The Buddhist Hour Radio Broadcast Archives

Our Organisation is becoming better at generating worthwhile recommendations which we can implement at an affordable cost.

According to the IRIC, 'How Others See Us Competitively' Report to the Karpin Industry Taskforce on Leadership and Management Skills, the proposals we need must be:

A - Prompt response to changes in customer demands
B - Concern about product quality
C - Awareness of trends in global markets
D - Ability to establish international business relationships
E - Willingness to take initiatives in making friends with business people from another country

According to Dr. Herbert Moore (writing in 1942), when attempts were made in 1937 to use psychology to break down an individual into component attributes - it was thought this could not be done, and on which, if it were done, no two raters would agree - and to measure abstract qualities, which become a source of endless argument and discussion, they propose to eliminate analysis, to treat the person as a whole, and to measure the usefulness of his or her acts.

But acts vary with the type of work, and, accordingly, the questions asked vary with the type of work normally performed by the person.

Work at Westinghouse was divided in those days into seven position groups - unskilled, skilled, interpretive, creative, executive, administrative, and policy - and a separate set of questions has been devised for each group. The following directions and questions for the "interpretive" group will represent the form the question takes.

Directions for use of a test:
The employees whose names appear on the opposite page all occupy positions that are similar or sufficiently so to fall in the same general group.

Examples are:

Does he or she respect confidence?

Does he or she classify his or her work accurately?

Does he or she set a good example in conduct, appearance, and attitude?

Does he or she recognise what is beyond his or her scope?

Does he or she refrain from assuming too much authority?

Does he or she carry through?

Does he or she recognise conditions that need improving?

Does he or she secure cordial response from those under his or her authority?

In our organisation, the persons who are our front line administrators are very high in this type of rating.

At present, our administration work group is reviewing our administration systems to ensure compatibility, transparency, accuracy, retrievability, confidentiality and best practice.

The next improvement we are planning on our wide area network (WAN) is that incoming documents are to be digitalised into electronic form for storage on a data warehouse. The paper copy which is necessary to be kept for legal reasons will be stored in random access month by month.

The digitalised document is converted to read only text which can be accessed for inspection on many machines.

The next step would be where the text is attached to a database containing relevant details such as sender topics and key words. With this system, when a reply has been made, there will be an automatic note of the action on that file.

When the system is operating and online, each week, outstanding files are automatically presented for possible action.

We can see that more and more of our correspondence will be by e-mail which is in digitalised form.

Faxes can be converted to be received on screen.

We need persons who can help us work through the issues in information architecture to get this new system operable as soon as possible. If you can help contact John D. Hughes on 9754 3334 .

We cannot accommodate unskilled persons for this project. We are looking to persons who have the capacity for team work, who have freedom from jealousy, who are willing to subordinate their personal desires to the patience and freedom from prejudice and bias in the design of the system.

Our systems are designed to be non-sectarian, non-ageist non-racist and non-sexist.

We will be entering the curriculum vitae of members into the databases so that we can form skilled work teams as we require them.

Naturally, such information is confidential.

You have the advantage of working with multiskilled persons as a volunteer.

Another area where we need help is to advise us where to install an industrial model Amcor air-conditioner for use in our library area.

Please contact John D. Hughes on 9754 3334.

Another area where we need help is in marketing of certain products, such as, Dharma books and Dharma calenders.

Please contact Julian Bamford on 9754 3334.

On Christmas Day we are selling flowers, if you can help please contact Paula Burling on

For sales, the qualities you need are:

1. Estimates of Verbal Fluency - This can be gained from a well- standardised vocabulary test.

2. Capacity for Noticing Detail - This tells you the income range of the person and their capacity to buy or donate goods to our organisation.

3. Pattern of Interest - your personal interests determine what we sell. For example if you are interested in paintings you may be able to sell our paintings on commission to help raise money for us.

4. Personality Factors - the worst conditions are to able to be covered by being able to talk the language of the customer. This means you can very quickly determine if a customer is well-informed, moderately-informed, inadequately-informed or un-informed about our organisation.

It takes about three to four years to be moderately-informed about the goals of our organisation.

Our goals are well written and available for inspection on our internet site at www.bdcu.org.au.

