Are democratic principles more important than business imperatives?
The conventional wisdom is that associations cannot be managed as commercial enterprises. Efficiency in commercial settings is achieved by minimising input to maximise output. But, in voluntary associations, where it is considered important to involve people, making decisions is a time-consuming process. Energy and resources are usually deployed for a slender result. Socrates was dismissive of democracies because they place all alike on a footing of equality, whether they be really equal or not. The Australian Institute of Management operates successfully on the basis of stakeholder value rather than satisfied democracy. How important, now, are education, accreditation and certification as association roles? In Australia, contrasting to an apparently more robust situation in the more populous United States, ALIA-accredited university library courses have virtually disappeared as economic pressures on universities and information industry trends force integration with other disciplines.
