what’s money got to do with it?
DESCRIPTION
What’s money got to do with it?. Using Action Research to challenge the power of the system. What’s money got to do with it?. Who creates the vast majority of money in the economy? The Treasury? The Royal Mint? Banks and Building Societies? The tooth fairy? What do banks say?. So What?. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Using Action Research to challenge the power of the system
What’s money got to do with it?Who creates the vast majority of money in
the economy?A. The Treasury?B. The Royal Mint?C. Banks and Building Societies?D. The tooth fairy?
What do banks say?
So What?Some Assumptions ….. The current money system is somewhere on a
continuum from ‘encouraging’ to ‘necessitating’ growth
There are limits to growth
Based on these assumptions …… There is a view that traditional financial
institutions are a significant part of the system that is driving the growth that is reducing sustainability
My ‘inquiry’
How do I engage the directorsof a large financial institution
in a conversationabout the inherent unsustainability
of the business they run (and are passionate about)
?
The Power of the System?Dimensions of ‘Power’ (Cynthia Hardy)1. Decision making power2. Non-decision making power3. Symbolic power
(used to make sure conflict does not arise)4. The power of the system –
works to ‘produce certain advantages without being consciously mobilised’
is about ‘unconscious acceptance of ...values, traditions and cultures ‘
is often about supposedly ‘neutral, functional constructs’
My ‘inquiry’ reframed
How do I work with themto challenge the power of a systemwhose power we are dimly, if at all,
aware of(and from which we all benefit!)
?
How do I engage with people who construct their world differently,
on a topic that really matters to me?
My Story – the processWith the Executive directors (2006 -2008)
Several cycles of ‘different’ reading7 workshops at offsite meetings4 cycles of 1 to 1 meetings
Plus 10 full day sessions with different groups of people from around the business (2007)
Eventually connected toThe ‘Sustainable Finance’ work being convened
by WWFAn investigation into financial exclusion
An attempt at a co-operative inquiry?
My Story – outcomes?A big step forward in terms of environmental
consciousness and actionAn authentic desire on the part of the directors
to ‘do something’, to be a ‘tempered radical’ organisation
Continuing time with the executive despite the ‘credit crunch’
Organisational engagement in the ‘sustainable finance’ work
And “Business as Usual”!
My story – why did they even listen?Making myself ‘vulnerable’
“Here is a truth about me – I don’t know what to do.”My journey
The fact that had done, and was doing, a ‘real’ jobNot preachingPersonal capital – if I took it seriously, there might
be something in it, and “An external would not have had the same impact.”A foot in the door (my MSc project)Inquiring ‘with’ them, not ‘at’ them or ‘on’ themAnd yet ............................
My story – explicit (co-operative) ‘inquiry’?
A Question .....Do we want to pursue some kind of inquiry into the current money system and its impacts, so that
we can better understand our impact on ‘sustainability’
and therefore understandwhat, if anything, there is that we want
to be ‘tempered radical’ aboutwhat we might choose to do to
accentuate the positive and mitigate the negative
Responses to the question ......
ranged from .....“the inquiry is vital for all sorts of
reasons”
to“stop inquiring and come with a proposal
and fast forward to what an alternative would look like”
My story – two worlds
In the room at the latest workshop
And a conscious parallel
The obvious can be very difficult to see
Some reflections.....This is about challenging how people
construct their worldsYou don’t have to be ‘CSR’ to do this - (in
fact.......)This is hard, detailed, workIt’s hard to maintain a sense of agency (will I
have made any practical difference?)What is my ‘obvious but difficult to see’?‘Lock in’ can be in people’s heads, even
intelligent, caring people’s heads