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.

Magic Cable

After reading this article I think Gary Roberts traded down as opposed to trading up when he took the new job.  In his mind he thought that because there was a clean working enviroment and a small chance of promotion that he was getting a better job.  However, I think he assumed he'd get all of his past perks.  At Magic Cable, the enviroment may have been cleaner, and there was a large diversity of people working.  However, he didn't get the overtime opportunities and his boss wasn't a quality guy.  Back at Tile-Elite he had over time and his boss was an okay guy.  He was a valued part of the company as a mechanic.  Just because he wasn't happy with not getting a promotion doesn't mean he should have left.  If he was valued that much at Tile-Elite he should have gotten a raise.

Motivation video

The video we watched in class Wednesday was interesting.  I liked the way it was put together with the drawings and the lecture.  I didn't expect the results of the one test though.  The one where they payed people to complete tasks that required some amount of skill.  the fact that participants performed worse in these tests surprised me, but I also thought it made sense.  Personally, I'd perform worse at many of these tasks because of the increased pressure that comes along with the reward.  The reward makes the task seem more important than what it really is.  I think this ruins people's focus on the task at hand which is why I think the participants perform worse.  I think if people were made unaware of the rewards they'd perform a lot better.

motivation

I found the motivation lecture on Monday very interesting.  Maslow's Hierarchy of needs helped to explain what people need in their environments.  The deficiency needs are needs i would look for in my work place as a must.  I probably wouldn't work up to my potential without them.  The growth needs would just enhance my work experience.  They would motivate me to try to exceed my potential and find better ways to get my job done.  I feel that a good employer would try to fill all the needs in Maslow's Hierarchy of needs to create the best work place possible.