When a class of kindergarten children was asked to think of new uses for a paper clip, 98% of them came up with so many new ideas that they were ranked as geniuses on the creativity scale. When the same children were tested again, five years later, only 50% of them scored genius levels. Another five years and that level fell even further. It is, thus, obvious, that the standardized educational process we go through gradually relinquishes us of our creative abilities, as Sir Ken Robinson, esteemed educationalist, the coordinator of the study, concluded. Nonetheless, over 1,500 CEOs, included in an IBM survey, isolated creativity as the number one characteristic a future leader must possess in order to surface the business world of today.
The Government of Kerala closely monitors the performance of its departments in a system known as the Performance Monitoring and Evaluation System (PMES), where each department has to prepare a Results-Framework Document (RFD).
RFDs are performance reports that show how well departments have managed their performance during the previous year. They are structured into 6 parts:
Acknowledging employee feedback regarding their activities is an important element in increasing organizational performance. The USA government is committed to making such an annual assessment of its federal employees’ opinions. The tools has proven to be highly efficient and helpful both for leadership and staff.
Organizational culture has received, over the last decade, increased attention for being a key component of a company’s growth, prestige and productivity. The working environment and employee benefits exert such a great influence on a company’s overall success that they become the main ingredients for creating a list of top companies worldwide. These rankings not only influence company prestige and desirability, but they also create a model for smaller, developing organizations to follow.
Country boundaries no longer tie us down or limit us to a restricted range of choices for jobs or schools. Companies now work inside a worldwide spider web where Asian organizations have European firms as competitors. The same principle applies to schools as well. No longer are students restricted to national choices when it comes to universities. Today, more than ever, the borders that once kept all of us apart are becoming what they were in the first place: just lines on a map with little significance. But how does this translate for educational institutions, such as universities? What does having an international target public imply?
