Employee voice Essay Example for Free

Employee voice Essay ‘Employee voice’ suggested by Geoff Armstrong (cited in Armstrong,2001) in the recent issue of Industrial Participation Association (IPA) Bulletin, historically meant collective bargaining, and that this ‘chosen method of joint regulation became a straitjacket inhibiting the very things we needed to be doing to win and keep customers! ’ Win and keep the customers because feedbacks and suggestions came from the employee who deals with the customers every day of their work. Companies are able to get the facts from how the customer complaint about their product and to what satisfies them. The word ‘voice’ was popularized by Freeman and Medoff (cited in Freeman Medoff, 1984) who argued that it made good sense for both company and workforce to have a ‘voice’ mechanism. This had both a consensual and conflictual image; on the one hand, participation could lead to a beneficial impact on quality and productivity, whilst on the other it could detect problems which otherwise might ‘explode’. Dundon et al (cited in Dundon, 2004;MC Cabe Lewin, 1992; Wilkinson et al,2004). The four principal strands of the thought or forms of ‘voice’ that are available to employees are: an articulation of individual dissatisfaction; existence of a collective organization; a form of contribution to the management decision-making; and as a form of mutuality in the organization. In the articulation of individual dissatisfaction, the employee aims to address a specific problem or issue with the management that is usually presented in the form of grievance procedure or ‘speak up’ program. An opportunity for employee representatives – union or non-union – to communicate the views of the workforce to managers either through partnership or collective bargaining is the form of collective organization. As a form of contribution to the management decision-making its purpose is concerned with improvements in work organization and efficiency more generally, perhaps through quality circles or team working. It is achieve by a dialogue with employees providing ideas to improve the organizational performance. The last form is the mutuality in organization in delivering long term viability for the organization and its employees, often through joint consultation, collective bargaining and or partnership. In an article by Sharon Shinn (2004,p 18), The Maverick CEO, he asked Ricardo Semler that if business students were reading a case study of Semco what was the valuable lesson they would they take away and he answered that, â€Å"the main lesson is that freedom is a prime driver for performance. † Through my research I believe that all of the employees’ benefits from ‘employee voice’ just revolve around Semlers’ idea. When an employee has the freedom to express himself it empowers him to decide the courses of action that must be done to achieve a certain objective of the company according to his ideals in work and life in general. When one has the freedom to say what for him is wrong or right it gives him the dignity of not only a worker of the company but someone who can make a change and influence people on top for the better future of the company. A sample of the ideal is displayed in Semco where employees can vote to veto new products or new product ventures. At Semco, (cited in Samler, 2004) â€Å"workers approve their own bosses and people only attend meetings if they think the meetings are important. It works because of peoples’ self-interest. Nobody wants to stay in boring meetings or work for bosses they didn’t choose. † Furthermore, â€Å"of course, you can make people come to meetings and look alert, but it’s more difficult to get them to perform what was decided at the meeting. We want people to follow their instincts and to choose as bosses people they respect – even if they don’t like them. This often happens at Semco. † ‘Employee voice’ can be channeled between union and non-union voice. Comparison of benefits between union and non-union voice has been noted. (cited in Freeman and Medoff, 1984) argued that only union forms of voice would result in voice benefits for workers and management. The reasoning behind this argument is that without a union to ensure fair treatment and an equitable distribution of the fruits of success, individuals lack the incentive to pursue public goods. Union voice promotes ‘independence’ unlike direct voice mechanisms’ where its effectiveness is challenged in their capacity to transform the power relations in an organization due to lack of sanctions for non-compliance, collective power and access to independent sources of advice or assistance, non-union voice mechanisms are more susceptible to managerial influence and control (cited in Golan,2009; Terry,199; Wilkinson et al, 2004). On the contrary, non-union or direct voice has been also argued to be superior to union voice for 2 reasons: first, barriers between employers and employees can be disintegrated by dealing directly with employees rather than through an intermediary (cited in Bryson, 2004; Storey, 1992); and second, direct voice allows managers to better respond to the heterogeneous interests of workers (cited in Storey,1992). Another distinct benefit of ‘employee voice’ is evident in the ‘monopoly face’ of unionism, whereby unions seek to restrict the supply of labor to the irm in pursuit of higher wages and benefits. In a general point of view because of the ‘employee voice’ managers give more positive responses to employee needs, greater levels of control over the work process and increased influence over job rewards. In relation with the benefits that can be gained by employees’ through ‘employee voice’ the said firms that practices this kind of system have a lot to gain out of it. One important factor that affects the companies’ profitability is its labor cost. Voice is considered important, in their classic work on US trade Unionism, (cited in Freeman and Medoff, 1984) post it that it is theoretically possible for trade unions to enhance the productivity of firms because they provide voice to workers. They argue that union voice can be productivity-enhancing where voice costs are lower than the costs of dissatisfied workers quitting, and lower quit rates encourage firms to invest in human capital, resulting in a more skilled and productive workforce. In union voice it may also reduce the transaction costs that employees face, for example, by enforcing and monitoring contracts (cited in Booth, 1995; Kaufman, 2004; Kaufman and Levine, 2000). The company of Semco is a great example of this, (cited in Shinn, 2004) Semler and a radical management team completely upended traditional business theory at Semco, doing away with conventional organizational charts while allowing employees more and more freedom to choose what products they would work and how they would produce them. Many employees were eliminated by job reconstruction or left because they couldn’t handle the turmoil. But those who remained became passionate about Semco and their place within it. At Semco they also believe in continuous growth and development so (cited in Samler, 2004) â€Å"people at Semco, by setting their own timetables and workloads, are more apt to take time out for learning. † He said that there were also sabbaticals, and a system whereby people can diminish and increase their work weeks by arrangement with their teams. They also have Retire-a-little where people can take a day, or half-day, off every week, to do what they would when they retire. Because of such changes, (cited in Semler, 2004) noted that it have raised Semco’s revenue from a $35 million to $160 million in the last six years. In addition, (cited in Shinn, 2004) Semler is deeply involved in promoting a workplace where freedom and flexibility is celebrated that he established a school in Sao Paolo practicing his values. (cited in Samler ,2004) â€Å"the school is in place and has started enrolling two-to-ten year olds. We want to change things at the starting point. At this school, our kids determine the rules and makes decisions ever week at a school meeting. We don’t want to holler and point fingers at kids. They are perfectly able to settle disputes and regulations alone. We do sit in to facilitate, when they want. † Furthermore, â€Å"at the Lumlar Institute, which runs the school, we develop a mosaic technology to teach free children effectively, something that the educational world knows nothing about. Since our kids are obliged to be in school but not in class, it behooves us to interest them – and we do. Children are already staying 1. 