Let's Get Down to Business...

There's a Lot to Do - Here's the Eighth Week's Study Guide

Your list of things-to-do hasn't gotten shorter. Now's the time for your "big push."

Don't fall behind in your textbook reading. Stay focused on submitting a Business Plan that will land in the Hall of Fame. Study the Blog Posts.

Tell everyone that you're taking a "Rain Check" (not hard to do in Oregon) for a couple of weeks. Say that you're on your way to launching a successful business career.

Remember that the sky's the limit. How far you go and how much you achieve is up to you. That's the best part. You're the one who decides what you'll do.

Here's your Study Guide for the Course's Eighth Week. Download Eighth Week Study Guide

HR - It's where the Action is

Our journey's stop in "Human Resources" won't last long and deserves more time than we've got. 

When your busy schedule permits, go back and take another look at what's happening in what used to be called the "Personnel Department."  There isn't another part of the business world that, over the past 20 years, has become so complex and essential to 21st century firms. 

And you'll want to note this for future career planning purposes; HR executives are becoming some of the best-paid members of the management team.

Chapters 10 and 11 from your Textbook should be read together even though we split them between Weeks 7 and 8.  But before discussing some of the key terms and ideas from your reading, here are my Lecture Notes and PowerPoint slides for our HR "stop": 

• Download Human Resources (Week 8)

NOTE:  To find the "International Commerce" materials, first open the "Week 8: Human Resources and Globalization" category.  Page down three or four posts.  What you're looking for starts with the Post titled "Globalization: Something New or Something Old?"

 

How about doing something "meaningful?"

I've suggested the following trio for starting to figure out what you'll do with your "work life."

Do What You're Good At

Do It With Passion

Do It With People You Like and Respect

I think all of us want to do something that makes us feel good about what we're doing. In other words, that we're accomplishing something useful and valuable. Whether it's important or not is obviously a question that will never have the same answer twice.

Here's an interview that will give you a different perspective on being "satisfied" with what you're doing. In it, Matthew Crawford, who earned a Doctorate from the University of Chicago in Political Philosophy, discusses what he did for awhile, why he's not doing it now and what's he up to these days. You'll be surprised at how he's using his high-powered education. You may be even more surprised at who is doing the interviewing. Enjoy.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Matthew Crawford
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Fox News

A Harassment-Free Workplace

As we learned, discrimination in any aspect of the employment relationship based on age, disability, national origin, race, religion, marital status, military status, sexual orientation or being a whistleblower is legally prohibited.

One type of illegal discrimination is sexual harassment, which takes two forms:

• Quid pro quo Harassment.  Existence and elements include (a) Employer conditions favorable employment decisions (promotion or pay raise, for example) or threatens unfavorable employment decisions (demotion or no pay raise, for example) upon submission to unwelcome sexual advances and (b) Subordinate either submits to sexual conduct or refuses to submit and Employer takes tangible adverse employment action. 
• Hostile Workplace Harassment.  Existence and elements include (a) unwelcome, sexually-charged, verbal or physical workplace behavior or conduct that demeans or shows hostility or aversion towards a person or their relatives, friends or associates because of their gender or sexual orientation or (b) behavior or conduct that has the purpose or effect of creating a hostile, intimidating work environment, unreasonably interfering with work performance or adversely affecting employment opportunities. 

Here's a Good Idea: Get Rid of Performance Reviews

If things are running smoothly, there's nothing like the dreaded "Annual Performance Review" to throw a wrench in the works.

For my money, they're a lose-lose. Managers somehow try to improve an employee's performance by pointing out all the mistakes he or she made over the past year. The employee, believing they've done nothing but great work, wants to talk about a pay-raise and a promotion.

Is it any wonder that what should be a productive discussion quickly becomes defensive and tense?

Attached is an article from the October 20, 2008 Wall Street Journal written by a UCLA Business School Professor who has the right idea: get rid of performance reviews that destroy morale and kill teamwork and replace them with ongoing dialogue where both sides learn and grow: Download get_rid_of_the_performance_review.pdf

Feedback - Give it early and often

It's important that we communicate with one another about how you're doing in the course.  All too often, evaluations come at the end of a course when it's too late to make mid-course corrections.

How about doing things different and maybe better?

Here's a link to a Confidential Survey where you can give me some feedback on what's working or not working for you:  Click to Give Feedback

Your feedback is confidential.  I'm the only one who will see it.  Access to your feedback is password protected.

Your feedback can also be anonymous if you want.  If you want me to contact you, or know who you are, leave your name and how to contact you.  Otherwise, your feedback will be anonymous if you want it to be.

Let me know early and often how things are going.  Thanks for your help.

How's this Globalization thing working out?

Take a break and enjoy this "clarification" on the state of the world's financial affairs.  Thanks to Greg Mankiw and Tim Phillips.

On the continuation page is another, more serious, explainer of the European Debt Crisis from the New York Times.  As you learn about the problem's symptoms (too much debt, too much spending, too little discipline, etc.), consider also whether the organizational strategy is right.  Were all the "what if?" questions asked?

Globalization: Something New or Something Old?

Why are Toyota's Tundra trucks manufactured in San Antonio and Nike's shoes made in Vietnam?  What is this situation's net "on-shoring/off-shoring" result?  Should everyone in Ohio be happy with it?  Would a law taxing the foreign-earned net income of US-based companies fix the problem? 

A global balance sheet might show the US as the world's largest debtor (borrower) and China as the world's largest creditor (lender).  How did this happen?  Has this always been the case?  Is it something to worry about?  What should (could) be done about it?

The idea of an interconnected and inter-dependent global economy is nothing new.   Arguably, the Vikings and Christopher Columbus were motivated by the economic gains that would come their way from discovering new worlds. 

What has changed, especially during the past 25 years, are political and social attitudes about free-trade and the institutions necessary to conduct commerce on a global scale.  We'll examine each of those factors in detail, but first, here are my lecture notes and PowerPoint slides dealing with "International Commerce:

• Download Globalization

Insights from Peter Drucker about Power and Responsibility

When we opened the door to the Human Resources realm, I introduced you to Peter Drucker. He deservedly is always introduced as "The Man who invented Management."

During your business education, you'll sample some of the rich trove of ideas and insights he contributed (he wrote 39 books and authored hundreds of articles). And he was still contributing late into his 90s.

Professor Drucker passed away in 2005. He was still lecturing and writing up until that last day.

Professor Drucker was especially concerned about the "human" side of management. Every discussion about leadership and management was liberally sprinkled with terms like "trust" and "responsibility."

Below is a video link where Professor Drucker talks about leadership and responsibility. Listen carefully. Remember, he's over 90 and has kept his Austrian accent. Enjoy.

What really happened during the past 200 years?

Competing in a global economy starts with understanding its context. And context involves understanding how it got to be this way.

Hans Rosling is a Swedish intellectual who thinks about big questions on a grand scale. He's investigated what's happened over the past 200 years to global wealth and health.

Rather than eye-straining rows and columns of minuscule numbers, he presents his findings with the visual excitement of a rock concert. Watch this video several times and consider all its implications.

First is the idea that the US is "falling behind" the rest of world. Another way to look at this question is to ask, "How long has the US 'led' the world?" And if the US is to be a "leader," does it want to rank highest in per-capita income, life-span or values or something else?

Finally, what about the debate that the "middle class" is in decline. In a global perspective, is the "middle class" in decline? If the middle class has discretionary income to spend on education, for example, does the changing relationships of global wealth and health suggest the middle class will soon be extinct?