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COMM486G

A Look at Human Resources and UBC Student Organizations

Throughout the year, I have applied many Human Resource Management concepts to external organizations to analyze how the workplace environment will affect the organization’s success. After studying at UBC for almost one year, I decided to examine how Human Resources play a role in UBC’s student organizations. Below are some of my findings:

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1. Most positions have high employee turnover rates despite how enjoyable the position was, although students may stay within the same organization for many years

I noticed that it’s very unusual for students to keep the same position for more than one year. For example, a student who is the VP External for an organization will rarely reapply for the same position. Instead, they will go for a “higher” position, such as President.

2. different organizational cultures DO exist in UBC, and ARE important to the club’s tradition

Organizational culture defines the organization and its employees. The AMS Executive Council, UBC REC, and the UBC Math Club all have distinct organizational cultures, and tend to only hire people who will fit into their cultures.

3. customer service is crucial

During Clubs Week, I judged the clubs based on their “customer service”. I looked at the club member’s enthusiasm for the club and tried to see if he/she was happy working for the club.

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Overall, I found that most of the human resource concepts apply to UBC student organizations. However, employee turnover is dramatically increased because students only have a limited time in university. Although students who LOVE their work will find ways to stay on campus post graduation.

Word Count: 258

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COMM486G

Achieving Healthy Credit Ratings: The Cooperation between Accounting and Finance

Credit plays a central role in the way businesses operate. credit_cardsWith the US credit crisis, many lending institutions are hesitating to lend, especially to small companies that do not have large assets to provide as collateral. However, small businesses’ investments are crucial to the economic recovery, so the US  government is searching for solutions to this problem of credit. One solution offered by BusinessWeek columnist John Tozzi is for small businesses to provide extra cash as collateral. This innovative idea will challenge small businesses to keep a healthy cash flow and have great liquidity. In order for them to provide their cash reserves to the lending institutions as collateral and to use cash on a daily basis for normal business operations, small businesses must be highly efficient in their cash usage. The Accounting and Finance Departments must collaborate to ensure the company stays healthy financially. accounting-and-finance__1224686461_7779For example, where the accountants analyze liquidity ratios to make recommendations to improve liquidity. Financial analysts research the investments that will generate the largest returns for the company. An in-depth look at John Tozzi’s proposal shows how closely different departments within the company are required to work in order to achieve a high credit rating.

Word Count: 200

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COMM486G

Killing Two Birds with One Stone: Using Innovations in Energy to Solve Social and Environmental Problems

After calculating my personal carbon footprint, I decided to learn more about what the corporations and the business world are doing to decrease their carbon footprints. I found Bill Gates’ TED talk (Energy – Innovating to Zero!) on decreasing the cost of energy particularly interesting, because he manages to link three prominent topics together: sustainability, social enterprise, and entrepreneurship. The focus of Bill Gates’ speech is the innovation of a new energy production method that will decrease the costs of energy and carbon emissions. Bill also goes on to argue that global warming will affect the global climate. And as the climate becomes more uncertain, growth of agricultural products in underdeveloped areas of the world will fluctuate also. The uncertainty will lead to unrest, and poverty will be worsened. The central idea is that with cost and carbon emission decreases, not only will business practices be more sustainable, poverty will also be alleviated.

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While discussing social enterprises, we defined them as “organizations which harness the power of the marketplace to solve critical social or environmental problems.” If Bill Gates’ theory on the connections between social enterprise, sustainability, and entrepreneurship is accurate, then there should be more social enterprises dedicated toward finding this miracle energy source that will solve our environmental AND social problems.

Word Count: 211

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COMM486G

Living lightly: Be Aware of Our Carbon Footprints

Sustainable living is the new trend nowadays. With constant advertisements to eat local, use less energy, and walk not drive, the world seems like a very green place. However, if we dig deeper, we will find that the deeper  footprints are left by the large corporations, and those corporations do not feel the immediate need to change the ways they are operating, just to “reduce their carbon footprints”.

However, I feel that the carbon footprint calculator is an effective way of raising awareness for the sustainability issue, especially amongst individuals. I recently calculated my carbon footprint on the goBEYOND organization‘s website. I found the website to be modern and interactive, which appeals to the younger generation. Also, the results of the Carbon Footprint Calculator can be shared on Facebook, where friends can compete to see who can live the “lightest”. The calculator also offers some insight into my own lifestyle that I was not aware of before. For example, I never considered how eating meat would increase my footprint in the world.

So, take some time today to calculate your own carbon footprint. You never know what you’ll discover about your lifestyle!

Word Count: 193My Carbon Footprint

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COMM486G

Entrepreneurship: the Art of Maximizing Opportunities

Last week in class,  we examined three tourguide businesses and discussed which one was the most successful. Through the exercise, I learned that entrepreneurship is all about find opportunities and capitalizing on them. For example, the most successful tourguide business, Big Bus, connected better with its customers over its competitors because it took advantage of social media’s networking ability (facebook, twitter.. etc). Entrepreneurship is a difficult skill/talent to obtain, but after reading an article in the Globe and Mail, I am convinced that the key to becoming a better entrepreneur is knowledge.