84 times longer at our school, out of free will, than at other schools in the system. After defining that there were two system of ‘employee voice’ which are non-union (direct) and union, in addition reviewing the benefits of implementing ‘employee voice’ to both the employees and company, Australia seems to place more importance to non-union voice that than union voice. Result from the studies of researchers proves that, for example, AWIRS (the Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey) shows that only 16% of work places were there employee representatives on boards in 1995. (cited in Morehead et al, 1997; 506-67). Moreover non-union of employee representation was not institutionalized as they are in EU (European Union). With the Decline of Union membership, with 22% of employees now being unionized (and only 17 percent in the private sector), there is a growing ‘representation on gap’ for employees’ with some academic experts arguing that works councils could fill that gap. (Knudsen Markey, 2002). However, there seems little political will to progress this issue at the moment, with major interest focused on the recent Work Choices Legislation, rather than a broader discussion of work place governance. Thus, it appears that for the most part, participation in Australia will remain a matter for the firm rather that a broader social issue and its extent will be largely governed by management strategy and enthusiasm for the various direct participative approaches. Pyman et al (2006) In practical sense, the effectiveness of employee voice in Australia workplaces is dependent on a plurality of arrangements, that is multiple, mutually reinforcing channels. While achieving this is likely to present challenge for employers, employees and unions, the findings to do highlight the significance of labor- management interaction and thus the value of a union-employer partnership approach predicated on mutual benefits. Such an approach is seriously threatened by the recent changes embodied in the Work Choices Act 2005. This legislation unequivocally privileges direct or non-union representative voice mechanisms, while undermining union voice and multi-channel voice arrangements.

Thinking in the workplace Essay Example for Free

Thinking in the workplace Essay Preparation for a career or vocation does not just begin during a school’s admissions examinations. It starts right when a child embarks on the road to learning in general. The whole of one’s life is going to be poured into various experiences a person may encounter. Such is a typical academic life, a life that Chris faces daily. ~ Identify five of Chris’ greatest challenges as his classes begin. Pursuing an education is an investment for the individual and his family. It is primarily financial, but more than that it includes the entire life of the person. He is preparing for life hence, all of his resources, be they emotional or mental, spiritual and moral, are involved in the whole process. The challenges a person like Chris will encounter as he enters the higher academic life includes financial capability especially with increasing tuition costs, balancing academics and social life as well as other extracurricular activities, and maintaining good health while experiencing various stressors typically met by students right through their academics. ~ Devise a five step plan for Chris to better manage his time. It entails the following procedure: a.) a statement of goals and objectives; b.) know and record your priorities; c.) use a calendar and a guide from which you monitor your schedules, commitments and responsibilities; d.) do evaluation regularly to know where you are deficient and make up for lost time; e.) be accountable to someone who will help you achieve your goals by managing your time (â€Å"Time management,† 2007). ~ Research different learning styles, and based on what you know about Chris, make a recommendation to Chris on what may work best from these options: three senses (auditory, visual, and kinesthetic), two reasoning types (deductive and inductive), and two environments (intrapersonal and interpersonal).   Chris is probably the type who is very kinesthetic; hence he must discover his strengths and weaknesses which may affect his approach and attitude towards learning. He usually derives comprehension when he starts from the general to specific (deductive). He is apt to bloom in an interpersonal kind of environment. Thus, Chris ought to tailor his needs to the kind of profession he will be preparing himself to get into. This is the kind of work where his liking for people to people interactions is expected to happen, where he can convey his global reasoning powers (â€Å"What type of learner are you?† 2002). ~ Identify three ways that Chris’ thinking can be improved. He must know how to analyze claims, the falsity or fallacies that other people argue against other people’s knowledge also. He has to learn skills like how to take notes, use dictionaries and other tools, develop quality study habits, get rest as often as he can, especially when schedules are inevitably confusing (Harris, 1998). ~ Recommend top five priorities for this weekend’s activities that Chris can find opportunity to do all that has to be done while still having some fun as well. Chris can do that even though he could be one of the busiest people around. Study or skim through all notes that he has taken, schedule a game of badminton with friends, or go swimming, review schedule regularly, forget the coming busy days and instead, to relax and put all worries aside (â€Å"How to have fun while studying†). Reference: 1. â€Å"Time management.† Study guides and strategies. Accessed July 20, 2007 http://www.studygs.net/index.htm 2. Harris, Robert. 1998. Introduction to creative thinking. Virtual Salt. Accessed July 20, 2007. http://www.virtualsalt.com/crebook1.htm 3. â€Å"How to have fun while studying.† Wikihow. Accessed July 20, 2007. http://www.wikihow.com/Have-Fun-While-Studying 4. â€Å"What type of learner are you?† Thinking and learning styles.† 2002. Accessed July 21, 2007. http://www.new-oceans.co.uk/new/education/learnstyles.htm

Women Opting Out Of Work

