Introduction
Just like the natural phenomenon like the universe with its grass soil and atmosphere, man also needs self-renewal. The more the individuals, communities and organizations strive towards revitalizing themselves in the mind and spiritually the more they become well placed to tackle the challenges of the world.
Crisis is an inevitable phenomenon in individual’s organizations and even societies. The concept of self-renewal arises because individuals, organizations and societies experience crisis at one given time and they have to recover from such threatening situations. Self-renewal is a very important tool which can be utilized to prepare for the future. With these tool individuals, organizations and societies face the future with confidence since it prepares them adequately by use of better strategies.
Good planning for the future is based on a better understanding of the history planning on how to avoid the past mistakes. At individual level self-renewal is a very essential aspect of a successful person. People encounter different challenges whether domestic or at the workplace. Some of the challenges need life copying mechanisms so as to come over a crisis which might occur.
Self-renewal in an individual does not happen once but it is an event that can occur over and over as the concerned party continues to exist. “Most men and women out there in the world of work are more stale than they know” (Gardner, 1990). There is normally a notion that says that midlife crisis in life is the time for self-renewal.
Looked at from a career point of view , when someone changes from one type of job to another whether looking for better terms or pay , this is a self-renewal process. This is normally a developmental process in the life of that particular individual in the sense that he/she is out to look for what is good for himself or herself. This can emerge in different ways in that particular individual. Sometimes necessity prompts self-renewal in individuals for instance somebody can be suffering from a life threatening disease in hospital.
When he or she recovers from the illness there is normally to change the course of life and this is part of self-renewal process. This is the time such people start embracing a new way of living. Why is self-renewal essential at personal level? According to Gardner ” We’ve all seen men and women, even ones in fortunate circumstances with responsible positions who seem to run out of steam in midcareer”
Self-renewal at individual level first involves a self-examination process. This aims at finding out where the pressures of change are emanating from. For instance is it the workplace or domestic. There is also the need to look at the satisfactions that an individual seeks to achieve during this process. Then an individual also needs to put in mind his or her feelings. The kind of buffers that is present in the mind of the person who wants to undergo self-renewal also matter.
The key concept in self-renewal of an individual is the ability to focus and look straight into his life so as to know better the inner side of the self. It also touches on the self-esteem of an individual who is undergoing self-renewal process. Self-renewal is true in itself because it incorporates the use of modern technology so as to improve on the level of knowledge in an individual and the entire community.
It is vital for people to utilize self-examination as an important tool for measuring the trueness of our self-renewal. An individual who has achieved self-renewal must be considered to be an important asset for the well-being of the community. If a society posses more of such people , it becomes a demonstration of a balanced world.
Organization
An organization can be inanimate but it posses characteristics just like those of a living organism which is capable of self-renewal. Therefore this justifies why the process of self-renewal is essential if at all the organization is to be nurtured so as to attain the required productivity. This follows then that if organizations are not helped in the process of self-renewal they can age and die out slowly to the loss of the society and owners of such organizations.
Self-renewal is a continuous process that occurs in all companies that are success oriented. This continuous journey is carried out with no prospects of reaching at a specific destination. The culture of self-renewal in companies has been on for centuries across the globe. Companies have lasted for centuries while enjoying success due to their adaptability to change.
For an organization to achieve self-renewal, there are certain essential process which have to be gone through. The first process involves the understanding the important future environments that the organization will encounter and interact with. Projections in the future can be made easily using scenario planning which ensures that the future is well explored into and even the factors that are likely to influence the future are determined by this process. Scenario planning is also essential in determining other factors that might influence the market place of the business.
It also entails identifying the possible challenges as a result of interaction in the environment. This also involves exploring into both the challenges and opportunities that can be brought about by changes in the environment. From scenario planning important information is obtained which aids in the identification of possible threats that might restrain the business from flourishing.
The most common scenario after identification of the threats is the convergence of businesses. The major threat present for organizations comes from the competitors when they emerge with new entrants into the market. The processes also entail an assessment of the current business situation in a typically changed environment. It is also of importance to keep in mind that the understanding that the new environment in business would require new competencies and potentials to keep the business to the great heights in the new atmosphere.
Organizations have to adapt strategies that aim at reducing the rate of burn out of its employees. Burn out arises from factors such as overstaying on one position by an employee. While the organization undertakes self regeneration such aspects should be put into consideration to avoid future problems and risks.
