The Competitive Impact of Values
In considering the countries described above we will also use a graphic adapted from
the World Competitiveness Report prepared by IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland and updated
by GVN in 2002. This clearly shows how the values in countries change over time and
why it is almost impossible to see political union in the EU any time soon. In addition,
the EU currently operates as a massive BLUE Order bureaucracy with all the inbuilt
inefficiencies and delays inherent to a system of this nature.
The graphic clearly illustrates how countries move through ‘values stages’ as they
evolve their economies. The ‘collective values’ of hard work towards building a stronger
nation evolve into ‘Wealth Creation’ and on to the ‘individual values’ of ‘Self Achievement’.
The emergence of China is an interesting example in this regard.
Some Key Issues for the EU
In many ways the EU is a work still in progress which will continue to evolve over
the coming decades and centuries. At this stage of its existence it is very much
in its infancy and like the United States, will continue to evolve and change its
shape and membership over the coming decades if not centuries.
A YELLOW Integrated approach is required to
to manage not only the urgent issues facing the EU but also the ‘Global Village’
as a whole. However, at this stage there are no really strong political examples
to illustrate this. The majority of the actions taken by the G8 and G20 Groupings
are really an attempt to stabilise the global economy from the ORANGE Enterprise
economic perspective.
Even EU environmental issues are currently being overtaken by the urgency to stabilise
the global banking and trading system by a number of remedies which do not always
integrate at either the national, regional or global levels. As in the EU issues
of national sovereignty take precedence over a more holistic global approach to these
other major systemic issues.
In this regard the French sociologist Jean Joureis wrote: "The greatness of today
is built on the efforts of past centuries. A nation is not contained in a day nor
in an epoch, but in the succession of all days, all periods, all her twilights and
all her dawns”.
Required: A Systems Approach to Values in the EU
In looking at the issue of the EU from a systems perspective it is clear that the
structure is top heavy and has been built from the ‘top down’ rather than in an ‘integrated
way’. In addition, and coming back to my introductory comment by Donald Rumsfelt,
who does the United States talk to representing Europe? At present these are the
individual heads of states, not the representatives of the EU.
In returning to the Don Beck Psychological Map, this clearly outlines why different
countries see things differently. There is often the misperception in the developed
economies that “we are all alike” with similar needs. This is patently incorrect.
The EU in many ways represents the United Nations, an organisation which “talks the
talk” but often fails to “walk the walk”. It is also an opportunity for egos to thrive
and not to deliver results. It also allows dictators and autocrats to criticise the
more advanced values as these are a direct threat to their continued existence. Keeping
people uneducated, poor and dependent is their key to retaining political control.
The ‘Big Society’ movement espoused by David Cameron in the UK is an attempt to reverse
the current European and British trend of large bureaucracies taking over from the
individual. It is also a move to empower the ordinary citizen to take more responsibility
for their own neighbourhood as well as removing much of the unnecessary ‘red tape’.
However, in the UK, a country with a large dependent BLUE Order core value this
is not fully understood by the majority outside this value. This type of approach
requires open ended thinking in terms of an eventual end state.
In addition to the above, the quotation by Dr Clare Graves is also of significance:
“The present moment finds our society attempting to negotiate the most difficult,
but at
the same time the most exciting transition the human race has faced to date. It is
not merely a transition to a new level of existence but the start of a new “movement”
in the symphony of human history.”
The above points clearly indicate that the move towards a more integrated world is
a process. This is a continuing journey which will probably never be completed,
as we move towards the distant horizon which continues to show ever changing vistas
and at the same time provides new challenges – see the graphic of selected regional
values (left) illustrating this.
Finally, in concluding this section I will use a quotation from Thomas Jefferson:-
“….. laws and institutions go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As
that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths
discovered and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions
must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to
wear still the coat that fitted him as a boy, as civilized society to remain ever
under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.”
In closing this short piece on the EU and values it is clear that real integration
of the European Union is an ongoing process which is at best many generations, if
not centuries, away. This is both a reflection of history as well as of future global
trends reflecting the type of global uncertainty and chaos we are currently experiencing
as we move our values forward in our Global Village. In this chaos there are major
challenges for us all but also major opportunities for both individual growth and
individual countries at all of the local, regional and global levels.