Women Opting Out Of Work Opting out is a term most commonly understood to describe the decision of married women to voluntarily quit professional careers and remain out of the labor force for a relatively extended period of time during which they are engaged in family care giving, primarily motherhood, to the exclusion of paid employment. Women use a variety of strategies to reconcile work and family responsibilities, including time out of the labor force, opting out, by virtue of the attention given it by the media, has assumed special prominence and a distinct identity. The novelty of opting out is that the women said to be returning home to re-create the traditional family form of male breadwinners are, unlike the stay-at-home mothers of the 1950s, seasoned professionals with considerable career success who are making their decisions in an historical context that affords them a wider range of options than were available to earlier generations of women, even privileged women. Employment, when anticipated a t all after marriage, was regarded as short-term and secondary. In the 1970s, educated women made a break with the past and began, in significant numbers, to combine sustained employment with motherhood. Opting out is the ability to exercise this option which is typically open only to women with a male partner whose earnings can offset the loss of their own. (Stone, 2007a) Some women have resorted to opting out of work because they are not satisfied with their careers. They are not choosing to quit but rather are unable to continue, pushed out by the conditions of their jobs rather than pulled home by their children. Highly educated, elite professional women get tired of the demands of work, do not like the effects on their family lives, and opt out of the fast professional tracks of law, business, and journalism to take care of their children. Some of these women are full-time mothers; others work part-time, typically at less demanding jobs. Not all elite professional women are opting out by any means. How much of womens decision to stay home is a choice, and how much is the result of inflexible and hostile workplaces. Suffice it to say here that the ideology of intensive mothering, combined with the rising demands of workplaces and lack of public support for childrens welfare (e.g., healthcare, daycare, maternity and paternity leave) create severe di fficulties for many mothers, privileged and otherwise. (Belkin, 2003, October 26.) Their children are pure, innocent and helpless and need a selfless nurturer who will shelter them from the corrosive outside world, either by providing care herself or ensuring that alternative (although inevitably second-best) care is provided. The mother/child bond is uniquely tight, and lasting, and essential to a childs healthy psychological development and only a mother (not a father, other family member, or paid caretaker) can provide this care. Mothers are responsible for nurturing, listening, responding, explaining, negotiating, distracting, and searching for appropriate alternative care, practices which are so labor-intensive, so time-consuming, so energy-absorbing because mothers understand themselves as largely responsible for the way their children turn out. Children seem happier, more rested and childlike. They get along better with siblings, and are quite creative in their uses of free t ime. (Hays, 1996, p. 120) Professionals who had quit their jobs and were stay-at-home mothers -opted out, as conventionally understood -which found that the large majority of these women were highly conflicted about their decision, Further challenging the prevailing explanation that their decision was primarily about motherhood. (Stone, 2007a) Because of the high cost of living, life becomes expensive thus making women to look for work to support the demands of their families. Middle-class women cant afford to quit their jobs without scaling back considerably. The families of working class parents are believed to flourish with large amounts of unscheduled time, and adult intervention in their activities is not considered a worthwhile use of anyones time. Poor and working-class parents use fewer words with their children, and although children prove quite capable of expressing opinions, adults do not actively cultivate this ability, nor do they cultivate the questioning of authorities and negotiation. Finally, discipline is a matter of rules and sometimes physical force, not reason. As a result, poor and working-class children find themselves disadvantaged vis a vis their middle-class peers, and privilege is passed down. Mothers who work full-time, for instance, often defend this choice as better for the child in the long-r un. Also importantly, mothers are held responsible by others for their childrens well-being, which means that choosing not to adopt tenets of this ideology requires a defense which is often made in terms of the ideology itself. The accomplishment of natural growth does not, however, mesh as neatly with the procedures and expectations of schools and the workplace as does concerted cultivation, which encourages children to engage in many time management and linguistic practices that institutions expect and reward. (Lareau, 2003) Women do not quit their careers because of a preference to stay home with their children. Some professions might be more or less conducive to womens persistence suggests that there are lessons to be learned from certain fields that might be usefully applied to others, especially the corporate sector. Although virtually all of the women in the sample were happy to have more time to spend with their children, most still identified with their professions and int ended to return to work at some point in the future, although their plans are uncertain. Having a job, especially a fulfilling professional career, is more interesting than housework and child-rearing. Men dont want housewives, Some men fantasize about having a woman running their home and doing not much more, sure. But nowadays, a lot of men prefer to marry more independent women, and would find the idea of supporting a wife intimidating. Women with children are found to have lower full-time, year-round labor force participation rates overall than male graduates or women without children, but those with advanced degrees showed a strong commitment to their careers by returning to work after only brief absences following childbirth (Stone, 2007a) I would agree with Ann Crittenden the Author of The Price of Motherhood: Why the Most Important Job in the World is still the Least Valued. This is because she portrays women as the good mother, the wise mother . . . is more important to the community than even the ablest man; her career is more worthy of honor and is more useful to the community than the career of any man, no matter how successful. A mothers work is not just invisible; it can become a handicap. Raising children may be the most important job in the world, but you cant put it on a rà ©sumà ©. The idea that time spent with ones child is time wasted is embedded in traditional economic thinking. People who are not formally employed may create human capital, but they themselves are said to suffer a deterioration of the stuff, as if they were so many pieces of equipment left out to rust. Inflexible workplaces guarantee that many women will have to cut back on, if not quit, their employment once they have children. The re sult is a loss of income that produces a bigger wage gap between mothers and childless women than the wage gap between young men and women. The very definition of a mother is selfless service to another. We dont owe Mother for her gifts; she owes us. And in return for her bounty, Mother receives no lack of veneration. Crittenden proves homemakers are essential to the economic and political success of our country and its inhabitants. She also emphasizes the contributions of the large number of educated women who have chosen to stay home and raise children.(Crittenden, February 2001) Opting out is a luxury unavailable to most women and only applicable to those with high earnings/savings or wealthy partners; professional women with the option to opt out might take it because they are not given flexible options to stay in their professional jobs and parent; women in all job sectors are more affected by the recession, especially in jobs like finance where a male-dominated environment might lead to high-ranking women being axed because of the perception they arent tough enough; women with the ability to pretend they werent forced out of their jobs might do so by claiming they chose not to work to stay home and parentsuch women are not included in unemployment numbers or given the attendant benefits of unemployment; and the new frontier might be the flexibility stigma. The only way to get rid of the flexibility stigma is to embrace a culture where professional men and women each take off work in equal measure to care for children or attend to household tasks. Then, we might in a world where there is a parent stigma but at least it wont be borne solely by women. (Leonhard, 2010, August.) Conclusion. Because it does not conform to the standard conception of a profession, motherhood might seem to have no place in this issue. A woman requires no special expertise, no knowledge, skill or educational degree to become a mother. Furthermore, the work she does as a mother is unpaid, sometimes even unrecognized as work. These two features of motherood its accessibility to any fertile girl or woman, and the fact that society provides no financial compensation to mothers for their hard workare often lamented, though towards very different political ends. In fact, motherhood might be considered the very opposite of a profession: a status dependent upon biological, cultural and social factors, not educational ones, and involving labor done without pay or recognized steps to advancement. (article)