Self-renewal in organization to a greater extent is facilitated by modernization and new technologies that change processes and procedures within an organization. Everybody has to be committed to the entire process as Gardner puts it “The nature of one’s personal commitments is a powerful element in renewal” , The employees have to keep abreast with these latest trends so as to avoid being left behind when change and renewal takes center stage.Globalisation has an important contribution in the establishment of new trends and renewal in an organizatiuons.This is because the factors that arise with globalization bring change nearly in all corners of an organization.
Finally without developing a good strategy for organizational self-renewal the organization cannot succeed in the new environment.A good strategy will be backed and supported by the top management who are the main decision makers in the organization. Cooperate self-renewal is influenced by the entire workforce in an organization who are the implementers of change in that particular organization.
Society
Self-renewal in a society is entirely depended on the values and wishes of the people in that particular society. Members of the society are the main initiators and agents of change in that society. Societies require renewal so as to prevent vices such as corruption from cropping up and leading to the decay and disintegration of the same society that people have invested in so as to give results. Change in the society is fundamental towards revitalization of that particular society.
The society has a responsibility to nurture the spirit of diversity and pluralism in its members so as to achieve cohesion and assist in steering the country forward. This is because without such a harmonious environment change cannot thrive and consequently we do not expect self-renewal in such a state of affairs. The people in the society are the facilitators of renewal process, “There are men and women who make the world better just by being the kind of people they are” as pointed out by Gardner.
The agents of change, innovators and other channels of change have to be kept free from obstacles towards change in the society. Schools as institutions of change in the society contribute significantly towards societal self-renewal. The society has to produce people who are able to establish the type of crisis that might be threatening to tear the society and hence come up with strategies to solve the problems.
A society that has achieved success in self-renewal is better placed to tackle emerging problems since they will have been identified during the initial stages of change in the society. Such a society benefits all the individuals present in it that also stand to identify opportunities that exist in that society after self-renewal process. Threats emanating from corruption and other vices are reduced in the event of self revival and this shields the society from disintegrations.
Globalization
Globalization refers to the process of moving goods, people, capital and ideas from one country to another as a result of increased economic integration which is facilitated by trade increase. It can also be viewed in terms of doing away with boarders that limit free movement within countries. This phenomenon is associated with new technologies and ways of doing things and general life.
Exploration and exploitation of existing information, knowledge and processes has been facilitated by globalization. Countries like India and china have benefited from Globalization for instance between the year 2001 and 2002 the number of imports and exports increased significantly and besides most of their companies feature in the international. With the free movement countries like the United states and china have continued to enjoy mutual labor relationships.
All the economic successes that have been witnessed in china are due to globalization. Through exploitation and explorations globalization has brought into existence new ideas, processes and even products. This has been as a result of China being an ally to the United States. Through economic integration there has been movement of people and capital from the United States to china and India therefore facilitating their economic development. The percentage exports from United States to China have rapidly been on the increase for the last 20 years especially for basic products from the manufacturing sector.
The United States has been experiencing pressure from the international market as a result of economic growth from both China and India. Good leadership means that the capacity to undertake self-renewal is greatly enhanced. Leadership plays more on the role of directorship towards self-renewal than just having control over the process. The improvement of information processing systems in education and in organizations has brought a change which has been witnessed in most countries.
The speed at which information flows from one point to another is very first. For people to get adapted to the new way of information access, manipulation and storage they have had to undergo self-renewal procedures so as to fit into the new system. Changes arising from the society reach the education sector and in organization so that nobody is left out when the new processes pick up and form the new way of life.
With change and renewal reaching the society, demands arise from the society on the needs of spreading the new order so as to ensure that those who are in school stay updated on the current events and new technologies. Individuals, organizations and societies work towards meeting the demands of globalization through various strategies. For instance in organizations this can be in the form of training for new programs. This in itself is self-renewal because it involves change of the course of life from the previous circumstance.
The awakening of China after the world wars to economic power can also be attributed to self-renewal in organizations which has become a necessity in both the developed and the developing countries with its impact being felt in countries such as India and China which have embraced the spirit of globalization. The emergence of economic powers like china has been because of globalization.
References
- John Gardner, Self-renewal
- Thomas Friedman, The World is Flat
- Robyn Meredith,The Elephant and the Dragon