We remain committed to supporting the success of ‘noble purpose organisations’ and the well-being of the people that work in them. These are institutions where an allegiance to the organisation is said by staff to be their primary motivation for joining up.

As we’ve noted before, they can be places where, paradoxically, there is not a fully or sufficiently ‘shared purpose’ between people. There can also be a lack of attention to the necesary culutre needed to achieve the organisation’s aims.

Here is another cross-sector hypothesis, drawing on the work of Art Kleiner on ‘Core Groups’:

1. Despite the mission statements, in the public and third sectors there can be a propensity to run the organisation in the  interests of the bulk of the staff (and, for example, in some local government arenas to the interests of those at the lowest level of the organisation). This requires skilled leadership to ensure that the overarching purpose of the work remains clear and that the end users being served actually do turn out to be the ultimate beneficiaries.

2. In commerce, the core group whose interests are served are more likely to be at the top, running things under the veneer of customer and shareholder value.

What do you think?  Please let us know.

Tags: behaviour, culture, noble purpose, values