We are self-funding and do not go into debt to run our projects. All these things are designed so you can make merit. Without merit you cannot make much progress or persevere in Buddhadharma practice.

If you wish to cultivate Buddhadharma in a lasting way you should establish a time-table, and, depending on your inclinations, health and particular situation, grow progressively more diligent as time goes by.

You should not be over-ambitious at the very beginning, and try to practice for too long initially.

Like a pedestrian, you should not walk too fast over unfamiliar territory because if you do you will stumble and trip over.

You should get to know your limits within the first six months of practice at our Centre and you will be taught how not to be discouraged by fatigue or stress.

Our Teacher, has told as about a lay woman who practices Buddhadharma.

As result of generosity, she makes about $100,000 per year working as a consultant.

Because her wealth isolates her from flurry and worry about living expenses, she and her son have an interesting balance of experiences of the better kind.

For this reason, at times she does not attend our teachings not to become too attached to persons who do not keep five precepts.

By habitual seeking out of persons who are corrupt, and mixing with them socially for many hours a week, her mind starts to lose its clarity of purpose and she loses the ability to talk the language of her customers who are overseas clients for which she does translation into English language.

When she comes to our Centre, offers food, edits our publications, cleans the assembly hall, removes stale flowers and so on, she quickly recovers her pliancy of mind because the actions she does help many other beings.

Then she becomes confident once again of how to practice, the merits of practice, the results of practice and the emotional security that comes from practice.

These things have to be experienced each for himself or herself to know that you do things by cultivating your own mind since it is not possible to cultivate the minds of others.

So little by little she recalls that the Buddhas and Buddhist saints were not deceived by external factors, such as wealth.

A good adviser is hard to find and the importance of having a good adviser near you at the time of death has been stressed again and again.

There are many examples of individuals who might have achieved rebirth in the higher realms but some external factor just before they died made them irritated and angry. Because they died with anger on their mind, they where born into lower realms such as animals.

King Ajatasatru, for example, had achieved numerous merits and blessings through cultivation. However, at the time of death, one of his attendants dozed off and inadvertently dropped a paper fan onto the king's face. He became furious and expired - to be reborn as a python! This example should serve as s warning to all of us.

When we work on our administration we must be aware of the different requirements of a Company under the Company Act and meet various checks and counterchecks so we can account for all funds.

One demanding area is to use contemporary accounting software to expedite our ability to scrutinise transactions in minutia.

Members actions generate our records which pass over three accountants and an auditor working with our systems.

We are looking for a volunteer who is willing to help us to prepare for documentation for GST legislation exemptions.

High on our list of functions that influence the success of corporate planning is product planning.

Our product is Buddha Dhamma, its transmission and delivery.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO MAKE AN UP-TO-DATE FRAMEWORK FOR TRANSMISSION OF BUDDHA DHAMMA TEACHINGS INTO THE 21st. CENTURY.

The product administration processes we plan must be extended to give individuals suitable training apart from oral instruction.

How are we to translate, store and be able to give the elite, requisite of written and spoken Dhamma records?

How can be attend to an every increasing amount of e-mail correspondence which will thrive as more and more persons get connected to our organisation?

What can we give that is unique to and our past, present and future Students?.

Selection of the correct strategic alternatives two decades ago have extended our workgroups internationally.

Two years ago, we identified that it was likely that our older heritage computer systems responsible for recording all items received and sent out to Student's queries were not scalable by much to give necessary responses projected.

It became clear at that time what was needed to be designed to handle the next decade was a system able to handle a thousandfold increase in correspondence volumes.

Slowly, by focusing on the projections on the needs of our international Student market in particular we saw our systems which we thought of as two, or maybe three, distinct Local Area Networks and Wide Area Network systems would become to be thought of as either too slow or under capacity for multimedia within a few years.

A few years ago, we all thought we were designing LAN or WAN systems which would tail end for ten to twenty years of instruction.

The strategic alternatives are now seen, not to be a series of adoptions or series of extensions of what we thought we had; but one of developing strategic alternatives of new communication systems.

And this organisation is what we are doing - because of cost saving associated with this approach.

For example, we think we can extend the usefulness of our website by providing our three home pages at www.bdcu.org.au in Japanese language versions.

