Going back to good neighbours

forth. It is within our communities that we spend our earnings; to raise children, to build homes, for recreation and to rest. This makes our neighbourhoods, an important factor in shaping who we are and our values systems, which eventually make their way to work-places and boardrooms. It is within our communities that we find time and space to regenerate. We learn the art of the Golden Rule; to do unto others as you would have them do unto you, in our communities. How we participate in community and family activities, shape our general outlook towards life, both at work and at home. Our communities and neighbours are important.

Leaders, who govern in corporate, public or NGOs, are all impacted in one way or the other, by their communities, even dating back to childhood days. Networks, thought-lines, habits and values, from various community backgrounds, contribute to quality of decisions. Communities impact not just individuals, but also corporate behaviour, beyond just profit maximisation.
Nature, forms or levels of social programmes, which corporations embark on, relate to community needs and practices. This also extends to how a group of corporations or institutions domiciled in the same community, relate to one another. This correlation between corporations and communities has a bearing on the quality and development of corporate governance in those institutions.

A company, which operates in communities where corruption is tolerated and openly practiced, will find itself factoring corruption costs, in its day to day activities. Corporate governance patterns, imitate relationships and ensuing patterns of behaviour, between different agents in a corporation, such as managers, directors, shareholders, employees, creditors, key customers and the community at large.
This behaviour also informs and shapes a company’s strategy and identity in the capital, goods and labour markets. In addition, communities provide set of rules, which frame corporate governance and behaviours; of both the institutions and individual members. These include company law, securities regulation, listing requirements, self-regulation in the form of codes. Communities are both suppliers and consumers of corporate governance.

Therefore, whatever are the desired changes in corporate governance must start within the community. Corporations imitate societal behaviour. They also churn out qualities of governance, as demanded by respective communities. Principles of good governance, such as integrity, fairness, accountability, transparency, rule compliance, among others are formed in communities and for communities.

Good neighbourliness is a collection of these principles practiced at community level. How neighbours relate and treat one another gets transferred to boardrooms and corporate behaviours. If causes and the effects of communities on corporate governance are of such great magnitude, then there is need to pay close attention to predominant manners within neighbourhoods.

There are many individuals with high standards of principles and values. Unfortunately, these good traits remain with the individuals, and are seldom transferred to community bodies. As a result, these high standards do not impact governance systems, as much as they should. This is caused, part, because of changes in family and societal structures, following migration. It is also because; people have forgotten what neighbourliness means. Pursuit of economic and financial activities has caused many to become insensitive, to the need to belong and incline towards neighbourliness.

Informal, though strong ties of family and friendship, which used to be the character of neighbourliness, is no more. It is basically one man for himself. Churches which used to bind people together, or clubs and voluntary bodies where there used to be found, connection and common purpose, are not as robust. Law and its enforcement, which used to provide security and allow communities to be free to share and invite one another, have become weak. Welfare services including schools, clinics, hospitals, public offices, have lost the community appeal. All these changes and more have dissipated platforms, where communities used to share values and principles of good neighbourliness in “Ubuntu”. Societies are becoming weaker.

A story is told of a man who had seven sons. The sons were always quarrelling and fighting among themselves. One day, the father called them, to demonstrate what their lack of co-operation meant. Earlier, the father had prepared a bundle of seven sticks, tightly tied together. He asked each of the seven sons to take the bundle and break it. One by one, the sons tried to break it, but without success. Then, the father cut the strings, and gave each of the sons a stick. He instructed each one to break their stick. Later, he explained, that when the boys worked as a team and co-operated, no one could defeat them. But if they continued to fight and quarrel, anyone could break the seven boys, one at a time.

One by one, our community bonds, values and neighbourliness have been broken and removed. With lots of cash in our pockets, we do not feel safe, we do not trust our neighbours, and sometimes neighbours do not know each other’s names. When, one has a party, they go ahead and blast their music, all night till 6am. If they can set off fireworks, the better, never mind the terrified howling dogs. Often, children are driven, across town, to schools in other neighbourhoods because schools in our neighbourhood are not good enough. Children are not free and safe to play in streets. Electric gadgets, such as televisions and internet, and just the general increased mobility among society, have contributed to the decline in neighbourhood social activities.

Yet, it is clear that people want to belong to a community. The language of neighbourliness and values remain in normal conversations. Leaders want to be part of a community; corporations want to remain relevant among the different communities. Beliefs in community spirit and neighbourliness are referred to by a range of bodies; including corporates, politicians, journalists, policy makers, churches, etc.

Yet again, few seem to know what to do to get this spirit up. Is there clarity on what neighbourliness actually means? What can individuals in their personal capacity, do to encourage a community spirit?

In trying to find solutions, it must be borne in mind that, generally, people nowadays want their privacy and boundaries respected. Hence it might not be feasible to try and develop close knit neighbourly relations, such as in the sixties, when in a neighbour’s mother was as good as your mother. More and more people prefer to be warned before one can go over to see them, thanks to mobile phones.

The good values of fairness, integrity and even kindness, are there amongst individuals, who are often willing to help, in time of need, but they want their boundaries and privacy respected. Recently, a local non governmental organisation, in Harare, distributed pamphlets with a few reminders on how to respect neighbours. Based on a survey carried out by the NGO, the following were highlighted as being most important.

Turn down the volume, be it from music, hooting and generators at night. People need to rest.
Do not burn leaves and rubbish, so that smoke goes into your neigbour’s house and onto their laundry. Rather prepare compost with leaves and grass.
Keep your gate shut so that dogs do not roam around and cause fear and harm to other people
Inform neighbours, if you are going to have a party or set off fireworks
Help keep your street clean by picking up litter outside your property boundary and keep grass cut
Look out for each other; keep both your home and your neighbour’s home secure.

Basically, this is to raise awareness of the situation of other residents, respect for their privacy and quietude, as well as being ready to take action if help is needed. Learning to treat others fairly and to respect unwritten laws, force institutions to do the same in governance. This in turn raises the general quality of governance.