"Pure altruism is giving up a value (a reward or benefit) with no expectation of any compensation or benefits, either direct, or indirect (for instance from recognition of the giving)." Wikipedia - Altruism
Image credits: Mr. Kris
Yesterday at an Open Coffee meeting a wandering conversation arrived at the discussion of 'corporate altruism'. I recognize that this might seem like a contradictio in terminis given that corporations need money (or any other form of 'reward' such as people volunteering to work for them) to survive. However, it seems that given the right conditions, corporate altruism actually seems like a valid concept, often to be observed throughout the open source community.
Does pure altruism exist?
In personal life it might, though I would say it is very rare. Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa is one of the persons that quickly come to mind as a pure altruist, though it might be that there were any perceived benefits to her well-doing making the altruism (at least theoretically) unpure. In my experience most 'normal' people might not necessarily expect, but most certainly hope for a 'thank you' for doing as little as helping an elderly person crossing a street. How does this relate to the corporate world where every entity exists with a purpose (be it either to make profit or to collect donations or to help others achieving a goal, etc.)?
Altruism in open source
Giving without getting or expecting any direct or indirect benefit or compensation can be seen for example in helping other Joomla! members on the Joomla! forums. While there might be an actual benefit in this (such as the benefits highlighted in this blog), it is the lack of expectation of a reward that makes the behavior altruistic. Another example of this would be the contribution to open source projects such as Joomla. While you might not expect a benefit (and will not get a direct compensation), because the way open source works (for example by giving credit where due) you're very likely to not only benefit others by your contributions, but in one way or another yourself as well.
Go try it out and contribute to Joomla! at least once a week (if you weren't doing that already). You'll like it!
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User Comments (1)
Add commentRoberta
November 6th, 2011 at 5:37 AM CETAdd a comment
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