A real-life situation in which I was the middle agent between 2 other agents is with the National sorority organization and my specific chapter members. I am the intermediary between these two groups and must try to reconcile differences that occur.
As President of my chapter I must balance the requests of the National Council and what the chapter wants. As some background information, National Council is the governing body of all of my specific sorority in the United States. They set the rules and are the ultimate judicial board if anything were to go wrong. They want to see all of the individual chapters excel but may have more of an "old-time" view on sorority life as all of these members range in age from 30-70 or so.
What my general chapter members want is to enjoy their sorority experience. Most of them do not even know who is on the National Council. It is my job to take what my chapter wants to do and make sure if falls within the National Guidelines.
In terms of how they evaluate "good performance" by me, the 2 other agents see things very differently. The National Council thinks I'm doing a good job if I excel at all of their requirements (ex. implementing ritual activities into chapter events, raising a certain amount of money at philanthropy events, getting forms in on time, etc). The chapter believes I am doing well if I allow for fun activities that may or may not have to do with ritual. A lot of times chapter members want to push the envelope on what is allowed in terms of social events but I often have to reign in ideas. It can be difficult to try to explain to the chapter that National wants us to do things a certain way because the chapter doesn't have a real concept of the National organization.
I have tried to explain to the chapter that the National organization is not here to punish us, but rather help us understand why we were founded and what we stand for. So far, I haven't been able to complete resolve this discord.
I try not to satisfy one group more than the other. My best effort is to allow the chapter to do as much as they want as long as it falls within the National requirements. Most events end up working out, but sometimes the chapter may become angry because I must veto an event they want to hold.
This is a good example as the two masters clearly have different preferences. I am going to ask some clarifying questions because I'm otherwise ignorant on the specifics.
ReplyDelete(1) Are most greek houses on campus themselves a part of some national organization? Or are many independent?
(2) Have any changed status (moved to being independent) as a consequence of the tension you have discussed?
(3) Is there any educational effort aimed at all members to explain why membership in the national organization confers some benefit.
Now I'd like to tie this to something you wrote earlier, about becoming President. Are there many members who aspire for that? If so, they'd be candidates to learn about the National and get a better sense of the issue. And then it would seem the current president (and/or other administrative officers who deal with the National) would have responsibility to provide the requisite education. Put a different way, did you know about this before you took the job or only learned about it when you became president?
Finally, these situations where you need to please multiple principals can create headaches, but if you willingly take a job there must be rewards too. So it would be good to talk about where the rewards are and if that encourages balance or favoring one principal over the other.
In response to your questions:
ReplyDelete1) Most houses on campus are part of a national organization. The National Organization represents all houses of the chapter across the country.
2) I don't think a house can disassociate from the national organization unless they change their letters (or else they will still be representing that organization). I haven't heard of any of these cases.
3) During the new member education process, the national organization is explained and the importance it has on the organization as a whole.
4) Before becoming President, I had heard of the National Organization but didn't specifically know what they did. I knew of all the positions but didn't know directly how they affected my specific chapter. I realize that as a house we could do a better job of explaining this to the new members.
There are definitely rewards to being President. It has given me great leadership experience and an opportunity to network with people in the National Organization. I don't think these benefits contribute to favoring one principal as I try to separate the benefits from trying to please anyone and make them more about growing as a person.
I really like your example. I think it shows very clearly the difference between the preferences of the two groups that you act as an agent of. It seems like ultimately you're responsible to the National Organization regardless of what the sorority members want to do. What can the consequences for your sorority be if you do not follow the National guidelines?
ReplyDeleteIf we do not follow the National Guidelines we could be put on probation (social calendar taken away, close watch from National, stricter rules, etc.). If the situation is bad enough we could lose our charter with National and therefore not be allowed to be on campus.
ReplyDelete