The Significance of Music in Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman Essays

The Significance of Music in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman     Ã‚   Human emotions are something that we seldom find a way to express clearly: from simple hand gestures, to a disgusted face. To understand his novel more thoroughly, Arthur Miller uses the most understandable method of comprehension, music, to express the emotions of the characters in his play, "Death of a Salesman". The characters, Willy, Linda, Biff, Happy, and Ben, have a certain style of music and instruments portraying them to show the reader what type of emotional person they are. The beginning of the play starts with a soft, sweet, flute medley that announces Willy’s gradual trek home from Yonkers. This slow tune of confusion ends abruptly as Willy comes home and tells of his troubles in Yonkers. This sentimental sound is heard once more during Ben’s first visit to Willy’s house. His story of father and his flute-making business sets a warm tone only to be wrecked by Ben’s action of throwing Biff, a young, curious boy, to the ground, helplessly. The final performance of this tune is heard at Willy’s sad funeral, where Linda pays her respects to her well-liked husband. Ending on a sad note, the flute appears in time of odd emotions. In the beginning of the play, a state of confu... ...illy’s funeral. Starting out a bit cheerful, the tune fades from a major key to a minor key, hence going from a merry sound to one of sadness and desperation, yet a good sound for a well-deserved tribute. Willy was a mislead salesman. He wanted the best for his boys. Joyous songs always backed up these times. But when his craving for the best turned into the worst, an unpleasant song backed it up. When Willy was confused, a medley of the two was heard. Human emotions are something we all take for granted because they are not properly understood. Music is just one of the many ways that will make these emotions understandable. The Significance of Music in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman Essays The Significance of Music in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman     Ã‚   Human emotions are something that we seldom find a way to express clearly: from simple hand gestures, to a disgusted face. To understand his novel more thoroughly, Arthur Miller uses the most understandable method of comprehension, music, to express the emotions of the characters in his play, "Death of a Salesman". The characters, Willy, Linda, Biff, Happy, and Ben, have a certain style of music and instruments portraying them to show the reader what type of emotional person they are. The beginning of the play starts with a soft, sweet, flute medley that announces Willy’s gradual trek home from Yonkers. This slow tune of confusion ends abruptly as Willy comes home and tells of his troubles in Yonkers. This sentimental sound is heard once more during Ben’s first visit to Willy’s house. His story of father and his flute-making business sets a warm tone only to be wrecked by Ben’s action of throwing Biff, a young, curious boy, to the ground, helplessly. The final performance of this tune is heard at Willy’s sad funeral, where Linda pays her respects to her well-liked husband. Ending on a sad note, the flute appears in time of odd emotions. In the beginning of the play, a state of confu... ...illy’s funeral. Starting out a bit cheerful, the tune fades from a major key to a minor key, hence going from a merry sound to one of sadness and desperation, yet a good sound for a well-deserved tribute. Willy was a mislead salesman. He wanted the best for his boys. Joyous songs always backed up these times. But when his craving for the best turned into the worst, an unpleasant song backed it up. When Willy was confused, a medley of the two was heard. Human emotions are something we all take for granted because they are not properly understood. Music is just one of the many ways that will make these emotions understandable.

Alternative Power Solutions Essay -- Technology Electricity Essays

Alternative Power Solutions Our society has become reliant upon technology and continues to increase with time. Computers and many other electronic devices are used in the houses and educational applications. These technologies depend on the energy companies to function. The quality of power that the consumer receives is determined by the area that they live. There are many different ways that these companies go about providing energy. The largest form of energy in the United States is coal. Coal is a general term for a wide variety of solid materials that are high in carbon content. Most coal is burned by electric utility companies to produce steam to turn their generators. Some coal also is used in factories to provide heat for buildings and industrial processes; and a special, high-quality coal is turned into metallurgical coke for use in making steel. (Yergin and Stobaugh) Of the 1.2 billion tons of coal expected to be extracted in the United States this year, more than 80 percent will be used to generate electricity. Indeed, nationwide, about 52 percent of the electricity generated in the country are produced by coal-fired power plants. (Reeves) There is a very large quantity of coal that is produced in America that results in a low cost. However coal plants yield a by-product of sulfur dioxide particles, nitrogen oxide and other airborne toxins. These gases are referred to as green house gases that produce acid rain and global warming. The main reason for the use of this form of energy is the expense. Coal is a very cheap form of energy and is a very plentiful natural resource but is not the best energy source. Another way to make electrical energy is to use a nuclear reactor. â€Å"Nuclear Energy ... ...There is a definite need to refine this technology to make it more marketable to the consumer to compete with other energy companies. This technology has a great potential for getting rid of tacky power lines, transformers, meter boxes and other devices used to transmit power. Losing power has to be one of the most inconvenient things to have happen. For example: a storm comes through the night before (insert some big event) and all of the power in the area is knocked out. That morning would be a nightmare if it was ever to happen but I am sure it happens every now and then. So why should the customer rely on factors that are beyond control? If customers buy a fuel cell they will have a self-sustained power supply that is reliable and safe. In conclusion, the fuel cell is the best form of alternative energy source and is the most feasible among all of them.

