Week 3 continued.. : Post 4

It is kind of funny to me that it took Ford, who wasn't around until the industrial revolution, to come up with the beginnings of progressive capitalism.  Progressive capitalism is described in the book as equalizing the pay of employees, to be able to purchase the product that they are producing.  Ford thought that the only way that he was going to be able to sell cars to the masses was to pay "the masses" enough money to be able to afford them.  His employees were the target audience for the product.  It is funny that this wasn't realized before this.  I guess it sort of makes sense why this made the industrial revolution so successful. 

Chapter 11: Post #1

The North American business' values associated with ethical communication recommend trusting one another, treating each other with respect, recognizing the value of each individual, keeping your word, telling the truth: being honest with others, acting with integrity, being open to change, risk failing in order to get better, and learn; try new ideas.  All I have to say to this is... HA! If any major American corporation really believes that they follow these values, I would suggest that they talk to the majority of the people that make up their country.  I am sure they tell themselves this is what they are doing, but I highly doubt that it is ever completely the case.  

Chapter 10: Post #1

Targeted selection is an obvious concept, but like the book points out, it is hardly every accomplished.  Again, I would like to compare this idea with my experience at Starbucks.  This company did quite a good job at constant reinforcement of their number one priority: customer satisfaction.  Some stores obviously took this idea way more seriously than others (as I sure most people would be able to identify just by visiting multiple stores).  But I did admire that this company really tried hard to follow through with this priority way more than other customer service jobs that I have had.  It made it seem as though this company really did care about their customers.

Chapter 9: Post #1

The first page of chapter 9 conveyed a negative opinion about trying to articulate leadership skills.  I find this especially interesting because I have been enrolled in "leadership" classes since I was in eighth grade.  I was (along with the rest of the class) in charge of producing the activities throughout the school.  This included hosting dances, lunchtime activities, and even included fundraising.  The class however insignificant it may have seemed at the time, really did improve my ability to delegate and work with a team.  I think these are vital skill that need to be learned in order to have a successful leader.   

Online Lecture: Post 1

This lecture struck a nerve with me.  I realized that this idea can be applied to many things, not just organizations.  More specifically, this can be applied to personal relationships.  In order for relationships to flourish, the participants must be open and honest about their feelings, beliefs and goals.  The lecture pointed out that in order to have a successful democracy, participant must commit to dialogue.  "A passion for dialogue requires a commitment to self-expression and thoughtful listening to others' perspectives."  This means that there is no point in trying to communicate half-heartedly.  In order to maximize the potential of the system, honesty with yourself and others is key, just as in a relationship.

Chapter 8: Post #1

To relate another concept to Starbucks, I would like to focus on the "quality information must be widely distributed" idea.  This was done to a T at Starbucks.  We were required to have at least 15 minutes a shift a week to dedicate to catching up on all the reading material that was sent out weekly.  This would often include training updates too, but most often I saw the majority of the material a bragging and propaganda to the Starbucks team.  The material would be about the charity that this store did, or donations that that store had made, or top selling stores that week.  The reading material was a way to keep the workers motivated, but I never really saw it as effective.  I guess I didn't like my job enough.

Chapter 7: Post #1

The first thing that struck me in this chapter was when the chapter talked about organizing difference in organizations.  The one that I found as most amusing was "defining a person by defining other".  When I first read the title I thought of how at Starbucks, everyone in the company were referred to as partners.  This was to create an "everyone is equally important" vibe.  This was something I found to be trivial since there were also secondary position names that were used.  However, with the explanation of the meaning, I really saw a lot of "truth" as far as what people do.  But I would think that these definitions of titles usually come on a more personal level, not so much official