Earth, we are at COP.

Maybe we will get it right this time? Maybe we will collectively rise up to our responsibilities as keepers of this geographical enclave called Earth? Maybe the Paris Summit on Climate Change will go down in history as the meeting where we finally and genuinely committed to curtailing the damage we have done to the Earth.

Oh Earth, how we have ignored you for so long; how we have trampled on your beauty and exploited your extravagance; how we have constantly taken from you but blatantly failed to put back in you. You have enriched us but in return we have depleted you. You have fed us but in exchange we have polluted you.

We appeared to have realized our errors and have gathered again to strive for a consensus on how to nourish you oh Earth.

From Casablanca to Canberra and from Isale Eko to Iceland, we are hoping to convince ourselves to do what is right once and for all. 

Oh God of the Earth, please take our mind back to Eden so we can see the value in your creation and begin to tend the Earth again. Remind us that we are custodians of this space and help us to collectively agree to a workable approach that will mitigate the negative aftermath of the damages we have done to the Earth.

History

History has the propensity to unbear mystery. The secret to understanding the future is often embedded in the crucible of past events. A people who trample on the wisdom in their yesterday are often held hostage by the claws of repeated errors and the grips of illusionary preoccupations.

History is valuable and usable; history is humbling and resolving; history invigorates and liberates. History is our today viewed from tomorrow.

History is why we live here today; history is what will be said of us when we are gone tomorrow. 

Political Institutions and the New Realities of Globalization

In an age where trade no longer knows geographical boundaries, the roles of political institutions and in particular, political parties and elected politicians will be very crucial in determining whether a nation embraces globalization and reaps it numerous advantages or opposes it, and be denied the opportunity for growth and economic advancement.

While it may be argued that political parties and the high-level discourses they engage in, are the engine rooms through which our social and economic realities are sharpen as a people, there is no denying the fact that their propensity for dissension and their growing desire to regularly score political points, could form a clog in the wheel of our collective economic wealth as nations of the world.

Today, there are new global economic realities especially with the emergence of new global manufacturing hubs for both industrial and regular household products. China for example, has become a global manufacturing giant and a lot of countries have formed various bilateral and multilateral trade agreements with her to benefit from producing at cheaper costs and ultimately improving their bottom line. Other countries like Malaysia, Brazil, Turkey and Nigeria have also surfaced on the world economic landscape courtesy of their sustained year-over-year macroeconomic growth, which has caused investment pundits, large multinational corporations and governments of the ‘first world’ countries to start paying closer attention to them.

Some of these ‘’second and third world’’ nations, due to their diversified economic growth and the integration of successful non-traditional sectors into mainstream GDP-earning elements of their economy, are now described as the best soils with the highest investment yields across the world.

In view of these new ‘economic normals’, it would be sheer mindlessness to allow political jingoism and blind patriotism based on misconceptions and unfounded biases, stand in the way of meaningful collaborations with these people and nations that might have different history or culture than ours.

With being in an age of economic collaborations, we should expect to see increased, well-thought-out bilateral and multilateral trade agreements world-over that would advance the economic course of the average populace. Existing in times like these should mean that positive stories of economic multiplicity coming out of nations far and wide are not ignored but rather they are tested for veracity and the opportunities inherent in them are judiciously explored.

Needless to say that a single vote in the hand of a lawmaker could make or mar the economic future of a nation and the blatant unwillingness of our legislature to put our common economic prosperity ahead of their political prejudices could plunge our societies into austerity.

Globalization has come to stay and boost the capacities of nations, organizations and institutions that embrace it. It is hoped that those who have been entrusted with the responsibilities of advancing the course of the larger populace through policies and the tools of politics will come to terms with this reality and not allow ‘baseless partisanism’ and undue protectionism to stop our common economic opportunities.

The trees will miss you.

The trees in Kenya are crying; the trees in Africa and around the world are sobbing. One of their keepers is gone. Their key preserver has left them and will be meeting mother earth.

Prof. Wangari Maathai, the renowned environmentalist, tree-planter and Africa’s first woman Nobel Laureate is gone. Her long-fought battle with cancer ended her breath this morning.

Her courageous and visionary spirit as well as her passion for a tree-filled world will be missed. She has done her bit, but will her bit continue to save the trees.

In the place of Oxygen, I see fear and anxiety oozing out of the stomata and lenticels of trees. Will they live again? Will their beauty and grandeur not be exchanged for shillings and dollars by environmental merchants?

Adieu says the oak, the baobao, the cypress and the millions of trees around the world. Adieu says the millions of creatures that find their abode in and around the trees.