Merchant Of Venice :: Free Merchant of Venice Essays

Villain of Venice   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  People often find security and self-assurance in acting evil towards other people. They may be out to destroy others, or improve their own social status. However, at the same time, the “villain'; may also be out for revenge. Shylock, from William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, has each of these motives as he takes on the role of the antagonist in this play. Shylock, the Jew, manages to mistreat almost everyone in his life. He especially acts as a villain towards Lancelet his young servant, Antonio the Christian, and even his own daughter, Jessica.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Shylock is a very harsh master to the young Lancelet. He is very belligerent towards the young boy, and he seems to enjoy mistreating the young boy. “Who bids thee call? I do not bid thee call.'; (Act 2, Scene 5, Line 9) He realizes that Lancelet is much lower than he is on the social and economic level, and he does not let the youngster forget his status by continually acting antagonistic towards him. He makes Lancelet appear to be a sluggard who sleeps all day and does little work. He always seems to criticize the poor boy behind his back and complain about his laziness. Even after Shylock sees that Lancelet is gone, he continues to reproach his work as a servant. It seems as though Shylock is trying to elevate his own self-esteem, by acting contentious towards his servant.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The way in which Shylock treats his own daughter is beyond comprehension. He virtually locks her in the house when he goes to the masque one night. Shylock redundantly enforces the importance that she lock the house up after he leaves. Lock up my doors, and when you hear the drum…   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Clamber not you up to the casements then, Nor thrust your head into the public street… But stop my house’s ears (I mean my casements). Let not the sound of shallow fopp’ry enter my sober house. (Act 2, Scene 5, Lines 30-37) He makes her captive in her own home and forbids her to so much as look out a window. Jessica refers to her home as hell and, although she is sad to see him go, tells Lancelet that he is making a wise decision. It is evident throughout the play that Shylock does not care as much for his daughter as he does for his material possessions. When he tells Jessica to lock up the house after he leaves, it is not because he fears for her safety, but rather because he is hesitant about leaving his personal property. Merchant Of Venice :: Free Merchant of Venice Essays Villain of Venice   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  People often find security and self-assurance in acting evil towards other people. They may be out to destroy others, or improve their own social status. However, at the same time, the “villain'; may also be out for revenge. Shylock, from William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, has each of these motives as he takes on the role of the antagonist in this play. Shylock, the Jew, manages to mistreat almost everyone in his life. He especially acts as a villain towards Lancelet his young servant, Antonio the Christian, and even his own daughter, Jessica.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Shylock is a very harsh master to the young Lancelet. He is very belligerent towards the young boy, and he seems to enjoy mistreating the young boy. “Who bids thee call? I do not bid thee call.'; (Act 2, Scene 5, Line 9) He realizes that Lancelet is much lower than he is on the social and economic level, and he does not let the youngster forget his status by continually acting antagonistic towards him. He makes Lancelet appear to be a sluggard who sleeps all day and does little work. He always seems to criticize the poor boy behind his back and complain about his laziness. Even after Shylock sees that Lancelet is gone, he continues to reproach his work as a servant. It seems as though Shylock is trying to elevate his own self-esteem, by acting contentious towards his servant.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The way in which Shylock treats his own daughter is beyond comprehension. He virtually locks her in the house when he goes to the masque one night. Shylock redundantly enforces the importance that she lock the house up after he leaves. Lock up my doors, and when you hear the drum…   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Clamber not you up to the casements then, Nor thrust your head into the public street… But stop my house’s ears (I mean my casements). Let not the sound of shallow fopp’ry enter my sober house. (Act 2, Scene 5, Lines 30-37) He makes her captive in her own home and forbids her to so much as look out a window. Jessica refers to her home as hell and, although she is sad to see him go, tells Lancelet that he is making a wise decision. It is evident throughout the play that Shylock does not care as much for his daughter as he does for his material possessions. When he tells Jessica to lock up the house after he leaves, it is not because he fears for her safety, but rather because he is hesitant about leaving his personal property.

