Our presentation

My group's presentation went over very well.  It was not very creative or interesting, but the content was good.  The groups ahead of us were extremely creative, and had nifty presentations.  I thought that may bite our group in the butt, but it didn't.  In hind sight, i wish our group would have brought food, but I'm probably only thinking that because I'm hungry right now.  Then again, it may have made our presentation more interesting to the class.  I also think our group should have chosen a more interesting topic.  No one really cares about accounting fraud, however, everyone cares about the NFL lockout.

Presentations

On Wednesday I thought the presentations went very well.   All the topics were very interesting and it was neat how each one used different class material to analyze their organizational problem.  I was especially interested in the Pixar Disney problem.  Prior to that class I had no idea that Disney had bought Pixar.  I thought it was nice the way Disney did not overly enforce their company culture on Pixar.  This was most prevalent in the fact that Disney did not make Pixar say have a  magical day at the end of phone conversations to customers.

The haves

We talked about the haves, the have a little but want more, and the have nots.  These groups were compared to students.  We were considered the have some but want more because we had enough money to make it to college but not enough to go to more prestigious colleges.  Those kids at the prestigious schools would be the haves then,  However, I think in reality no one is just a have, everyone always wants more.  No matter who you are, I don't think anyone can truly be satisfied with their position, there is always a new frontier to conquer in a sense.  I think when people start thinking they are haves, they stop striving for more, and in a sense stop trying.  I think it is good to be a have some but want more because there will be a constant effort put for in order to gain more.

Exercise Discussion

On Monday we discussed the exercise we did about two weeks ago.  I thought a lot of good points were brought up.  The way the exercise was run, a lot of good faith was needed on the part of each group, and in the end the bottom group had the most power.  They actually didn't really need the middle or bottom group at all.  They could have just negotiated without the top group.  I think it's a descent representation of a company.  The top group negotiates with other companies.  The middle group gets the specs from the top group and delegates to the bottom group.  This way all the bottom group has to worry about is working.  The middle group makes sure the bottom group is taken care of and the top group deals with the customers.  My only problem with the exercise is that there wasn't enough time to do everything.

Book Report #5

                In the last section of my book Barbara Ehrenreich evaluates her experiences in working in poverty.  She looks back at how she managed her budget with respect to her income.  In some cities she did reasonably well.  In Minneapolis she had $22 at the end of every month after all the expenses.  In Portland, Barbara would not have been able to keep her head above water.  For the time she was there, prices were relatively low, but during tourist season, prices would have sky rocketed and her income would not have been able to sustain her lifestyle.  In the end, she gave herself a B or B+. 

                After having reviewed her experience, she thought it should be simple for those employees barely getting by to find better paying jobs.  However, these employees face many challenges.  For starters many of these poverty stricken employees they don’t have cars.  Because of their lack of mobility they have trouble seeking employment elsewhere.  Because of the lack of media presented to these employees, they also have trouble finding better paying jobs.  These impoverished people don’t have laptops, blackberries, or ipads.  They can not look at help wanted ads on the internet for better wages.  All they have is the help wanted ads in the paper, which rarely show wages. 

                Ehrenreich tries to figure out why the impoverished not only get poor wages, but have to pay such high rents.  The reason for this is that the rich can always buy the poor areas, where as the poor can never buy out the rich.  Barbara gives the example of a rich person buying out a trailer park to put up condos.  All the people living in the trailer park can’t possibly afford the condos, so they have to find housing farther away from work. 

Ehrenreich also, points out that a reason for the low wages in these low skilled jobs are the result of the culture in the company.  The company tries to make the employees feel like they are such a small part of the company, that if they want a higher pay, then the company will find someone else to do the job for less.  This culture makes the employees feel like they need the company, not the company needs them.  Another bad characteristic of companies with low wage workers is that employees feel like they are getting used and abused.  Employees don’t want to show their full potential because there is little reward for doing more, and they don’t want the company to use and abuse them.

Exercise

In the exercise we did on Monday, I was thoroughly confused most of the time.  I was part of the middle group. In the beginning, we were went to our meeting area and had no idea what we were doing.  Finally, the top group came down and told us our objective.  We went down to the bottom group and relayed the message and then had to go meet back up with the top group.  They wanted samples of the slogans when we really didn't have enough time.  In the end, I got one Goat buck and have no idea why or how.  I think the exercise would have gone smoother had we had about another hour.  There would have been much better communication on all levels, and more Goat bucks to go around.  I think this exercise was a representation of what it is like to work at a corporation.  You get orders from the top, but you don't know where they are located, they come to you.  You then as managers have to relay the orders to those who work below you.  However, in the work place there would be better communication.

looking at power

I think that the points made by Machiavelli were really interesting.  The best decisions you can make while in power, are the ones that keep you in power.  I never thought about decisiopn making in that way before.  I always looked at decision making as right and wrong or good or bad.  But when i looked at decisionmaking that way it was by looking at the effect on the greater good.  I think there have been a lot of rulers that have taken Machiavelli's point of view and havce stayed in power.  Most of them are viewed as evil though.  For example look at Stalin, he shot down all opposition which kept him in power.  He suppressed his people. 
I don't think the head of a company can go to the same lengths as Stalin.  However, the head of a company can cut down the competition for his job quite easily.  I think Machyiavelli's view at making decisions while in power is interesting but I don't think it's right.