‘Harmony’ speaks volume about the existence of our pervading and kaleidoscopic Nature/ Environment, and the living beings (despite inevitable lifecycle of birth & death). Because, origin of our Universe revolves around a phenomenal event – the “Big Bang”.
It is believed that our cute ‘Cosmos’ emerged after being churned out of a colossal ‘Chaos’.
Nevertheless, the invisible Supreme Power’s queer creation gained various shapes and has also been keeping on flourishing since the time immemorial owing to this delicate bond called “Harmony” that has been making various natural objects, including mankind, plant and animal kingdoms, gel with each other.
Harmony makes a song or a piece of music melodious/euphonic, or else pooh-poohed as cacophonic.
While ‘Dictionary.com’ defines, “Harmony is the blending of simultaneous sounds of different pitch or quality”, ‘Vocabulary.com’ views it as “a pleasing combination and progression of chords; if it makes a wince, it is lacking harmony.”
The ‘Oxford Learner’s Dictionary’ delineates, “Harmony is a state of peaceful existence and agreement or orderly arrangement.”
Let us now focus on our ace point of discussion dealing with harmonious “stakeholder management skills/system” that could pave the path for a “true corporate purpose”.
As per the ‘stakeholdermap.com’ source, there are “Seven Principles” of stakeholder management developed out of four conferences hosted by the Clarkson Center for Business Ethics & Board Effectiveness between 1993 and 1998.
The valuable views and ideas shared by a galaxy of management scholars on stakeholder theory act as “guidelines for the corporate sector to manage their stakeholders.”
Principle 1: “Managers should acknowledge and actively monitor the concerns of all legitimate stakeholders, and should take their interests appropriately into account in decision-making and operations.”
Principle 2: “Managers should listen to and openly communicate with stakeholders about their respective concerns and contributions, and about the risks that they assume because of their involvement with the corporation.”
Principle 3: “Managers should adopt processes and modes of behavior that are sensitive to the concerns and capabilities of each stakeholder constituency.”
Principle 4: “Managers should recognize the interdependence of efforts and rewards among stakeholders and should attempt to achieve a fair distribution of the benefits and burdens of corporate activity among them, taking into account their respective risks and vulnerabilities.”
Principle 5: “Managers should work cooperatively with other entities, both public and private, to insure that risks and harms arising from corporate activities are minimized and, where they cannot be avoided, appropriately compensated.”
Principle 6: “Managers should avoid altogether activities that might jeopardize inalienable human rights (e.g., the right to life) or give rise to risks which, if clearly understood, would be patently unacceptable to relevant stakeholders.”
Principle 7: “Managers should acknowledge the potential conflicts between (a) their own role as corporate stakeholders, and (b) their legal and moral responsibilities for the interests of all stakeholders, and should address such conflicts through open communication, appropriate reporting and incentive systems and, where necessary, third party review.”
Oxford University’s professor emeritus Dr Colin Mayor has defined “Corporate Purpose” as “producing profitable solutions for the problems of the people and planet, and not profiting from creating problems.”
A noteworthy article written by noted business management coach Witold J. Henisz, in the Harvard Business Review (HBR), underlines: “Employees need to be motivated to go above and beyond; customers need to be inspired, and their feedback needs to be incorporated; and the demands, opinions, and goals of civil society and government are also critical.“
When the corporate sector in an era of “cut-throat competition” as well as “global digital economy” takes utmost care of maintaining such a harmony, the “survival of the fittest” could be ensured, the experts exhort.