Teaching Ethics

School for scandal? Business schools turn their attention to ethics education This case examines the role of the business school in encouraging corruption in business, and looks at the potential impacts that business ethics training might have on students. It offers the opportunity to explore the significance of the individual and their education and experience for understanding ethical decision-making. It also provides a context for investigating the specific role, purpose, and impact of business ethics courses on business behaviour.When it turns out that the key figures in some of the most infamous cases of fraud and corruption in business are alumni from leading business schools, it is perhaps not surprising that the business schools themselves might come in for some criticism. After all, if people like Andrew Fastow, the convicted chief financial officer at Enron, or his boss Jeffrey Skilling, could have got MBAs from two of America’s premier business schools (Northwestern and Harvard, respectively) and , then it is inevitable that questions will be raised about what kinds of principles and practices business school students are being taught.In the last few years, a number of business gurus and commentators have publicly condemned business schools in general, and MBA programmes in particular, for their perpetuation of ‘misguided’ amoral theories and techniques, and the lack of attention to ethics in the curriculum.For example, Henry Mintzberg, the Canadian management expert has famously condemned the MBA model, suggesting that it ‘trains the wrong people in the wrong ways with the wrong consequences’, whilst Sumantra Ghoshal, the late London Business School professor has argued that the ‘worst excesses of recent management practices have their roots in a set of ideas that have emerged from business-school academics over the last 30 years. Ghoshal’s ire is directed to typical theories taught at business schools s uch as agency theory and Porter’s ‘5 forces’ model, which he claims perpetuate an idea that everyone is self-interested, managers cannot be trusted, business is a zero-sum game, and shareholder value is the only legitimate aim of business. The perpetuation of such assumptions, he suggests, leaves business school students devoid of any sense of moral responsibility. These criticisms have received a lot of attention in academic debates, but have also been readily recounted in the media and the business community.For instance The Economist ran a 2005 article headlined ‘Business schools stand accused of being responsible for much that is wrong with corporate management today’ which brought the arguments from Ghoshal, Mintzberg, and others to a wider audience – albeit in a context where the magazine rather predictably mounted a strong defence. After all, as The Economist argued, there are plenty of examples of corporate crooks who have not had a bu siness school education, so there are clearly other aspects to consider too.Nevertheless, whatever else the debate has done, it has certainly helped refocus the attention of business schools on their curricula, and especially on the provision of courses on ethics and social responsibility. At one level, this debate is simply about whether more business schools should be encouraged to introduce such courses into the curriculum. Whilst some schools have long included ethics in their curricula, others have tended to focus more on areas such as strategy, innovation, marketing and finance, whilst others have even dropped ethics courses due to low enrolments or political manoeuvring by sceptical colleagues.As one Wall Street Journal article put it, ‘MBA students and professors bristle at ethics requirements. Some faculty members resent being forced to squeeze ethics lessons into an already jam-packed syllabus, while students grumble that ethics classes tend to be preachy and philoso phical. ’ In this context, the evidence on the scale of ethics teaching is revealing. A recent survey of US schools found that 34 per cent required an ethics course at undergraduate level whilst only 25 per cent did so on MBA degrees.In Europe, the figures are if anything a little lower for compulsory courses, but more than 50 per cent of business schools report having an optional module on ethics or responsibility at undergraduate level and more than 30 per cent at masters level. Essentially, though, most business students can still complete a degree having had hardly any exposure to these subjects in the classroom – a situation that some are now trying to change. One development comes from the US, where a long running campaign by business ethics professors has been trying to make courses on ethics and responsibility compulsory for business students.Over 200 professors offered support to the campaign, but the AACSB (the body responsible for accrediting business degree programmes) appears, so far, to be unconvinced. A recent redraft of their guidelines for accreditation did not bow to the campaigners’ demands, and business ethics remains outside of their list of accredited subjects. Diane Swanson and Bill Frederick, the campaign leaders responded by condemning the AACSB’s arguments for excluding ethics as ‘desperate and out of date against the backdrop of unprecedented corporate scandals, increased public distrust of business, and a virtual sea change in corporate governance. However, some leading schools have moved towards greater attention to ethics. Harvard Business School, for instance, introduced a compulsory course on ‘Leadership and Corporate Accountability’ for all first year students in 2004 – a development that the school claimed represented ‘the most far-reaching course we’ve ever introduced on this subject’. In Europe, the situation is also changing, and in fact there appears to be significantly more support than in the US from European accrediting bodies.The Association of MBAs for example, has issued new criteria for the accreditation of MBA programmes that stipulate that the curriculum ‘should pay attention to ethical and social issues’, while the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) is also considering ways to integrate CSR into its EQUIS accreditation. New academic departments and centres have also sprung up in universities to lead ethics and responsibility teaching, such as the Business and Society Management department at Rotterdam School of Management and the International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility in Nottingham University Business School.Whilst there is still a long way to go before schools successfully infuse ethics education across all of their courses, such developments certainly point to an increased emphasis over the past decade. Ethics and corporate responsibility feature far more prominently in the prospectuses of business schools than they did even a few years ago. Questions remain though about how ethics should best be integrated into the curriculum, and even whether exposure to the subject really has a positive effect on the decisions made by managers.While some maintain that a stand alone course on ethics is necessary to develop a suitable understanding of the subject and to consolidate its importance on the curriculum, others argue that this raises the prospects of generating an ‘ethics ghetto’ unconnected to mainstream business subjects such as finance and marketing. And the jury is still out on just how much of an effect any form of ethics training is likely to have on individuals. Various objections have been raised over the years, including the suggestion that students’ morality is already fixed and cannot be improved, and the accusations that ethics teaching is abstract, mbiguous, subjective, and little more than indoctrination from self-r ighteous ideologues. Of course, the extent to which some of these accusations are true will vary from course to course, and on the goals of any specific programme. In the main, evidence suggests that courses are rather better at enhancing students’ recognition of ethical