Blog Council Results from Last Week!

Overall Liz and I really liked the in-depth quality of the blogs, despite their being slightly redundant.

First and foremost, THE BEST BLOG!

Stakeholderism and the lack of “good” work

Questions for Freeman before watching Stakeholder Theory

• Do you think the media typically has a negative impact on how the public views companies?
• How do you think the Internet and social networking sites changed the way companies operate both internally and externally?
• If Milton Friedman were alive today, what would you want to say to him?

How Well Does PwC Actually Follow Their Code of Conduct

As I was reading through the list of companies on the Fortune list of best companies to work for, there is one in particular. The one that jumped out to me was PricewaterhouseCoopers. I have had many friends intern there and a few that either work there or have gotten a job offer from them. I’ve never really asked
my friends too much about what PwC does, so I decided to do some research into it for this blog post.

SAS’s Silver Lining

In this blog post I’m going to explore the very unusual working conditions at SAS Software (FYI-their cafeteria has octopus shaped hot dogs for kids-enough said)

Inside Fortune’s 100 Best Places to Work, on the second place lies SAS Software based in Cary, North Carolina. Odds are you haven’t heard about this company if statistics is not your hobby (I know I haven’t until my Organizational Theory class). This company however, provides high-grade statistical software to both government agencies and private enterprises. In fact, most of Fortune 500 companies use SAS software in one shape or form. By using SAS, companies optimize their retail prices, compile results from clinical trials, track usage patterns in casinos, get insight from social media and marketing , optimize communications, track fraud, model risk, do scenario analysis, make fine pancakes.

The Unknown Stakeholder

For my analysis of a company, I wanted to examine a company that I have a personal interest in researching. One of the concerns I have had with this company that I am interested in is whether they believe the things they advertise about their company. I am talking about the world’s leading supplier of oil and gas; (also one of the largest companies in the world), ExxonMobil. ExxonMobil has been coming to Bucknell’s Career Fair for many years, and in the past two years I have talked to Bucknell Alumni representatives about their experience with the company.

Where are the Cantu’s of Business?

The fascinating part of the Best Companies in 2014 is the majority of them are technology, health care, and finance industries. What is it about these industries that are the focal point of what society views as the “best”? Why are these three industries leading in the world’s innovations?

Everyone’s perspectives of ethics are questioned because they are viewed differently. Ethics are governed by guidelines set by businesses and the law. Morals come from cultural norms. These two intersect because it is the internal and external views of any situation. Ethics are based on rules of conduct by society’s standards and morals are the principles of right and wrong doing by individuals. When we look at these two components we can see where the fine line meets. We can see how the foundation of a business should be grounded on ethical procedures but it is solely dependent on the morals of the person that is overseeing the process. If these two components are not embedded into the leaders of these organizations, it cannot be a good company.

Terminix International is a Service Master company that provides pest control service to residential and commercial customers. Service Master was founded in 1929 and incorporated in 1947. It has several entities that fall under its umbrella such as Merry Maid, Tru Green, and American Home Shield. The company states, “ServiceMaster’s corporate governance is guided by our board of directors and management team to ensure we serve the interests of shareholders, customers and employees with the highest standards of responsibility, integrity and compliance.” When this company was under the leadership of Albert Cantu, the overall atmosphere of the company was beneficial to all parties involved. For the years he served as the President of the company, they showed tremendous growth each quarter. The overall employee morale was at an all-time high and customer retention was the lowest it had ever seen. Why did all these positive events happen? Cantu’s business model was simple, if his employees was happy than his customers would be even happier. This business culture began to manifest in every office throughout the United States. Albert’s father Carlos Cantu was the CEO of ServiceMaster until his death in 1999. After five years of being the President of ServiceMaster he was forced out. Within a year of this occurrence, the company stock dropped and its retention rate was over 10%. The company’s net income was in the negative for three consecutive years. One of the values that Albert Cantu valued was family. Terminix was a family under his leadership which lead to a high morale and business ethics being adhered to at all times. Once Cantu was gone, the business culture changed tremendously thus I believe is why the company begin to loss profits. Leadership plays an important role in the ethical culture of a company. Cantu’s leadership style allowed Terminix to flourish.

Is it ethical to encourage employees to stay at work because of all the incentives they have at hand? How much time is too much time at work? Are we really getting paid correctly for the many hours that we are giving to companies? Companies like Google offer all of these “incentives” to spend more time at work but it doesn’t take into account other duties or responsibilities a person may want to have in their life. I worked for one of Google’s vendors in NYC and had to visit the facility a couple of times. During my times there, it amazed me how much it seemed like people where doing more playing than working. But the individual that escorted me through the building assured me that work was taking place. I guess the strange expression on my face showed exactly what I was thinking. As I walked through the sections, it seemed like Dave and Buster…a lot of laughter, a lot of team collaboration, and a lot of distractions. Google’s approach to business is not the norm but it is evident that the job is getting done. Are these elements that are being offered a distraction or a help? Are these incentives boosting the moral?

http://www.entrepreneurship.org/resource-center/eight-elements-of-an-ethical-organization.aspx

Ed Freeman Reaction

I really enjoyed the overview of Stakeholder Theory video by Ed Freeman. I have realized over the past few weeks that I want to have my paper 1 focus on the benefits of stakeholderism, and how shareholderism can leave a company exposed to severe potential risks. Therefore, I found this Ed Freeman video to be very helpful, a strong supplement to enhance my paper.

Why Hello There Nap Rooms!!

Nap rooms? Happy hours? Nice managers? SIGN ME UP!!!!

The Whole Truth: If Food Could Talk

This weekend my folks traveled to Bucknell in honor of Parent’s Weekend. Of course they came with bags and bags of my favorite treats from home. This included a box of my guilty pleasure; Whole Food’s organic flax seed and apricot crackers.

Whole foods has quite the impressive corporate governance page online.

90,000 hours…. that you will not get back

The average person spends 90,000 hours at work during their lifetime. That’s 5,400,000 minutes. 324,000,000 seconds. Work plays a large role in our lives. It is not only a source of income, but something we take part in and work towards a goal. That goal can either be internal meaning getting a promotion or raise, or external meaning providing for your family or working towards the day you can retire. In my opinion these goals have a lot to do with how happy you are at your job.