Muir, Anne B.

English

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DIRECTIONSResources,Relationshipsand FuturesBath College of HigherEducationHow much do we take intoaccount ethical and globalissues when we considermanagement issues,resources and creativity?Professor Anne Muirbelieves that the answer is'too little', and that as anarea related to people,technology must broaden itsperspective.Imagine sitting down and opening anexamination paper with just one, compulsoryquestion: Discuss the extent to which you canmanage the future.What would you think about? What would youwrite? Yet, stopping to think about it, that is thequestion we face every minute of our lives. Is itpossible to 'manage' the future, or does thefuture just happen to us?Management in daily life - home, office,factory or classroom - implies a futureorientation and involves working with people,young and old, to enable them to understandmore about life in some way. Management issaid to aim to make the desirable actual, and toaim to minimise risk and uncertainty. We needto have some vision of the future, be itprobable or preferable, to be able toconceptualise goals towards which we striveand to comprehend the risks and uncertaintiesof the future. Such a journey into the futurewould benefit from a guide book, set ofguiding principles or philosophy, to keep thetraveller on an achievable, or sustainable, route.When we work in areas related to people andthe resources they seek to acquire to meet theirneeds or wants, we become involved in short-and long-term decision-making which in turnaffects life in a multitude of ways and rightacross the world. Resources, whether human ornon-human, are used and produced by peopleworld-wide in their everyday life and work,and we are all connected by the need or desirefor these resources. The quality of thedecisions made concerning people andresources determines the quality and nature ofchange, and the more understanding andinsight we have, the more chance there is ofenvisaging the outcomes and impact of thesedecisions. 'Decisions create change, andchange creates the future'. 1Effective management is a highly creativeprocess and is concemed with enabling therelease of creative thought - in fact, withcreating creativity. The responsibility ofreleasing creative energies poses the questionof the extent to which the moral and ethicalissues that accompany that release areaddressed. Is it a neutral process from whichwe can be absolved of responsibility for theoutcomes, or should there be a philosophywhich sets creative development into a globalcontext of understanding for the common good?In terms of resources, relationships and globalfutures, I think there needs to be at least a basicunderstanding of human rights issues, thereasons for inequalities, both within andbetween nations, the concept of developmentfor a sustainable future and the notion ofinterdependence. The rich, minority worldexists at the expense of the poor, majorityworld, dependent upon paying producers lowprices for commodities, poor wages for labourin unsafe, unhealthy conditions andcondemning them and their families to lives ofpoverty, without even access to clean water.Their survival is, in many ways, far morecreatively managed than any exercise orproject we may dream up, but their infantmortality rates and health status demonstratethe true cost of that survival.Creativity does not take place in a vacuum; ittakes place in a context which, more than evernowadays, is a global context. Concern forboth the quality of life and the quantities of lifeis a major issue because the latter constrainsthe former. It took from the beginning of timeuntil around the year 1800 to produce the firstbillion people on earth. Now, world ~pulationgrows by one billion every 11 years but worldresources are diminishing, being used up by therich, minority world in its culture ofconsumerism.If we accept the principles of human rights,equal opportunities and enhanced quality oflife, how are the obvious challenges addressedin management, product development andeducational programmes? In the globalcontext, what does quality of life mean?Over ten years ago, Wilkinson (1982) wrote'People still often talk about the 'impact' oftechnology, the need to 'adapt' to its demandsetc., as if technology was somehow anindependent and autonomous force in industrywhich more or less determines the sort of workwhich people have to carry out.'3Technological and product developments are areflection of what humankind thinks isdesirable or is persuaded, by marketing andpolicy, to believe is desirable. The level of suchdevelopment is 'an indicator of eachgeneration's attempts to manage its owningenuity ... Technology is (hu)man-made andreflects the choices and desires of a generationand a civilization,.4 Design is said to be thesolution to a problem, but a lot depends uponwhose problem it is and how that problem isDIRECTIONSperceived. The UK's biggest export earner isthe arms trade and we justify the design andproduction of armaments for the 'defence'business to solve our balance of paymentsproblems. Although the ends to whichdevelopments are put cannot always beforeseen, the social, economic, political andethical climate within which inventions andinnovations reach the light of day will, to acertain extent, determine their application andwill certainly enable or discourage debate.Democratic, well-informed debate is still moreor less possible within UK society, althoughthe right to information is more curtailed thanin many other nations.To be effective, decision-making requires thefullest, most reliable information, and to behumane, it requires to retain a measure ofhuman concern for the common good. Themore it is given over to technology, the moredistanced from emerging human concerns itbecomes, enabling the concentration of powerto be held by the people with the access to thetechnology. Sound decisions are dependent onopenness and humane legislation to support theprocess.By now, ecological consideration should befirmly built into the brief for creativity. Puttinga code of ethics on to the agenda wouldprovide guidelines to enable professionals andlearners alike to find a route towards asustainable future. In this field, we are reallyall in the learner's seat for life, and alongsidethe right to freedom of expressions runs theresponsibility for these rights.Sustainable development in the twenty-firstcentury and beyond depends upon howresources are shared and managed, and how thesharing ethic is demonstrated to children. Thetwentieth-century way of life did not produceequality and sustainability, and is not goodenough for the children of the thirdmillennium. Getting to grips with what weneed to debate and how we create a philosophyand set of ethical guidelines is a necessary stepin finding a route to a sustainable and equitablefuture. Perhaps we are into the realms of thedebate on the 'meaning of life', but, what iswrong with that?How would you answer Discuss the extent towhich you can manage the future?• References1. Muir, A .B., 'From Household Economics toGlobal Resources', a paper presented to theAuthors' Forum at the United Nations - NGOWorld Forum in Malta, 1993 to launch UNInternational Year of the Family 19942. Population Reference Bureau, based on UN andWorld Bank: estimates and projections in 'People,Poverty and Politics' in PS, September 1991, p. 143. Wilkinson B., 'Managing with New Technology',in Management Today, October 19824. Muir, A. B., 'Technology - a Resource to beManaged', in the Home Economist, Summer 1985,Vol. 5 No.1, pp. 3-5Professor Anne B. Muir is Vice President of theInternational Federation for Home Economics(IFHE) with responsibility for the Europeanregion. The IFHE is a Non-GovernmentalOrganisation of the United Nations (NGO).She works in the field of Human Ecology andResource Management at Bath College ofHigher Education in the UK and is SubjectLeader for Global Futures: Resources andRelationships, which addresses the issuesraised in this article.

Resources, Relationships and Futures

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Resources, Relationships and Futures

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