issues, stimulating their moral imagination, and developing their analytical skills rather than improving students’ moral development or changing their values.As one business ethics professor puts it, ‘I do not want to teach moral standards; I want to teach a method of moral reasoning through complex issues so that students can apply the moral standards they have. ’ This highlights another growing debate among business ethics professors about the very purpose of business ethics education – and even what a business ethics course should consist of. Whilst one camp retains belief in the established practice of teaching moral philosophy to develop better normative thinking among student s, other camps have started to emerge.Some business school professors see more need to focus on practical management concerns, such as managing the corporate reputation or preventing accounting fraud, whilst others point to the need to understand ethics within wider social, political, and economic structures. One recent business ethics textbook (by Jones et al. 2005) was even introduced by the authors with an admission that they were ‘not particularly fond of business ethics’ because ‘business ethics in its present form is at best window dressing and a worst a calculated lie’!Ultimately then, developments in the field of business ethics education suggests that business schools and accreditation bodies may be beginning to take the subject more seriously, especially in Europe where something of a momentum appears to be building. However, the future direction of business ethics remains in some doubt. Not only will its integration into the curriculum remain pro blematic for some time yet, but as the subject expands and develops, the approach to teaching business ethics will probably shift quite considerably into new conceptual territory.Whatever the outcome, business ethics will have to go a long way before it presents a completely convincing antidote to corporate wrongdoing, and misconduct in the workplace. Questions 1. What are the main factors encouraging business ethics education and what are the main barriers to its further development and expansion? 2. To what extent can business education cause or prevent ethical infractions in business? Give arguments for and against. 3. Given the importance of situational factors in shaping ethical decision-making, what are the limitations posed by business ethics courses that focus on individual students?How would you design a course to focus primarily on situational issues? 4. Consider the aims and approach of the business ethics course that you are currently studying. What are these, and how ef fective is the approach for achieving these aims? What would you like to see done differently? Sources Alsop, R. 2005. At MBA programs, teaching ethics poses its own dilemmas. Wall Street Journal, 12 April. wsj. com. Boston Globe. 2003. Harvard raises its hand on ethics. Boston Globe, 30 December. Ghoshal, S. 2003.Business schools share the blame for Enron. Financial Times, 18 July. Ghoshal, S. 2005. Bad management theories are destroying good management practices. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 4 (1): 75–91. Jones, C. , Parker, M. , and ten Bos, R. 2005. For business ethics. London: Routledge. Lacy, P. 2005. From the margins to the mainstream: corporate responsibility and the challenge facing business and business schools. Business Leadership Review, 1 (2) (April): 3. Matten, D. and Moon, J. 2004.Corporate social responsibility in Europe. Journal of Business Ethics, 54: 323–37. McDonald, G. M. and Donleavy, G. D. 1995. Objections to the teaching of busi ness ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 14: 839–53. Mintzberg, H. 2004. Managers not MBAs: a hard look at the soft practice of managing and management development. Harlow: FT Prentice Hall. Swanson, D. and Frederick, W. 2005. Campaign AACSB: status report, January. www. pitt. edu/~rorst6/sim/aacsb. The Economist. 2005. Business schools, bad for business. The Economist, 17 February. Teaching Ethics School for scandal? Business schools turn their attention to ethics education This case examines the role of the business school in encouraging corruption in business, and looks at the potential impacts that business ethics training might have on students. It offers the opportunity to explore the significance of the individual and their education and experience for understanding ethical decision-making. It also provides a context for investigating the specific role, purpose, and impact of business ethics courses on business behaviour.When it turns out that the key figures in some of the most infamous cases of fraud and corruption in business are alumni from leading business schools, it is perhaps not surprising that the business schools themselves might come in for some criticism. After all, if people like Andrew Fastow, the convicted chief financial officer at Enron, or his boss Jeffrey Skilling, could have got MBAs from two of America’s premier business schools (Northwestern and Harvard, respectively) and , then it is inevitable that questions will be raised about what kinds of principles and practices business school students are being taught.In the last few years, a number of business gurus and commentators have publicly condemned business schools in general, and MBA programmes in particular, for their perpetuation of ‘misguided’ amoral theories and techniques, and the lack of attention to ethics in the curriculum.For example, Henry Mintzberg, the Canadian management expert has famously condemned the MBA model, suggesting that it ‘trains the wrong people in the wrong ways with the wrong consequences’, whilst Sumantra Ghoshal, the late London Business School professor has argued that the ‘worst excesses of recent management practices have their roots in a set of ideas that have emerged from business-school academics over the last 30 years. Ghoshal’s ire is directed to typical theories taught at business schools s uch as agency theory and Porter’s ‘5 forces’ model, which he claims perpetuate an idea that everyone is self-interested, managers cannot be trusted, business is a zero-sum game, and shareholder value is the only legitimate aim of business. The perpetuation of such assumptions, he suggests, leaves business school students devoid of any sense of moral responsibility. These criticisms have received a lot of attention in academic debates, but have also been readily recounted in the media and the business community.For instance The Economist ran a 2005 article headlined ‘Business schools stand accused of being responsible for much that is wrong with corporate management today’ which brought the arguments from Ghoshal, Mintzberg, and others to a wider audience – albeit in a context where the magazine rather predictably mounted a strong defence. After all, as The Economist argued, there are plenty of examples of corporate crooks who have not had a bu siness school education, so there are clearly other aspects to consider too.Nevertheless, whatever else the debate has done, it has certainly helped refocus the attention of business schools on their curricula, and especially on the provision of courses on ethics and social responsibility. At one level, this debate is simply about whether more business schools should be encouraged to introduce such courses into the curriculum. Whilst some schools have long included ethics in their curricula, others have tended to focus more on areas such as strategy, innovation, marketing and finance, whilst others have even dropped ethics courses due to low enrolments or political manoeuvring by sceptical colleagues.As one Wall Street Journal article put it, ‘MBA students and professors bristle at ethics requirements. Some faculty members resent being forced to squeeze ethics lessons into an already jam-packed syllabus, while students grumble that ethics classes tend to be preachy and philoso phical. ’ In this context, the evidence on the scale of ethics teaching is revealing. A recent survey of US schools found that 34 