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- The Rule of Merit and Seniority explains how to deal with job-assignment issues. Age should not be considered a relevant measure of talent, and, while seniority must be honored because it creates continuity and a reference point for experience, merit should always be the determinant for rewards or positions of authority.
- Benedict believed organizations should remain lean, self-sufficient and focused on a common objective. He warned against too many levels of management or bureaucracy, and of the dangers of centralization and hierarchy. He believed that subsidiary or offshoot groups should be economically autonomous, maintaining only cultural and philosophical bonds.
- Benedict recognized that paradigms would be challenged and periodically upset. He believed innovation within the existing paradigm would come from the lower levels of the membership, while innovation that challenged the paradigm would come from senior members. Innovations that break the paradigm had to come from outside the organization.
- The Rule of Ethics states that ethics is a fundamental, structural part of the organization and its management system; ethics cannot be forced, so the leader must create an environment in which members naturally make the proper ethical decisions.
- The Rule of Stability provides for continuity in leadership succession, ideals, culture and job security. The Galbreaths provide examples of successful organizations that quickly disintegrated upon the loss or death of a charismatic leader. Benedictine communities, in contrast, have existed for 1,500 years and have influenced the longevity and success of countless other organizations. This rule is crucial to long-term survival.
- Benedict held that leaders should see discipline as a lesson plan, not as punishment. Benedict believed that cohesive organizations gave second and third chances. He stated that there should be no favoritism in matters of discipline, and that the ultimate penalty of discharge from the community, while sometimes necessary for the health of the group, was as traumatic as an amputation and had to be very carefully considered.
- Benedict’s idea was that executive appointments should be democratic; any member of the organization could become a leader, regardless of seniority, as decisions had to be based on merit alone.
- Benedict discouraged complaining, but recognized that grumbling was a major indicator of the health of his organization. He declared that the source of grumbling ought to be found and any problems fixed.
- The Rule of Leader Example explains that actions speak louder than words. Leaders were to teach by example, and were to keep track of, and study, their own failures and successes.
- Benedict believed the basic leadership virtue was humility. Leaders had to demonstrate competence and ambition, but their passion was to derive from a desire to improve and contribute to the health of the organization, not from individual ego. He believed that true humility was a skill one had to learn and practic"
n 1: a disposition to be humble; a lack of false pride; “not
everyone regards humility as a virtue” [syn: humbleness]
[ant: pride]
2: a humble feeling; “he was filled with humility at the sight
of the Pope” [syn: humbleness] [ant: pride]
Latin derivitive, refering to of the earth or Down to Earth.