MW3

Introduction: Although it is often acknowledged that the key to an organization's success is its people, it is not generally well understood how this important resource can contribute to creating sustainable excellence, much less how it can be effectively managed and developed. Certainly, it is essential for organizational members to have the intellectual skills and interpersonal behaviors that support strategy, operations, and technical systems. However, today, in the face of unrelenting change and global competition, it is crucial that the whole person be engaged and that a community of engaged individuals with a shared vision and mission be created and maintained. There are four essential activities that are necessary for instilling a whole-person community in an organization: (1) developing heart-centered capacities and integrating these with intellectually centered skills and abilities; (2) recognizing and promoting diversity so that people of different genders, social identifies, ideas, and ways of thinking can contribute; (3) establishing a work family in which relationships and interactions lead to commitment; and (4) facilitating the communication and interpersonal behaviors that enable members to sustain the community.