By Millie Yun Su
Senior Lecturer at Singapore University of Social Sciences
Research interests: Innovation management, practice-based view, entrepreneurship, strategic human resource management, and qualitative research
Title: Reflection of EGOS Edinburgh 2019 - “Enlightening the future.”
We are in a world that has never been more chaotic and perplexed, with unexpected outcomes disrupting the taken-for-granted peace and normalcy. Trump’s presidency in the U.S, the yellow vest movement in France, and the unexpected Brexit marked the rise of populism where elitism is no longer the mainstream; the increasing use of surveillance technologies and tightening borders against immigrants marked the rise of conservatism over liberalism putting democracy into question; lastly, the dominance of tech companies determining the distribution of knowledge and wealth underscores the threat of capitalism more than ever.
This year’s European Group of Organizational Studies (EGOS) Colloquium was held in the thousands- year old city, Edinburgh, with a theme of “Enlightening the Future.” What can this ancient city tell us about organizing? How does the current chaos and turmoil enlighten us about the future of organizations?
Organize the collective to enlighten the future
Edinburgh is in a transformation in the making. Although the city is filled with medieval castles, cobble-stone roads, and green highland, underneath the scenic views lies social problems of modern civilization. The city is filled with either ultra-rich retirees or youth under poverty without means to move out of the city. Old establishments prevent the city from building new facilities to accommodate the increasing demand of education and health facilities. The city is trapped in its own heritage and establishments, exploited by tourism as a double-edge sword. On the one hand, tourism is a main source of economy, yet on the other hand, it also drives up the cost of living and “hollows” its citizens out of the city. How should the city strike a balance between the economic benefit of tourism while preserving the privilege of its citizens?
The city is looking for the crowd for sources to transform itself. It recently launched a project on 2050 Edinburgh City Vision to collect data from more than 50,000 of its citizens, from age 18- 70 about what is their vision of Edinburgh in 2050. It is looking for its future by understanding what the collective is thinking, envisioning, and imagining. The city is collaborating with universities to achieve its ambition of transforming Edinburgh into the “data capital of Europe.”
Whether this project will be successful or not is yet to be determined. Nevertheless, it is seeking enlightenment from the collective, what do its people want, what do they need, what do they lack. Hopefully the answers to these questions will guide the future of Medieval city.
Organize a balance economic and social power to enlighten the future
Edinburgh’s tourism contributes up to 5% of the Scottish GDP, generates $12 billion GBP of economic activities and supports 30,000 jobs a year. With the limited supply of hotels, Airbnb has become a popular lodging option and an important stakeholder in Edinburgh’s tourism economy.
However, increasing demand of Airbnb drives up rental price, which infuriates locals who can no longer afford living in the city center and are forced to move outside the city. Even though the city tries to implement rental control to protect its citizens, it also lacks the power to defend Airbnb’s relentlessly lobby for rent deregulation.
This raises the question, “Is platform business good for a city?” Platform businesses like Amazon, Uber, Airbnb bring economic benefits for a city, attracting talents, and creating jobs, but how much social value does it bring to the locals? Platform businesses need to respect the local authority, protect rather than exploit local labor, and integrate with the social values of the city.
Amazon wanted to establish its second corporate campus in New York, but the city’s local lawmakers, progressive activists, and union leaders blocked off the tech giant, because Amazon would not respect the local labor unions and their policies. Platform businesses will continue to have observable impacts in our society beyond the economy, but also on the labor market, environment, people’s lives and well-being. Future organizations will have to be more flexible and robust in balancing between economic and social benefits brought by platforms.
Organize a hybrid to enlighten the future
Cities are no longer merely a place where people live and work, but also have the power to set social agenda to reflect the social values that the country should adopt and embrace. For example, the yellow vest movement in France, Hong Kong’s umbrella movement, and the historical civil rights movement in the U.S. were all originated and organized in cities. If city has the ability to congregate social values, how should the city authority be organized to best represent its values?
The city of Edinburgh has established a managerial unit in mid 1970’s, called City of Edinburgh Council, currently led by Andrew Kerr, the CEO of Edinburgh, to implement social and economic agenda of the city. The Council is neither political nor bureaucratic unit, but rather managerial that emphasizes more on urban renewal planning, policy implementation, and liaising with different stakeholders without intervening with federal politics.
The Council holds a hybrid logic of bringing in businesses and enhancing the social climate of the city. Perhaps the future of organization needs to embrace a hybrid logic. Businesses are no longer driven by profit but also to create social values; political organizations are no longer a bureaucratic unit but also integrative with local communities. The future of organization will have to adapt to multiple sets of goals and values and have the ability to manage the trade-off among competing goals and values.
Even though chaos and turmoil bring hardship and uncertainty, they can also bring hope and enlightenment. I see that organizations are evolutionary, and it is by going through chaos and turmoil, will the new forms of organization be reborn.
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