In the article, David Craig saw the opportunity for a mobile kitchen catering service in Canada based on his previous knowledge of the mobile kitchen rentals market in the United States (there wasn’t one in Canada before he established his company). His venture proved to be highly successful.

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From David’s story, I gathered that the key to entrepreneurship is to have a broad knowledge of things. For example,  you can initiate a project that was successful in one industry in another industry. In this sense, I think the reapplication and redesigning of knowledge is what drives entrepreneurship.

Word Count: 189

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COMM486G

Social Media and the Information Age

I agree with the suggestion in the Social Media Revolution video that social media is NOT a fad. It is “a fundamental shift in the way we communicate.” I believe social media is here to stay, and that there should be new areas of study established in educational institutions dedicated to examining the effects of social media and how we can better employ it to communicate valuable information.

Even now, the rate and the manner of how we communicate is amazing. The emergence of social media such as blogs have allowed people all over the world to share their ideas with the rest of us.

For example, the novel ways of presenting data is very interactive and extends the time that the people will view the data. Schools should incorporate some of these modern information-sharing methods into their curriculum.

Visit Gapminder and Information Is Beautiful for some examples.

This is a screenshot of one of the graphs on gapminder.

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This graph is found on the Information Is Beautiful website.

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If you are interested in more information about social media and how it is impacting our lives, check this out!

Shift Happens.

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COMM486G

From Ideas to Products to Consumers: Efficient Supply Chains in the Business World

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To create and sell a product is not difficult. But to do it more efficiently than your competitors is another story, especially in the fast-paced fashion industry. In order for a company to develop an efficient supply chain and to be profitable, it must be able to quickly respond to consumer demands, as well as quickly satisfy those demands. In our current world of fierce competition, timing is key. Companies often come up with ideas that have great profit potential, but it may take a relatively long time in order for the idea to take physical shape, and even longer for it to be delivered to the consumer. By then, competitors may have produced a similar product, and consumers may have different preferences. The article “Fast Fashion Lessons” attributes the success of Zara (a company that sells affordable “high fashion” clothing) to its “shared situation awareness” system. Zara understands the time issue, and makes an effort to discover opportunities in the market and act quickly upon them. It also aims to create high traffic in its stores by stocking low on inventory to create a sense of urgency amongst its customers. The various techniques used in its supply chain have given Zara more control and power in the industry.

Link to the article “Fast Fashion Lessons”

Word Count: 209

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COMM486G

Corporate Social Responsibility: the Haiti Relief Efforts

Today I came across an interesting news article from Yahoo! News titled “Haiti Relief: Corporate Donations – See How Much Major Companies Are Donating.” The articles lists more than 40 major corporations in the US and their donations. Most companies donated $500 000 or $1 million. Although I support donations to Haiti, I keep on thinking about Milton Friedman’s pessimistic views on corporate social responsibility, and what he would say if he were alive. I feel as if many of the companies are mainly donating to compete with competitors (Pepsi donated $1 million, then CocaCola donated $1 million too!! This just makes their actions seem insincere). A while ago, I watched a video about 9/11 and some of its effects. One New York stock broker admitted that when he realized the World Trade Centre was attacked, his first thought was “what will happen to the stocks?!” Similarly, I am sure that the first thing that went through some executives’ heads when they received news of Haiti’s disaster was “here’s a chance for us to seem socially responsible!” I have to agree with Friedman that businesses cannot and should not be responsible to society. It’s up to the individuals to better society if they wish to.

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Word Count: 197

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COMM486G

Business Ethics: The Tyco International Fraud Case

tyco_2The Tyco fraud case in 2002 was a corporate scandal involving the executive management of Tyco International, a global company that provides a variety of products and services ranging from water purification to armoured wires. kozlowskimug1The CEO Dennis Kozlowski and the CFO Mark Swartz unethically used their power and status for personal gain when they purchased and sold Tyco shares for 430 million dollars while concealing the facts from Tyco’s investors.

When I was on wikipedia searching up the background information to the Tyco case, I found something interesting: After all the crime Kozlowski has committed, he still insists he is innocent. When he was interviewed in 2007 by CBS television’s newsmagazine 60 Minutes, he firmed stated “I am absolutely not guilty of the charges… . There was no criminal intent here. Nothing was hidden. There were no shredded documents… . All the information the prosecutors got was directly off the books and records of the company.”

I can not believe Kozlowski still “believes” in his innocent and has no shame in saying it after STEALING so many people’s money!

Links:

www.cbc.ca/money/story/2002/09/12/tyco020912.html

http://tyco.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=282

Categories
COMM486G

Hello world!

Hi everyone! Welcome to CINDY’S WORLD!

This post was started for the COMM486G class at the Sauder School of Business in Vancouver. Throughout the course, I will be reading business related articles in class and posting my thoughts on those articles here. I hope you will listen/read to what I say. Please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of my posts!

Thank you for stopping by 😀

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