Re: [Harp-L] Re: SPAH award nominations--who's nominated, and how is the winner chosen?

[Bob Harty <bharty@xxxxxx>]

In a truly transparent organization there would be no need for anything other then openness. Secrets are part of what closed systems preserve to ofer a sense of anonymity that allows persons to function in ambiguity.  
Organizations function not as they say they do, but rather as the do in the bright light of day.
My 2 cents.

Sent from my iPad

On Jul 30, 2013, at 10:42 AM, Bill Hines <billhines4@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I just want to throw my two cents in because hopefully the talk about
> changing SPAH to make it more personable and transparent is meaningful and
> that's what the organization is trying to do. I was a member for about a
> year but dropped it because of stuff like this, it came off as kind of a
> secret clique-y thing and not very open/transparent/friendly and just not
> very visible in terms of the web site presence, newsletters, things like
> that. I know those things are changing. But if you really want to make
> members feel like they are part of what is going on, things like this
> should change. I agree with Richard and probably lots of others. At least
> for those not chosen, it might be nice to see they were nominated, that
> much is an honor. FWIW, Bill
> 
> 
> On Tue, Jul 30, 2013 at 1:49 PM, Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:
> 
>> A little over two weeks ago, I sent the following message:
>>> 
>>> About a month ago we were all reminded that the deadline for SPAH awards
>> (June 30) was fast approaching.  Presumably the nominations are now all in,
>> but I haven't seen any comments anywhere, including SPAH's website,
>> regarding who was nominated for what.
>>> 
>>> So who was nominated for what?  While we're on the topic, how are the
>> winners chosen?  I don't see anything on SPAH's site that describes the
>> process.
>>> 
>> 
>> There's been input from SPAH since then on the second topic--how winners
>> are chosen. The answer is essentially that the SPAH leadership votes,
>> privately.  There's been no comment on the first question: who was
>> nominated for what?
>> 
>> There's also been no reply to my follow-up question: what's the (good)
>> reason for keeping nominations a secret?
>> 
>> Secret nominations and a secret vote: to me, the process sounds less
>> transparent than a Nigerian election.  That's not a standard to which any
>> elected body, such as SPAH leadership, should aspire.
>> 
>> So I'll repeat my original and followup requests for information: who was
>> nominated for what, and failing an answer to that, what's the rationale for
>> secret nominations?
>> 
>> Thanks, Richard Hunter
>> 
>> 
>> author, "Jazz Harp"
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>>