ACTES PROCEEDINGS ACTAS - Mediate.com

change will not occur without resistance and conflict. Structural changes in the economy
have resulted in women becoming a growing component of the workforce, albeit at lower pay
and in casualised positions. An emphasis on the feminine will mean managers will need to
refocus on valuing people and not just productivity, and leadership styles will move towards
collaboration and shared leadership based on respect for all people. Notions of shared
leadership provide opportunities for employees and citizens to affirm and act on their public
service motives and values. Shared leadership focuses on the goals, values, and ideals that
the organization and community want to advance and must be characterized by mutual
respect, accommodation and support. As Burns would say, leadership exercised by working
through and with people transforms them and shifts their focus to higher level values (Burns,
1978).
The political context: the language of war
War cannot be separated from economics. Ghandi pointed out that “poverty is a form of
violence” and others have highlighted that poverty and the lack of development in countries
or groups fuels hatred and escalates hostilities. One of the most distressing realities of our
time is that most wars have been fought in countries that can least afford them, primarily for
economic reasons. Economic warfare, where sanctions are put in place to put pressure on
errant regimes, gives rise to problems of poor nutrition and health. These sanctions create
problems for the poor and the vulnerable (usually women and children), often leaving the real
targets untouched. It has been argued that improvements in such areas as nutrition, health,
education, water, sanitation and family planning would go far to reduce the underlying
causes of many wars (Bellamy, 1996). Instead, large amounts of scarce resources are
devoted to armaments, with industrialized countries as the dominant arms suppliers. War is
lucritive for the wealthy countries who produce most of the armaments. Increased access to
information technology has meant that the language of war is currently infecting the minds of
many people around the globe. Using the example of the recent war in Iraq, one side talked
about ‘liberation’, which the other described as ‘invasion’. So-called ‘weapons of mass
destruction’, such as anthrax, have killed very few people compared to the bombs and
sophisticated guns that have killed thousands. In some Western countries, such as Australia,
the media have been complicit in using battle language in reporting activities in war-time –
they tend to take up phrases and use them mindlessly and repetitively. We declare war on
everything, but the real targets are often vulnerable or impoverished people and countries.
Emotive phrases serve to legitimise war and create fear and panic responses. ‘Terror’, and
‘evil’, for example are now overarching words that have a fuzzy meaning, not clearly defined,
14