bagrant Author

what, if any, has been your experience with the Hawthorne effect on a job?

If at anytime, the job I am currently in is where I have experienced the Hawthorne effect. Not to long ago, a fellow co-worker was promoted to floor manager, which we all thought would be a great fit. We would have someone to oversee day to day operations at the brewery while our owner could focus on brewing beer, and keeping our list up to date with refreshing beverages. As soon as our co-worker became manager, a different style of work was put in place. Said co-worker began to micro manage our tasks daily, even down to how to wash dishes. Closing duties were never up to par, and our manager almost took on the attitude of hey, im better than all of you now, what I say is what goes. Long story short, we ended up having an employee meeting to discuss our new managers roll in our business, and how nobody enjoyed having this person as manager. About a month later, he was asked politely to step down, in which he took as quitting and getting a new job. Not to say that this was the best option, but everyone was happy about it HA!

1) Describe a supervisor who inspired and motivated you — what were their characteristics or actions that made such a positive impact? My first job at age 16, I was hired on at Kaladi Brothers Coffee in midtown Anchorage. As a first job, I was very nervous to grab the reigns of entering the job world and having that type of responsibility. My boss at the time did a wonderful job helping me feel wanted and comfortable in my workplace. She immediately took a liking to my work ethic, and signed me up for advanced classes to learn more about the industry. This was very inspiring as well as motivating seeing that this was my first job ever. Throughout the years, my boss was very flexible with school schedules, time off for vacation, and always made sure to let you know when you did a good job. Unlike my current or old I should say now manager at my current place of work, this manager did a great job of catering to employees.

• Research and find an alternative/opposing point of view to Climate Change as proposed in the Introduction.

https://climatechange.procon.org/

For an alternative article, I found an opposing view of people who don’t think humans are to blame for climate change. This con side argues that human-generated greenhouse gas emissions are to small to substantially change the earth’s climate and that the planet is capable of absorbing these gases on its own. A 2012 Purdue University survey found that 47% of climatologists challenge the idea that humans are primarily responsible for climate change and instead believe that climate change is caused by an equal combination of humans and the environment, mostly by the environment, or that there’s not enough information to say (Procon,2019). The article then begins to argue that with the rise of hurricanes, and other extreme weather is a result of natural weather patterns, not human induced climate change. This con perspective in my opinion is just a cop out to put blame elsewhere. (hard to stay focused reading these things).

 

• Does nature have value in itself?

As human beings, we revolve around a monetary system. Wake up in the morning and work hard for something that has no real existence.. money… a made up piece of value to us humans as we work like crazy people to obtain it. Nature such as trees and plants are living things that we do not treat with the same respect. Because nature is so complex, we often overlook the benefits provided by different types of these natural species. As we continue to degrade our nature system, we are inhibiting the ability for them to provide us with essential services to help regulate climate. Nature has more value than we as humans will ever have. Forests, oceans, and even soil play massive roles in absorbing carbon emissions, which in turn helps defend from climate change.

• What obligations do we have for future generations?

In my opinion, obligations to future generations require taking accountability for our climate disaster. In   our business ethics book, it states that the public does a great job of overlooking slow-moving environmental disasters. For example, there was little to no attention when a coal-ash pond ruptured and disgorged nearly a billion gallons of toxic sludge across 300 acres of eastern Tennessee, destroying homes, killing fish, and threatening the local water supply (Shaw, 245). instead of continuing to overlook national crisis such as oil spills and harmful substance release, we need to push towards sustainable healthy electricity for our future generations.

• Lastly, as you read through Chapter 7, answer this question: Who should pay the cost for protecting the environment — those responsible for causing the pollution or those who stand to benefit from protection and restoration. Explain your position.

I believe those responsible for causing the pollution as well as those who stand to benefit from the protection and restoration both should pay the cost for protecting the environment. Those responsible for causing the pollution should be held accountable for minimizing it at the same time. On the other hand, those who stand to benefit from the protection and restoration should also play an active roll in decreasing our emissions and green house gases. It is easier to point the finger at someone than it is to all join and become productive members of our planet in order to reduce climate change.

For module 6, I chose a very recent scandal in 2018 called the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal. Cambridge Analytica was able to harvest the personal data of millions of people on Facebook, without consent, using it for political advertising purposes. The data was used by various political organizations to attempt to influence public opinion. Politicians paid Cambridge Analytica to obtain data from the breach. It was said that information from the breach caused political gain for the 2015 and 2016 campaigns of the United States involving Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Not only that, but the 2016 Brexit vote as well as the 2018 Mexican general election. The Scandal was brought to light in 2018 when a former Cambridge Analytica employee Christopher Wylie shared the knowledge of what Cambridge Analytica was doing. This prompted an apology by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg calling in an “issue,” a “mistake,” and a “breach of trust.”

Facebook-Cambridge Analytica Scandal Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/us/politics/cambridge-analytica-scandal-fallout.html