per cent required an ethics course at undergraduate level whilst only 25 per cent did so on MBA degrees.In Europe, the figures are if anything a little lower for compulsory courses, but more than 50 per cent of business schools report having an optional module on ethics or responsibility at undergraduate level and more than 30 per cent at masters level. Essentially, though, most business students can still complete a degree having had hardly any exposure to these subjects in the classroom – a situation that some are now trying to change. One development comes from the US, where a long running campaign by business ethics professors has been trying to make courses on ethics and responsibility compulsory for business students.Over 200 professors offered support to the campaign, but the AACSB (the body responsible for accrediting business degree programmes) appears, so far, to be unconvinced. A recent redraft of their guidelines for accreditation did not bow to the campaigners’ demands, and business ethics remains outside of their list of accredited subjects. Diane Swanson and Bill Frederick, the campaign leaders responded by condemning the AACSB’s arguments for excluding ethics as ‘desperate and out of date against the backdrop of unprecedented corporate scandals, increased public distrust of business, and a virtual sea change in corporate governance. However, some leading schools have moved towards greater attention to ethics. Harvard Business School, for instance, introduced a compulsory course on ‘Leadership and Corporate Accountability’ for all first year students in 2004 – a development that the school claimed represented ‘the most far-reaching course we’ve ever introduced on this subject’. In Europe, the situation is also changing, and in fact there appears to be significantly more support than in the US from European accrediting bodies.The Association of MBAs for example, has issued new criteria for the accreditation of MBA programmes that stipulate that the curriculum ‘should pay attention to ethical and social issues’, while the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) is also considering ways to integrate CSR into its EQUIS accreditation. New academic departments and centres have also sprung up in universities to lead ethics and responsibility teaching, such as the Business and Society Management department at Rotterdam School of Management and the International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility in Nottingham University Business School.Whilst there is still a long way to go before schools successfully infuse ethics education across all of their courses, such developments certainly point to an increased emphasis over the past decade. Ethics and corporate responsibility feature far more prominently in the prospectuses of business schools than they did even a few years ago. Questions remain though about how ethics should best be integrated into the curriculum, and even whether exposure to the subject really has a positive effect on the decisions made by managers.While some maintain that a stand alone course on ethics is necessary to develop a suitable understanding of the subject and to consolidate its importance on the curriculum, others argue that this raises the prospects of generating an ‘ethics ghetto’ unconnected to mainstream business subjects such as finance and marketing. And the jury is still out on just how much of an effect any form of ethics training is likely to have on individuals. Various objections have been raised over the years, including the suggestion that students’ morality is already fixed and cannot be improved, and the accusations that ethics teaching is abstract, mbiguous, subjective, and little more than indoctrination from self-r ighteous ideologues. Of course, the extent to which some of these accusations are true will vary from course to course, and on the goals of any specific programme. In the main, evidence suggests that courses are rather better at enhancing students’ recognition of ethical issues, stimulating their moral imagination, and developing their analytical skills rather than improving students’ moral development or changing their values.As one business ethics professor puts it, ‘I do not want to teach moral standards; I want to teach a method of moral reasoning through complex issues so that students can apply the moral standards they have. ’ This highlights another growing debate among business ethics professors about the very purpose of business ethics education – and even what a business ethics course should consist of. Whilst one camp retains belief in the established practice of teaching moral philosophy to develop better normative thinking among student s, other camps have started to emerge.Some business school professors see more need to focus on practical management concerns, such as managing the corporate reputation or preventing accounting fraud, whilst others point to the need to understand ethics within wider social, political, and economic structures. One recent business ethics textbook (by Jones et al. 2005) was even introduced by the authors with an admission that they were ‘not particularly fond of business ethics’ because ‘business ethics in its present form is at best window dressing and a worst a calculated lie’!Ultimately then, developments in the field of business ethics education suggests that business schools and accreditation bodies may be beginning to take the subject more seriously, especially in Europe where something of a momentum appears to be building. However, the future direction of business ethics remains in some doubt. Not only will its integration into the curriculum remain pro blematic for some time yet, but as the subject expands and develops, the approach to teaching business ethics will probably shift quite considerably into new conceptual territory.Whatever the outcome, business ethics will have to go a long way before it presents a completely convincing antidote to corporate wrongdoing, and misconduct in the workplace. Questions 1. What are the main factors encouraging business ethics education and what are the main barriers to its further development and expansion? 2. To what extent can business education cause or prevent ethical infractions in business? Give arguments for and against. 3. Given the importance of situational factors in shaping ethical decision-making, what are the limitations posed by business ethics courses that focus on individual students?How would you design a course to focus primarily on situational issues? 4. Consider the aims and approach of the business ethics course that you are currently studying. What are these, and how ef fective is the approach for achieving these aims? What would you like to see done differently? Sources Alsop, R. 2005. At MBA programs, teaching ethics poses its own dilemmas. Wall Street Journal, 12 April. wsj. com. Boston Globe. 2003. Harvard raises its hand on ethics. Boston Globe, 30 December. Ghoshal, S. 2003.Business schools share the blame for Enron. Financial Times, 18 July. Ghoshal, S. 2005. Bad management theories are destroying good management practices. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 4 (1): 75–91. Jones, C. , Parker, M. , and ten Bos, R. 2005. For business ethics. London: Routledge. Lacy, P. 2005. From the margins to the mainstream: corporate responsibility and the challenge facing business and business schools. Business Leadership Review, 1 (2) (April): 3. Matten, D. and Moon, J. 2004.Corporate social responsibility in Europe. Journal of Business Ethics, 54: 323–37. McDonald, G. M. and Donleavy, G. D. 1995. Objections to the teaching of busi ness ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 14: 839–53. Mintzberg, H. 2004. Managers not MBAs: a hard look at the soft practice of managing and management development. Harlow: FT Prentice Hall. Swanson, D. and Frederick, W. 2005. Campaign AACSB: status report, January. www. pitt. edu/~rorst6/sim/aacsb. The Economist. 2005. Business schools, bad for business. The Economist, 17 February.