This is an example of using our strengths - since one of our Members, who attended the WFB Conference last month made merit by translating a Dhamma Talk given by our Teacher to a Japanese Nun. This is an example of cause and effect.

Our Member, having made causes to translate Dhamma for our Teacher, offered to help us further.

Her qualifications are a Master's Degree in Japanese Translating and Interpreting and she has a computer and printer which can give Japanese text printouts.

Our heritage correspondence system used WordPerfect on DOS and later WordPerfect on Windows.

For the technically minded, at present, all items received for the BDC(U)Ltd, the Ch'an Academy, and the World Buddhist University and any of the workgroups is recorded as "Correspondence In" on computer pc1a, in Microsoft Word ref: c:data\corres.doc and c:data\in.doc and

In Microsoft Excel as ref:c\data\cadsc\corres\corres.in. Articles that are received include books, letters, facsimile transmissions, brochures, flyers, cards, newsletters, invoices, bills and gifts.

We are about to install a scanner for incoming mail having a read-only output.

What is needed is to respond to all letters and other items (if necessary) is to re-direct on screen mail items to relevant person/areas eg. books are given to the Library for cataloguing, bills and invoices and receipts to our accountant's software.

All items sent out from the BDC(U) Ltd., the WBU and any workgroup is recorded as "Correspondence Out" on pc1a, reference c:data\out.doc. and in Microsoft Excel ref c:data\cadsc\corres\corres.out, which includes letters, copies of BDDR, books, facsimile transmission, cards, gifts, invitations and flyers.

Systematic filing of paper for Company legal reasons has been a serious task.

Our workgroup is responsible for keeping file copies of all written matter produced by persons and workgroups of the BDC(U)Ltd. and the WBU which includes:

2.1 Buddha Dhamma Teachings.

2.2 Mail articles received which includes: all letters, cards, brochures, flyers, facsimile transmissions.

2.3 Articles by JDH , Directors and other members.

2.4 Workgroup policies, procedures, activities, plans and reports.

2.5 Member lists, financial and non-financial.

2.6 Buddhist Centre lists, Local, State wide(Victoria), Country wide(Australia) and World wide.

2.7 Local council, State Government and Federal Government contact offices and persons.

2.8 WFB information including General conferences, Standing committees,

Contact lists of WFB members in Australia and Overseas, WFB reports, Minutes, Proceedings

2.9 World Buddhist University information .

Our workgroup uses our internal LAN for Communication of Coming Activities and Events to Members who visit the Centre.

A printout is placed on the notice board.

The workgroup is responsible for informing members of events that are being run, being attended or needing to be attended.

This has been done by word of mouth or telephone.

When our WAN about to become operational this month, we then likely are about to trail modems going to selected Member's homes.

Since all these coming projects are the result of "Inventing Backwards" thinking - a form of "WHAT IF", we need persons who like the tasks of giving solid documentation to help us as we design and test them as a pilot experiment.

Please offer to help us if for no other reason that the value of such live actual experience would look good on your C.V.

Hackers need not apply.

We will have a one day workshop on 29th December 1998 to launch a new system and explain our plans for our international systems. Entry is free to suitable persons who want to help.

Contact John Hughes on 9754 3334.

May all beings be well and happy.

This script was written and edited by John D. Hughes and Leanne Eames.

Disclaimer:

As we, the Chan Academy Australia, Chan Academy being a registered business name of the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd., do not control the actions of our service providers from time to time, make no warranty as to the continuous operation of our website(s). Also, we make no assertion as to the veracity of any of the information included in any of the links with our websites, or another source accessed through our website(s).

Accordingly, we accept no liability to any user or subsequent third party, either expressed or implied, whether or not caused by error or omission on either our part, or a member, employee or other person associated with the Chan Academy Australia (Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd.)

This Radio Script is for Free Distribution. It contains Buddha Dhamma material and is provided for the purpose of research and study.

Permission is given to make printouts of this publication for FREE DISTRIBUTION ONLY. Please keep it in a clean place.

"The gift of Dhamma excels all other gifts".

For more information, contact the Centre or better still, come and visit us.

© 2002. Copyright. The Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd.