The Kone Foundation has awarded a three-year grant to the think-tank Dynamics of Groups and Societies for the years 2020-2022 to explore the topic: How to recognize and prevent corruption from the point of view of dynamics of groups and societies. Responsible for the project is Dr. Anja Salmi. Other members of the think-tank include Professors Jaana Hallamaa, Aki-Mauri Huhtinen, Elina Knihtilä and Doctors Sinikka Torkkola and Ilkka Väätti.
This award will establish a bond between the think-tank and the honorable members of the Kone Foundation. Beyond financial support, we receive from the Kone Foundation various possibilities for networking, opportunities to publish our work, support and help in the form of guidance and advice along with the chance to utilize concrete estates.
We wish to express our gratitude to the Kone Foundation by doing our work as well as possible and striving to support our country in successful transformations.
The purpose of the project is to influence Finnish society by recognizing the different forms of corruption at work and by strengthening particularly the capability of young political actors to fight and prevent them.
The starting point is to inspect corruption from a new point of view, one that considers dynamics of societies based on perspectives of phenomena in group relations. Different manifestations of corruption are analyzed by putting into perspective the primary task of groups, the roles of actors as well as the ways of stretching boundaries.
The know-how of think tank’s own members
The allocated funding strengthens the think-tank’s know-how in recognizing and preventing corruption in different levels of organizational and societal life.
Workshops for young politicians
A special goal of this initiative is to organize a series of workshops for young people active in society so they develop into responsible members of political organizations, socially influential persons, and decision makers.
Our web magazine
The think-tank will also promote other activities like publishing an internet magazine in support of achieving our main goal.
We hope to find people to whom societal dissatisfaction offers a starting point to reflect on problems and challenges and to develop, recognize, and understand forms of corruption which prevent positive development. We want to take greater risks and be more exposed to our society. It is important to scrutinize more sharply the roles prevalent in society and how they can be used as support in exposing and preventing corruption. Lastly, we intend to study how organizations damaged by corruption can be repaired.
We are grateful to the Tavistock Institute for their support and cooperation in the foundation and work of our think-tank Dynamics of Groups and Societies (RYD), our web magazine National Dynamics (ND), and the upcoming workshops for young politicians. The Institute provides our mission with high quality theoretical backbone as well as unique learning at the practical level.
https://www.tavinstitute.org/news/consulting-to-countries-part-ii/
“The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations has been at the forefront of social science research and development since 1947: generating and applying ideas, and providing practical help to groups and organisations facing contemporary challenges. The Institute is a not-for-profit, whose main purpose is for the public good – to help organisations to learn, change, lead, innovate and flourish. We focus on our clients’ aims and on the way they go about their work. We offer a partnership with our clients, collaborating in: diagnosis and problem solving; designing and implementing organisational interventions; managing change; reflecting and learning. Our consultants are skilled in creating safe spaces for our clients to learn from experience and foster experimentation. We listen and respond in ways that balance constructive challenge with effective support. Much of the Institute’s work is multi-disciplinary and through research, evaluation, organisational consultancy and professional development, the Institute promotes compassionate leadership, sustainable change and ongoing learning.”