We wished you could still be here with us for a little longer they all chorused. We will miss you they all echoed.

As we remember today.

Today makes it a decade since the horror event of 9/11 happened and all around the world at this period, there is an ugly reminiscence of how several yet-to-be-fulfilled dreams were shattered along with the World Trade Centre in New York.

In the US and across the globe, there is a wound which has been opened again today - a wound which the memories of the lost of loved ones and family members bring; a wound which has its root causes in the wicked acts of men to men.

Those who died are not coming back but the reason behind the loss of their lives is still with us – wickedness and terror.

As we remember today, the word of Edmund Burke comes to mind that ‘evil prevails when good men do nothing.’

More than anything else, this year’s 9/11 reminds us of our collective responsibilities to stamp out evil behaviours wherever they exist. We are once again called to collectively stand against men whose wicked and ungodly acts keep others in pain. We are asked to jointly bring down every wall of oppression, aggression and subjugation. Our voices must be lent towards restoring hope, comfort and sanity to our world.

As we remember today, we should live and let others also live. We should imbibe the virtues of tolerance and respect for each other. We should work towards restoring the dignity of the human soul as bestowed by God.

Gbagbo! Respect the people's will

Cote d'Ivore has been in the news recently, particularly for the fact that Mr. Laurent Gbagbo has refused to concede defeat in the recently-concluded elections in the country.

He is claiming there were irregularities with the polls and hence, he must continue to be in power as the President of the country. His choice however, has pitched him against the Ivorian masses, and against regional, continental and international communities.

ECOWAS, AU, UN, EU as well the United States and other concerned global entities have all voiced their displeasure against the way and manner Mr. Gbagbo is clinging to power even when he has become unpopular with his own people.

The Ivorian masses are dying by the day. Anarchy is gripping every facet of the country's life.

The country now have two 'sworn-in' Presidents; One President is operating from an hotel, the other, from the state house.

The Ivorian masses are unfortunately at the receiving end. All manners of sanctions are flinging in from every quarters. An unpopular leader has failed to respect their will.

The world again is witnessing a situation where a single individual's ambition is plunging a whole nation and generation into chaos.

Hundreds or thousands of children, women and men are again going to suffer for the sins they never committed. They are going to be refugees in places they never thought of going to. They are likely to be treated like unwanted guests and given uncomplimentary attentions. Their new homes will now be tents and they would have to be in-line to be fed. Their dignity is going to be eroded once again.

Gbagbo! Please think of posterity and let peace rule in Cote d'Ivore. Ivorians have seen too much of troubles already. Don't force yourself on them. They want to heave a sigh of relief. Please respect their will.

Dynamics of Organizational Control

The events and changes being experienced world over in every facet of human existence have been reported to come with enormous and varying degrees of complexities, uncertainties and challenges in which managers and leaders of our world have had to evolve and develop new paradigms, styles and approaches to the management of people, processes, systems, organizations and nations.

In today’s business and management environment, organizational resources are disappearing, competition is escalating, and value-demand is skyrocketing.

This development has therefore led to organizations being more and more determined in being vision-focused, goal-oriented and performance-driven and the concepts of planning, organizing, leading and controlling has taken more strategic dimensions.

Of great importance is now the need for tasks to be clearly defined and assigned and performance standards set for expected results so that organizational objectives can be realized. This role rests on the shoulders of managers and a tool for achieving this is an effective control system or procedure.

WHAT IS CONTROLLING?

Controlling, as defined by the Longman Active Study Dictionary is ‘the ability to decide what will happen in an organization or place’. It is also said to be ‘the ability to make someone or something do what you want, or make them work in a particular way’

Controlling, as it relates to management is a part, and the last of the four cardinal functions a manager is supposed to perform in an organization. A manager is expected to plan, organize, lead/direct and control.

Controlling is the process through which standards for performance of people, processes, systems and structures are set, communicated, and applied. It involves measuring and correcting individual and organizational performance to ensure that events conform to plans. It is to ensure that deviations are put in check, below-standard results are stepped-up to expected performance level and processes that lead to the attainment of plans and objectives are reinforced and improved-upon.

There are different types of control. Time, budget, equipment, cost, quality management, materials and operations could all be controlled and there could also be systems put in place within organizations to check and synchronize these different types of control.

Control systems are usually designed by (strategic) managers especially after due consideration has been given to factors internal and external to the organization. The main goal of control systems however, is to align organizational resources (people, process, capabilities, assets etc) towards achieving the objectives of the organization.


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Culled from my write-ups as a Management Strategist.