Category: Mercy

Also it is continuously ranked as a four-star organizations and an attractive option for private and corporate donors other than the government donations. All these are the result of the innovative culture of Mercy Corps. They are equipped with unique value proposition and helps the economically active populations at the times of crisis to come up with innovative solutions to local problems.

Organizational structure is a very important factor that facilitates open innovation (Lee, Min, & Lee, 2016). Mercy Corps too is having a flexible structure which drives creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. No approvals are required by many levels and therefore the implementation of new ideas is quick. All the staff members including country directors and technical experts are updating their knowledge continuously. Such a structure will lead the organization towards innovations.

The first strategic innovative initiative taken by Mercy Corps was emphasizing the willingness to operate in difficult areas into which large, established organization do not enter with the intention of having a greater and a more immediate impact. Thus they identified a niche market and established themselves strongly within the market.

Three main innovations done by Mercy Corps that were highlighted in the case study are community mobilization, cash for work and tourism recovery. Mercy Corps is the early adopter of a system called ‘cash for work’ where the people in the affected areas are given the opportunity to be involved in their relief and development program. Citizens were paid for work such as cleanups and recovery projects where the physical equipment were provided by Mercy Corps. This demonstrates the creativity that is possible with large corporate donations as well.

Community mobilization is also such a program initiated by Mercy Corps where villages develop their own agendas, raise resources and implement programs themselves. Ninety percent of the project will be funded by the organization while the other 10 percent need to be funded by villagers. The success of this initiative can be seen through the fact that a study done in 2007 has revealed that 93% of such structures built were still being actively maintained.

Tourism recover is also an innovative solution given by Mercy Corps during the period after Tsunami. They built close relationships with the people, identified the requirements such as physical requirement and resupplied those to restart their business. the significant fact is that they did not only limited to that supply, but also Mercy Corps trained local people to rebuild their business and build back better than were before tsunami. They gave the opportunity to hear lectures from successful people in the hotel industry and also started new websites for villages to regain their attractiveness.

Mercy Corps is equipped with skilled staff who would be already on the ground with aid and would adopt to changes quickly. It is that their innovative culture which attracts and retain such employees. Also they are having a loose but an amazingly effective system. This effectiveness is achieved through the initiative that the looseness allows. This kind of a flexible and effective system plays a vital role in enhancing and encouraging innovation.

Mercy Corps also has taken several measures to increase and maintain the innovations among the fieldworkers within the organization. One of such programs is the Phoenix Fund launched in 2004 to finance start-up businesses in countries recovering from war. Other one was an internal innovation competition started in 2004 for publicizing creative work happening through out the organization. This encouraged information sharing and learning across branches around the world about innovations done by various field workers.

In the classic novel “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck ‘s, one of the main themes that influence the story and characters in the novel is friendship. The theme of friendship plays a large part in the area of mercy killing, which affects the main characters as well as the supporting ones. In the novel, it occurs two major mercy killings, and they are Carlson’s killing of Candy’s old dog, and George’s killing of Lennie. In both examples, the killer murders the other one because of mercy and love, not because of the usual motives like hatred, rage, anger, etc. And in the end, did George make the right choice?

George and Lennie have a relationship that most people find strange in the novel. George is the smaller guy, who is smart and works hard, but he is withheld by Lennie, a much larger guy who is mentally deficient. Lennie constantly gets himself and George into trouble, despite all the trouble Lennie puts George through he still cares deeply about Lennie. “But not us! An’ why? Because…because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.” (Steinbeck, 1998, s. 36) The relationship that George and Lennie have is very strange especially for the era and situation they are in since both of them are poor and most people cannot afford to take care of themselves, let alone take care of another who is mentally deficient. “Oh, I dunno. Hardly none of the guys travel together. You know how the hands are, they just come in and get bunk and work a month, and then they quit and go out alone. Never seem to give a damn about nobody. It jus’ seems kinda funny a cuckcoo like him and a smart little guy like you travelin’ together.” (Steinbeck, 1998, s. 63)

George and Lennie have a dream, to save up enough money together to someday buy their own little house and a plot of land to farm. Where they can be independent and safe, furthermore where he does not have to worry about Lennie’s mistakes. “O.K. – we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little hose and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs and –” “we’ll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, we’ll just say the hell with goin’ to work, and we’ll build up a fire in the stove and set around it an’ listen to the rain comin’ down on the roof -Nuts!” (Steinbeck, 1998, s. 37) Despite their dream, Lennie did a big mistake changed and because of it he and George had to pay a big price for it.

In order to prevent agony and misery from happening to Lennie at the end, George took it upon himself to kill Lennie with a quick, painless death by shooting him in the back of the head. If George had not killed Lennie, Lennie would have suffered in the hands of Curley and the others. Curley tells Carlson to aim for Lennie’s guts so that Lennie will suffer, “The nigger’s got a shotgun. You take it, Carlson. When you see um, don’t give’im no chance. Shoot for his guts. That’ll double ‘im over.” (Steinbeck, 1998, s. 124) Hence, why George decided to kill Lennie mercifully. George decided to kill Lennie at his very happiest since he did not want his last moment to be sad. George has Lennie describe their dream farm, that they planned to buy together, what they were going to do, and that Lennie was going to have his bunny hutch. « “Go on” said Lennie. “How’s it gonna be. We gonna get a little place.” “We’ll have a cow,” said George. “An’ we’ll have maybe pig an’ chickens … an’ down the flat we’ll have a … little piece alfalfa –” “For the rabbits,” Lennie shouted. “For the rabbits,” George repeated. “And I get to tend the rabbits.” “An’ you get to tend the rabbits.” Lennie giggled with happiness. “An’ live on the fatta the lan’.” » (Steinbeck, 1998, s. 132) By doing it so, George prevented Lennie from causing any more harm to anyone, and also saved Lennie from any grief or pain from being shot by someone without sympathy or compassion.