Author Archives: WilliamZak

Double Damage

Posted on by

An important part of working in a business is being able to express how you’re feeling without being punished for it. Continuing off of Andres Garza’s Blog in which he talks about emotional dissonance in the episode of Black Mirror, Nosedive. We see a character who is swallowed up in a world where people project fake versions of themselves to increase their standing in society. This is representative of a lot of things, one of them being the division of class and hierarchy in the workplace. When the character’s standing begins to drop she loses out on housing opportunities, flights, car rentals, and is treated worse by those who are ranked higher than her.

Like Andres mentioned emotional dissonance, as learned in chapter 3 of the textbook, plays a large role in the episode. However, the hierarchy and ranking system shows the issues of traditional organizational structure, as discussed in chapter 13. The character’s extrinsic motivation to get a higher ranking and have the chance to have more things ultimately plays to her detriment. She becomes unhappy with her life but fakes it as she is also afraid. This can be seen in the workplace where employees mask their distain for their boss and harbour a hatred within themselves, which is unhealthy.

This highlights the importance of communication within companies and why emotional dissonance is detrimental to employee health and job satisfaction. The bottled up emotions cause the woman to go crazy and is a reflection of how employees may lose it when upset, either at work or in their own homes. It is important for people in positions of power to create open lines of communication that allow employees to express themselves, and employers to understand mistakes that they may be making.

Word Count: 291

Work Cited

Garza, Andres. (2017, Mar 27). Black Mirror’s Nosedive: Emotional Dissonance. Andres Garza’s Blog. Retrieved from: https://blogs.ubc.ca/andresgarza/2017/03/27/black-mirrors-nosedive-emotional-dissonance/

Pictures

Nosedive Prison [Online Image] (2016, Oct 21). Retrieved April 2 2017 from:http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/black-mirror-season-3-episodes-1-6-netflix-ranked-a7373321.html

Nosedive Rating [Online Image] (2016). Retrieved April 2 2017 from: https://www.neondystopia.com/cyberpunk-movies-anime/black-mirror-nosedives-into-social-media-anxiety/

Organizational Culture in the Real World

Posted on by

 

Recently I started working for a hotel called 910 Beach Avenue Apartment Hotels in downtown Vancouver and couldn’t be more happy that I took the job. The owner and manager of the hotel, Ethel Wan-Sharp, is a graduate of SFU’s business school and has been a successful in the hotel industry, working for various big name chains like the Sheraton. So when it came to designing her own hotel, Ethel took a more unconventional approach. As we learned in Chapter 10 of the textbook, Ethel takes an inverted pyramid approach to running her business. This involves putting the employees first and using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to ensure that they are all working a job that satisfies them. She ensures that all of the employees’ physiological needs are met and then allows them opportunities to advance in pay and position. Perhaps most importantly, she takes a theory Y approach and does not micro manage her employees. Instead Ethel allows freedom in the workplace as long as work is still being done.

This job is a refreshing change for me as my previous one was at a cafe where myself, and other employees were micromanaged. The approach that Ethel takes in leading the team works because she includes all the employees and ensures that we are all taken care of, thus creating community. This makes employees want to stay and work thus creating a low turnover rate, something uncommon in the tourism industry. As a student she makes sure that work does not conflict with my exams or classes and she makes sure I am taken care of. This motivates me to work better and complete my job to the best of my abilities in order to ensure my position with a company like this. 

Word Count: 286

Works Cited

Pictures

Day, A. (2013). Those Flippin’ Pyramids of School Hierarchy. Meridianvale. Retrieved April 2, 2017, from https://meridianvale.wordpress.com/2013/01/06/those-flippin-pyramids-of-school-hierarchy/.

Elmer-DeWitt, P. (2011, August 29). Rethinking Apple’s org chart. Retrieved April 03, 2017, from http://fortune.com/2011/08/29/rethinking-apples-org-chart/

Organizational Structure has a New Shape, and It’s Round

Posted on by

Traditionally the lines of authority in large multi-national corporations have been drawn clearly and superiority is emphasized. With bosses typically overseeing a host of various employees who are “beneath” them. However Apple Org.’s organization chart is drastically different from that of majority of companies in the public eye.

They have formed the company as a circle, with higher positions towards the centre of the circle and the CEO in the centre of all of it. Going off of what we learned in Chapter 13 the textbook the circular diagram symbolizes that no one in the company is “better than” or “above” other employees. Regarding cultural dimensions learned in chapter 3, this gives the company a lower power-distance ratio, and a greater sense of collectivism as the circle removes the strict divides of traditional structures.

I think that the circular model promotes team work and gives employees a greater sense of value to the company. It ensures that a job title does not define someone and that employees feel like they are a part of the company. This intrinsically motivates employees as well as they promoting team values and teamwork makes people actually want to do the job, and do it well.

The model works because it doesn’t eliminate hierarchy completely or turn the company into a workplace with no bosses. Instead it reorganizes its employees in a more effective and efficient way that emphasizes community rather than division across the company. It recognizes that the company can only succeed as a group and if the group does not work well together then the company will not work well or succeed.

