

Periodic assessments should be made to acknowledge actual levels of achievement and to study appropriateness and practicality so that such Vision-Mission statement can be revalidated, updated, and/or adjusted, as necessary.

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