Using the lenses of management Mr. Pageau identified that communities and societies are in fact social organizations. Through these lenses he identified what goals and resources communities and societies manage and the role citizens play. He also developed innovative tools to help citizens improve their societies and increase their level of competence.
Societies’ Underlying Goal
From this insight, Mr. Pageau was able to uncover that all societies have the same underlying goal: reduce the various social tensions, frictions and conflicts that naturally arise because we are social beings. In particular, tensions, friction and social conflict arise when citizens try to meet their individual, social and collective needs.
Societies’ Resources
Mr. Pageau was also able to discover that we individually, in groups or collectively manage four types of resources: natural, human, abstract and transformed. These societal resources are managed by citizens, either individually, in groups or collectively, through our governments.
The most important societal resources are the abstract resources. As these include knowledge and beliefs as well as goals and objectives, they are therefore central to our decision-making process and guide our actions.
Citizens; Societies’ Change Agents
Of these four resources, the only active societal change agents are the human beings. Thus the only social change agents in any society are the citizens. Individually, in groups or collectively citizens use the various societal resources to try to meet their individual, social and collective needs.
Citizens, Citizenship and Competences
Organizations always belong to someone. In the case of societies, these can only belong to all the citizens who live within their territories. Citizens must thus be seen as the co-owners and the co-managers of the societies they live in. However, to be able to co-own and co-manage their societies, citizens must acquire some knowledge and some skills. From this insight Mr. Pageau has identified three types of competence citizens should possess to effectively play their role in their society: personal, towards themselves, social, towards others and societal, towards the collectivity. Hence citizenship can be seen as a form of profession and citizens as professionals.
Societies’ Societal Dynamic
Mr. Pageau discovered that the individual, group or collective use of the societal resources to meet the individual, social and collective needs of citizens have an impact on both the quantity, the quality and the availability of the societal resources as well as an impact on the level of social tensions, frictions and conflicts.
In turn, both of these impacts affect the individual, group and collective actions of citizens. The constant interactivity between actions and resources and between resources and actions creates a societal dynamic unique to each society.
This societal dynamic influences the functioning and the development of all societies, which means it has an impact on the development and societal integration of citizens, the development and functioning of the collectivity, and the development and functioning of the government.
Cities and Countries Are Tools
The most basic social organization is a community, which as the number of citizens increases, evolves into proto-societies and then societies. Cities, countries and mid-level societal organizations like provinces, states, departments and others, are tools that citizens have developed to help them manage their collectivity as it grows in population.
Societies’ Prescriptive Nature
Societal dynamics can produce four types of societies: individualist, collectivist, discordant and balanced.
Of the four societal states, the balanced society is the type of society that creates the best environment to facilitate the:
1 – development and societal integration of citizens,
2 – development and functioning of the collectivity,
3 – development and functioning of the government
while optimizing the use of the societal resources as well as reducing the level of social tensions, frictions and conflicts that naturally arise as citizens try to meet their individual, social and collective needs.
When a society creates such an environment, the level of social tensions, frictions and conflicts is at its minimum level.
Services
Do you have needs for your community or your society? Would you like to improve the quality of life of your citizens? Optimize the use of societal resources? Assess the size of your government? Increase the competence of your citizens? Increase the engagement level of your fellow citizens? Can we help you in any way? Contact Denis Pageau at 1-844-568-6793.