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Making It Simple … Again

Posted by Joseph Riggio on Friday, September 01, 2006

Figuring out what makes people do what they do starts before you notice what they do ... having some insight into what they want as a result of what they do might make guessing what they’re likely to do a bit simpler all around. Here are some examples and a simple means to begin improving your guessing ...

Evening ...

I'm finishing up another long day ... but before I put my Mac to sleep of course I wanted to spend a bit of time chatting with all'ya'all out there in the blogosphere.

It seems that bad behavior has no partisan favoritism ... this time Sen. Robert Byrd, (D-WV) was the one caught with his hand not just in the candy jar, but holding the lids down so no one else could see what he was taking from it.

After the tallies had been done it seemed that even with good'ole Sen. Ted Stevens, (R-AK) accounted for as the one putting a "secret hold" on the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act S.2590 there were only 99 senators accounted for in total ... leaving one unaccounted for senator. That last senator was of course Sen. Robert Byrd, (D-WV) known as the real "King of Pork" according the the website Citizens Against Government Waste.

According to the Citizens Against Government Waste website page about Senator Byrd Byrd Droppings Senator Byrd has obtained "... more than $1 billion in pork for his state" and they go to say "In honor of this fiscal incontinence, we dedicate this page to Senator Byrd."

However, in fairness it seems everyone who plays this game has their hand in the taxpayer cookie jar:

  • Sen. Hilary Clinton, (D-NY), strong advocate of S.2590 who's tax payer paid offices in Manhattan cost $514,148/year in rent, the most expensive office lease of any U.S. Senator
  • Sen. Tom DeLay, (R-TX) along with Rep. Don Young, (R-AK) named "Co-Porkers of the Month" for using the Hurricane Katrina tragedy to fund pork-barrel spending campaigns of their own

    • And, the list doesn't by any means stop there. Take for example Sen. John Edwards, (D-NC), Democratic Vice-Presidential Candidate who the Citizen's Against Govenment Waste website indicts by saying his, "Voting Record Shows Animosity Toward Taxpayers"

    And still the list could go on ... but enough for now. BTW, for whatever it may be worth I couldn't find any negative information vis-a-vis pork-barrel spending on the Citizen's Against Government Waste website include: Sen. John McCain, (R-AZ) - another strong advocate of bill S.2590, Sen. Barak Obama, (D-IL) - co-sponsor of the S.2590 bill, along with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) - who the Citizen's Against Government Waste cite as "The New Sheriff in Town" for his actions against government waste and spending.



    So we have another day of the examples flowing in about how they play in Washington, D.C. ... and London ... and Rome ... and Paris ... and Tokyo ... and Beijing ... and Moscow ... and even Copenhagen ... you pick the capital city and you'll find your share of bad behavior by the political elite ... and I haven't even mentioned folks like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran or Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías, President of Venezuela. Then of course we have the current and on-going mess/debacle in the Unitied Nations.

    The question remains, "What generates such "bad behavior" in these "politico" types?"

    Now, I realize I'm making a judgment of sorts when I call this "bad behavior" and what I'm mostly referring to has to do with what I'd consider an "ethical" vs. an "unethical" stance, but I'm holding my position of this one "as is." However, you may also recall from my blog posting yesterday, "Reading the Times ..." that I commented:

    "... that specific values sets would best serve those that hold them in specific environments/contexts where those specific values offer the most advantage."

    What makes this so significant in this discussion has to do with another theory of values offered by Dr. David McClelland that simplifies the way values show up in the workplace to a simple set of three parameters:

  • Power
  • Achievement
  • Affiliation

    • I'm suggesting that when we overlay what Dr. Clare Graves suggested about "an evolution of values" and this simplified model of values presented by Dr. McClelland we'll find that in the Graves Model an oscillation between "power" and "affliation" happens in the transitions of what he calls his emergent, cyclical, levels of existence" as they evolve from one level to the next.

    Specifically, that the evolution of values described by the Graves Model occurs as the individuals in a given cultural swing from "power" through "achievement" to "affiliation" and back again to "power", "where "affiliation" acts as a transitory state" (JSR). This speculation on my part seems to me to go a long way in explaining the position held by the politicos I describe above ... they operate from a strong position of "power" or "affiliation" regardless of the values set held by the culture they are operating within.

    A strong power player using McClelland's value system would want to be in control at all times and must be in charge. While a strong affiliation player will demand absolute loyalty and not tolerate disagreement. These positions could well describe the extremes of the Graves Five, as strong power player and the Graves Six, as strong affiliation player. I think it would also be possible to have a strong achievement player show up in the game as well where they would exemplify the traits of winning at any cost and getting credit. These folks would be at the peak for instance of the cusp of Graves Five/Six.

    So now that you've made it through the heavy theory part of today ;~> ... how about I make it worth you're while to have stuck around this long? Instead of getting all complex with what I call the Graves Modeling Process how about you ease yourself into it all? Start by asking yourself these questions:

  • Am I more interested in "Control" or "Loyalty?"

  • Am I more interested in "Loyalty" or "Winning?"

  • Am I more interested in "Winning" or "Being in Charge?"

  • Am I more interested in "Being in Charge" or "Being Acknowledged?"

  • Am I more interested in "Being Acknowleged" or "Harmony?"

  • Am I more interested in "Harmony" or "Control?"

    • [NOTE: Answer the questions above before continuing ... it'll be more fun that way.]

    Based on the answers to your questions you'll know something about yourself (remember you have to choose one or the other of each pair). Give yourself a "power point" for each time you choose "control" or "being in charge," give yourself an "affiliation point" for each time you choose "loyalty" or "harmony," and give yourself an "achievement point" for each time you choose "winning" or "being acknowledged." Now add up your points and you'll see a very rough pattern that has emerged. If you want to make it more specific and refined answer the questions above in regard to a specific context and re-score yourself.

    Now just for kicks thing about how your favorite politico might fair on such a test, rough as it may be. You can of course play this game with anyone you choose and you'll get a rough idea of the values they hold.

    Another thing I said yesterday that I think bears repeating here again:

    "Having the ability to recognize the range of values sets as well as those that are dominant in the environment/context in which you are operating in, or want to be operating in, will create the greatest opportunity for choosing the "behavior sets" that will work best in producing your outcomes in that environment/context."

    So ... now you have a little filter into the values that might be driving you and maybe even those around you. Based on these values you can almost begin to predict their behaviors, huh?

    Joseph Riggio, Ph.D.
    Princeton, NJ

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