Word Count: 268

Works Cited

Picture

Elmer-DeWitt, P. (2011, August 29). Rethinking Apple’s org chart. Retrieved April 03, 2017, from http://fortune.com/2011/08/29/rethinking-apples-org-chart/

Minimum Wage is Actually Happening

Posted on by

One American CEO is making what most only dream about a reality, having a minimum wage put in place in the workplace.

Gravity CEO, Dan Price, who implemented a minimum salary

While reading Helen Liu’s blog post, I learned about the Seattle based company that has put this to the test. The idea comes from the company’s CEO who was making a seven figure salary and decided to cut his own salary to $70,000 a year and divide the rest among his employees. The idea behind this was that it would cover basic physiological needs, as outlined in the hierarchy of needs in chapter 5. Thus allowing for employees to worry less about financial struggles, therefore reducing stress. Workers who are more stressed showed a higher number of absences, lower engagement in the workplace, and multiple other negative characteristics according to this article written by Forbes.

Continuing off of my previous blog post, this piece furthers the idea of the importance of employee wellness in the workplace. In the article the company almost doubled their profits in 2015, and had a drop in their turnover rate from -4.8% to -18.8%. These are both major improvements and proof that employee health is company wealth.

Implementing a standardized income in the workplace could be a further addition to the standards put in place during the industrial revolution, as discussed in chapter 1. A fair distribution of wealth also helps to combat inequality and wage gaps within society, ensuring that an elite 1% do not control majority of the wealth.

References

Article

Cohen, Patricia. “One Company’s New Minimum Wage: $70,000 a Year.” The New York Times. N.p., 13 Apr. 2015. Web.

Liu, Helen. A Company with the $70K Minimum Wage. Helen Liu’s Blog. https://blogs.ubc.ca/helenl/2017/02/05/a-company-with-the-70k-minimum-wage/ . Date Accessed: Feb. 5, 2017.

Pictures

Turner, Nathanael. Dan Price. Bloomberg Businessweek. https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-gravity-ceo-dan-price/ . Date Accessed: Feb. 5, 2017.

n.a. Money-tumblr-mqqj96ax.jpg. Degrassi Wiki. http://degrassi.wikia.com/wiki/File:Money-tumblr-mqqj96ax.jpg . Date Accessed: Feb. 5, 2017.

Spend Now, Save Later

Posted on by

Historically employees without specifically trained for a job are thought to “make up” for their lack of education in long hours. These long hours can be gruelling, exhausting, and have a long-term lasting effect on employees.

In Chapter 1 we discussed the importance and benefits from the standardization of work environments and the effect this had on employees. For example the brightness of lights in the factory increased employee productivity at the Hawthorne plant. However often the standards of employee wellness is forgotten and made to cover the bare minimum. Amanda Richardson explains how ignoring employee wellness can cost companies more in the long run. Highlighting the fact that unhealthy employees cost more to companies that provide health benefits to its employees. Workers that are overworked and unhealthy only become more and more unhealthy over time. So when they are in their fifties the company will end up having to pay high amounts in health care fees to those same employees. Richardson states that spending more on employee wellness now, saves companies more later.

http://www.yogaforhope.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/yoga-tips.jpg

The article does a good job of articulating the usefulness and importance of the standardization of employee wellness programs. Typically thought of as a waste of money, they are good tools to promote a healthy work environment that employees do not hate to be a part of. I like the idea of including more benefits for employees in the workplace as it boosts moral and makes employees proud of the company that they work for.

References

Richardson, Amanda. The Huffington Post Impact. The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amanda-richardson/why-ignoring-employee-wel_b_9257708.html . Date Accessed: Feb. 5, 2017.

Yoga For Hope. Women Doing Yoga. yoga-tips.jpg . Date Accessed: Feb. 5, 2017.

Is There Ever Enough?

Posted on by

Do people every actually feel over-rewarded? Or do we continue to justify the rewards and privileges that we get?

According to the equity theory, as discussed in class, people have three perceptions on obtaining rewards for their behaviour. When one person works less than the other that person feels under-rewarded, when one person works more than the other they feel over-rewarded, and when they work the same amount they feel it is equal. According to the theory this need for equality is a motivator for workers.

http://hamidslimi.com/out-of-balance/

However, do people ever actually feel like they have been over-rewarded? Typically when working in a group, the person who does the most work feels that they deserve a larger portion of the reward than others. Be that in the form of monetary payment, or a higher mark on an assignment. People are able to recognize their efforts and often feel that they are entitled to having more than those who work less.

We see this all the time those who have more than enough money don’t fight for equality, those who need it do. So the main issue with the equity theory is that it assumes that all people want equality, which don’t get me wrong is what we should work towards. But some those who profit more will typically stay quiet and maintain the imbalance because they benefit more from it.

References

Picture

Slimi, Hamid. Out of Balance. . hamidslimi.com/out-of-balance/. Accessed 4 Feb. 2017.

Spam prevention powered by Akismet